Polchinski
Active Member
In Russia they sell two types of cottage cheese: one unsweet the other sweet. The name of the sweet one is "сырковая масса". So you can put this into google, find the recepies of that, and then go to google translate to translate them from Russian to English. To be honest, I have no idea how to make it myself. I only bought it on the store. I guess by googling it seems like the jist is to mix it with sugar and butter, and then whip it. But perhaps in the store they put more ingredients who knows. Unfortunately I am in America right now, so I can't exactly buy that stuff and read its ingredient list.
In any case, one of those days, I noticed that American cheesecake tastes pretty similar to that. Which was actually a surprise. Because the way I used to think of sweetened cottage cheese as "something that isn't supposed to be sweet that just has a little bit of sugar added", while cheesecake is something that definitely is supposed to be sweet. But one thing that occurred to me, is that when I was eating sweetened cottage cheese back in Russia, I was always surprised that it was a lot sweeter than expected. As if "they were only required to add a little bit of sugar but, to be nice, they added a lot more". And at the same time, the cheesecake isn't exactly the sweetest thing you can find: I am sure its a lot less sweet than things like chocolate or what not.
So I was wondering, what if cheesecake and sweetend cottage cheese are actually the same thing? If so, that would be really nice. Because what that means is that I can go to any American cafe and eat the Russian dish I missed for all those years!
In any case, a few days ago I found the Russian grocery store and I bought sweetened cottage cheese covered in chocolate. I am assuming that, if I take the chocolate away, it would be good old sweetened cottage cheese -- without being sweetened any MORE than it usually is. Of course, I don't actually know it. It would have been nice if they were to have sweetened cottage cheese without the chocolate so I could compare. But they didn't. They only had one in chocolate. So I will just assume that its the same, until I have means of checking it.
In any case I bought four of those things at the Russian store. Then I went to Barns and Noble, and bought New York Cheesecake, and ate them side by side. Guess what. The sweetened cottage cheese is actually slightly MORE sweet than the cheesecake! Thats nice to know, because its the opposite to what I expected. And the fact that its the opposite stresses even more that the two should be put into the same category.
However, the texture is somewhat different. The sweetened cottage cheese is slightly softer, while New York Cheesecake is slightly less soft. It is still pretty soft if I eat it from the middle, but not as soft.
Apart from that, the Russian sweetend cottage cheese seemed to have a bit richer flavor. I would have thought it meant it has more ingredients, but it doesn't. On the list of ingredients they literally just put cottage cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla, and thats it. I am sure New York cheesecake has a lot more ingredients than just that. I think what it is, is that I was so used to New York cheesecake for all those years, that I perceive it as "simple" (even though its not) and thus perceive any discrepancy from that as "more ingredients".
The bad news, however, is that when I looked up the recipy for New York cheesecake on the internet (they don't provide ingredients in the coffee shops as you can imagine) I saw that they use cream cheese instead of cottage cheese. So that means that its NOT the Russian dish I am missing, after all. It is surprising though, cause cream cheese has much harder texture. But then again, sweetened cottage cheese is softer (which I wouldn't have known if I didn't compare them side by side). So did the cream cheese they use for cheesecake get softer by whipping?
The other thing I noticed with cream cheese is that they cook it. I don't know why! Now I was assuming that sweetened cottage cheese is not cooked. If so, that would be yet another difference between the two. But maybe I am wrong, maybe sweetened cottage cheese is cooked too? Is anybody familiar enough with Russian dishes to tell me?
In any case, one of those days, I noticed that American cheesecake tastes pretty similar to that. Which was actually a surprise. Because the way I used to think of sweetened cottage cheese as "something that isn't supposed to be sweet that just has a little bit of sugar added", while cheesecake is something that definitely is supposed to be sweet. But one thing that occurred to me, is that when I was eating sweetened cottage cheese back in Russia, I was always surprised that it was a lot sweeter than expected. As if "they were only required to add a little bit of sugar but, to be nice, they added a lot more". And at the same time, the cheesecake isn't exactly the sweetest thing you can find: I am sure its a lot less sweet than things like chocolate or what not.
So I was wondering, what if cheesecake and sweetend cottage cheese are actually the same thing? If so, that would be really nice. Because what that means is that I can go to any American cafe and eat the Russian dish I missed for all those years!
In any case, a few days ago I found the Russian grocery store and I bought sweetened cottage cheese covered in chocolate. I am assuming that, if I take the chocolate away, it would be good old sweetened cottage cheese -- without being sweetened any MORE than it usually is. Of course, I don't actually know it. It would have been nice if they were to have sweetened cottage cheese without the chocolate so I could compare. But they didn't. They only had one in chocolate. So I will just assume that its the same, until I have means of checking it.
In any case I bought four of those things at the Russian store. Then I went to Barns and Noble, and bought New York Cheesecake, and ate them side by side. Guess what. The sweetened cottage cheese is actually slightly MORE sweet than the cheesecake! Thats nice to know, because its the opposite to what I expected. And the fact that its the opposite stresses even more that the two should be put into the same category.
However, the texture is somewhat different. The sweetened cottage cheese is slightly softer, while New York Cheesecake is slightly less soft. It is still pretty soft if I eat it from the middle, but not as soft.
Apart from that, the Russian sweetend cottage cheese seemed to have a bit richer flavor. I would have thought it meant it has more ingredients, but it doesn't. On the list of ingredients they literally just put cottage cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla, and thats it. I am sure New York cheesecake has a lot more ingredients than just that. I think what it is, is that I was so used to New York cheesecake for all those years, that I perceive it as "simple" (even though its not) and thus perceive any discrepancy from that as "more ingredients".
The bad news, however, is that when I looked up the recipy for New York cheesecake on the internet (they don't provide ingredients in the coffee shops as you can imagine) I saw that they use cream cheese instead of cottage cheese. So that means that its NOT the Russian dish I am missing, after all. It is surprising though, cause cream cheese has much harder texture. But then again, sweetened cottage cheese is softer (which I wouldn't have known if I didn't compare them side by side). So did the cream cheese they use for cheesecake get softer by whipping?
The other thing I noticed with cream cheese is that they cook it. I don't know why! Now I was assuming that sweetened cottage cheese is not cooked. If so, that would be yet another difference between the two. But maybe I am wrong, maybe sweetened cottage cheese is cooked too? Is anybody familiar enough with Russian dishes to tell me?
