Sernik

The story

Polish sernik, a dense cake made with twaróg — a fresh, grainy curd cheese much like farmer's cheese, not the cream cheese of American cheesecake — is a regular on both the Wigilia and the Christmas Day table, because the Christmas Eve fast rules out meat but not eggs and dairy. Before baking, the twaróg has to be put through a grinder or a fine sieve several times so that the texture comes out smooth and free of lumps — a step many older Polish women still do by hand, insisting that an electric mixer “doesn't bring out the same flavor.” There are dozens of regional variations — with raisins, with candied orange peel, with a thin layer of chocolate on top, or the so-called sernik na zimno, a cold no-bake version set with gelatin — and the argument over which is the “real” one is every bit as lively as the argument over the real makowiec. For Polish families in America, sernik is often the first cake by which they judge any Polish bakery in their new homeland.