Why is frozen pizza so terrible?

Posted on June 27, 2023 by Burnt My Fingers
Cape Cod Cafe Pizza

Cape Cod Cafe Pizza.

Last night I was at my local supermarket and, on a whim, decided to have frozen pizza for dinner. Looking for something different, I went for the Cape Cod Café Pepperoni Pizza which, according to the label, is made by the founder’s grandsons who “carry on the tradition of hard work and the mentality of never cutting corners to make sure the pizzas today are the same as Papa made them over 80 years ago.”

I cooked the pie according to the package directions and it was just awful. Unpleasant to eat, unpleasant again when it haunted me in the middle of the night. And it made me realize how unsatisfactory frozen pizzas are in general because of a Hobbesian choice: the producer can use a prebaked crust, in which the pie is dry and cracker-y, or a “rising crust” which bakes in the oven and is doughy and bready. In both cases the crust insults and overwhelms the toppings.

Have I ever had a frozen pizza I would eat again? Vicolo’s is a brand with a thick cornmeal crust you can buy on the west coast. In this case the crust becomes a benefit, but the frozen pizza can’t hold a candle to the fresh pies that were sold in Vicolo’s now-closed restaurant. Actually, turns out we did a frozen pizza taste test back in 2017 in which we tried 3 different brands and found them all woeful.  If anyone has a frozen pizza they would recommend, I would like to hear about it!

Cape Cod Cafe Pizza

This picture is from the Cape Cod Cafe website and also appears on the Goldbelly page. Now that looks like something I might eat…

Getting back to Cape Cod pizza, the claim that my frozen hockey puck was made the same as 80 years ago is probably not true; a third party processing plant is likely involved though it is not identified on the package. Goldbelly will ship you 4 actual pies from the pizza shop for $99; they look quite different on the website from my supermarket product.

And according to a Google search result“[Cape Cod style is] a specific kind of pizza — a 10-inch pie with a flaky, buttery crust that has sauce and cheese to the edges. They’re usually topped with a combination of mozzarella and cheddar cheese and can have “laced” — or burnt — edges.” Sounds interesting. If I get to Cape Cod I just might try one.

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Food for thought: Chinese Food & History blog

Posted on June 22, 2023 by Burnt My Fingers
Biryani

Biryani, or is it? From the Chinese Food & History blog.

After the Chinese culinary history class I reported on at my college reunion, Professor Maddalena Poli referred me to Miranda Brown’s Chinese Food & History blog which I suspect may have been an inspiration for her own course. The blog reports on a variety of topics but the most interesting to us are those including ASIAN 258 in the title and especially this introductory post. From the context we can gather that Asian 258 is a very popular elective with a sizeable waiting list; during the pandemic Professor Brown opted to teach the course online through blog posts and related materials.

Being a modern academic, Brown is very concerned about cultural appropriation. She gets into this topic at the end of the above post then wades deeper in The Great Noodle Debate, in which she provides evidence that not only was pasta invented in China, Europe was a late comer to the rolled dough game. Take that, Marco Polo.

In Eating Tempura, Living Dangerously: Nagasaki 1600 (AS 258), she demonstrates that Japanese tempura actually came from Portugal along with a number of other dishes. (The “danger” came from the fact that if you became overly enamored of Portuguese culture in 1600s Nagasaki and converted to Christianity, you were likely to meet a bad end.) Examination of the origins of curry, churros and kimchi in later posts yield similar results. The posts are full of links, to scholarly references, other Asian food blogs and, most important, recipes using the foods she talks about.

Homemade Dry Gluten

Gluten sponges from scratch.

By now we’re very deep down a rabbit hole, but the rabbit is delicious. And then, just like that, the semester is over and the blog comes to an end. The final post is simply a recipe, Gluten “sponges” from scratch. Eating meat substitutes has never appealed to me, but now I want to make it at home. Cultural appropriation at work? Check it out.

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Recipe: Avjar Red Pepper Spread

Posted on June 9, 2023 by Burnt My Fingers
Ajvar

Ajvar Roasted Red Pepper Spread.

Avjar is a condiment used through the Balkans made with ground red peppers plus some eggplant to stretch the recipe. Serious Eats did an exhaustive experiment to find the best avjar recipe and we followed their method. The result was good and went great with cevapcici, but it was too mild made with domestic red bell peppers so we added a bit of cayenne for a kick. It turns out you can order Bulgarian avjar on Amazon for a very low price—currently $14 for a 2 kilo can—so we’ll probably do that next time. Makes 2 c.

Ingredients:
2 lb red bell peppers (about 4 large ones)
1 small eggplant (about 3/4 pound)
2 T minced garlic
½ t cayenne, plus more to taste
¼ c olive oil
1 T white vinegar
1 T kosher salt
¼ t ground black pepper

Method: roast peppers on stovetop, under broiler or over a charcoal fire, turning frequently until all sides are black and blistered. Transfer to a paper bag, seal and wait for the peppers to cool. It will then be easy to peel them by hand, removing stem and seeds as you go. Transfer peeled peppers to a food processor. Poke holes all over eggplant with a fork, cut it in half, brush the cut side with olive oil and roast cut side down on a silicon pad or parchment paper in a sheet pan in 450 degree oven for about 35 minutes or until soft and deflated. Cool and scoop as you would an avocado, scraping a spoon against the skin from the inside to extract as much meat as possible.

Transfer eggplant meat to the food processor along with garlic and blend to a paste. Add with all other ingredients to a saucepan and simmer until liquid has evaporated, about 30 minutes over very low heat. Taste and add cayenne, salt and pepper as needed. Serve with grilled meat or maybe on burgers. Leftover ajvar will keep a couple of weeks in the refrigerator, or indefinitely in the freezer.

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Are Trader Joe’s Savory Thins the world’s best cracker?

Posted on June 6, 2023 by Burnt My Fingers
ThinsWithCotswold

World’s best cracker? Trader Joe’s Savory Thin Crackers.

We always have a box or two of Trader Joe’s Savory Thin Crackers around. Luckily, they keep for a very long time. Boxes found after a year in the back of the cupboard do not taste stale. Even open packages will be crisp and flavorful for weeks. (But store in a zipper bag, just to be safe.)

The flavor is mild but pleasant: salt, and a bit of sesame. Trader Joe’s Savory Thin Crackers are best with cheese (any cheese) but the taste will not clash with patés or vegetable spreads. They’re sturdy enough to handle a spread but be careful adding a hard cheese because they may crack in half. (So apply that hard cheese while the cracker is on the plate, not in your hand.) Once the topping has been added, it will stay in place on the way to your mouth. When it encounters teeth the cracker neither resists or disintegrates but breaks apart just when you want it to.

CrackersNCotswold

Trader Joe’s Savory Thin Crackers with Cotswold cheese, a favorite combo.

Storage, usability, texture, flavor all get high scores when you are looking for a cracker that plays well with toppings instead of asserting itself. Really, we can’t find anything not to like. Oh, and they’re gluten free. We can’t claim they’re the world’s best cracker because that statement is impossible to prove, but Trader Joe’s Savory Thin Crackers are the official cracker of Burnt My Fingers.

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Recipe: Cevapcici (or cevabcici)

Posted on June 1, 2023 by Burnt My Fingers
Cevapcici Grilling

Cevapcici on the grill.

Cevapcici is a skinless sausage popular in slightly different versions throughout the Balkans. The secret ingredient that makes it a sausage, not a burger, is the baking soda. A small amount makes the ground meat firm and springy so it doesn’t come apart when grilled and turned. This cevapcici recipe makes about 12 sausages.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground lamb*
1/2 c finely chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 t paprika (we used a hot smoked variety from Spain)
1 t salt
½ t black pepper
½ t ground cumin
1 t baking soda
½ c chopped parsley (optional)
Olive oil for grilling

Cevapcici Flat

Cevapcici and condiments on a flat (pocketless) Greek pita. Next time I’ll make the sausages a little longer to fit the bread better.

Method: combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Rest at least 1 hour so the meat can firm up and the flavors will mix. Form into sausages a little shorter and fatter than a hot dog. Brush the sausages with olive oil (to prevent sticking) and then grill to your preference, turning once. (We like them medium rare.) Serve on pita bread with sour cream, onions and avjar (a mild red pepper sauce).

*We’ve found that the ground lamb sold in stores is extremely fatty so we grind our own from a leg or shoulder cut.

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Variations on a pickled onion

Posted on May 30, 2023 by Burnt My Fingers
Soft Pickled Onion

Today’s pickled onion was cooked to a soft, almost spreadable consistency.

We grilled cevapcici (an Adriatic sausage) to serve with avjar (a red pepper topping) on Memorial Day. What else do you need? Onion, of course. There are already three pickled onion recipes on Burnt My Fingers, but we went a different route, cooking red onion slightly in the brine so it becomes soft and almost spreadable. This made us think about the many pickled onion variations and the ways to use this versatile allium.

Which onion to start with? It’s hard to pass up the chance to pickle a red onion and watch its rings turn a pale pink that makes a striking presentation on a burger or a pickle plate. But white and yellow onions have their place, as in our Pickled Onion a la Mexicana recipe where we want the spices to be visible.

What spices to use? Today we added a scoop of Penzey’s Pickling Spice—excellent like all their products. Oregano and a bay leaf have their place. Some folks like to add a base flavor with salt and/or sugar but today we left those out and didn’t miss them. Also, a clove of garlic never hurt but it will only assert itself after the pickle has cured a while.

Vinegar/water blend? Typically 50/50. We generally use cider vinegar for flavor balance but white vinegar will add an appealing metallic sharpness and rice vinegar goes in the opposite direction, mild so the onion flavor stands out.

How to pickle? This decision makes a big difference in result. If you pour white vinegar (no water dilution for this prep) over onion slices and let them sit a couple days, as we do for vinegar peppers, you’ll end up with a mildly pickled product that retains its texture. Today’s prep was at the other end of the spectrum and we used it because we planned to serve a cucumber salad with sour cream and raw onions and wanted to distinguish between the flavors. But for most uses the best pickling method is to place the onion slices and accompaniments in a storage jar, bring brine to a boil and pour over. You’ll have a pickled product in an hour to that will keep for a week in the fridge.

Happy pickling.

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The Divisive Herb: Unraveling the Curious Case of Cilantro Detestation

Posted on May 25, 2023 by Burnt My Fingers
DivisiveCoriander

Divisive Cilantro leaves; photo by Thamizhpparithi Maari from Wikipedia.

Introduction: In the culinary world, one cannot underestimate the power of herbs to ignite passion and divide opinions. Among these, cilantro, a verdant and pungent herb, has emerged as a perennial lightning rod, evoking intense love from some and vehement detestation from others. This essay seeks to explore the enigmatic phenomenon of cilantro hatred, examining its origins, cultural influences, and potential physiological factors. Through a lens inspired by the inimitable James Beard, we embark on a journey to understand why this humble herb incites such a fervor of aversion among certain individuals.

Cilantro: An Acquired Taste: Cilantro, known for its vibrant leaves and aromatic presence, plays an indispensable role in numerous cuisines worldwide. Its distinctive flavor profile, described as citrusy, herbal, and slightly soapy, leaves an indelible mark on the palate. However, for a significant segment of the population, this sensory experience is far from pleasurable. Detractors claim that cilantro tastes like soap, socks, or even a repugnant amalgamation of both. This begs the question: why does cilantro elicit such extreme reactions?

Cultural Influence and Familiarity: To understand the origins of cilantro aversion, we must delve into cultural influences. Tastes and preferences are often shaped by culinary traditions and the flavors we are exposed to during our formative years. In cultures where cilantro holds a prominent position, such as in Mexican, Thai, and Indian cuisines, individuals are more likely to develop an affinity for its distinct flavor. Conversely, those unaccustomed to cilantro may perceive its taste as foreign and intrusive. The unfamiliarity and cultural dissonance can contribute to a heightened aversion. Genetics and the Flavor

Perception Conundrum: The intricate relationship between genetics and flavor perception adds another layer of complexity to the cilantro enigma. Studies have revealed that a specific genetic variation in the olfactory receptor genes, OR6A2, may play a crucial role in determining one’s perception of cilantro. Those with this genetic variation often describe cilantro as unpleasant and soapy, while others lack the gene variant and find the herb enjoyable. This biological predisposition underlines the fact that the aversion to cilantro is not merely a matter of personal preference but rather a physiological response deeply ingrained within our genetic makeup.

The Power of Association: The human brain possesses a remarkable ability to associate sensory experiences with emotional responses. For cilantro haters, negative associations may emerge from past encounters with the herb or its presence in unpalatable dishes. One bad experience can taint an individual’s perception of cilantro, leading to an enduring aversion. Furthermore, cultural factors, such as media portrayals or negative social cues, can amplify these negative associations, reinforcing the dislike for cilantro even further.

Culinary Diversity and the Quest for Balance: In the world of gastronomy, diversity reigns supreme. The kaleidoscope of flavors and textures invites both experimentation and subjective opinions. While cilantro haters may feel alienated by the herb’s pervasive presence in certain cuisines, it is vital to acknowledge that culinary harmony thrives on a delicate equilibrium. Chefs and home cooks alike must strive to strike a balance, accommodating varying palates and preferences while preserving the essence of their respective culinary traditions. By recognizing the divisive nature of cilantro, we can foster an inclusive culinary landscape that celebrates diversity without disregarding the individual’s sensory experiences.

Conclusion: The enigma of cilantro aversion continues to puzzle and fascinate us. Through an exploration of cultural influences, genetic predispositions, and associative powers, we have gained valuable insights into [THE END]

WHAT IS THE ABOVE ALL ABOUT? I asked the ChatbotGPT app on my iPhone to write an 800 word essay in the style of James Beard on why some people hate cilantro. The above was generated within 10 seconds. Yes, it is 800 words but that’s because the AI cut itself off in the middle of a sentence. As a food writer I do not feel threatened … yet.

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Food for thought: The Gourmet by Lu Wenfu

Posted on May 23, 2023 by Burnt My Fingers
Lu Wenfu

Lu Wenfu, from the Goodreads site.

A few weeks ago I attended my college reunion and sat in on a class called “A Chinese Culinary History” taught by Professor Maddalena Poli. To quote from the syllabus, “This course introduces social and historical developments using culinary history as a prism. What do cooking and food habits tell us of Chinese culture? We will explore these topics through a variety of media – primary sources, newspapers, photographs, paintings, and movies.” The session I attended was devoted to “The Gourmet”, a novella from the collection “The Gourmet and other stories of modern Chinaby Lu Wenfu.

“The Gourmet” spans the years from the 1948 revolution to the late 1970s and centers on the relationship between a peasant and a rich man who devotes his life to eating and drinking, i.e. a gourmet. After the revolution the peasant becomes a restaurant manager and decrees that the restaurant will only serve simple food appropriate for the proletariat.  The gourmet goes away to sulk and eventually marries a former courtesan who has opened a secret restaurant serving gourmet food. Meanwhile, the peasant faces a general outcry because everyone wants better food, and eventually he relents and brings back a version of the old menu.

The class, which was entirely student discussion, found it remarkable that the gourmet’s life was so “transactional”—his days were devoted to eating multi-course meals with his friends (the story is set in Suzhou, a city in Southeast China famous for its seafood) and talking about nothing but other meals they had enjoyed and meals they planned to eat. Of course, this is what we do when we go out to eat with our own friends at Burnt My Fingers, LOL.

Lu Wenfu lived from 1927 to 2005, experiencing the highs and lows of Chinese society during a turbulent time. He was reassigned as a mechanic during the Great Leap Forward and forced to wear a placard around his neck as an ideological criminal during the Cultural Revolution. He returned to writing after Mao’s death in 1976 and “The Gourmet” was published in 1983. Not surprisingly, there is much less about those dark periods in the story but there’s plenty of eating and culinary description in the early years, through the mid-50s. Check it out.

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Recipe: Creamy Caesar Dressing

Posted on May 18, 2023 by Burnt My Fingers
Creamy Caesar Dressing

Creamy Caesar Dressing.

Sometimes you just need a creamy Caesar dressing. This one fits the bill. It’s from GATHER: Casual Cooking from Wine Country Gardens by Janet Fletcher. She puts it atop a rather unusual salad you can read about here, but we like it just fine with your standard greens and croutons. Makes enough for several shared salads.

Ingredients:
½ c mayonnaise
1 ½ t lemon juice
1 ½ t fish sauce (we use Red Boat)
1 t anchovy paste or 3 salted anchovy fillets, finely chopped (optional)
¼ t fresh ground black pepper

Creamy Caesar Salad

Caesar Salad with creamy dressing.

Method: whisk together all ingredients in a bowl. Combine 2 T dressing with 4 cups greens, or to taste, and mix thoroughly. Garnish with a generous scoop of grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese and your favorite croutons.

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Recipe: Onion Burgers

Posted on May 16, 2023 by Burnt My Fingers
Onion Burger

Onion Burger with cheese.

I learned about Onion Burgers in this article on Atlas Obscura. It seems that during the Great Depression a burger joint in Oklahoma had the inspiration to cut costs by greatly increasing the amount of onions mixed in with its ground beef… because after all onions are a lot cheaper than meat. The burgers were a hit and there are a few places in OK still making them. And they’re good! They satisfy the urge for a fatty, crispy patty that sometimes drives you out to buy a burger even though you know you can make a better one at home. Makes 8 burgers.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef (not too lean; the fat helps cook the onion)
1 lb finely diced onion (or equivalent amount of reconstituted dried onions, which is what I used)
Kosher salt to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
Your favorite burger condiments
Cheap burger buns

Method: mix onion and beef and rest for a few minutes to let the ingredients get acquainted. Add salt and pepper to taste then shape into 8 patties. Fry in a skillet or griddle till the meat is sizzling and the onions are aromatic; flip and add a slice of cheese if you like. Serve onion burgers piping hot, with the grease running off the spatula onto the bun.

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