Chicago the "Pizza Capital" of the World?

[RFalvo69]

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/c ... a/2433799/

I guess not. [:)]

They can come to my restaurant when they want. I'll start with a mozzarella, tomato, tuna, onions, porcini mushrooms and rucola topping. Low pizza, BTW, not that marriage cake. Then, if somehow they manage to stay abreast, things will become serious [:D]

[Mobeer]

These people need to visit Naples.

[TulliusDetritus]

Define "world".

This has to be like the moms thing: "according to my mom, I am the most handsome man alive...".

re those who add pineapple... firing squad, hanging, rack?

[RangerJoe]

That pizza sounds very good - except for the tuna. I like it but my gout likes it even better.[:@]

BTW, do you make a seasoned pork roast called "porketta" that I have eaten elsewhere?[&:]

1 (6-pound) boneless pork butt roast

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

12 cloves garlic, chopped

1 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup fennel seeds

1/4 cup olive oil

1 fennel bulb, finely chopped, feather tops saved for garnish

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/por ... pe-1969731

My stepmother used to make it but she grew the fennel for the tops and just used that sometimes. Of course, none of her ancestors came from Italy . . .

[Lobster]

ORIGINAL: RFalvo69

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/c ... a/2433799/

I guess not. [:)]

They can come to my restaurant when they want. I'll start with a mozzarella, tomato, tuna, onions, porcini mushrooms and rucola topping. Low pizza, BTW, not that marriage cake. Then, if somehow they manage to stay abreast, things will become serious [:D]

100% agree. Real Pizza forever. [:)]

Just because they say it doesn't make it so.

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe
Of course, none of her ancestors came from Italy . . .

As long as the recipe is **respected** the rest is irrelevant: you can do it in Papua New Guinea or Uzbekistan. There's of course the problem of the ingredients. This alone makes a replica impossible (unless the ingredients are somehow imported). But 100% respecting the recipe is a bare minimum imo (a cooking fanboy here).

After all, they say the pesto sauce might be the oldest known sauce in the world, dating back to Roman times. The ingredients are like the ones 2.000 years ago? No. And?

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe
Of course, none of her ancestors came from Italy . . .

As long as the recipe is **respected** the rest is irrelevant: you can do it in Papua New Guinea or Uzbekistan. There's of course the problem of the ingredients. This alone makes a replica impossible (unless the ingredients are somehow imported). But 100% respecting the recipe is a bare minimum imo (a cooking fanboy here).

After all, they say the pesto sauce might be the oldest known sauce in the world, dating back to Roman times. The ingredients are like the ones 2.000 years ago? No. And?

She was a professional cook and at one time, ran a school lunch kitchen where the children wanted to eat the school lunch. That is unusual. But she did start cooking at an Italian immigrant's restaurant whose family still is in the business.

But there are different seasonings and ways to make it but it is very good, especially shredded and served on a crusty hard roll.[:'(]

[RFalvo69]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

That pizza sounds very good - except for the tuna. I like it but my gout likes it even better.[:@]

You can order that pizza and ask for "no tuna". It is still good. Just consider that a good pizza starts with mozzarella cheese and tomato (a classic "Margherita"). The rest of the toppings are optional and some of them are not even related to taste. Rucola (rocket salad), for example, is mostly used to give your pizza a good smell.

Generally speaking, if you suffer from any kind of intolerance just say so, and the "pizzaiolo" will be able to suggest you a good combination of toppings that excludes the ingredients that cause you problems. And of course any medium/large pizzeria will have a number of variants on the menu marked as "safe" for common intolerances, like the intolerance to lactose.

BTW, do you make a seasoned pork roast called "porketta" that I have eaten elsewhere?[&:]

We do (the Italian name is "porchetta" - same pronunciation but Italian hasn't "K" in its alphabet). However, Italy being Italy, that's only the basic ingredient used in a number of regional recipes. For example, this one...

1 (6-pound) boneless pork butt roast

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

12 cloves garlic, chopped

1 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup fennel seeds

1/4 cup olive oil

1 fennel bulb, finely chopped, feather tops saved for garnish

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/por ... pe-1969731
[/quote]

...Is the "basic" porchetta, and a common way to cook it in and around Rome (and everywhere else in Italy, if people like it that way). We do a variant called "Abruzzese" ("from Abruzzi") without fennel and with a more ample variety of aromatic herbs. This is a dish reserved for special occasions, however, because from start to finish it takes 3 hours to cook it. Be also warned that it is an "heavy" dish: add to it roasted potatoes (*) and some good red wine to wash it down, and your body temperature will make the alarms to sound at Chernobyl [:D]

(*) A common variant during festivities (Christmas, Easter, New Year Day) is porchetta served with lentils, because it is an Italian belief that lentils bring good luck - specifically money.

[Zap]

Just read a story today that New Haven Connecticut is the Pizza Capital of America. New York and New Jersey are up in arms about this classification. So I'm guessing there could be an all out war between Pizza fans. Chicago? where did that come from.

[Anonymous]

[Deleted by Admins]

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: Grognerd_INC

I've always had the notion to try my favorite foods "in country" - Italian food in Italy - Chinese food in China and so on. Have a feeling it's all been heavily modified from the originating country. I'd put that on my bucket list but I already know that's way out of budget...

Would Italian food at an Italian restaurante in Germany operated by Italians count as the same as Italian food in Italy?

I know that the Indian food that I had in London, England not Ontario, was delicious and I do believe that the staff was Indian as well.

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: Grognerd_INC

I've always had the notion to try my favorite foods "in country" [...] Have a feeling it's all been heavily modified from the originating country.

Chinese food, definitely. They all sell the standard Ford T. Any color so long as it is black

[Anonymous]

[Deleted by Admins]

[RFalvo69]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

ORIGINAL: Grognerd_INC

I've always had the notion to try my favorite foods "in country" - Italian food in Italy - Chinese food in China and so on. Have a feeling it's all been heavily modified from the originating country. I'd put that on my bucket list but I already know that's way out of budget...

Would Italian food at an Italian restaurante in Germany operated by Italians count as the same as Italian food in Italy?

The problem with "Italian food" is that it doesn't exists. It would be more correct to speak about Italian regional food, and, in many cases, Italian provincial food. Consider Lombardy: Milanese food is different than Pavia's food (less than one hour drive south of Milan). And, if you go further south, the Oltrepò wine country's food is even more its own thing (with some recipes partially imported from the Riviera). In Tuscany you find a different kind of cuisine every few kilometres... (I love all of them anyway).

This is why when you go out to eat with your friends here in Italy you still have the choice to go to a "Tuscan" restaurant, or "Roman" restaurant or a variety of other choices. This has nothing to do with the quality of the food or the talent of the owners.

So, an "Italian" restaurant in a foreign country can be, usually, one of these two things: a restaurant with a sort of "best of" from various parts of Italy or a regional restaurant that may or may not advertise itself as such. In Paris I once stumbled into a Sicilian restaurant in a corner on the Rive Gauche, and there is a Roman restaurant on the Champs-Élysées, but most of the time I guess it is easier to label yourself as "Italian" and smile.

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: Grognerd_INC

I understand that Joe, but it be also a fun way to travel if one was of the deep pocket variety.

Go to Germany for German food, Go to England for English food, go to India for Indian food.

Mind you I live on the space coast in Florida (cheap place to retire) and it's reasonably cosmopolitan, with a pretty decent selection of world cuisine made by folks that immigrated here (mostly).

But if your gonna judge the most authentic pizza, your gonna need to go to Italy, not Chicago.

I think not just Italy for pizza but Naples, Italy not Florida, since that is where it was made for a Queen!

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: RFalvo69

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

ORIGINAL: Grognerd_INC

I've always had the notion to try my favorite foods "in country" - Italian food in Italy - Chinese food in China and so on. Have a feeling it's all been heavily modified from the originating country. I'd put that on my bucket list but I already know that's way out of budget...

Would Italian food at an Italian restaurante in Germany operated by Italians count as the same as Italian food in Italy?

The problem with "Italian food" is that it doesn't exists. It would be more correct to speak about Italian regional food, and, in many cases, Italian provincial food. Consider Lombardy: Milanese food is different than Pavia's food (less than one hour drive south of Milan). And, if you go further south, the Oltrepò wine country's food is even more its own thing (with some recipes partially imported from the Riviera). In Tuscany you find a different kind of cuisine every few kilometres... (I love all of them anyway).

This is why when you go out to eat with your friends here in Italy you still have the choice to go to a "Tuscan" restaurant, or "Roman" restaurant or a variety of other choices. This has nothing to do with the quality of the food or the talent of the owners.

So, an "Italian" restaurant in a foreign country can be, usually, one of these two things: a restaurant with a sort of "best of" from various parts of Italy or a regional restaurant that may or may not advertise itself as such. In Paris I once stumbled into a Sicilian restaurant in a corner on the Rive Gauche, and there is a Roman restaurant on the Champs-Élysées, but most of the time I guess it is easier to label yourself as "Italian" and smile.

I that the restaurant was "Roman" due to its name, Alt Roma, plus the fact that it had a female wolf (if I used the proper name for that animal it would probably be blocked) that had two toddlers around it, one reaching up with the mouth to nurse.

But yes, around here there is a Trentini club for people whose ancestors came from that area and I think that would have a more "German/Austrian" influence and use white sauce and butter instead of olive oil and tomatoes.

[Anonymous]

[Deleted by Admins]

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: Grognerd_INC

Ok, I read what you wrote and I understand what you mean. I stand corrected. But it means in my imaginary trip to Italy I'd definitely have to stay longer to sample a good deal of it!

You would have to take a trip all over Italy to sample the delicious regional foods. You could even to to the rural Trieste area to possibly get Sarmas and poticas! [:'(]

The same with Germany/Austria as well. There are at least five different basic types of bratwurst!

[RFalvo69]

ORIGINAL: Grognerd_INC

Ok, I read what you wrote and I understand what you mean. I stand corrected. But it means in my imaginary trip to Italy I'd definitely have to stay longer to sample a good deal of it!

There are "food itineraries" for this. You enjoy the art, the culture and the food - and then move on the next leg.

Not a good topic for current times, unfortunately [:(]

[gamer78]

ORIGINAL: RFalvo69

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

ORIGINAL: Grognerd_INC

I've always had the notion to try my favorite foods "in country" - Italian food in Italy - Chinese food in China and so on. Have a feeling it's all been heavily modified from the originating country. I'd put that on my bucket list but I already know that's way out of budget...

Would Italian food at an Italian restaurante in Germany operated by Italians count as the same as Italian food in Italy?

The problem with "Italian food" is that it doesn't exists. It would be more correct to speak about Italian regional food, and, in many cases, Italian provincial food. Consider Lombardy: Milanese food is different than Pavia's food (less than one hour drive south of Milan). And, if you go further south, the Oltrepò wine country's food is even more its own thing (with some recipes partially imported from the Riviera). In Tuscany you find a different kind of cuisine every few kilometres... (I love all of them anyway).

This is why when you go out to eat with your friends here in Italy you still have the choice to go to a "Tuscan" restaurant, or "Roman" restaurant or a variety of other choices. This has nothing to do with the quality of the food or the talent of the owners.

So, an "Italian" restaurant in a foreign country can be, usually, one of these two things: a restaurant with a sort of "best of" from various parts of Italy or a regional restaurant that may or may not advertise itself as such. In Paris I once stumbled into a Sicilian restaurant in a corner on the Rive Gauche, and there is a Roman restaurant on the Champs-Élysées, but most of the time I guess it is easier to label yourself as "Italian" and smile.

I believe it is very similar for most countries. Big India or my example from Turkey; Aegean food is different than Black Sea region north, Caucasus to east the and south east regions. And in Berlin 'Döner Kebap' could be different than in traditional form. But ingredients are important and less on chefs origin. In a foreign country chefs could add according to taste in that country.