Text 23527, 122 rader
Skriven 2007-11-28 09:43:00 av Carol Shenkenberger (1:261/1466.0)
     Kommentar till en text av Lee Lofaso
Ärende: Re: Real Pizza 419
==========================
 -=> Quoting Lee Lofaso to Carol Shenkenberger <=-

 >CS>I wonder if Lee is used to a particular area of Italy and it's
 >CS>versions of pizza?  That would explain the post well.
 
 >LL>I prefer southern Italy, including Sicily.  But even within a region
 >LL>there is a wide diversity of foods and how such foods are prepared.
 
 CS>Ah well that helps narrow it.  I've never been to Italy but several here
 CS>have.  Your experience might be like me trying to describe Japan sushi to
 CS>one who knows only American types.

 LL> My great grandparents were from Sicily.  My grandparents visited
 LL> Sicily.  But as for myself, I haven't been there yet.  However, I
 LL> know lots and lots of Italian Americans here in the local area,
 LL> many of them family and relatives.  :)

Ah ok!  Several here have been to Sicily I think, but they may not be pizza
mavens. For us, we are the box types (make it from the better store made ones,
add stuff to it).

Had Pizza last night in fact.  Added Muenster, olives, and Genoa salami. 
Decent
enough but not super fancy.  Of the 8 slices, I got 2, Don got one, and 
Charlotte scarfed down the other 5 <g>.
 
 >CS>Lee, which area?  Italy is a big place and it's not the same from
 >CS>city to city on this.  They also don't normally make 'American style'
 >CS>pizzas there.  In fact, some can be so different, it's hard to tell
 >CS>they are 'pizza designated stuff
 
 >LL>My great-grandparents came to America from Palermo, Sicily.  They
 >LL>taught their children (my great-grandparents had 13 kids) how to make
 >LL>pizza.  My grandfather showed me how to make pizza - Palermo style.
 >LL>It's kinda simple.  Use a mixture of warm water and milk to dissolve
 >LL>the yeast, and then mix in the flour to make the dough.  Bake the
 >LL>pizza (with whatever toppings and cheeses you want) in an oven at
 >LL>a high setting, making sure not to burn it.

Ah so your family has a good recipe then I gather?  Georgia Ruth here makes 
her own all the time with whole wheat.  Most of her baking is whole wheat BTW.
I'd be interested to try a whole wheat version.   Sounds 'different'.
 
 CS>Grin, never forget they may have fusionized that.  Pizza for example
 CS>predate tomatoes and was a fast food in roman times (they didnt have
 CS>tomatoes).

 LL> Cajuns have done much the same thing with French cuisine.  But even
 LL> so, some variations of Cajun cuisine are very very close to what one
 LL> would expect in France.  For example, recipes by John Folse are closer
 LL> to French cuisine than recipes by Emeril Lagasse, whose recipes reflect
 LL> more of a Caribbean flavor.

Yes, the Creole one is even closer to French right?  Lots of different cuisines
landed there in New Orleans and mixed all together.  The only downside to
eating
there for me is the rice.  I, along with several who have traveled Asia alot, 
find 'separatist rice' objectionable, or at least, 'not as good'.  You'll see
me and Glenn tweaking folks noses over that one <g>.
 
 CS>We call such cookery that mixes styles, 'fusion'.  It means to fuse
 CS>some elements of various styles into something new that blends the
 CS>two.  Chop Suey is not chinese for example.  It's a fusion made by
 CS>chinese with American veggies and a sort of chinese camp style
 CS>cooking.

 LL> What items are available in the local area can lead to new recipes.
 LL> Cajuns had to use foods that were grown in the local area, as did
 LL> Sicilians or any other group of immigrants who moved to America.

Sure, so it's become something a little new here in how it's done.  That doesnt

automatically make it better or worse (some dishes would go either way).

 CS>When I said 'American style pizza' I meant with tomato sauce, white cheese
 CS>(mozz), and various meats like pepperoni etc.

 LL> Many of the other participants in this echo have noted variations in
 LL> pizza recipes given a certain region.  For example, Cajuns would never
 LL> put pineapple on pizza, but would gladly make a crawfish pizza.

Sure!  In Hawaii, they do put pinapple on it.  I dislike that.  In Texas they 
use jalapenos (not my fav either).  In Japan, it pays to ask what they think a 
pizza is like, before you order.  Some are great, and some are truely
bizarroid.

 CS>I have a pan that can do this but a cast-iron skillet work except
 CS>the sides mine are normal high and you need just less here.

 LL> The sides are essential when making a deep dish pizza.

;-)  Obviously.
 
 CS>Grin, one one ever said USA invented pizza, just versions of it with
 CS>tomatoes or tomato sauce are a given here.

 LL> It's a worldwide phenomenon, even if pizza goes by another name.
 LL> Greeks use pita bread, as do many other peoples.  By putting stuff
 LL> on pita bread, does that make it a pizza?  What about rice cakes
 LL> used in Asia?  Does that qualify as a pizza?  And then there are
 LL> leftover grits, kept in the refrigerator in the shape of a pizza.
 LL> Just the thing to wake up to in the morning.  Breakfast pizza,
 LL> Southern style.

Sure, topping a breadlike item with stuff is universal.  Rice cakes topped with
stuff wont qualify, nor are they apt to put things on there that you'd call a
pizza topping.  Believe me, they are quite different.  Good, but very
different.

I'll add that what your mental image of what a rice cake is, bears little 
resemblance to anything there <g>.  Those bags of rice hockey puks are not
asian
but rather a fusion thing they think of as American food.  When they make them,
the rice is pounded to flour and the product is a mochi.  More of a cracker.
Many mochi are so sweet, they are like a candy.
               xxcarol

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