Reflections on a Frozen Pizza

Hey kool aid and frozen pizza / It's a work of art I ain't talkin Mona Lisa - Mac Miller

We knew that last Sunday was going to be a “lazy day”. I had spent the previous day “Masoning”, Scottish Rite in the morning and reliving my past by participating in the installation of a friend’s son for DeMolay in the evening. Trish was at the annual Gala at Shea's.

We knew both of us were going to get less sleep than we usually got. We knew that Sunday we would be tired and planned accordingly.

As dinner approached it was obvious that cooking wasn’t going to be in the mix; at least serious cooking. Under these circumstances we would often choose takeout pizza, but Ellie and her friends had one the night before. As no one in this house ever objects to pizza, we went to the backup plan of pita pizza.

How To Cook Meat Well Every Time!

"Was this well done of your lady, Charmion?" "Extremely well," she answered, "and as became the descendant of so many kings" – Plutarch

My friend Chris Taylor, proprietor of the Roaming Buffalo food truck, once commented that cooking an item to well done is hard. Not to call Chris wrong, but he is. Happens often. Cooking an item well done is relatively easy if done by the proper technique, and for a special occasion it is well worth any extra effort.

For me no food item says “special occasion” more than the center cut of the beef tenderloin commonly known as Filet Mignon or Châteaubriand. A whole beef tenderloin, commonly known as NAMP 189(A), for NAMP Industries – the nation’s largest producer of packaged meat products and toiletries, is easy to find at your local butcher, wholesale club or bodega.

But, as this is for a special event might I humbly suggest investing in a pasture raised, all-natural slab of meat, such as those offered by D'Artagnan. It is well worth the extra cost.

Reviewing the Situation

The highway is replete with culinary land mines disguised as quaint local restaurants that carry such reassuring names as Millie's, Pop's and Capt'n Dick's. - Bryan Miller

On Thursday, March 21, 2013 a restaurant review under the byline of Andrew Z. Galarneau, Food Editor of The Buffalo News, appeared in the weekly Gusto section of the paper. That review was of a local outpost of a national chain.


The food world did not burst into flames.

I thought the review was a hoot.

Others disagreed.

Let’s get this out of the way.  I have made my feelings about restaurant reviews plain here and elsewhere. Also, Andrew is a friend. Whatever limited insights that may have given me have been overtaken his recent writings in the News. He has let us know his thinking about the job of a restaurant reviewer, and his job in particular.

When a friend asked me what I thought about this review I said that I found it quite humorous. He did not share that sentiment and apparently others agreed. His objections were centered, on the fact that a national chain is not a local restaurant and should not be given what amounts to free advertising. My response was simply “it is here, and it is a restaurant”. That response seems a bit trite in hindsight. So I will attempt to address my thoughts on this matter in an open letter to that friend.

My Mommys Brisket - Redux

No matter how much you revisit the past...there’s nothing new to see. -Robert Tew

One of the most important lessons that any cook, particularly a self-taught cook, has to learn is that a recipe is just somebody’s opinion. As James Beard put it, “it’s always a good idea to follow the directions exactly the first time you try a recipe. But from then on, you’re on your own.” Inspiration, improvisation and even whimsy are the hallmarks of a good cook, and what makes cooking something fun to do.

Even my mommy’s brisket recipe, a hallmark of our family holiday celebrations, has gone through some changes at my hand. But, this year’s brisket was cooked in a really cool way.

I cooked it sous vide.

In A Pickle

On a hot day in Virginia, I know nothing more comforting than a fine spiced pickle, brought up trout-like from the sparkling depths of the aromatic jar below the stairs of Aunt Sally's cellar. - Thomas Jefferson.

I have often mentioned The Sausage Maker, Inc. in terms of how lucky we are to have this resource in Buffalo. They are not only a resource in terms of equipment and supplies, but also as a source for information.

It was that which brought me there, seeking background for a Buffalo Rising article. We chatted on the subject at hand, I took some photographs, and we chatted some more. It was then that I noticed the gizmo.

The Perfect Pickler, encased in plastic, hanging from a rack. I had neither heard of it nor had any idea of how it worked. I was intrigued. We chatted about it for a while, and was surprised (and pleased) to be presented one to test out.

Dependable Guidance - General Cookery

Principles and rules are intended to provide a thinking man with a frame of reference - Karl Von Clausewitz

I learned to cook from cookbooks.


That was more than 30 years ago. My love affair with cookbooks has continued unabated. I collect them. I read them like novels. I spend a lot of time with them when perusing used bookstores. Each one has a story to tell good or bad.

I use a wonderful computer program from Collectorz.com to keep track of the books –  and the corresponding apps for iPod and Kindle - to make sure that I don’t buy a copy of something I already own. I’ve been with them almost from the start and they keep making improvements. They also have apps for tracking music, games, movies and comics.

It is via their Connect service that you can browse the stacks of my cookbook library here.

I am often asked to recommend a cookbook, most recently in a podcast interview with Donnie Burtless of Buffalo Eats. It may be a starter cookbook or a book for a particular subject or ethnic cuisine.  I have thought for some time that it might be useful to do a series of blog posts describing those cookbooks I consider “go-to” volumes. These are not necessarily the best cookbooks, nor the most authentic cookbooks, nor the most popular cookbooks, nor my favorite cookbooks. Rather, these are the cookbooks I find myself turning to time after time as reliable sources for culinary information.

Soon after I began to cook seriously I began giving cookbooks as gifts. For the beginning cook the choices were The Joy of Cooking as a general purpose resource and the New York Times Cookbook for an international flavor. For more advanced cooks my selection was Julia Child’s The Way to Cook. These were also books that I suggested when asked for recommendations. All three of these books are still solid choices, worthy of gift or favorable mention.

 While those remain good choices, these days my selections are different. Time has passed and the cooking world is not remained static. For the advanced cook I would choose Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home. For an international cookbook it would be David Rosengarten’s Dean and Deluca Cookbook (wouldn't mind an update - stuff is more familiar and). For an all-purpose cookbook, and my selection for this first blog post, it is How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman.

No. Despite my Sister-in-law's assertion that once you own it you shouldn’t need another cookbook, the title is puffery. Well intentioned, but puffery nonetheless. That said, it is a pretty thorough tome. It covers all the basics, and gives some solid variations on each theme.

My first copy is a First Edition, purchased soon after its release in 1996. I can tell how long I've had it by the photo below. Evidence of young cats and a new baby. Along about '06 or '07 a few signs of wear and tear began to appear. The fact that a totally revamped edition appeared in 2007 had nothing to do with my decision to replace.

Unlike Joy, it lacks instructions to gut and clean a fish (with illustrations) and you also won't find directions (with pictures) demonstrating the proper method for skinning and dressing a rabbit or squirrel. (Both grace the pages of the 1975 edition, but not in my earlier 1943 edition of Joy.) What you will find are a logically arranged series of recipes, clearly explained in both concept and process together with suggestions for variations on the theme.

Each chapter begins with a couple of “essential” recipes, marked with a handy “*” icon. There are additional icons for recipes that are fast, make ahead, or vegetarian. It is thorough yet unassuming.

It is the kind of reference you wish you could carry everywhere, but it’s a bit bulky for that. It weighs in at almost 5 pounds. Luckily, there is a convenient app (iPod only), which also happens to be one of the best cooking apps on the market.

I read in one commentary about the revised edition that it had a “reduced emphasis on professional techniques”. On the contrary, what I found lost were detailed drawings and directions useful for the home cook, and not something that one would only expect to be used by a restaurant chef.

That one observation aside this book remains an important work and a wonderful initial building block for one’s cooking library.

Reconsidering Martha

Convicted felon Martha Stewart met with her probation officer yesterday. She even had to give a urine sample, in which she tested positive for nutmeg." —Jimmy Kimmel

I have a problem with Martha Stewart. There is a problem with my problem. The problem with my problem is that I can't really express the reason I have a problem with Martha Stewart.

Even my wife doesn’t understand why I feel as I do. My feelings are such that I refer to her as "Martha Frakking Stewart" and jokingly denote her the Antichrist. I altered the cover photo on a cookbook to reflect that designation.