Sohla’s Ancient Cheesecake Bake Off (Greeks vs. Romans) | Ancient Recipes With Sohla
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Published 2021-07-31
Sohla hosts a bake-off between the Greeks and Romans to determine the champs of ancient cheesecake, in this episode of Ancient Recipes with Sohla.
Watch Sohla recreate Roman bread & cheese from Pompeii here: • Sohla Recreates Bread & Cheese From P...
RECIPES:
For Cato’s Libum:
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs of fresh farmer’s cheese
- 1 lb of white flour
- 1 egg
- 15 or so bay leaves
- a little olive oil
Recipe:
1. Add the farmer’s cheese to a bowl & pound it until it’s smooth.
2. Add the flour to the cheese and mix well.
3. Add the egg to the flour & cheese mixture and mix well until there is an even consistency.
3. Shape the mixture into a loaf. Add bay leaves to the bottom of the testum. Place the cheese loaf on the bay leaves. Close the testum & place it in coals or in an oven.
4. Cook for about 10-15 minutes.
For Athenaeus’ Cheesecake:
Ingredients:
- 2 quarts of whole goat’s milk
- 2 cups of honey
Recipe:
1. Add the milk to a large pot & bring to a boil.
2. Reduce the heat & add the honey to the milk. Simmer until curds start to form. Stir as often as needed to make sure it doesn’t burn.
3. Line a colander with cheesecloth. Pour the honey & milk mixture through the cheesecloth-lined colander. Let it sit until the whey drains out.
4. Put a sieve on top of the cheese. Flip the cheese into the sieve. Let it sit & continue to drain until it comes together.
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Ancient Recipes with Sohla takes the food you know and love and traces it back to its origins. In each episode, Sohla El-Waylly details the surprising history of some of our favorite dishes as she attempts to recreate the original version using historical cooking techniques and ingredients. Along the way, Sohla highlights the differences between the ancient recipe and how we would prepare the modern version today.
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CREDITS
Host
Sohla El-Waylly
Created By
Brian Huffman
Executive Producers
Sarah Walker
Brian Huffman
Jon Erwin
Executive Producer
Sohla El-Waylly
Co-Producer
John Schlirf
Writer
Jon Erwin
Historian - Scripts
Ken Albala
Post-Production Supervisors
Jon Erwin
John Schlirf
Editor
Craig Brasen
Colorist
John Schlirf
Mixer
Tim Wagner
Manager, Rights & Clearances
Chris Kim
Executive Creative Director, A+E Networks
Tim Nolan
VP, Marketing Production, A+E Networks
Kate Leonard
VP, Brand Creative, History
Matt Neary
Music Courtesy of
Extreme Music
A+E Signature Tracks
Additional Footage & Photos Courtesy of
Getty Images
Alamy
Pond5
Wikimedia
All Comments (21)
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Fun fact - as a Greek, we still make something similar to this! A lot of traditional households make fresh Anari and will either serve it along honey and cinammon or make it with honey like this. It is delicious!! if we leave the honey out and let it harden and set, we grate it and use it in on pasta instead of parmesan.
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I would be interested in a deep dive molé video. The ones with like, 100 ingredients! But honestly any other Mesoamerican food would be dope. Sohla is such a good improvement to the history channel!
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Aboriginal Australian recipes would be super interesting!
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Mainly because I want more Sohla, what if in addition to the ancient recipes, she prepared foods we no longer commonly eat? Either how they were prepared historically and/or how to make the palatable to modern people.
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ha, so the bready cheesecake is extremely reminiscent of a traditional breakfast food we have here in ukraine, called sirniki, but the proportions are different. it's also a mix of farmers cheese, eggs, and just enough flour to hold it together, made into small patties and fried. you can also add some sugar and/or raisins to it, or bake it as a loaf :D
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Sohla being a true Bengali and immediately thinking of roshogolla! ❤️ I didn't know honey curdles milk but now it opens up a whole new possibility for a new roshogolla recipe!
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I bet the editors love that Sohla loves clapping when she talks. It makes editing insanely easy to sync sound.
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maybe all those old-world references about the land of milk and honey referenced the OG cheesecake?
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Imagining Ceres getting fed up with ancient Romans always making cheesecakes. Side note: This show is literally the ONLY reason I'm subscribed to this channel.
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I'm surprised you went with libum, which is a plain cheese bread, and not savillum! Savillum actually is a crustless Roman cheesecake, it's soft and tender and sweetened with honey, and it's delicious.
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Catch me never missing an episode until I learn what Sohla made with the whey
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Clearly, in the spirit of the olympics and in honor of those two high jumping buddies that shared the gold medal, a slice of the Greek on top of a wedge of Roman is the true winner.
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Just made both! I ended up spreading the Athenaeus on the Cato’s and drizzled the whey over the top....Best part was def the Whey! What I imagined Butterbeer as.
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I kind of wish the guys from behind the camera also tried it and there would be like a score at the end
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I wonder what a mass up would taste like. Make the Greek milk and honey cheese then add flour, the egg, bay leaves, and bake. Just sounds really good.
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In the south of Italy we still do a cake that resembles Cato’s one but we just call it “ricotta cake”. Obviously now is a bit different because we add vanilla or orange essence (sometimes even chocolate chips) and we cook it in a oven but it is kind of similar!!
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Hm, the Greek version no doubt came out amazing, but the directions said to "squeeze it dry". I think he meant that you're supposed to press it, which would help get more of the whey out and set the curds, and also create more of the attractive pattern from the sieve/cheesecloth he talked about.
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I just love how much she appreciates food. Her enthusiasm helps me get interested in dishes I know I’m never going to cook.
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the libum looks a bit like a russian cheesecake (called a "tvorozhnaya zapekanka" literally translated as "cottage cheese baked thing") and the recipe isn't too dissimilar, except the roman recipe lacks sugar.
