World's Greatest Cheesecake

In old Russia, the lavish Easter table – the crowning feast of the Russian Orthodox year – remained set for an entire week, during which guests were invited to drop in to exchange Easter greetings. Affluent families shared food with the indigent, for whom the holiday dishes – rich in butter, eggs and cheese – were beyond their means. Much of the population scrimped throughout the year in order to celebrate Christ’s rebirth in appropriate fashion.

Along with all sorts of other delicacies, three symbolic foods always graced – and continue to grace – the Russian Easter table: colorfully dyed eggs, kulich (a tall, enriched loaf of bread with a beautifully mushroomed crown), and paskha, perhaps the most glorious version of cheesecake in any national cuisine. The lavish use of dairy products at Easter not only reflects a release from Lenten proscription, but the consumption of fresh curd cheese (tvorog) as the days lengthen harks back to the most ancient rites of spring. In many cultures, fresh cheese – milk’s protein-rich essence – symbolizes rebirth and fertility.

Preparations for Easter begin during Holy Week, which precedes Easter Sunday. Thursday is considered particularly important for ritual cleansing – of the house, the body and, by extension, the soul. In peasant cottages and barns, juniper branches were often burned for their antiseptic properties, to ensure good health in the coming year. On Thursday, too, the preparation of paskha, kulich, and other baked goods began. Many families prepared “Thursday salt” as another preventative against illness, baking coarse salt with rye dough in the hot Russian stove, then pounding the salt and crumbs into brown granules. This salt, along with the other ritual Easter foods, was brought to the cathedral to be blessed before eating.

Paskha can be made in several ways. These days it is most often mixed from fresh tvorog, but the cheese mixture can also be boiled or baked. Boiled paskha requires a bit more effort, but it stays fresh longer, an important consideration in the days before refrigeration. Baked paskha was typically prepared only by professional confectioners. I like fresh paskha best, as its texture is lighter than that of the other varieties. It is perfect for slicing or scooping or spreading on its companion, kulich.

Paskha has a distinctive shape, thanks to the use of a special mold called a pasochnitsa. Its truncated pyramidal form serves as a reminder of Golgotha, the site of Christ’s passion; the pyramid also symbolizes personal striving, aspiration toward the heavenly realm. Master woodworkers once exhibited their talent in crafting these molds with intricate designs. Almost always the wood was inscribed with the Cyrillic letters XB, which stand for “Christ is Risen,” but the molds could also sport tendrils, flowers, and other decorative elements, all carved in mirror image to appear correctly on the finished loaf of cheese. The woodcarvers were also expert at carving the elaborate molds used for pryaniki, or gingerbread. Both types of molds were sold at regional fairs, or families could custom-order their own unique designs. In larger towns and cities, confectioners vied with one another to create new paskha molds each season, promising customers the latest in fashion.

The favored woods for making paskha molds are all fairly soft: linden, birch and ash. Pine must be avoided, because it can lend an undesirable resinous taste to the cheese. Today, plastic molds are common, but because plastic can yield an off taste, I feel a clay flowerpot is a better choice if you can’t find a traditional mold. In any case, it’s a good idea to line the mold with cheesecloth, so that the finished loaf can easily be lifted out.

Maria Nikolayevna’s Paskha ~ Пасха

The secret to a good paskha is to begin with firm tvorog or farmer cheese. Make sure to sieve the cheese finely so it will be fluffy, and then beat it into the butter mixture thoroughly so that no lumps remain. The vanilla flavor of the paskha will be more pronounced if you use vanilla sugar, which is easy to make: simply leave a whole vanilla bean in a container of sugar for a week or more to flavor it.

2 1/2 cups sugar (preferably vanilla sugar)

5 large egg yolks

1 pound unsalted butter, softened

3 pounds tvorog or farmer cheese, as dry as possible

1 whole vanilla bean

1 pint heavy cream

Beat the sugar and egg yolks together until light and thick. In a separate bowl, cream the butter until smooth, then add the beaten sugar and egg yolks, mixing well.

Press the tvorog once or twice through a fine sieve, then mix it in well with the butter mixture, beating until the mixture is completely smooth. Slit the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds out into the mixture. Stir in the cream.

Line a 3-quart paskha mold or large clay flowerpot with cheesecloth. Pour the cheese mixture into the mold, folding the cheesecloth over the top. Set the mold in a bowl in the refrigerator. Place a saucer on top of the mold, and set several heavy cans on it to weight the cheese mixture down and force the liquid out through the drainage hole in the bottom of the mold or flowerpot. Let the paskha sit in the refrigerator overnight, or until all excess liquid has dripped out. Unmold onto a serving plate.

If the mold you use isn’t carved, decorate the sides of the finished paskha with the letters XB in currants or nuts or glacéed fruits.

Makes 1 paskha.

Adapted from A Taste of Russia