What are you Baking the Week of July 4, 2021?

[Mike Nolan]

The rolls I made the other day make good sandwich rolls, though I think I'll keep looking for better options for Italian Beef.

[Mike Nolan]

BA, the recipe you posted is essentially the same as the one that was on the cardboard liner of the pan I have, though the instructions might be slightly different.

I think I will make a batch of these tomorrow.

[BakerAunt]

I did not write down the instructions verbatim. There were instructions on how to shape the rolls.

It could also be that any problem in the printed recipe was fixed between when I bought my pan and you bought yours. If I locate my original copies, I will compare the two.

[Mike Nolan]

Today I'm making a batch of sandwich rolls using the recipe that came with the Chicago Metallic pan, plus a batch of semolina bread, still tinkering around with the semolina-AP ratio a bit.

[BakerAunt]

On Saturday, I baked another recipe from Elena Paravantes’ blog Olive Tomato: Authentic Italian Lemon and Ricotta Cookies (no butter).

Authentic Italian Lemon and Ricotta Cookies

I replaced half of the AP flour (used Gold Medal) with half white whole wheat flour. I used low-fat ricotta, and I used 7.5 oz. rather than 8 oz., because it comes in a 15 oz. container, and I want to be able to use the other half either to bake this recipe again or to try another. I used a large egg rather than a medium, as large eggs are what I have on hand. I shaped the cookies with a Zeroll #40 scoop (she specifies about a tablespoon each), and I ended up with 29 rather than 25, which is fine by me. I baked them on heavy baking sheets, on the third rack up (somewhat above center).

The cookies are cakey and not too sweet. My husband ate three in a row and remarked that they would make a good snack. They would go well with coffee or tea. I didn't sprinkle powdered sugar over them, but I would definitely do so for a festive cookie plate.

[Janiebakes]

Those are some fine looking cookies, BA.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Violet and I made her birthday cake - Duff Goldman white, confetti cake. It's like the Cake Bible White Velvet cake but with a ton of sprinkles in and on top of the cake. I've figured out how to work with Violet. I had everything pre-measured before she came home from camp and she mixed everything up. We only had to make the cake once and we were both happy.

I think I will cut the sugar some next time as the sprinkles add sweetness. Duff's recipes in general are very sweet).

I frosted it instead of Kate. I froze the layers the night before. Then I did a crumb coat and chilled it followed by a smooth layer and then piped scallops around the top and bottom. First time I've used a piping bag in years.

Mike - if you come up with a good Italian beef recipe I'll happily try it. I've been looking for one off and on for several years and never found one. It's only in the last couple years I've seen them at all as people begin to realize there is more to Chicago Cuisine than deep dish pizza and Vienna hot dogs with poppy seed buns.

And speaking of deep dish pizza I found this article debunking the Ike Sewell story which I never believed in the first place.

[Mike Nolan]

Ike tended to embellish his stories over time, the fact that he had his dates off by a few months isn't terribly persuasive.

Back when I was living in Chicago in the 70's, I knew one of the editors and business manager of Chicago Magazine (he was a fellow chess player), and even pitched him on the idea of a 'casual dining' food column for the magazine to complement the fine dining one. We decided to move to Nebraska before he could get the OK for the column, which did show up in the magazine a year or two later.

There was a lengthy story in the magazine on Chicago pizza around 1977, as I recall it divided Chicago pizza into 5 styles (I reviewed an early draft and I thought 7 was more accurate.) It was more a 'state of the pie' article than a historical treatise, though it did delve into the question of whether Nancy's invented stuffed pizza or the original Giordano's did. (My vote would have been for Nancy's.)

I'll have to ask my son what recipe he uses for his Italian beef, when he was taking it to his friend's now-closed restaurant for slicing (the restaurant served Italian beef), the owner told him his recipe was pretty good. I think he does it in an Instant Pot. I've made the Jeff Mauro recipe from scratch several times, it was pretty good but probably would have been much better if I could have sliced it thinner.

I tried the Serious Eats idea of buying pre-sliced meat, I think it has potential, but the real challenge with it is that the deli counters here only have roast beef that has been seasoned with garlic, so my wife either has to cut off the edges (it is probably a rub that doesn't get very far in) or eat something else.

If my wife sticks with her new food regime, with 2 servings of protein at each meal, I may buy a slicer, my son bought a "Chefs Choice" slicer on Amazon recently.

[Mike Nolan]

My son says he more or less uses this recipe:
Italian Beef

He adds: with some tips I found elsewhere on jus temp, etc.

I ate Italian Beef for lunch nearly every day for about five years, so I'm definitely a fan.

Italian Beef fans will argue at lengths over Al's vs Mr. Beef vs Buona vs Portillos (and a few other candidates for 'best Italian beef'), as well as over how wet it should be (sopping!) and what toppings to use. When I was younger I liked it with the sport peppers, but these days I'm more a fan of sweet peppers. Giardiniera is IMHO a more recent addition to the mix, I can get it locally (in mild or hot versions), but it is kind of oily.

[cwcdesign]

Ike Sewell was a friend of my FIL and the story I heard was that he came back from the war with the pizza idea. My FIL had been asked to be an investor (I think in Uno) but declined. My understanding was that the dressing was really his wife’s recipe. But, I heard that many years ago from my husband. In the early 80s when Uno was expanding the Sewalls came and took them out to an opening in Florida in a limo. My husband was able to join them since he was visiting his parents. I can’t remember if I was in Winter Park packing the house or in Massachusetts, but I missed it nonetheless.

I have no idea where the truth lies.

[Author]

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