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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2009 10:15:06 GMT
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Post by Don Cuevas on Jul 8, 2009 10:22:09 GMT
"Pretentious wankers" is a phrase that immediately leaps to my mind.
But better some of those Nouveau Wanqueau pizzas than the hot dog slices topped, pineapple cursed pizzas here in Mexico.
"Pase la mayonesa y salsa catsup, por favor."
(Pass the mayo and the tomato sauce ketchup, please.)
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Post by traveler63 on Jul 8, 2009 13:05:18 GMT
Why oh why do they keep messing with my pizza pie?
The only thing that I can do is sigh
and say,
leave perfection alone and
go down another NY street
and ruin another foodies treat!
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 8, 2009 15:24:19 GMT
;D T63! To each his own, but not having been introduced to pizza until I was a teen, I just don't get the whole fascination with it. It's a snack that's big enough to stand in for a meal -- a snack that has gotten awfully pricey for a greasy disk of dough with acid tomato sauce smeared on it. Sure, I like to eat pizza occasionally, but given my head I can also eat a family-sized bag of salt & vinegar potato chips. More power to those restaurant owners who've discovered a public who will line up to pay big bucks for an homely food made trendy. If you want to play artisanal chef in your own kitchen, go here (Reply #41). Also check out Links to Any Port's Recipes for other wheys to use your buffalo mozzarella. |
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Post by hwinpp on Jul 9, 2009 3:14:12 GMT
Do Americans really say pizza pie? Or do they mean the pizza calzones?
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 9, 2009 3:23:39 GMT
Do Americans really say pizza pie? Or do they mean the pizza calzones? Yep, although not every single time. |
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Post by lagatta on Jul 9, 2009 19:45:18 GMT
Pizza of the original Italian types is not particularly greasy as it is not overly cheesy. There is a very pretentious authentic pizza place very close to my house that charges absurd prices for it, and no, I have never eaten there. I can make perfectly decent pizza, but I don't have the proper wood-fired oven. Some people quite successfully use barbecues to make a pizza with an excellent crust.
Kerouac, I don't understand your "meddling with the classics" comment: most of the pizzas described look very much like the pizzas we'd eat in Italy. But NOT the same prices, except in tourist trap areas. bixa, pizza is a meal, usually with a salad, some wine and some fizzy water. Outside the worst tourist trap areas, it is a cheap meal students and workers can afford, based on Mediterranean staples. The only thing wankish about the places in the article is the prices charged.
One of the best pizzas I can get around here with an authentic wood-fired crust and authentic prolo prices isn't Italian at all; it is produced by an Armenian Lebanese place nearby that also makes lamajoune and zaatar (very thin pizza-like savoury breads that are usually eaten rolled or folded, covered with minced meat, garlic and spices for the first, a thyme and sumac-based herbal mixture for the latter. Their spinach pizza doesn't contain cheese: if I'm having it as a meal, I usually add some, some more garlic and perhaps sliced olives, but I make sure it isn't overdressed and gloppy.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 9, 2009 22:04:14 GMT
pizza is a big giant snack
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Post by lagatta on Jul 12, 2009 10:24:43 GMT
Kerouac, I still don't get the "meddling with the classics" bit. Those pizzas depicted look very classic to me. What is annoying is the inflated prices and snotty attitude, but that sort of goes with the neighbourhood in very big cities.
bixa, I don't get your comment. Is there a pic or something I don't see? Whenever we went out for pizza in Italy, it was a meal.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 12, 2009 15:30:25 GMT
It's my own personal way of seeing pizza. If you eat enough of anything, it's a meal. Pizza is bread with some stuff on top.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2009 20:21:41 GMT
Kerouac, I still don't get the "meddling with the classics" bit. Those pizzas depicted look very classic to me. What is annoying is the inflated prices and snotty attitude, but that sort of goes with the neighbourhood in very big cities. Those can't possibly be classics, since they are clearly gold plated.  Or maybe they fly them to Italy to bake them, which might explain the prices. I know what the basic ingredients cost. |
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Post by lagatta on Jul 12, 2009 20:46:27 GMT
I do too. I can make and serve pizza to a house of guests for a few pesos del Norte, even with some nice toppings. It is utter pretentious bullshit, but the pizzas themselves look very classic to me.
Speaking of bullshit, "Sole de Modena" frozen pizzas are imported here from Italy, and many of the Dr Oetker pizzas are actually made in Germany. No, I've never bought either. About the only pre-made pizzas I buy are the good $3 CDN ones from the Lebanese guy I mentioned - and yes, he does have a wood-burning oven. Hope he is around for a few years; he is very old. Yes, several younger relatives working there, but will they take over the business?
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 18, 2009 14:20:17 GMT
Look here for non-meddled-with pizza.  |
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Post by Don Cuevas on Jul 18, 2009 15:40:30 GMT
I am making a pizza with a "tian" topping for our lunch today. It just happened, don't ask me how.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Jul 19, 2009 0:16:32 GMT
One photo is worth a thousand anchovies. Today's "tian" pizza. I forgot to add the already roasted baby potatoes, so I cooked fresh green beans and combined them with the potatoes in a simple and light oil and vinegar dressing.  |
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Post by Don Cuevas on Jul 19, 2009 0:18:39 GMT
You won't believe how long it took to post this reply. I used two browsers as one wouldn't open the thread. Buttons, like "modify" were imssing. After "Post Reply", the browser said "done" but all that showed was a blank page.
And it wasn't the picture that was the problem.
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Post by lagatta on Jul 19, 2009 1:46:37 GMT
Pizza - without cheese or tomato sauce - with a layer of finely-sliced potatoes as in a Gratin dauphinois or scallopped potatoes. with rosemary, is a very classic Italian dish - more of the "snack" kind (pizza al taglio). I loved that for breakfast when in Italy as I hate sweet things at breakfast (or most other times). I don't think Italians would use tiny new potatoes for those pizzas - they prefer mature potatoes. Tiny new potatoes are served as Don Cuevas describes, very simply.
bixa, it is nice that place hasn't been gentrified, but I do like more of a sit-down place nowadays. That doesn't necessarily mean a fancy place. But the bourgie pizzas Kerouac seems to decry are actually more similar to the very proletarian Neapolitan origins of pizza - just charging a bunch of money for the authenticity.
Pizza has evolved in the New World, in New York, Chicago and Buenos Aires and no doubt many other places with large numbers of Italian immigrants. Nothing wrong with that evolution, but I prefer the somewhat less overdressed Italian pizzas - without the silly price tag or chi-chi setting, of course. (This is sending me into an acute I miss Italy fit - must download some pics of Berlusconi to cure me of that).
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Or maybe they fly them to Italy to bake them, which might explain the prices. I know what the basic ingredients cost.