Baking Pies and Best of ... Pizza!

Chefs are arriving back from Italy where I hear we had a terrific Terra Madre contingent. More importantly, Indiana was well recognized as being ahead of the game when it comes to producing and eating local ingredients. More as it comes (and we might even have a few guest posts.)

* How to Cook a Pie? Pastry Chef Joseph Alford will teach you how to make a perfect pumpkin pie in a cooking class at Pikk's Tavern, 12:00 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 22. $24.99 per person. Call Pikk's to reserve a spot.

** More turkeys: Jonah's Market is taking orders for fresh turkeys until Nov. 7. Planning ahead isn't too bad -- check your other turkey options, too including Joe's Butcher Shop, Goose, the Market, and The Good Earth for their order deadlines.

* Dine's Best of .... Pizza! Want to see who won our Best of... Pizza tasting for Indianapolis dine magazine? They've posted video with the top 10 high scoring pies. (Click on "Best of" video link.) Aside from the great shots of my arm (mmm, yummy), you'll should also note how low the overall scores were out of 100 points. (More on the losers.)

Best Pizza?

To the reader who asked about pizzas, I thought we'd had an open thread on best pizzas in Indy but I couldn't find it in a quick search. Certainly, the topic has come up time and time again. Feel free to chime in on who you think is the best. I can't reveal any results from the Dine judging, but I can say this -- after tasting 53 entries:

1) If you're going to be innovative with pizza (salad on pizza, smoked fish, strange sauces, non-standard crust), you'd better knock it out of the park. Also, do some research because what you may think is "gourmet" pizza may be just a really bad idea. And we definitely tasted some bad ideas yesterday.

2) Crust is everything. Really, restaurant supply rolled out dough? Undercooked? Come on.

3) I'm so over whole basil leaves. They look unappealing after they've been smothered in cheese and baked. And you know that heat changes the taste, right?

4) Mustard has no place on pizza. Especially not honey mustard.

5) We taste blind and were hoping for some hidden finds, but after we were finished, none of us really could be surprised when a few known names popped up as the best. Of course, a couple of known names aren't doing such a great job, either.

6) People, this is a competition! Why do you send oversalted, burned, or poorly constructed dishes to the judges?! Every time we get these entries, I'm mystified. Then depressed.

But if we learned anything in considering pizza to such a detailed degree -- from the yeast content in the crust to the quality of the cheese -- one thing was clear: Pizza is a complete dish, not complete in the nutritional sense, but complete in that it should taste great as one integrated bite of crust, toppings, sauce and cheese. Whether weird or not, traditional or new age, the pizzas that did well delivered on this promise. And to be fair, we tasted some good pies.

Tasting Best Of...for Dine

I expect to spend this evening in a food coma. We're judging "Best of..." today for Indianapolis Dine, our quarterly snarf fest of some of Indinapolis' best dishes. This time around? 54 entries of pizza. We taste blind with no knowledge of who's who until after we're all finished. I have faith in Indy's many tremendous pizza makers and best of luck to all!

Three Latest and Best

Hey, kids, I ran a half marathon today! Where were you?! (I hurt, but I finished.)

Best of...Quiche: After the protein-filled day I had yesterday judging Best of...Quiche for Indianapolis dine magazine, I'm feeling pretty healthy -- even though we did try nearly 30! There were some good ones (and, let's be frank, some pretty awful ones -- blind bake your crusts, people!) so look for the results in an upcoming issue. As usual, it was a great time and we were joined by pastry chef extraordinaire Joseph Allford. (For those of you who've asked, Joseph is teaching at the International Culinary School for Chef Marc Aguilara and loving it as well as making wedding cakes a few days a week at Rene's Bakery.)

Wines from CG di Arie: Thanks to David Davis of World of Wines for the invitation to meet the folks from CG di Arie in California's foothills. Sure, the owner invented Cap'n Crunch and pourable Hidden Valley Ranch dressing, but don't let that deter you. They're making huge wines with finesse from grapes you don't see much of in Northern California. My favorites? The soft, but yet robust Amador County Barbera, a polished and elegant Primitivo (Block 4 Estate, Shenandoah Valley), a Rose with some balls (Estate Grown , Shenandoah Valley), and a range of Zins and Syrahs from the elegant and technical to the flamboyant and delicious. Look for these wines at finer wine shops in the next few weeks.

Pear Cider, Ahh, Memories: We all know the power smell and taste has to bring back memories. Foraging at Marsh, the other day, I picked up Woodchuck Pear Cider -- and I was transported. It brought back the ramshackle Bay View Boat Club (down by The Ramp in South San Francisco for you know the area) where we used to spend hot afternoons after boat racing with sweet, cold pear cider on tap. Ahh, Summer.

What I Learned in Indianapolis Dine

Whoa, didn't mean to take the whole weekend off from posting, but I was eating cheese. A week or so late, but here's what I learned in the latest issue of Indianapolis Dine magazine.

Flat Food is Alive and Well: Remember the scene in Doug Coupland's book Microserfts where the programmers go to the grocery store looking for food to slide under their colleague's office door? Flat food lives -- although certainly featuring a few more upscale items. Mmm. Braseola.

Vosges Cocoa: Who knew? Vosges makes a Bianca White Chocolate Cocoa with hints of meyer lemon and lavender. $19.50 for a one pound box @ The Goose.

Taste of the NFL: Elements chef Greg Hardesty heads to Arizona on Feb 2 to represent Indianapolis for a second year in the Taste of the NFL, a pre-Super Bowl fundraiser where each team is represented by a chef and dish. Looking for the recipe for his Pigskin and Duck Confit? Check out the 2008 Restaurant Guide and Recipe Book from Tasteofthenfl.com. (Hardesty's recommended restaurants include H2O Sushi (his former place), Taste Cafe, Oakley's Bistro, RBistro, and Restaurant Tallent.)

Foodies Unite! Check out the fun article on Chaine des Rotisseurs and Holly Banta -- one of my favorite foodies in town. It's true. More people are eating together and appreciating good food. Make that a resolution this year. Get together with like minded friends and cook a meal together.

What I Learned in this Month's Dine Magazine

Absinthe is really legal? Apparently so, since testing shows that most commercial brands of absinthe carry legal quantities of the banned chemical (thujone) found in wormwood. Fans will tell you hand crafted absinthe, even by a trusted and experienced herbalist, can still be dangerous. But if you've been wanting to try a trusted brand, it should be easier to find. Who knew?

Blank of the Month Clubs: I've always loved the idea of ___ of the Month clubs. They're gifts that keep on giving year round. And today, they're moving past wine, chocolate, and flowers into the realms of coffee, olives, loose-leaf tea, and even cheese-and-wine (from our local Frasiers). Also, there's a nice mention of Artisanal in NYC, the cheese shop that's come up in many conversations in the past few weeks. I've heard more than a few foodies swear by them for mail ordering of hard to find and region specific cheeses. (On their website, you can search for and sort cheeses by milk type, country, and wine pairing.)

Best of Indy -- Pies: With pies, I didn't post a long analysis after judging like I usually do. Frankly, we had such a fun panel and we were all so sugar-fueled, all I remember of that day was just manic tasting, laughing, talking, and making some notes. I suspect all of my comments were gibberish after 34 pies. (I calculated later that I ate the equivalent of an entire pie *myself*. And was still hungry 2 hours later.) But really, how can an afternoon with judges like Krissy Tallent, uber-foodie Bob Whitt, and Pierre Giacometti not be a blast? We taste blind with a "reveal" at the end after we've turned in all our scores and we were pleasantly surprised that Peterson's pastry chef Joseph Allford blew us away with his two wining pies. (He didn't blow us away with his third entry -- a strange blueberry and banana concoction, but that's the life of a pie maker, I suppose.) Along the way, as usual, I learned a ton about baking, assembly processes, the qualities of lard and butter crusts, good fruit, bad fruit, and what works in the realm of fillings. The vast majority of the pies we had were just much too sweet (like chocolate crust, chocolate filling, and chocolate candy). One judge found a pastry tip in her piece of pie (oops!). And I also learned that pastry chefs who work with dairy toppings must have a pristine refrigerator. Toppings pick up all kinds of tastes and odors not great for your pie. All in all, it was a great day, and I may be making a trek up to Mama Bear's for that terrific berry pie this fall. That was one I could have eaten all on my own -- with no prompting.

Great Minds Think Alike! After my own visit there a week or two ago, it was such a treat to see the write up on Sandra Rice and Noodle, the fresh, new Vietnamese restaurant on Pendleton Pike. Sang Nguyen came out and chatted with us the day we were there making spot on menu recommendations. It's nice to see their interesting story and philosophy on food in print.

What I Learned in Indinapolis Dine

I always learn lots in Dine mag, but flipping through the newest issue, I found a few noteworthy tidbits worth sharing:

Zen Green Tea Liquor: I'm so glad this incredibly unique liquor has finally made it to town. We first had it at Proof on Main (or something like it) in their cocktail where it paired with chambourd for a tasty "iced tea" cocktail. It's the essence of green tea especially lovely over ice and mixed with any number of other fruit mixers. Delish! (Find it at Kahn's)

Indiana's Popcorn! I had no idea there were 13 different kinds of popcorn, let alone 13 grown in Indiana alone. This handy primer makes me want to clip it and hang it in the kitchen for reference. Or more likely, just make popcorn!

What's In Your Market Box? Everyone's talking about Farm Fresh Delivery! Common in other cities, Indianapolis finally has a market box service based on the community farming concept. Here's how it works -- you join for free, then use their online ordering to create a standing order for organic and local farm fresh fruit and veg. Prices can range from $25-50 an order. (You can also add in meat, dairy, and other items.) You're fresh produce arrives in bin which they reuse each time. There are various other community farm programs popping up around the area. (Some work from a slightly different model requiring a one time buy-in fee that gets you a weekly box of fresh veg all summer long!) It's great to see more options for eating local.

Yat's! Joe gives up the recipe for the chili-cheese etouffee, but be warned, it's complicated! It might be easier -- and cheaper -- to just head down to Yat's for a pre-made version of this crawfish laden treat. Who knew it was his ode to Wisconsin?

Pizza and PIE!

Hey, kids! Work, real life, excuses, excuses. But you know I'm climbing out of the bunker when I have what I had for dinner last night -- Mo's wedge salad with *extra* bacon!

Pizza pizza: I've owned several of the individual size pizza stones for *years* and can I say how much I still love them? They're stained and blackened from drips of oil and sauce. They're sometimes crusty after use and I scrape them and soak in plain water. But no matter how they look after years of use, they still work perfectly, giving pizzas a perfectly crisp crust every time. I like thin crusts and I use a lot of cornmeal (all helping with the crispy factor), but my little pizza stones continually preheat well, hold heat, and in general get the job done. On Sunday night, had a (mostly) delightful evening on a friend's deck with pizzas and all my favorite fixins! Perfect! (It helps, too, to have an easy and foolproof crust recipe.)

"Any day is a good day for PIE!" Favorite Pulp Fiction quotes aside, today is pie day at Dine magazine! We'll be tasting and judging pies all afternoon and I'm hoping for some great fruit pies celebrating summer! Cherry, blueberry, strawberry-rhubarb! And don't forget the cream pies -- chocolate and coconut cream (with the ever important whipped cream versus meringue debate). And there will be the Indiana favorites, I'm sure -- buttermilk and sugar cream pies. If anyone needs me later in the day, I'll be home in a sugar coma.

Recipe Testing for Indianapolis DINE

Ten years ago here at the CIA, the students were in an uproar because there were dozens of kitchens on campus, but none that students had access to outside of class. They were complaining that they did not have anywhere to practice and study if they did not live on campus. While, the college remedied that by installing kitchens in each of the dorms and having them staffed by work study students for several hours each day.

I had the opportunity to use those kitchens this weekend. I was recipe testing for Indianapolis DINE. It's a gig that I have been doing for several years. Indianapolis DINE receives recipes from different chefs and then makes them usable in the home kitchen. Sounds easy, but it isn't. There are two big problems: one, most restaurants don't use cups and tablespoons, we use scales. The second problem is that a lot of places don't use recipes. Ask a chef how to make something and they will most likely rattle off a list of ingredients, the rest is left implied.

So, step 1, Casey at DINE get the recipes and will write in a lot of things that seem to be left out. She then sends them to me where I actually cook everything. In the process I try to convert the weights to measures and the temperature levels to be compatible with a home stove. And, frequently, rewrite the text, add little ingredients, etc.

So I spent about 4 hours hunting down all of the ingredients (this is normal when trying to find some obscure ingredients). Then I rolled into the dorm kitchen loaded down. The kitchen was also loaded down, with 18 - 21-year-old students. What I quickly realized was that this is where the students went if they did not look 21. They were all cooking in little groups, talking about different foods and experimenting. This is the first time since I have been here that I think the younger students are getting a better education. They were learning from each other.

When they found out I was stocked with a plethora of Cuban recipes and ingredients, they dove in. In no time, with the promise being able to eat what they made, the CIA youth were cooking Cuban. We cooked and edited 24 recipes. I loved seeing these kids cooking and critically evaluating the foods. We used techniques that were new to me, such as escabeche and played with ingredients such as malanga. You will have to look for the next issue of Indianapolis DINE to see the wonderful foods you can create from these Cuban recipes.

Dine, Salads, and Work

Hey, kids, I haven't forgotten about you. It's been a busy week! Yesterday, I took the afternoon off and judged Indy's Best Of... for Indianapolis Dine magazine. The theme? Sandwich spread salads. And man, did we taste a bunch of them. We worked our way through more than 40 egg, tuna, and ham salads (plus one seafood salad and a pimento cheese spread) scoring each on a 100 point scale as we went. I'm taking today off to have lower my cholesterol from all the mayo.

I'll have lots of goodies for you in the next few days. And a oven baked potato chips on the agenda for the weekend. In the meantime, it's Friday. Eat something!

More Soup for You! Tasting for Dine

I've finally recovered from all the soup we tasted last week while judging Dine Magazine's Best of Indy. While I can't give away any advance information, the experience was a great course on the basics of what makes great soup --and more importantly, how many ways there are to screw it up. Soup isn't easy to make. Great soup is a subtle art and one of the hardest dishes for home cooks and professional chefs to learn correctly. Even great chefs get nervous when they can't oversee every aspect of its preparation and presentation. But as we learned last week, a technically correct soup can travel, be rewarmed, garnished and present incredibly well even without a chef on site supervising (or "soup"-ervising, as it were). In the end, quality and technique will out every time. We were very impressed with the wide range of establishments who did great soup and the wide variety of soups we tasted -- everything from delicate purees and broths to hearty chowders and chilies.

How did it work? We scored each soup on a 100-point scale with differently weighted categories for appearance, aroma, texture/consistency, flavor, and overall impression. While you'll have to read the upcoming Dine issue for the individual best soups, I can describe what I felt were the most ongoing, consistent problems we saw in the roughly 75 soups we judged:

* Too much salt! I'm a believer that most soup is woefully undersalted, but my o my did we a taste a lot of soup that was so salty, the original flavor of the ingredients was completely lost. The problems were most prevalent in bisques (the omnipresent over-salted lobster bisque), cream soups, and soups involving potatoes. When you're spicing, try backing off just a bit to let the real flavor come through. Keep in mind if your natural ingredients are already heavy in salt.

* Too much heat! Who says Hoosiers don't like spicy food. I was amazed by the prevalence of hot spice in the vast majority of soups we tasted, many too spicy to eat. I have nothing against peppers -- from cayenne to poblano -- but once you're gone too far spicing your soup with heat, there's nothing that can be done. Always go easy on the spice -- and keep cleansing your palatte between tastings if you're adjusting for heat. Your own tongue can get coated and you become oblivious to a flavor that will be most unenjoyable for your guests. (Also remember that if you have allergies or smoke, your taste buds may be dulled. Have someone else check it out for you.)

*Not enough of a flavor base to hold heat: If you're going to add heat to your soup whether fresh, roasted, or powdered chilies, you must have a flavor base that will hold it such as a sweetness. Sweet isn't the only option, savory can work too, but you need a base to hold the spice and give it depth. Otherwise, you just get a flat, unpleasant hotness.

*Out of season ingredients: Be aware that corn in the winter isn't going to be as sweet as fresh corn in summer, so it's going to affect your corn chowder. Asparagus isn't as flavorful, and artichokes aren't even available. Tomatoes can be found, but you have to be careful. Try to use in-season veggies for your seasonal soups. Ironically? For all the corn, tomato, and other vegetable soups we tried, we had very few if any squash, pumpkin, or zucchini-based soups.

*Canned ingredients, why? Why would you use canned anything in a soup for a competition? Tomatoes are mush, artichokes are too tangy, and beans are soft. Also, appearance matters. You're soup doesn't have to look like it was styled for Food and Wine, but it should be visually appealing. I should want to eat it! You'd be amazed at how many soups were just an unappetizing mess. Looks do matter!

*Additions: It's always great to add things to your soup but be aware of how they're cooked and how it will work with the flavors you already have. Meat and seafood should be cooked in such as way that it doesn't become tough. Pasta should be cooked then added (not cooked in the broth) and remember that how you deal with potatoes affects the amount of starch they release that can make your soup a sticky, gummy mess. If what you add, such as mushrooms or a cracker have flavor, make sure they compliment that of your soup. What that flavors blend, not clash.

*Soup is Not a Side Dish: It is also not a dip, gravy, or enchilada sauce. Your soup should be the consistency of soup, spoonable and liquid, even if it's a hearty dish like a chowder or baked potato soup. If it stays in the spoon when you try to put it in the bowl, it's technically not really a soup, no matter what you call it on the menu.

All these issues aside, we tasted an amazing number of soups from chefs all over the city and there were some stand-out stars from restaurants large and small. Thanks to all the hard working chefs who entered and thanks to the folks at Dine for asking me to judge. It was a real treat! (Although I'm glad I wasn't tapped to taste mashed potatoes or chicken wings.)

Speaking of Tasting -- Indy's Best Soup

This past couple of weeks has been a whirlwind of tastings, some my first as a judge. While it can be odd, I found that drawing on a structured points system has been a great way to use all this useless culinary knowledge. Last week, I was honored to judge wines on a panel put together by Chef Thom England at Ivy Tech, and this week, I've been one of four judges rating soup for the upcoming Dine Magazine Best of Indy. Not only have we had some interesting and delicious soups, but we've learned to pace ourselves. We'll have tasted nearly 90 soups, stews, broths, chilis, chowders, and purees by the end of this afternoon. Thanks for Dine for asking and also Chef Tony Hanslits at the brand spanking new Chef's Academy for hosting us.

(And, for those who are asking, yes, it's difficult to taste so much soup! Over a four hour period yesterdat, we tasted, rated, scored, then sipped water -- because soup can be salty! We're were all stuffed at the end. On the other hand, soup is good for you, right?)