Cousin of our quiche, prepared with shortcrust pastry topped with grated Swiss Sbrinz and Emmentaler AOP Swiss cheese, cream, milk, nutmeg and pepper, it can be eaten alone or with a salad.
The oldest known versions of cheesecake date back to ancient Greece. With the conquest of Greece by the Romans, the latter take it again under the name derived from the placenta or more Roman libum, dishes that they give as an offering to their gods. The cake is a cream cheese baked on or inside a dough. The first known recipe for libum is given in the 1st century by the Roman Marcus Porcius Cato. This specialty, which knows a thousand variations across Europe, has enjoyed worldwide success with the American cheesecake.
In Switzerland, cheesecake consists of a base of shortcrust pastry or puff pastry and a binding containing a hard cheese, varying according to the regions. It is a dish relatively similar to quiche Lorraine, but without bacon. The fashionable Obwalden cheesecake, or Obwaldner Chäskuchen in German, is the best known.
