Respect the Pizza Parlor
First thing is first: Happy birthday All Over Albany! I am very excited about helping them celebrate this evening. No amount of snow will keep me away. Hope to see you there.
It was because of All Over Albany that I was writing about pizza so extensively last fall. And there was one comment from October that I never really properly addressed. If memory serves, Mrs. Fussy was getting tired of editing posts about pizza, so my response just had to wait.
Here was the bit that got me:
I have been going to Pasquale’s since it opened over 5 years ago and it has always been a trattoria, serving simple Italian dishes and pizza by the slice, but NEVER just pizza because it is not a “pizza parlor” with paper plates or bar with beer and darts. If you want fast food go to Burger King. If you want beer and wings go to a bar. But if you want to take your family, girlfriend, or neighbor out for a nice quite meal, go to Pasquale’s.
That was when it dawned on me that I needed to write more about the institution of the pizza parlor, and make sure that it gets the respect it deserves.
Learning to Relax: Polenta v. Cornmeal Mush
I have been a devoted follower of Marcella Hazan for many years. If you are a longtime reader you may remember some of my thoughts on the Italian Goddess of Fussy.
In that post I even touched on the torture and torment that she requires for making polenta. But really it just skimmed the surface.
For example, I left out the part where she requires that you:
Keep the water boiling at medium-high heat, and add the cornmeal in a very thin stream, letting a fistful of it run through nearly closed fingers. You should be able to see the individual grains spilling into the pot. The entire time you are adding the cornmeal, stir it with a whisk, and make sure the water is always boiling.
Being a faithful student, I have gone through that operation more times than I care to recount. Do you want to know how it works out? Well, the recipe calls for almost 2 cups of “coarse-grained imported Italian yellow cornmeal.” After dozens of fistfuls, cornmeal is all over the stove, my pouring hand is as red as a steamed lobster, and my stirring arm is already tired before the serious stirring has even begun.
The World’s Great Sandwiches: The Cuban
My old friend Raf has a thing about sandwiches. I’ve been trying to get him to write a guest post on the subject, but he’s a busy man. Instead, I will just taunt him with a brand-new semi-regular feature about sandwiches. And it will start with one of the most treasured sandwiches from our shared childhood home, Miami.
The Cuban sandwich is a work of staggering genius.
Like most strokes of brilliance its components are deceptively simple: Bread, ham, roast pork, cheese, mustard, and pickles.
Yet it is surprisingly difficult to get a good one. And that is even when you are in Miami, the heart of Cuban culture in America. God help you if you are anywhere else in the country. I have seen far too many restaurants with “Cuban sandwiches” on the menu that bear no resemblance at all to the masterpiece of Miami.
I mention this today because I know a lot of you in the Northeast are coming back from the February holiday. Many of you went to Florida. Some went to Miami. A few of you I am sure had a Cuban sandwich. It was probably great. But it was unlikely the sandwich of my dreams, and I’ll tell you why.
Open That Bottle Night XI
You may be asking yourself, where did February go? The last weekend of the month is almost upon us. Which means next Saturday, February 27 to be exact, is Open That Bottle Night.
It doesn’t feel quite the same without John & Dottie ringing in the festivities with their Tastings column in the Wall Street Journal. But to honor their legacy, I – along with countless thousands – will continue the tradition they started almost eleven years ago.
For those who do not know, Open That Bottle Night (OTBN for short) is a holiday that was specifically created for people to enjoy that very special bottle of wine that they have been waiting for a special occasion to open.
The problem is, and perhaps you can identify with this, that no occasion ever really feels special enough to open that tucked-away bottle. Perhaps it is a very expensive wine that you were hoping to drink at its perfect peak, maybe that peak has passed, maybe it’s not expensive at all but is full of sentimental memories that you fear will vanish with the liquid in the bottle.
Regardless, the time to drink it is now. Well, by now I mean next Saturday.
Here is the ten step program to help you enjoy OTBN, whether this is your first time participating or your eleventh.
Of Rust and Nails
It’s winter and that is prime whiskey time. In the past months I have written about New York farm-distilled rye whiskey, Canadian whisky, my favorite American whiskey-based cocktail, and even something that isn’t quite whiskey but aged in whiskey barrels.
The thing that is noticeably missing from that list is Scotch whisky.
That is primarily because it is such a huge topic, and one that I don’t really care to go into at length right now. Talking about Scotch is very interesting for Scotch drinkers and frightfully dull for everyone else. Good scotch is also generally expensive, and plenty of people do not care for the stuff. I, however am a big fan, generally preferring the smokier offerings from Islay.
One of my favorite wintertime cocktails is Scotch-based. And for the most part, I wouldn’t consider using a fine single malt Scotch whisky for mixing. Luckily I found the greatest value on good blended Scotch ever.
Sit Down and Have a Cup of Coffee
Just last month I confessed that I actually drink Starbucks brewed coffee more than a serious coffee lover should. The truth is that I’m not the coffee snob I would like to be. I appreciate world-class coffee, and it is an incredible pleasure to drink it, but most days I drink stuff that is far inferior.
That is coffee confession number two, but I’m not quite ready to get into that yet.
One of the biggest problems with coffee shops, regardless of whether you prefer Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, Peet’s, or even Blue Bottle, is what happens when you order coffee to go: your coffee is unceremoniously poured into some form of disposable cup with a plastic lid.
While I know I should care about the overuse of precious natural resources, landfill capacity, and carbon footprints, the thing that galls me most is that these things are a crime against coffee.
What Makes a Great Wing
I love Buffalo-style chicken wings. And they have been conspicuously absent from these pages. In fact, the first real post on the subject was just the week before last, where I discussed a judge’s perspective on the Albany Times Union’s Wing War.
But what was completely lacking in that post was any kind of background on what I consider to be a great wing.
There was a video. I do not know what happened to it. But at the Times Union judging a video camera recorded each of the judges describing their perfect wing. And frankly it was really interesting to hear the other responses, because while there were clearly some similarities across the board, there were also some major differences.
Likely your criteria for great wings will be different than mine, but maybe I can bring you over to my side of the fence.
Another Mega Meat Recall
Dammit, this better not become a monthly feature. Last month I wrote about the recall of what seemed like an impossibly large amount of meat: 1,240,000 pounds.
What was remarkable about that story was that the recall was announced on Friday night, so the story made it into the paper on Saturday. You know, the day people stop caring about news.
Well, you will never believe what happened this past Friday. Again.
Except this time the recall was a little bit bigger. And when I say little bit, I mean it was four times the size of the one I wrote about in January. Specifically, 4,900,000 pounds of beef and veal were recalled. Which incidentally is in addition to an earlier recall a few weeks ago at the same meatpacker of 864,000 pounds of beef.
All told that is 5,764,000 pounds of recalled meat.
All potentially contaminated with E. coli O157:H7
FUSSYlittleBLOG 