December 31, 2008
A Question for the New Year.
What is the point of veggie pizza?
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Veggies don’t want to miss ALL the fun, so they try to be cool and leave the salami off. Clearly, that’s ridiculous!
actually, the grease of the meat slimes your taste buds up. A well made veggie pizza is lighter (you can eat more) and you can taste and enjoy all the ingred with a cleaner palate.
To assuage guilt one imagines.
The “grease of the meat” is the very essence of life.
We need greasier veggies.
It’s near the middle when you cut it, but it’s on the narrow end when you pull it away from the pie.
Dave, that would make a great riddle, you sphinx, you.
“What’s near the middle when you cut it but on the narrow end when you pull it away?”
Vin, I could make you a great veggie pizza! Light and tasty — so you can eat more, as David points out! I’m an unregenerate carnivore, but when it comes to pizza, variations on your basic Margherita are what do it for me.
Roasted red bell peppers, roasted garlic, fresh mozzarella, basil…who needs more?
I’m happy with the roasted garlic, fresh mozzarella, and basil, but the roasted red bell peppers push it into a realm beyond happy.
We are with you, Michael. Best pizza in the world: fresh mozzarella, good marinara, fresh basil, olive oil on a thin crust. When I make it myself I use sun dried tomato paste (comes in a tube) and a frozen cornmeal crust I get at Whole Foods. We don’t like vegetables like zucchini and broccoli on pizza though.
Oh, I chow on meat with the best – and with the worst, I suspect they are one in the same. But when it comes to Pizza, I like it simple – and that generally means without meat.
The thing is, I like cheese and I like meat, but by and large, they each have a way of canceling out the other when combined.
There are, of course, exceptions.
Well, there’s veggie pizza (e.g., broccoli) and there’s vegetarian pizza (e.g., plain). In either case, I think the lickability comes down to the marinara.
In NYC we have a chain called Two Boots, which refers to the boot shape of Italy and the boot shape of Louisiana. So they have novelty stuff like crawdad and andouille pizza, classics such as pepperoni and meatballs, and a lot of weird shit in between. But they use the same marinara on all their pizzas (except the white pies, which I ignore): spicy, rich, full of flavor.
It’s spoiled me for most standard NYC pizza (not to be confused with non standard such as Arturo’s or Lombardi’s, which are of a different order). I like Two Boots’ marinara so much that even if I get a fancy slice with something meaty on it, I’ll often pair it with a plain slice, to make sure I still get to have the pure experience. And even though in general I abominate anything of the Let’s Celebrate the Integrity of Unadorned Roasted Vegetables variety of vegetarian food—woodland animals piss on vegetables, you know—when I’m in a hurry or want to pay for only one slice, I get what Two Boots calls the Earth Mother: a fucking vegan Sicilian-style slice loaded with artichoke hearts (meh), peppers (ick), onions (meh), and god knows what else. It’s all vegetables of some kind, and clearly marketed to the kind of chicks who always say, “I’ll just have a salad.” Bah! But the marinara is so tasty that it’s able to beat the triffids down. The Earth Mother would probably be better with some cheese or pork fat on it, but the fact that it’s edible at all is attributable solely to the kicky sauce.
All of which is a long way of saying that if the marinara is good enough, it doesn’t matter what the hell else is on the pie.
India – that was just beautiful to read -I found myself saying yes, yes, yes quite a lot – beautifully written – I agree 100% and your last sentence says it all.
Thank you
Why, thank you, Phil.
India, I like it that you said pie. That’s so Northeast-ish. It’s what my relatives say, and I never hear it here in the heartland.
I believe the most important component of a pizza is the sauce. Good sauce can cover all manner of pizza related sins.
What I hate is the combination of bell peppers and mushrooms (a standard indian-american topping combo when ordering pizza.) It destroys the taste of the pie and ends up sitting in your gut like a rock. Ugh.
Give me a good pizza margherita or pepperoni any day (preferably from HERE.)
Sheila: What, pray tell, do your relatives say in place of “pie”? Is it “tart”? Or “galette”? Or “pissaladière”?
Vin.: Yes, bell peppers are the scourge of the earth. They taste to me like aluminum foil, I assume because of all the goddamn nutrients.
And mushrooms are acceptable only if they have been cooked before being placed on the pie. Underdone mushrooms are disgusting, and don’t even talk to me about people who put raw mushroom slices in their salads. May I have a side of balsa wood with that? Merely letting the mushrooms dry out slightly in the oven does not count; they must be sweated and then browned, preferably in butter. Once they have been properly prepared, however, I have no complaints against them.
Oh, India, all of my relatives are in the Northeast, and they speak of “pie” — which confuses Midwesterners mightily when applied to a pizza.
India, your description of the ideal mushroom preparation reminds me of a mushroom soup I made from a French cookbook. They were stewed in chicken broth, then they were strained and their juice extracted; then more were sauteed in butter and lemon juice, before being added to the others. Finally, the collected ingredients were enriched and covered with heavy cream and egg yolks. By the end, no trace of the original fungus remained. All was transformed into a velvety, beige medium with an indiscernible, yet entirely pleasant, flavor.
This, I assume, is what the preacher is talking about when he refers to our transformation in Heaven.
Sheila: Oh, sorry, I read sloppily; blame the cake poisoning. So, what do your Midwestern neighbors say instead of “pie”?
They just say “pizza”. “Pie” they reserve for . . . pie.
India: what’s that word for preparing mushrooms by squeezing them in cheesecloth? All I can remember is that it sounds something like “dressage.” Our friend Melinda used to make mushroom ravioli that was wonderfully not squishy due to such technique.
Oh–It’s just called Pizza down here in Texas too.
And how, then, do they interpret the immortal lines, “When the moon hits your eye / like a big pizza pie, / that’s amore“?
India – I think you have just set the cat amongst the pigeons!
This thread has legs.
They figure it’s just some crazy Eye-talian foolishness. They’re Scandihoovians, for the most part.
For what it’s worth, over here in Blighty, Pizza is Pizza and Pie is Pie.
And never the twain shall meet!
I think midwesterners who are in the know will refer to pizza as “pie.”
It’s a big “piece ah pie.” That song never did make no sense.
And how, then, do they interpret the immortal lines, “When the moon hits your eye / like a big pizza pie, / that’s amore“?
I believe it causes mass confusion.
When I was a small child I thought it was, “like a big piece of pie” and that made little sense, but I’d never heard of such a thing as a “pizza pie.”
As it happens, my sister her and her fiance are making homemade pizza for us tonight here in Columbus, OH.
One pie will be solid pepperoni and one will be artichoke, tomato, garlic and (sorry, India) mushroom.
My sister is a pastry chef and wants to let everyone know she makes her own dough and marinara.
Pictures and post-dinner commentary to follow.
I type too slow.
What is the record for a number of responses to one post on c-flock?
Didn’t we hit something like 70 once? (I reckon I should check!)
“That’s a moray.”
A number in the seventies sounds right to me.
Vin, do post pictures! (And any leftover slices of . . . pie.)
Mmmmm leftovers – left over food for breakfast, my favourite!
I mean, in my eyes anything from the previous evening is good for breakfast – Pizza would be right up there with Lasagne!
I hate to mention this, but I still occasionally get email notice of responses for “Your Drag Queen Name.” I’m a little ashamed I posted it. And maybe, a little proud. It has to be closing in on 300.
I forgot about the drag queens…
Never, ever forget the drag queens. Otherwise, when you least expect it, they’ll come and getcha.
Phil, it surprises me that Your People can’t reconcile “pizza” and “pie,” given what they’ve been doing with the word “pudding” all these years.
According to Convo, there are 261 drag queen comments, FYI.
India – I guess we use Pudding in two ways, depending what part of the country you are from. I come from the southwest – I use pudding as a generic term for the sweet course to a meal, I think this comes from my school days.
But then there are the puddings just as there are tarts and pies – when I talk of puddings I am largely referring to the suet based sweets like ‘Jam roly-poly’, Spotted Dick or Duff Pudding. I adore these and I insist that they come with lashings of custard.
Lashings of custard.
Spotted Dick with a lashing of custard.
I’m not sure where else to go with that.
Rum, sodomy and the lash. That’s about the only place you can take it.
Vin – with a Spotted Dick and a jug of Custard, there are plenty of places to go.
Sheila, I am researching that recipe as we speak.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Spotted_Dick_Wikimeet_London_2005.jpg
That’s a nice spotted dick!
Vin, that is indeed a nice one! All my Spotted Dick experiences have been good I must say, however, I’m sure there are many that have come away from a Spotted Dick experience less than satisfied.