What is the difference between cheesecakes and cottage cheese pancakes? Features and cooking options

by Chief Milkman

Categories:

• Encyclopedia

Cheesecakes are on a par with scrambled eggs, oatmeal, corn flakes, pancakes, and sandwiches. This is a very simple way to deliciously consume healthy cottage cheese for breakfast. Most residents of Eastern European countries know the taste of small golden-brown curd cakes from the light hands of mothers, grandmothers, and cooks in kindergartens and schools. And the recipe is familiar to many: cheesecakes are made from cottage cheese, with the addition of eggs, a small amount of sugar, flour or semolina. But why are these curd pastries called cheesecakes, and not curds - this is more logical, isn’t it?

Cooking features and taste

Sometimes recipes for similar types of baked goods contain different ingredients. What is the difference between cheesecakes and cottage cheese pancakes? The former contains a component such as soda. It gives the dish a springy texture.

The dense consistency of the delicacy is explained by the fact that the cottage cheese melts a little during the cooking process. These pancakes actually look a little like cheese. When cooled, they lose their taste.

The classic method of making cottage cheese does not involve the use of soda. Additionally, the recipes include a minimal amount of flour. These pancakes have a crumbly texture, but hold their shape well due to the crust that forms on their surface during frying. During heat treatment, baked goods do not increase in volume. It does not lose its taste when cooled.

Dry curds (tuara) in the oven

This is the recipe used by the Mari people and they call this food dry curds (tuara).

Ingredients:

• 700 g dry fat cottage cheese
• 80 g sour cream
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon ghee
• salt to taste

Preparation:

Season dry pressed fat cottage cheese in a bowl with sour cream, raw egg and salt.

Form the resulting stiff curd dough into balls, which are flattened into small balls, the size of a large button.

Place the formed meatballs on a greased baking sheet or frying pan (with small intervals). Brush the top with melted butter (or egg yolk).

Then place in a cool oven or oven for 1 - 1.5 hours to dry at a temperature of 60 - 70 degrees C.

Then reduce the temperature to 40 degrees C and continue drying. After drying, the products are significantly reduced in volume.

The dish can be served hot with butter or cold with tea.

Features of dish names

What is the difference between cheesecakes and cottage cheese pancakes? This question can be considered in the context of the origin of words that denote food. As you know, refrigeration chambers did not exist in Rus'. In order for the milk to be stored for a long time, it was heat treated in an oven and, after the molding process, placed under a press. This procedure was repeated twice. The resulting mass could be kept in the cellar for a long time without fear that it would deteriorate. The product was designated by the word “cottage cheese”, which comes from the concept of “hard”.

Even before the reign of Peter the Great, this type of cheese was the only one in Rus'. People learned other varieties of this product later. This happened due to the arrival of a large number of goods from European countries.

In addition, it is known that previously milk was not stored for a long time and turned sour quite quickly. And all products were obtained from it naturally, without heat treatment or additional components. That's why they were called "raw". Residents of Ukraine still refer to cottage cheese with the word “cheese”. This is where the name of the dish comes from. Such pancakes are also popular in this country.

So, what is the difference between cheesecakes and cottage cheese pancakes? Both dishes have the same base. But these types of baked goods are made in different ways.

Why cheesecakes and not cottage cheese

When buying products for making cheesecakes, no, no, the thought flashes through your mind as to why they are called that. After all, the main ingredient is cottage cheese, and cheese is not one of them at all. It would be more logical to call this dish “cottage cheese”. But this confusion in the name of the delicious delicacy has a historically reliable explanation.

The fact is that before the advent of European-style manufactories, where the production of hard cheeses began, all fermented milk products were called cheese. Because they were made from raw milk. And cottage cheese used to be called cheese.

And the separation of these concepts occurred only after the factory production of cheeses was put into production. And since the dish was invented before this moment, their name remained, “syrniki”, after the historical name of cottage cheese.

Cottage cheese for cheesecakes

Cooking features

The history of cottage cheese and syrniki began in Rus' even before the reign of Peter the Great. The basis of the food was a product made from sour milk.

Some housewives baked pancakes from it.

Today there are many recipes for similar dishes. Therefore, the question of how cheesecakes differ from curds lies in the peculiarities of their preparation. Some housewives serve this pastry as dessert. Others use it as a side dish. Recipes for such pancakes include not only cottage cheese, but also flour, eggs, granulated sugar, and sour cream. Baked goods are prepared in the oven, deep-fried, or steamed. Some people prefer boiled cottage cheese. If the dish is used as a dessert, dried grapes, dried apricots, bananas, pears, apples, and mint leaves are added to it. Treats are served with condensed milk, jam, yogurt, and honey. The savory dish is complemented with herbs, potatoes, and onions. You can fry such breaded pancakes. How to cook cheesecakes and cottage cheese? This is covered in the following sections.

Where did the name “cottage cheese” come from?

Theoretically, the ancestor of the name was the word “tvarog”, meaning the process that turns milk into a solid, but there is another version that it came from the activity itself and the word “tvor”, since milk was curdled in an oven and, after molding, placed under a press. The procedure was repeated twice, obtaining a plastic mass that did not release water and did not deteriorate in the cellar.

If we deviate from the connection of the name with the Old Church Slavonic language, the word “curd cheese” could have appeared after the influx of European varieties of cheese, during the time of Peter I. It was during this period that, in order to avoid confusion, two different concepts were introduced. After which the cheesecakes turned into cottage cheese.

Recipe for food with added semolina

It includes:

• Granulated sugar (3 tablespoons).
• 600 grams of cottage cheese.
• Egg.
• 15 g vanilla powder.
• 6 large spoons of semolina.
• Sunflower oil.

The cottage cheese is placed in a deep plate and kneaded. Combine with egg. Add granulated sugar, semolina, and vanilla powder. Mix the ingredients well. The result should be a mass with a uniform texture. It is covered with cling film. Leave for half an hour. Then the mass is formed into flattened balls. They are fried on both sides in a heated frying pan with oil.

Raisin

Raisins in the recipe can be replaced with any dried fruits, such as dried apricots or candied fruits. But dried grapes are the most affordable and most delicious filling. The raisins need to be kept in boiling water for several minutes, this will soften them and help get rid of third-party additives, since at the same time they are washed.

Ingredients:

• pack of cottage cheese
• 1 egg
• 100 grams of raisins (3 - 4 tablespoons)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• vanilla sugar packet
• vegetable oil.

Preparation:

1. Make the cottage cheese soft by kneading it with a fork, a blender or kneading it through a sieve.
2. Mix raisins with flour and then make curd dough, adding sugar, salt, vanillin.
3. Let the cottage cheese with raisins stand so that the grapes absorb moisture.

Form and fry in vegetable oil.

A few words about the benefits of raisins:

• quite nutritious, calorie content - 264 kilocalories per hundred grams;
• in the process of drying grapes, beneficial properties are not lost;
• a lot of glucose, fructose, dietary fiber;
• vitamins B, H, PP;
• calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus;
• It is recommended to use to enhance the work of the heart muscle, for disorders of the nervous system, as well as insomnia;
• prevention of caries and stomatitis (has an antiseptic effect);
• since it has a diuretic effect, it helps fight swelling;
• improves immunity, which is especially important in the cold season;
• improves digestion.

Raisins should not be consumed by those who have diabetes, stomach ulcers, tuberculosis, allergic reactions are possible, which, however, are very rare.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=B0hD5tNTHiU

Cooking cheesecakes

The meal includes:

• 400 grams of cottage cheese.
• 3 large spoons of granulated sugar.
• 2 pinches of salt.
• The same amount of soda.
• Flour – 5 large spoons.
• Sunflower oil.

How to cook cheesecakes and cottage cheese? There are many recipes. One of them is presented in this chapter.

To make cheesecakes, cottage cheese must be combined with salt and granulated sugar. The products are mixed well. Combine with soda and flour. Round fragments are formed from the resulting mass. They should be flat.

The flatbreads are covered with a layer of flour. Fry evenly in a heated frying pan with added oil.

How to make delicious cheesecakes

It seems that the dish is very easy to prepare, and it requires a minimum of ingredients. Some housewives fry cheesecakes in 15 minutes so that it’s impossible to tear yourself away from them. And for others, they won’t bake inside, they’ll burn, they’ll fall apart, or they’ll just turn out tasteless. To prevent this from happening, you need to know some of the nuances of choosing products and how to combine them and in what quantity.

Secrets of perfect cheesecakes:

1. Particular attention should be paid to the choice of the main product in the composition: cottage cheese. It must be fresh so as not to interrupt the sour taste of the stale product with a large amount of sugar. You should not use too dry or wet cottage cheese, this will negatively affect the condition of the cheesecake dough. A 9% product is best. But if you had to make a dish from wet and fatty cottage cheese, it is recommended to squeeze it out before cooking. Also, ideally, any cottage cheese should be brought to a homogeneous consistency by rubbing it through a sieve or grinding it with a blender.
2. We must remember that the main ingredient of cheesecakes is cottage cheese. And all the rest are just additional. And you can’t put a lot of them, so that instead of really cottage cheese pancakes you end up with banal pancakes. Of course, they are also delicious, but the cheesecakes should have a distinct curd flavor. In addition to violating the technology, too much of anything can ruin the dish. For example, if there are a lot of eggs, the dough will be liquid. Excess sugar will melt during frying and will not allow the cheesecakes to bake well. And too much flour or semolina will make the product rubbery.
3. You also need to skillfully form cheesecakes. Use clean and damp hands to prevent the dough from sticking. There is no need to make large cakes to save time: they will be difficult to turn over in the pan, they may fall apart or not bake. It is better to sculpt neat pucks from the amount of dough that fits in a tablespoon. Cheesecakes of this size are ideal for frying, they look neat and beautiful on the dish.

Dough for cheesecakes

Cooking cheesecakes in the oven

The meal includes:

• 300 g cottage cheese.
• Soda (half a teaspoon).
• Two eggs.
• 25 g flour.
• 2 large spoons of liquid honey.
• The berries are fresh.
• 75 g sour cream.
• Sunflower oil.

Cottage cheese is combined with eggs in a deep plate. Knead the mass with a fork. Combine it with sifted flour, honey and soda. The resulting dough is placed in cupcake pans coated with a layer of butter. Cheesecakes are cooked in the oven for about twenty minutes.

The food is placed on plates, poured with a layer of sour cream and sprinkled with berries.

Interesting ideas for homemade cheesecakes with additives

Ordinary cheesecakes have long been not uncommon on the table. They are prepared quite often, so it would be useful to somehow diversify the dish. To prevent cottage cheese pancakes from becoming boring, you can serve them with something new at least every day or decorate them with edible decorations.

Interesting ideas:

• cook a sauce from the berries with sugar and pour it over the cheesecakes, and arrange the remaining berries on a plate;
• make fruits in caramel, heating them in pre-dissolved sugar and water and serve with cheesecakes;
• pour condensed milk, jam, sour cream or honey over the dish;
• decorate cheesecakes with glaze or melted chocolate;
• decorate the dessert with confectionery sprinkles, colored dragees or powdered sugar;
• add raisins, dried apricots, vanilla, coconut flakes, berries, nuts, chocolate drops, cinnamon (one or more ingredients) to the dough;
• make cheesecakes with filling, for example, chocolate pieces, boiled condensed milk, poppy seeds or custard.

Additives for cheesecakes