KENDRA WALTKE / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Monday, October 23, 2006 7:00 pm
If you can believe “Emeril Live,” Jacob Thomas is a graduate student likely to be found playing jazz in his kitchen as he dreams up new and exciting cheesecake recipes.
Though the Husker Courtyards kitchen shown in his upcoming “Emeril” appearance isn’t really his.
And the part where Thomas plays saxophone with one hand and runs a mixer with the other?
That doesn’t usually happen.
But for Emeril Lagasse, Food Network star and master of “Bam!”, Thomas is willing to take some liberties.
“I watch him pretty much every day,” Thomas said.
Thomas won “Emeril Live’s” second annual chocolate contest with his original recipe for Jake’s Explosive Double Chocolate Chip Turtle Cheesecake.
A crew for the show spent eight hours earlier this month filming Thomas’ background story as a saxophonist working on his master’s degree in music at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Next, Thomas will fly to New York City on Nov. 6 to film an episode with Emeril himself and four other winners. The show will likely air in January or February, Thomas said.
Thomas is originally from Michigan and got into “Emeril Live” when he was away at school. He and his mother would watch the show and talk about it.
“We’d banter about it. It makes for some nice bonding between her and I,” he said.
Thomas said his mom danced around her beauty parlor last month when he called to tell her he’d won.
The hysteria hasn’t hit him yet.
“When I’m in Emeril’s studio, that’s when I’ll get nervous,” he said. “Right now I’m like, this is cool.”
Here’s what else he had to say:
So what made you think you could kick it with Emeril?
My mom makes a lot of cheesecake at Christmastime and since I’ve been out here I’ve started cooking for myself a lot more. When the contest came up, I was like, all right I can do this.
Did you practice for the filming?I’m a grad assistant; I had to make one for my class to show them I’m not messing around, I really can make cheesecake.
When they were filming your spot, did the directors make you say “Bam!”?I wanted to put in the bam.
It became part of a piece Jeff Richmond (a graduate teaching assistant) composed for the UNL jazz ensemble to play called “Blues for Emeril.” The producers threw it in. They made the band scat and say “bam!” after so many beats.
They gave me the solo so they had me out blowing in the front. And then I’d serve the band these pieces of cheesecake one at a time and they would pass it around while they were playing.
That doesn’t happen naturally?No. And at the end, they had me point at the band and say to Emeril’s band director, “OK, Doc, let me see you kick that up a notch!” and point to my cheesecake and say “And Emeril, let’s see you kick that up a notch!”
Good grief.Yeah, I’m really curious to see how they will splice all the film.
How did you come up with the recipe?The basic ingredients are pretty much the same for any cheesecake. What makes this one special is how much chocolate is incorporated. It’s in the crust, melted in the cream cheese. There are whole chocolate chips in the filling and chocolate melted in the topping under the nuts and caramel. Pretty much any spot you bite into, it’s going to have four kinds of chocolate.
So are you famous now?Any recipe you do goes onto their Web site forever. That’s cool. It will be up after the show airs. I want to see how people will rate the recipe.
Reach Kendra Waltke at 473-7303 or kwaltke@journalstar.com.
Jake’s Explosive Double Chocolate Chip Turtle Cheesecake
Crust
1 ¼ cups of chocolate Oreo crumbs
4 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter (melted)
Filling2½ pounds (5 cups) cream cheese, softened (at room temperature)
1 cup sugar
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup melted semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs
Toppings3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup caramel
1 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease the bottom and side of 9-inch springform pan. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the Oreo crumbs, sugar and butter; mix well. Pour into the bottom of the pan and press out crumbs evenly; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat together until light and creamy. Add the flour and blend until smooth. Fold in the first cup of unmelted chocolate chips. Pour in melted chocolate chips and sour cream and mix well. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing in at a low speed. Pour filling into prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes to an hour, until the center is almost set. Let cake cool for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the sides and remove rim of the pan. Refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.
In a small saucepan, melt butter and pour in chocolate chips. Mix on medium-low heat until combined. Pour warm mixture onto chilled cake. Refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes.
In another small saucepan, pour in caramel and chopped pecans. Bring to a boil. Let mixture boil for 2 minutes, stirring consistently. Let mixture cool for 3 to 5 minutes, then pour onto cake. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.