Drifting off to sleep last night I found myself remembering a little episode from my college days overseas, back when I had more resources and opportunities than sense. That was the year I took advantage of the generous 6-week-long British spring break to go galavanting about Eastern Europe all alone. It was 1986, the wall […]

…when I say “Napoleons” what I mean is the standard pastry cream-only mille-feuille, or what French pastry makers might call (or may have once called…since I’m not really sure) mille-feuille à la napolitaine. That being three layers of puff pastry inside of which are two layers of pastry cream and nothing more. There is another […]

I promised I’d get off my days-long pizza kick, though I hate to leave the city of Naples, it’s so lovely this time of year. So why not make Napoleons this week? I know what you’re thinking: um, Napoleons are named after Napoleon, brainiac. You know, the emperor? In fact it seems not. Most historians […]

…but I couldn’t help but notice three very interesting items topping the news this morning, this story about big escalations in food prices, this one about food riots in places like Haiti, and this one about the rediscovery of the potato as a staple crop. What’s the common denominator here? In a word: ethanol. Of […]

Pizza and pizzerias have been in existence in America, mostly on the east coast, for over 100 years now, however pizza never really took off as a mainstream food until the 50’s. The reason for that is World War II, which exposed tens of thousands of allied troops, notably those who served in the Italian […]

Last week I alluded to the “long” history of pizza, which it to say the history of various types of round, flat breads on top of which other food items are placed and then the whole thing eaten. If that’s your definition of “pizza” then it has a very long history indeed, stretching well back […]

One of the main ingredients of a true Neapolitan pizza, as I’ve mentioned, is buffalo milk mozzarella. But why? And how did there come to be water buffalo in Italy anyway? Aren’t they more of an India/Southeast Asian kinda deal? The answer is the Crusades. Starting in roughly 1200 A.D., crusaders returning from their travails […]

The thing that’s so surprising (and a little disconcerting) about Neapolitan pizza Margherita (which is what I made yesterday) is its simplicity. The crust is made of flour, yeast, water and salt. The sauce, crushed tomatoes and salt. The topping, herbs and a few pieces of fresh mozzarella. The big “ingredient” in a true Neapolitan […]

The main thing was I baked at too low a temperature. Since I only recently bought my spiffy new thermometer, my bet is that I’ve been doing this all along. The consequence is that not enough heat is penetrating the dough fast enough, which means I’m having to leave the pizza in the oven longer, […]