Trying to make Uncle Tetsu’s Cheesecake

While I still have room for improvement, I think I’m off to a good start! I had a plan but then I made a mistake in the plan… which led to an okay recipe! 😛 But hey that’s how amazing food gets discovered right?! Through random chain of events! Chef Michelle~ Just kidding, I’m just an average hooman that trying to have some fun in life :3

I’m sure you have seen the videos on the jiggly, fluffy, Japanese cheesecakes in Japan! One of the viral videos was of Uncle Tetsu’s cheesecakes! Surprisingly, with the amount of time I was in Japan for, I never tried it.

BUT, when we arrived in Toronto, we decided, heck, let’s do it!!

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I think we lined up for an hour and a half? All I remember was that it was raining and BFF was super prepared with an umbrella and I loved her for that.

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If you’ve never been here, the aromas that were coming out of this place that spilled outside was enough to bring in curious customers. And they got a system going here, very efficient.

I think the most satisfying part was watching them brand the cheesecake.

P8182211.JPGThe wall is lined with articles of them in the news! :)

 

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I would definitely recommend eating this within the hour that you get it. We spent most of our time trying to find a place to eat it (it was like 11 pm when we went to line up), and eventually went back to our tiny room in our Airbnb to eat it (I think we got back around 1 am).

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Okay, so I want you to know that this picture doesn’t do it justice at all. This was like 3 hours after getting it, it has been through quite a ride (as you can tell) before it got back to our place.

We were actually super tired and too stuffed to eat it, but managed to force ourselves to take the first bite… OH MY GOSH… It is creamy, and soft… it’s like eating cheesecake foam because it just melts in your mouth. I’m just flabbergasted how it can even hold a solid structure!

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So the one big mistake I made was forgetting to lined my pan with some foil to avoid some water leaking into the cake pan. (to make this cheesecake you need to put it into a water bath). Luckily, there wasn’t too much water damage and you couldn’t really tell at all!

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Personally I felt like I got the texture pretty close, It’s soft and creamy. The biggest difference is still the taste. AND, I don’t think I would ever come close to Uncle Tetsu’s quality for taste if I keep using… Philadephia cheese. There’s NOTHING wrong with that cheese, it just isn’t the best for this recipe as it came out on a heavier, sharper cheese taste than a light one. Uncle Tetsu uses a Austrialian specialty cheese… so…unless someone wants to gift me one sometime? -wink wink, nudge nudge-

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It’s definitely really important to get soft peaks and when that you GENTLY fold the meringue with the batter. You want to keep as much of the air bubbles in there to create that light and airy texture and the JIGGLINESS.

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The one thing I did differently was adding in honey as I wanted a thinner batter as I’ve seen in Uncle Tetsu’s shops. I’ll keep experimenting though. I want to try a different rack level in the oven too! And learn how to get that gorgeous, even browning on the top! AND I NEED MORE JIGGLE.

I’m just super glad my sister liked it and the kids! Haha.

TOO much effort to make this… probably be a good couple of months before I can find the time again.

Peace out.

Mish~

What’s your comfort food?

The weather’s getting colder and it made me think back to when we went out searching for something warm to fill up our bellies. WE ORDERED TOO MUCHHHH.

Let’s learn some chinese! 眼阔肚窄 yan3kuo4du4zhai3. In cantonese we say it a bit differently, but direct translation turns into big eyes, small stomach. Does that give a hint?! Basically feasting with your eyes and forgetting how much the stomach can actually hold :p. We usually say the phrase after we’ve ordered wayyy too much and can’t finish.

I guess the problem is that we always seem to have these cravings later in the night. Luckily Hong Kong 852 (used to be Cafe de Tropika) is open late!

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Simple but yummy dish. Sliced beef balls with udon noodles! For some reason, I absolutely love the texture of udon… I can eat packs and packs of it with only soy sauce (not good ahaha). This dish was slightly saltier than I like though.

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Hot sweet and sour soup!! Our absolute favourite, but out of all places we tried we still think the best one is at Shanghai 456 haha.

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I first tried this on my second time to Hong Kong 852. A really kind family took me here and soon after I fell in love with it! Anyone who has ever came here with me knows I always liked to order this. A beautiful puff pastry sealing a fragrant lobster bisque inside!!! SO YUMMY!

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Ah! Thousand year old egg and salted pork congee. I still have yet a chance to try and make it! You usually use duck or chicken eggs to preserve it and then it takes a combination of lime, ash, clay, and rice hulls to make it. It should take around 4-5 weeks. It has a creamy texture on the inside and on some eggs you can see beautiful snowflake-like patterns on it!

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The Hong Kong style curry beef brisket is a common dish I’d get. Though I wish it was more piping hot when it came out! Mom often scolds me because it’s not necessarily the healthiest dish to always eat.

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This borsch soup came with the curry beef brisket. It’s just a nice vegetable soup. The price is really good though ($14) for soup and a dish.

 

That’s it for today!!!

-Love Mish.

 

A Tiramisu Kind of Halloween!

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Happy Halloween Everyone!!! Eeek! I absolutely cannot wait to take the kiddos out trick or treating!! (And maybe sneak a few candies or two from their baskets).

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I first made tiramisu because it was one of my friend’s favourite desserts! So I tried my best to come up with a recipe that worked for their tastes~ Still experimenting around. Definitely the kind of eggs you have seem to make the difference. AND most important is to not soak your ladyfingers in the coffee and rum mixture for too long or else you’re going to have a very soggy tiramisu.

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I found some passion fruit on sale! I was originally going to put it on the cake… but it really didn’t match so just settled on having it drizzled in the raspberries ahaha. The raspberries worked really well this as it provided that tartness for that contrast with the sweet dessert. Yeah, I made the tiramisu too sweet this time for my liking… BUT it seems like we all liked the hint of rose in the whip cream! 😀

 

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Another angle for your viewing pleasure~

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

-LOVE MISH!!