"You Ought to Make Pizza at Home"

So sayeth Sam Sifton in this past Sunday's New York Times Magazine. He is correct. You should.

Michael Ruhlman agrees. Where Sam Sifton says you need a pizza peel and a pizza stone, Ruhlman says you can do it in a baking sheet or even on the bottom of an inverted cast iron pan.

I have seen others still recommend cooking them on a grill on a piece of unglazed quarry tile. I have meant to try this.

Our regular pizza lineup includes:

- Margherita
- carmelized onions, fresh mozz, arugula, prosciutto
- House special, aka, red sauce, Moroccan olives, grated parmesan (see picture)

Most recently we made what will now be added to the regular line up:

- Grilled radicchio and onion with fontina and toasted walnuts (an adaptation of a Dinette pie)

The recipe in Sifton's column called for a mix of bread flour and all-purpose flour, and to put it in the mixer for a short period of time. My wife, the pizza dough maven in our household, uses only double zero flour, which I believe is an all-purpose flour, and does not use a mixer. If she does, I have been blissfully ignorant of this activity.

Speaking of grilling pizzas, taking a cue from Mark Bittman, several times my wife has made a few extra doughs on pizza night and we freeze it. At some later point, I:

- defrost the dough
- roll out the dough
- get the grill very hot
- brush the dough with olive oil
- top the dough with plenty of salt and pepper and some chopped rosemary
- put the dough on the grill

About 4-5 minutes later, we have a wonderfully crisp and chewy flatbread to eat with a salad or meatballs.

The point being: You Ought to Make Pizza at Home.

On a grill or in an oven. On a pizza stone or a quarry tile.

Use the Google or go to Food & Wine or Epicurious and find a recipe.

It is likely to taste better than any pizza you order.

It is likely to be much healthier than any pizza you order.

And, particularly with some red wine, it is fun to make and drink.

"Patchwork" Might be Kind

One thing that kept sticking in my craw -- if, as a soccer-loving, arugula-eating, martini-drinking (Bluecoat, please, on the rocks, 3 olives, if you don't mind) western Pennsylvanian, I can say that, which I probably cannot and should not -- after reading the LTE from the Penn State Ag professor in response to my PG op-ed last year about beef safety, was the insinuation that I was being alarmist and overstating the issue.

While it's not focused on beef per se, this article from the New York Times about food safety in general seems to support my general contention that the food safety net in this country is desperately lacking.

Congress and the Obama administration have said that more inspections and new food production rules are needed to prevent food-related diseases, but far less attention has been paid to fixing the fractured system by which officials detect and stop ongoing outbreaks. Right now, uncovering which foods have been contaminated is left to a patchwork of more than 3,000 federal, state and local health departments that are, for the most part, poorly financed, poorly trained and disconnected, officials said.

Minnesota, unlike many other states, the Times' Gardiner Harris reports, has a top-notch surveillance system for investigating food safety-related illnesses. And the rest of the country is very fortunate that's the case.

In these and other cases, epidemiologists from Minnesota pinpointed the causes of food scares while officials in other states were barely aware that their residents were getting sick. From 1990 to 2006, Minnesota health officials uncovered 548 food-related illness outbreaks, while those in Kentucky found 18, according to an analysis of health records.

Which brings me back to this line from the aforementioned LTE:

The incidence of E. coli-related illnesses has remained at a very low level according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Don't get me wrong. I have great respect for the CDC. I think they do a great job. But when, as the Times article details, you've got such an uneven, patchwork approach to food safety, combined with what I think anecdotal evidence would suggest is a significant amount of underreporting of food-related illnesses, there are serious limitations on what you can take from CDC data in this area.

I guess I could be accused of being alarmist. That will be until more than just a few people die from things like Salmonella-laced peanuts.

Local Mustard: Mmm, mmm good

Several times over the past few days I have spent 10 minutes or so dipping chunks of pretzel into Miller's Mustard.

Now, it's nothing like your traditional mustard, whether that be Gulden's, French's, Dijon, Hebrew National deli mustard, or what have you.

That said, it's quite good. Spicy, tangy, with just enough traditional mustard taste to rightfully call itself a mustard.

And it's made in Gibsonia. You can find it at Save on Beer in Cranberry and McGinnis Sisters in Seven Fields.

Hard to make homemade pasta...

... if you can't get the dough right!

Tried twice, failed twice. Followed the Mario Batali recipe, illustrated nicely here.

Used 4 eggs the first time, didn't come close to getting something resembling a nice rounded ball of dough.

Second time, with 5 eggs, was on the verge of something I could take for a maiden voyage on my pasta maker, but then all it went to heck.

I'll try again, soon.

The most evil company in the world

Wal-Mart? Close. Well, not really. I mean, don't get me wrong. I really don't like Wal-Mart and think it's generally a very sleazy company. But the good ol' Walton family enterprise is nothing compared to Monsanto.

And I'm not even talking about that old milk-labeling thing (shameless self promotion alert). And I'm not even talking about the thing where they hire people to go around harassing family farmers in middle America, falsely accusing them of using their genetically modified seeds without paying for them, with nothing more as their motive than putting out of business all farms that don't use Monsanto's genetically modified seeds.

I'm talking about the 1,500 dead farmers in India. They all committed suicide. You'd think that, even with all of the other messed things going on in the world, that might make a blip on the big broadcast and cable networks.

The agricultural state of Chattisgarh was hit by falling water levels.

"The water level has gone down below 250 feet here. It used to be at 40 feet a few years ago," Shatrughan Sahu, a villager in one of the districts, told Down To Earth magazine

"Most of the farmers here are indebted and only God can save the ones who do not have a bore well."

Mr Sahu lives in a district that recorded 206 farmer suicides last year. Police records for the district add that many deaths occur due to debt and economic distress.

Ah, but see, if you just read this, or some of the other articles about all of these dead farmers, you'd think it was just about water -- which in and of itself is a huge issue in many developing countries, if not the biggest one -- and dirt-poor farmers. But it's also about that really motherf@#$ing evil company, don't ya' know...

Shankara, respected farmer, loving husband and father, had taken his own life. Less than 24 hours earlier, facing the loss of his land due to debt, he drank a cupful of chemical insecticide.

Unable to pay back the equivalent of two years' earnings, he was in despair. He could see no way out. ...

Shankara, like millions of other Indian farmers, had been promised previously unheard of harvests and income if he switched from farming with traditional seeds to planting GM seeds instead.

Beguiled by the promise of future riches, he borrowed money in order to buy the GM seeds. But when the harvests failed, he was left with spiralling debts - and no income.

So Shankara became one of an estimated 125,000 farmers to take their own life as a result of the ruthless drive to use India as a testing ground for genetically modified crops.

Read the whole story. Really, it's disgusting beyond belief. You'll learn that these farmers were, in the end, nearly forced to use the genetically modified seeds instead of traditional seeds. That the GM seeds require twice as much water. And that while they've been genetically modified to resist certain pests, the few crops they produced were devastated by others. And that the 1,500 farmers are just a pebble in a barren cropfield of 125,000 dead in what has been dubbed India's "suicide belt."

Two other important things to note here. One I hope to look into further. One needs no further investigation, and that is this: genetically modified crops don't have superior yields to traditional crop varieties. Shocking, I know.

[Union of Concerned Scientists'] Doug Gurian-Sherman searched the scientific literature for side-by-side comparisons of conventional and genetically engineered lines of corn and soybeans. He found that in almost all cases, genetically engineered crops did not produce larger harvests. The one exception was insect-resistant Bt corn, which produced higher yields only when neighboring plots of conventional corn suffered infestations of a worm called the European corn borer. Crop yields have increased significantly over the past decade, he says, but almost all of that increase was due to traditional plant breeding or other agricultural practices.

Pssst. Don't tell many of the ag researchers at our state's premier land grant university, Penn State. They love them their bioengineered food stuffs.

There's also this little nugget that, on its face, sounds all well and good:

In London after the G-20 summit yesterday, President Barack Obama called for Congress to double U.S. agricultural aid to developing countries in 2010 to $1 billion. ...

Some U.S. senators are already moving in this direction. This week, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a bill called S. 384 that would increase the authorized funding levels for U.S. foreign aid to $750 million in 2010, reaching $2.5 billion in 2014. Authorizations for university partnerships and international agricultural research centers would also rise.

It's that last little bit that makes my little tinfoil ears get all buzzy.

So then I go to the bill itself, S. 384. And right at the very top, what do we see?

Section 103A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151a-1) is amended in the first sentence--

(1) by striking `, and (3) make' and inserting `, (3) make'; and

(2) by striking the period at the end and inserting `, and (4) include research on biotechnological advances appropriate to local ecological conditions, including genetically modified technology.'.

Monsanto didn't double it's federal lobbying outlay from 2007 to 2008 (from ~$4 million to ~$8 million) for nothing, ya' know.

Scrapin' Up the Bits... Welcome Back Neko Style

So much news, so little brain power to process it all...

I don't know if this will have the legs to get through the sausage-making process, pun intended, but Rep. Louise Slaughter has introduced a bill that would put tough limits on the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics on farms raising pigs and such for consumption by, well, consumers. This is aimed directly at factory farms, you know, those kind that don't smell too good.

Who knew you could learn so much in an actual piece of legislation...

(5)(A) an estimated 70 percent of the antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs used in the United States are fed to farm animals for nontherapeutic purposes, including--

(i) growth promotion; and

(ii) compensation for crowded, unsanitary, and stressful farming and transportation conditions; and

(B) unlike human use of antibiotics, these nontherapeutic uses in animals typically do not require a prescription;

(6)(A) large-scale, voluntary surveys by the Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in 1999, 2001, and 2006 revealed that 84 percent of grower-finisher swine farms, 83 percent of cattle feedlots, and 84 percent of sheep farms administer antimicrobials in the feed or water for health or growth promotion reasons, and many of the antimicrobials identified are identical or closely related to drugs used in human medicine, including tetracyclines, macrolides, Bacitracin, penicillins, and sulfonamides;
...

(9) the United States Geological Survey reported in March 2002 that--
(A) antibiotics were present in 48 percent of the streams tested nationwide; and (B) almost half of the tested streams were downstream from agricultural operations;

On the local tip, Pines Tavern in the northern 'burbs, not too far from Casa de Fillippelli, is having these monthly beer dinners. They are, on the whole, affordable. This month's dinner, which began tonight and runs through Friday, features beers from Peak Organic Brewing and some local pork. Unfortunately we had things going on all three nights. Next month, though, as long as the beer offering is decent, I'm there, kids in tow.

Speaking of local, CSA season is not too far away. If you haven't signed up for one, better do it soon.

The Times weighs in on food politics with a semi-strange article, "Is a Food Revolution Now in Season." I didn't find it as off-putting as some. It provides some good general background on the growth of the sustainability movement in the U.S., and it also highlights one of the biggest problems with ag policy in the U.S.: the obstinance and, in my view, corruption of the legislators from the farm states that have been doing big ag's bidding for far too long.

Of course, [Agriculture Secretary] Vilsack will need the approval of Congress for any major changes in farm policy, and therein lies his greatest challenge. Congress passed a farm bill last year that details farm policy for the next five years, and farm-state legislators say they are not interested in starting over.

When the Obama administration recently proposed a budget that would cut subsidies to the nation’s largest farmers and bolster child nutrition payments, it was greeted with hostility in Congress, even by some Democrats.

And, finally, as for the title of this post, Neko Case, she of the glorious pipes, is back with a new album, complete with first single. And, yeah, it's live. No production. Enjoy.

So much news...

Amid the outrage over what seems like epidemic levels of white-collar crime and white-collar chicanery and just plain ol' white-collar irresponsibility, there has been a ton o' food and agriculture-related news.

It's hard to stay on top of it all. Sadly, I have not.

So, for those interested, here are some links that may prove useful:

1) Obama continues to send mixed messages on food-related issues. Names an FDA commissioner with extensive food safety/regulation background, but is apparently looking to name a guy to head a Food Safety Working Group who helped Monsanto get its genetically modified veg onto grocery market shelves and into humans with effectively no requirement for clinical testing. This guy is the epitome of the revolving door between industry and government and everything Obama has railed against. Just like in a college basketball game, all I ask for is consistency.

2) Tainted peanuts scare the bejeezus out of legislators. Or, at the very least, makes them think it's a political winner, 'cause there's all sort of food safety legislation that's been introduced. If the feedback I've seen from the local sustainable ag community is any barometer, there is concern that these bills won't effectively differentiate between small, family farms and small-scale meat processors and the big factory farms and their often co-owned massive meat-processing/packing facilities. The latter, for the uninitiated, are the ones linked to things like spinach and beef recalls.

3) NAIS. It's hard to get a grip on this thing, but the small farmers hate it and it appears to be with good reason. A lot of action has taken place and it's unclear to me what can be done at this point about it. I wrote about it last summer. But a lot has happened since them.

4) And, finally, Nickolas Kristof at the NY Times is opening eyes to antibiotic resistance and the gross overuse of antibiotics on factory farms. Must read graphs:

The peer-reviewed Medical Clinics of North America concluded last year that antibiotics in livestock feed were “a major component” in the rise in antibiotic resistance. The article said that more antibiotics were fed to animals in North Carolina alone than were administered to the nation’s entire human population.

“We don’t give antibiotics to healthy humans,” said Robert Martin, who led a Pew Commission on industrial farming that examined antibiotic use. “So why give them to healthy animals just so we can keep them in crowded and unsanitary conditions?”

The answer is simple: politics.

New & Improved Strip by 2010?

I make no excuse about my love for Pittsburgh's Strip District. It's one of the destinations that makes Pittsburgh a great city. It has something for everybody, particularly those who like to eat.

Whether it's Lucy's banh mi, Penn Mac's great selection of cheeses, La Prima's unparalleled coffee drinks (and sfogliatelle from Colangelo's next door to it, or the freakin' fantastic popcorn from Pittsburgh Popcorn Company right next t0 that! Talk about a trifecta. Mamma Mia!), Penn Avenue Fish Company's always outstanding selection of fresh seafood (not to mention it's kick-a#$ fish tacos). I could go on and on, and could eat my way down Penn Ave for a few days with little problem.

Now, the PG's Brian O'Neill reports, the organization Neighbors in the Strip is inching closer to making an expansion of the shopping possibilities in the Strip a reality. And, importantly, it doesn't sound like it's the kind of expansion/gentrification that's seen in many American cities these days -- that is, one dominated by chain restaurants and stores.

The answer may be taking a sixth of the big, old produce terminal on Smallman Street -- now owned by the Urban Redevelopment Authority and almost strictly a wholesaling complex -- and making it a public market. ...

More than 30 potential merchants have expressed interest, and they haven't even begun advertising. A big part of this will be local farmers providing meat and produce in season. Jamison Farm of Latrobe, which sells about 5,000 lambs a year to top restaurants from New York to Las Vegas, is interested, and Ms. Cassell says she's already found a guy who grows 15 kinds of garlic, about 14 more than I knew existed.

The market house likely would open four days a week. About 12,000 square feet would be devoted to fresh and prepared foods, and another 5,400 square feet, a block down the walkway, would offer flowers, crafts and such.

The only guy I'm aware of whose that into garlic is Farmer Troy! However, an inside source tells me it's not him... and that there aren't 15 kinds of garlic.

Sounds like there is a wee bit of a funding gap - to the tune of a million smackeroos -- slowing things down, and that the earliest this could happen would be next spring. Nevertheless, it's an exciting prospect that I hope comes to fruition.

For the Record

Last year, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was kind enough to publish an op-ed I wrote about beef recalls and beef safety. The bottom line message, I suppose, was that the rash of beef recalls was disturbing and that purchasing beef from local farmers was a good way to take personal action that could -- in addition to getting some good meat and supporting local food systems -- help spur much-needed change in beef cattle farming and processing.

Some time later, my wife's aunt (my aunt in-law?) informed me that a LTE had been published in response to my op-ed (link here, scroll down). Authored by Mr. William R. Henning, the Emeritus Professor of Animal and Food Science at Penn State University, the letter basically said U.S. beef is extraordinarily safe:

Strict and numerous government regulations along with strong industry leadership protect the safety of our beef. For example, each of the 100 million animals that enter the human food supply annually is closely inspected by veterinarians and trained inspectors. (emphasis mine)

I had been meaning to respond to this letter on my poorly read blog for some time. This finally got me to do it:

President Obama on Saturday nominated Margaret Hamburg, former New York City health commissioner, to head the FDA, and announced he is taking new measures to address food safety.

During his weekly radio address, Obama said a lack of funds and staff at FDA in recent years have left the agency with only enough resources to inspect just 7,000 of 150,000 food processing plants and warehouses annually. (emphasis mine)

Now the USDA is responsible for the safety of beef via inspections, etc. But surely the experience of the FDA couldn't be that different than the USDA, could it? Um, no, it couldn't:

The legal requirements for inspections, combined with a reduced force, mean that the inspection goals have not been met for years, according to inspectors. They say the workload is unrealistic, reducing their duties to cursory checks of company records, not the physical examination of meat, poultry and eggs. ...

But one of those inspectors was responsible for a total of five processing plants.That means spending one hour and 36 minutes each day in each plant, she said.

“This is a problem we’ve been pointing out to them forever,” Nestor said.”There are vacancies and shortages all over the country. In a lot of places, the patrol assignments are doubled and tripled up.” (emphasis mine)

[The story linked to above is admittedly a little old. But I think it's safe to say that little to nothing has changed since then.] Am I saying that the U.S. beef supply is irrevocably tainted? No. Dr. Henning claims that cases of E. coli have been low and steady. A quick search of the CDC Web site didn't turn up any statistics along those lines, so I still have to confirm that. Even if it's the case, the massive beef recalls in 2007 and 2008 really did, in my mind, underscore that there are some serious shortcomings in the beef safety net.

Given the points above about significant "vacancies and shortages" among beef processing plant inspectors -- a far cry from Mr. Henning's "closely inspected" -- would it be safe to say there might be many more recalls if there were an adequate number of inspectors? What do you think?

Disturbing Food Recall of the Day

The title only tells part of the story:

California Firm Recalls Poultry Products Imported From an Unapproved Source

It's the actual "poultry product" that I find more disturbing:

Khong Guan Corporation, a Union City, Calif., establishment, is recalling approximately 2,858 pounds of chicken drink products that were ineligible for import to the U.S., the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today. ...


The products subject to recall include: [View Labels]

• Packages containing six 2.3-fluid ounce-bottles of "BRAND'S Essence of Chicken Drink"
• Packages containing six 2.3-fluid ounce-bottles of "BRAND'S Essence of Chicken Drink, with Cordyceps Extract"
• Packages containing six 2.3-fluid ounce-bottles of "BRAND'S Essence of Chicken Drink, with 4 Herbs"
• Packages containing six 2.3-fluid ounce-bottles of "BRAND'S Essence of Chicken Drink, with Lingzhi"
• Packages containing six 2.3-fluid ounce-bottles of "BRAND'S Essence of Chicken Drink, with Ginseng

What, pray tell, is a "chicken drink product"? Some Googling indicates that it's a nutritional supplement that the maker of one brand claims "helps to relieve tiredness and to restore both your mental and physical energy, by increasing your metabolic rate."


Perhaps it's just some form of chicken soup sold in the form of a child's juice box. If so, you'd think they could come up with something better than "chicken drink," eh? How about "Poultry Power Juice" or a "Bock Bock Box"? Those are free of charge for any of you entrepreneurs out there.

Sushi in 'Da Burbs

For whatever reason, I've eaten out more often than usual over the last two months. One place I've returned to several times is Yama Sushi on Rt. 228 in Cranberry/Seven Fields. Overall, the quality of the sushi and entrees we've had has been quite good.



First, the raw stuff. It's always been respectable, and at times has bordered on excellent. The yellow tail has been the most consistent performer. The tuna and salmon have been uneven, really enjoyable on one or two occasions and unremarkable on others. The fluke was particularly tender and tasty. The few rolls we've had have also been well prepared and fresh.

The apps and entrees. Again, these have been consistently good. The do bin mushi soup was really enjoyable: good portion of seafood and fresh, bright but tame flavors. Same for the nabe yaki udon noodles. Neither bowls you over, but simple and welcoming to eat.

I went for lunch one day and, for some strange reason, got the salmon teriyaki bento box. I say strange because I long ago stopped ordering salmon -- well, cooked salmon -- in restaurants. It's like there is a rule that salmon must be overcooked and underseasoned. And teriyaki just has come to be synonymous for overly sweet and sticky.

But, for whatever reason, on this day, teriyaki salmon sounded good. And it didn't disappoint. The salmon was moist. The teriyaki had a nice balance of tang and savory, and it really complemented the salmon instead of overwhelming it...

Food dork alert: On the Top Chef finale, Stefan just used a curse word and it was not bleeped out. I assume that will be edited out when it's replayed later this week in the middle of the afternoon. OK, back to your regularly scheduled food blog...

Accompanying the salmon were some perfectly steamed veg and a large "cup" of miso soup. An enjoyable lunch, indeed.

There aren't many options for sushi out this way, and Yama Sushi does its sushi and nonsushi offerings pretty darn well. Unfortunately, I've never seen it overly busy, so I hope it survives. I'll be one sad puppy if it doesn't.

A Bean by a Fancy Name...

In the summers, my favorite green bean dish has been grilled "Kentucky wonder beans" with prosciutto and some Parmesan.

Thanks to McGinnis Sisters, I think I've found my favorite winter green bean dish: Haricots verts (aka, skinny green beans) with fried shallots and sage.

Had these with some chicken thighs/legs that I coated in a mix of diced herbs, olive oil, salt, pepper, and a few splashes of balsamic and then grilled (gotta love those unseasonably warm February days).

Haricots Verts with Fried Goodies

• half-pound of Haricots Verts, cleaned
• 2 tablespoons of sliced sage
• 3 tablespoons of thinly sliced shallots
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper
• Quarter lemon

Get a small pan of well-salted water boiling. Put olive oil in a small sauce pan over medium/medium-high heat.

After a minute or two, add the shallots to the pan with the oil. After about 2-3 minutes, when the shallots are starting to look like they're moving past tender, add the green beans to the water and put the sage in the pan with the shallots.

When the shallots are starting to brown, approximately 2 minutes, remove from the heat. Beans should be in the boiling water for 2 minutes, max.

Drain the beans in a colander, put in a bowl. Remove the sage and shallots from the oil mixture with tongs or a slotted spoon and add to the beans.

Get about a tablespoon of the olive oil from the pan and add to the bowl. Add a squeeze of the lemon and salt and pepper to taste. Toss and serve immediately.

Respect the Crust

Hey, dude. It's been a while. What's cookin'?

Well, tonight, it was eggplant parm. Pretty good. Last week had this white bean soup with scallions and tarragon. Yum.

Umm, I meant, why no posts recently?

Oh. Duh! Sorry about that. No reason, really. Lazy, I guess. I'll have a few this week.

Good. Otherwise I'll have to keep reading those blogs that actually get some traffic...

Thanks. I think.

Onto more important things. Crust. Pizza crust.

I really never thought I'd have to write something about pizza crust. My wife thinks this is just another example of my food insanity. Perhaps. But I must push on.

We were supposed to eat at Tessaro's on Saturday night, 'cause the wife was in the mood for a burger. Got there at 5:00 and, to our shock, there was a 40-minute wait. [Side note: What is wrong with you people??!! I know they've got good burgers. I know the economy sucks and Tessaro's is a good place to get a quality meal at an affordable price. But the only reason we were eating at that ungodly hour is because we had two 6 and unders in tow. For those childless patrons, might I suggest a martini with a host of olives if you're hungry at 5:00 and then dine at a respectable adult hour, OK?]

So, two hungry kids. Bloomfield. Kid-friendly needed. Good food needed. Pizza? Where? The Strip? Nah. Shadyside? Maybe. Dinette (technically East Liberty?)? Yes.

Excellent choice. An incredible squid appetizer, grilled, with romesco sauce, some charred greens, some little green olives, bits of fried potato. Incredible. My 6-year-old son, whose experience eating fish, with one exception, is limited to frozen, fried forms of various white-meat fish, loved the few bites we were willing to share with him.

He and my 4-year-old daughter mowed on some long, skinny bread sticks and really liked the fresh mozzarella and tomato sauce pizza. The wife and I enjoyed an excellent pie with savoy cabbage, lardons (aka, little pork bits), goat cheese, little bits of sage. The other was, I almost hate to say it, OK. Mozzarella, tomato sauce, anchovie, a few capers, some sliced red chili. It was a little too one-note.

As for the topic of this post, crust. Seated in the corner table were two couples, maybe two years post legal drinking age. At some point I notice, resting uncomfortably on the plate of one said customer, gnarled bits of crust. At the table behind ours an older couple, late 50s, early 60s. As we're leaving, I see on the female half of the duo's plate more gnarled bits of crust.

For a second, I thought maybe we were in a kindergarten cafeteria. You don't like your crust? What, the perfectly charred bubbles of perfectly crisp yet pliant pizza dough turns you off for some reason?

Perhaps you would prefer a Stouffer's with some pepperoni-like bits instead?

Some advice for anybody else thinking of going to Dinette. Eat the crust! It's good. Really good. It's exactly what the crust on a Neapoletan-style pizza is supposed to be. Yes, it's a little charred. But, trust me, it's wonderful. Please. Eat. It.

Scrapin' Up the Bits... Sciencey Style

A whole bunch of cool, interesting, outraging stuff, starting with a little science.

One thing that I find to be confusing is the extent of peanut allergies in kids. It's like every fourth kid has one. Why? I'm sure there are theories as to why, and I hope to read up on them at some point. But, in the meantime, there is this:

Chicago researchers report the development of a new mouse model for food allergy that mimics symptoms generated during a human allergic reaction to peanuts. The animal model provides a new research tool that will be invaluable in furthering the understanding of the causes of peanut and other food allergies and in finding new ways to treat and prevent their occurrence... Peanut allergy is of great public health interest because this food allergy is the one most often associated with life-threatening allergic reactions, resulting in up to 100 deaths in the United States each year.

As a dorky science writer, this sounds to me like an important advance. Yeah, it's just a mouse. But, as the news release explains, the model does a good job of mimicking what happens to humans who experience an allergic reaction to peanuts. That kind of thing can help, if nothing else, improve the efficiency of this research, pointing to good leads that are worth following in terms of prevention and treatment.


Speaking of kids and peanuts, the fallout from the peanut recall gets worse:

Peanut Corporation of America sold 32 truckloads of roasted peanuts and peanut butter to the federal government for a free-lunch program for poor children even as the company's internal tests showed that its products were contaminated with salmonella bacteria....

Schools in California, Minnesota and Idaho received the suspected peanut products between January and November 2007, said Susan Acker, a spokeswoman for the Agriculture Department. Federal officials notified the affected schools last week and told them to destroy any uneaten food, but officials said most of it has already been consumed, Acker said. She said the agency is not aware of any illnesses linked to the peanut products it bought.

Sen. Tom Harkin from Iowa expressed outrage during a Senate hearing on the recall. The time for outrage, Senator, is long past. As is the time to finally do something significant about improving food safety. Please reserve your energies for the latter.

Quickly back to a little science. In the biz, this is what you call a really poor news release. However, it's about one of the most essential of cooking ingredients, extra-virgin olive oil, so it caught my eye.

The study has proved the anti-HER2 effect of fractions of phenolic compounds directly extracted of extra virgin olive oil in breast cancer cell lines. They have used solid-phase extraction methods of semi-preparative liquid chromatography to isolate fractions of commercial oils and, later, separation techniques (capillary electrophoresis and liquid chromatography connected to mass spectrometry) to check the purity and composition of the fractions.

Oh, yeah, that' s going to make journalists' brains go all googly with excitement. How about:

Compounds derived from extra-virgin olive oil killed breast cancer cells in a laboratory dish.

So not only is it ideal for making pesto, but it's got that going for it as well!

Two really good recipes that I can highly recommend:

• Pork and ricotta meatballs
• Chocolate-oatmeal carmelitas

I was a little stingy with the tomatoes, so the meatballs weren't as saucy as I might like, and I don't think I softened the butter enough, so it didn't work into the cookie as much as it probably should have, so mine were a little crumbly. They were still quite good, though.

Finally, saw this over at Serious Eats, which the SE folks disccovered at AnnatheRed's Bento Factory:


That's right. It's Where the Wild Things Are characters made from real food items (rice, cheese, etc.), packaged all nice and neat in a bento box! Doesn't make me hungry, but does make me wish I had that kind of time on my hands.

What's in a Name?

Saw a reference to this over at The Ethicurean...

Will Bessie make more milk if you call her by name? British ag specialists say she will.

Dairy farmers who address their cows by name reported 68-gallon (258-liter) higher milk yields over the animals’ 10-month lactation period than those who didn't, according to new research published today in Anthrozoos, a British journal dedicated to the "interactions of animals and people."

The question, of course, would be why? The researchers speculate that it's akin to a rest in a hot bath...

"It was quite a revelation and quite encouraging, actually," says study co-author Catherine Douglas of Newcastle University in northeast England and a former dairy industry advisor. She tells ScientificAmerican.com the reason for the link is unclear, but speculates it may have a soothing effect on cows, which tend to fear people and get nervous when led into the milking parlor.

Now all we need is a study: 100 cows are given nice names (and maybe get some occasional ear scratching) and the other 100 get some Monsanto juice (aka, rGBH), and let's see if the mind is stronger than the engineered hormone.

When they say "Bend it like...

Not to turn this into a soccer blog, but when they say "Bend it like Beckham," this is what they mean...

It's a Message, Mr. President

Really, I think it is. It's the food gods saying, (cue James Earl Jones -like voice):

"President Obama, after you deal with this whole economic meltdown -- good luck with that, BTW -- you must turn your attention to the safety and sustainability of the food system. Pick a food czar, if you must, but DO something, soon."

'Cause, you know, like, there's this whole one of the largest food product recalls in history thing. A few people are dead, a bunch more sick, including some pretty young kids...

More than 500 people have gotten sick in the outbreak and at least eight may have died as a result of salmonella infection. More than 400 products have already been recalled. The plant has stopped all production.

And there's more. All those cheap-a@# food products all loaded up with high fructose corn syrup. Well, turns out some of them have just a wee bit o' mercury in them.

Mercury was found in nearly 50 percent of tested samples of commercial
high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), according to a new article published today in the scientific journal, Environmental Health. A separate study by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) detected mercury in nearly one-third of 55 popular brandname food and beverage products where HFCS is the first or second highest labeled ingredient—including products by Quaker, Hershey’s, Kraft and Smucker’s.

The ironic thing, of course, is that the high-fructose corn syrup industry, has launched this ad campaign, The Truth about High Fructose Corn Syrup, that says, "HCFS is nutritionally the same as sugar" and "the FDA says HCFS is safe for use in food." Ringing endorsement, indeed!

Of course, the folks behind the campaign rushed out a remarkably brief response to a study that just called into question the safety of their product.

“This study appears to be based on outdated information of dubious significance. Our industry has used mercury-free versions of the two re-agents mentioned in the study, hydrochloric acid and caustic soda, for several years. (emphasis added) These mercury-free re-agents perform important functions, including adjusting pH balances,” stated Audrae Erickson, President, Corn Refiners Association.

For several years? Really? So, up until a few years ago, some little kid whose mom was plugging him with instant oatmeal for breakfast every morning... he's potentially a candidate for a little brain damage down the road. Thems the breaks, I guess. But that same kid today, he's only a candidate for a little bout o' diabetes.

So, yes, President Obama, it's time to get serious about food safety. Oh, and about factory farms, more money for organics and (real) family farms, better nutrition in schools...

Traditionalist or Troublemaker?

Well, well, well... LBoN's own most frequent commenter, Farmer Troy, is causing a ruckus at one of the region's most well-known companies, Heinz. And, perhaps not surprisingly, it's all about a pickle!

A group of Heinz fans wants to squash the H.J. Heinz Co.'s plans to take the pickle image off its ketchup labels for the first time in more than a century. ...

Troy Bogdan, a Bridgeville resident in the winter and a northwestern Pennsylvania organic garlic farmer in the summer, was sort of joking when he asked his Facebook-linked friends over the weekend if they should campaign against the move.

With a little encouragement, he went for it. "Personally, I'm kind of a traditionalist, and I like history," said Mr. Bogdan.

Sure, he claims to be a traditionalist. But I just don't know if you can trust these organic farmers. I mean, they eschew chemicals on their farms. What kind of attitude is that?! Rabble rousers, i say.

Makes me want to eat a big 'ol plate of carbonara!

American football announcers have a long way to go to catch up to Italian futbol announcers...

Resolutions, Resolutions

I've never been one for new year's resolutions, but I have made some food-related resolutions that I really hope I can keep. I'm off to a good start, so far, but it's been like, what, 9 days?

In terms of cooking, there are a number of things I'd like to do, most of which revolves around making more things from scratch. For example...

• Mayonnaise
• Ricotta cheese
• Gnocci
• Stocks

I've already made my own mayo, following the excellent instructions (and pretty pictures) of Michael Ruhlman, and used it to make lobster rolls with the leftover lobster meat from our New Year's Eve dinner (a post that, sadly, has passed its time, but the results were, after a shaky start trying to humanely end the lives of our lobsters, excellent; what else to expect from wild mushroom linguine with lobster in a saffron cream sauce -- freakin' yum, dude!).

A few days later also used said mayo to make some chicken salad (mayo, apples, golden raisins, cayenne, salt, pepper, lemon juice) sandwiches using the meat leftover from a Sunday Dinner of roasted chicken.

The ricotta is next, I think, hopefully to make some pork & ricotta meatballs.

Also per Mr. Ruhlman, I'd like to do some curing, particularly salmon, which, as he describes it, sounds remarkably easy.

Buy a side of salmon—no, buy a piece of salmon—pack it in an equal mixture of salt and sugar and some citrus zest or fennel, wrap it in foil for 24 hours, rinse it and taste a paper thin slice. A cooking miracle.

There also are specific dishes I'd like to make:

• shrimp with romesco (from the Zuni Cafe Cookbook)
• cochinata pibil (an incredible pork dish I had at a Yucatan restaurant in Los Angeles about 2 years ago!)
• Gnocci (I know, a repeat from above)

And by the end of February I'd like to be composting. We throw away a lot food, most of it food scraps that from what I've read would be perfectly suitable for composting. It would be, IMO, cool, to take a bunch of food scraps, convert them into compost, and use it to fertilize my own garden.

That will be a challenge, though, because I don't want to buy a ready-to-go composting unit, I'd like to make it myself. And, plainly put, I'm not handy in the least. Once a project goes beyond putting some nails or screws in a wall, my involvement can only lead to bad things.

Wish me luck and happy 2009.