I think I have an idea of what I want on the table on Christmas Eve. I want a little Spanish feast, a bounty of small plates, a smorgasbord of flavors—chorizos, jamon serrano, little bowls of sopas de lentejas, blistered Padrón peppers, tortillas, and a cheese spread with manchego and queso de Cabrales from the Asturias.
The crown of it all will be a burnt Basque cheesecake, but only because it is around the homemade Burnt Basque Cheesecake by Manila-based Spanish chef Chele Gonzalez that it dawned on me to hark back to our colonial past, in memory of which, although Spanish occupation has been over a century behind us, we still refer to our Christmas feast almost exclusively as Noche Buena.
Chele, the chef behind the award-winning Gallery by Chele, describes the cheesecake as “a cake full of contradictions.” It’s not a historic dish, having just been invented, some say, in San Sebastian in 1990, but because it comes from a small city in the Basque Region that lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, a city known for its beaches, its first-class restaurants, its history that dates back to Roman settlements around 50-200 A.D., and its Gothic, Baroque, Belle Époque, and Rationalist architecture, the cake has acquired quite a reputation as a modern classic, seemingly older, more nuanced than its New York counterpart. Although it is often considered the alter ego of the New York-style cheesecake, the burnt Basque cheesecake is in some ways its complete opposite—the former is baked low and slow while the latter is baked high and fast in order to achieve the most contradictory of its features, its burnt, almost crusty exterior and its molten, velvety, and cloud-like interior.
The burnt Basque cheesecake is said to have originated in a small seaside restaurant called La Viña in San Sebastian, where immediately it gained a cult-like following. In the pandemic, it’s gone viral. The recipe is deceptively easy, a simple bake of cheese, cream, eggs, and flour, but just like any labor of love—and a good burnt Basque cheesecake cannot be anything other than a labor of love—it takes more than bringing together ingredients. One has to throw in a lot of patience because there are so many variables involved, including the quality of ingredients, the way the ingredients are mixed, even the time it is baked or the time it is given to rest.
Born and raised in Torrelavega in northern Spain, Chele lived in San Sebastian for many years when he was a young chef sharpening his skills in the kitchen of the Michelin-starred Restaurante Arzak, which features new Basque cuisine. In those early days of his culinary life in the Basque Region, he mastered the traditional Basque cake recipe. He has kept it with him all these years.
When he and his wife Teri Gonzalez got together, it was a dish they would whip up now and then to serve to family and friends on special occasions, so it took them a while, egged on by the ongoing pandemic and all the extra time they had in their hands during the great pause early this year, to decide to offer it to the public.
In my conversations with Chele over the past few months, he would always share with me his desire to spread positivity, to find ways to help people find the silver lining to the dark, heavy cloud of Covid-19, to inspire people to keep going, to fight on, so here is another one of those cheerful, reassuring things the DJ-turned-chef has come up with, especially with the holiday season coming up, but this time, his wife Teri joins him.
'We bake and have fun together, it’s just pure love.'
“Chele has kept this recipe for many years. Slowly, the recipe has changed, evolved, and become even better. The recipe is truly his own,” beams Teri, to which Chele immediately adds, “Not just mine, but Teri’s as well. What was mine is now ours and we want to share the joy of this special recipe with everybody.”
How is Burnt Basque Cheesecake by Chele Gonzalez even more unique? The chef insists that quality ingredients make a whole lot of difference. “Seventy-five percent of a cheesecake recipe is cheese. All our ingredients are of the best quality,” he says, adding that theirs is always baked to order. In a box in blue and gold, replete with personal touches, the cake is delivered with a note suggesting that the cake be eaten within 24 hours of its arrival, warmed a bit or eaten at room temperature. “An important characteristic of our cheesecake is its creamy, magical texture. Storing them in chillers would make them lose that magic.”
Those who know Chele will agree that, as a person, he is brimming with a love for life. Not one to distinguish between what he does for work and what he does to live, he is the same in the kitchen. But with the Burnt Basque Cheesecake, he brings more of his personal life into his work. More than a labor of love, it is “our love story,” he said of his first culinary adventure with Teri as the other half of their husband-and-wife team.
“Our cheesecake is more than a cake. It’s something truly special,” Teri explains, “Chele works long hours at Gallery by Chele, so any time we have together is special for both of us. When we bake together, it’s more than just cooking, it’s a date. The love that we put into the Burnt Basque Cheesecake and the passion behind this scene is our love story. This is our first ‘baby’ because we want to share the same joy we experience in every bite with everyone.”
Chef Chele’s Kitchen Burnt Basque Cheesecake comes in two sizes: a 6.5 inch version for ₱950 and an 8.5 inch version for ₱1,550. To order, visit @chefcheleskitchenon Instagram or Facebook pages or message Chef Chele’s Kitchen on Viber at63.917.653.8877.