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~

Moxie’s at WEM

I had a quick meet-up with someone to discuss about some plans on future volunteer opportunities and they treated me to dinner. Now, meeting at WEM (West Edmonton Mall) and then deciding a dinner spot is always quite difficult. To me anyways.

We finally settled down on Moxie’s. Fun fact: Moxie’s is a Canadian restaurant chain and uses Ocean-Wise seafood for their dishes!

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Pretty sure this is the prawn linguine: half baby lobster tail, prawns, rustic tomato sauce ($23 ¾). I must say how smart it is to put fractions instead of the .75 on the menu. Looks more fancier. But if you’re like me, it also makes me panic when I see fractions. (Thank goodness for the Berenstein bears episode that helped me :p ).

I’m not sure if it’s the location that makes the food but I didn’t really like the sauce or the texture of the noodles. It seemed to lack some flavour. To be honest this seems like a nice dish you quickly throw together at home.

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Sorry for the horrible angle of the pictures haha! I was so hungry I just quickly snapped it.

This is the red thai curry: stir-fried veggies, jasmine rice, curry-buttered naan ($15). It actually costs another $5.50 to add chicken or prawns. The flavour is not bad but it is the naan that I didn’t really like. Just a bit disappointed that the curry didn’t come out hot, it was more room temperature.

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Why is it that I always remember to take a picture of the dessert menu but not the main one haha.

What I do like about Moxie’s is that is sets a nice atmosphere for dates and other get-togethers. Plus the service is usually pretty informative and friendly. But the lighting :(. Didn’t work well for my phone camera.

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Salted caramel and pecan cheesecake. I think sometimes I’m more excited about the toppings than the actual main star of the show. Blackberries was first introduced to me by a friend and somehow it just stuck with me.

The mandarins could’ve been peeled a lot better for not only presentation purposes, but also so the guest isn’t busy trying to pick out the hard central core left behind.

Overall, it wasn’t bad, a little bit on the sweeter side than I’m comfortable with, but I can see many of my friends liking it :p.

 

Oh look at that, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

-Mishy