Conference turris::cooks

    Actual Sicilian pizza is made from bread dough that is placed in
    a square pan (like a cookie sheet) and allowed to raise to just
    over the edges of the pan.  The dough is then brushed with olive
    oil and slivers of garlic cloves are pushed down into the dough.
     Some are made with chunks of pork rind an green pepper, also.
    Sprinkle lightly with regular table salt.                          
    
    You just cook the flavored bread like pizza and cut it into 1" strips
    the length of the pan and eat it that way...kinda like Crazy Bread
    from Little Caesar's.

    It sounds a little like Calzone.  It's sort of a folded-over pizza.
    You roll out the dough, fill it with whatever you choose (I use
    fresh mushrooms, provolone, and prosciutto), fold it in half and
    bake it.  Pardon my ignorance, but what's "fromage blanc"? Translated
    it means "white cheese", but is it some specific type of cheese,
    or "any" white meltable cheese?
    Sarah
    

    Pizza need not have tomato sauce to be pizza. 

    Pizza is a flat bread that predates the Romans.  Tomatoes did not
    become common in Italy until the mid 1800's.  So the early pizze had,
    and many modern pizza have, rather simple toppings that varied from
    nothing to only oil to combinations of three or four non-dominating
    items.  What we Americans think of as pizza is more properly called
    "pizza alla Napoletana", although that term could be restricted now to
    a topping of tomatoes, oregano, anchovies, mozzarella, and oil.
    Without the anchovies and with basil instead of oregano, it is "pizza
    Margherita".  Pizza without tomato is broadly classed as "pizza in
    Bianca", white pizza; the pizza described in .1 with only slivers of
    garlic and olive oil is "pizza con Olio e Aglio". 

    Pizza along the northwest coast tends to use onion as a prime
    ingredient; the French terms in your recipe would seem to support that
    origin.  Assuming that fromage blanc is a young white cheese, then I
    think your mystery dish could be called "pizza con La Mozzarella e
    Cipolla".  The addition of fresh cream and bacon would seem to be
    variations. 

    Calzoni and sfinciuni are closed variations of the open pizza.
    Pizzelle, calzoncelli, and panzarotti are miniature, deep-fried
    relatives of calzoni. 

    Well I blew it on "creme fraiche".  It isn't fresh cream.  It is a
    magic result of taking cream with at least 60% butterfat and fermenting
    it (perhaps in some special way) for two or three weeks.  The result
    supposedly has a zing (like yogurt maybe?).  When blended with other
    ingredients, it thicken rather than thins the result. 

    Now if we could find out if fromage blanc is something other than white
    cheese.
    
    Karen, can you tell us more about your source? 

>    magic result of taking cream with at least 60% butterfat and fermenting
>    it (perhaps in some special way) for two or three weeks.  The result
>    supposedly has a zing (like yogurt maybe?).  When blended with other
>    ingredients, it thicken rather than thins the result. 

Weeks?...My sources say the rich cream is left at room temperature with the
fraiche culture in it for hours.  My french cookbook says something
like 48 hours  :^).  You can buy it already "fraiche"d in some yuppie
markets around here - Cosentino's in San Jose for one.

Fromage Blanc may be referring to the "triple cream" cheeses that we
get in markets under brand names like Alouete.  Generally the cheese is a
very rich, soft cheese with herbs added.  I'm sure you can get it without
added herbs from a cheese shop.

	Anyway, it sounds terrific whatever the cheese is...

    Another yuppie market that carries it is Draeger's in Menlo Park.
    I guess you East coast folks will just have to suffer along without
    it.

    According to "The Cheese Book", fromage blanc is sour milk poured
    into a cheesecloth bag and drained of its whey.  When the result
    is eaten with salt and pepper, t's called fromage blanc.  When heavily
    sugared and eaten with sweet cream, it's called fromage a la creme.
    

    
    
      rep .9 has it right, fromage blanc has the consistency of a thick
    sour cream. It is usually eaten for breakfast in France but I've
    seen it served as the fromage course during dinner. My quess is
    that you could reproduce the taste and texture by taking cream cheese
    and "thinning" it with alittle buttermilk until it has the consistency
    of a thick sour cream. I have a recipe for a cheesecake made with
    fromage blanc but it never tasted as good as one made with cream
    cheese if anybody is interested.
    
    
       -mike
    

    I think that the Frugal Gourmet has a recipe in his first book that
    might approximate this.  I seem to recall that it involves putting
    plain yogurt into a cheese cloth bag and hanging it over the sink for
    some amount of time to drain the liquid out of it.  This might be a
    little sharper that the real thing.
    
    

    According to "From Julia Child's Kitchen", ISBN 0-394-48071-6, 
    pages 500-501, on Creme Fraiche: 

    ".. akin to our sour cream but much less acid ... higher buttertfat" 

    ".. make a reasonable facsimile ... using heavy cream and  ... sour
    cream ... let sit until ... thickened  ... then .. refrigerated" 

    "Why bother"? --- have a dab when you want it.  Tastes good. 

    Not really essential to French cooking. 

    To make: 

	Blend one part sour cream with two parts heavy cream.
	Let sit at 75 degrees for 6 to 8 hours or overnight.
	Stir, cover, and refrigerate.

	Before it is all used up, blend in heavy cream alone and 
    	allow to ferment again.  (The old inoculates the new.)

    re  Note 1000.9 by Karen Kolling, 
	"fromage blanc is sour milk ... drained of its whey"

    This is what I would have called "cottage cheese" here in New England.
    Cottage cheese is whole or skim milk that has been soured by culture
    inoculation or by an organic acid such as lemon juice and then
    separated from the whey with warmth but with little or no rennet.
    Excessive acid is rinsed from the curds, and the cheese is eaten fresh
    without ripening. 

    Our cheese book by Flake, "Kitchen Cheesemaking", ISBN 0-8117-2108-6,
    has directions on page 88 for the Hispanic "Queso Blanco".  The milk is
    heated to about 185 F., and lemon or lime juice is added until the milk
    curdles.  The curd is tiny and must be drained in a fine cloth.  The
    taste is supposed to be quite acidic; that characteristic plus the fine
    texture might reconcile the reference by Karen with the observation of
    Mike Wolinski, our local ex-resident of France.  In reply 1000.10 Mike
    reports that "fromage blanc has the consistency of a thick sour cream."
    Our local cottage cheese has a larger curd.

Re:  .8

	The East Coast most certainly has its own supplies of creme
fraiche, not unheard of at all!  

	For those in the MA region one source is Idylewilde (sp?) 
Farm in Acton -- they carry it in their dairy case.  They might be 
a good place to look for fromage blanc (whatever it is...) since 
they have quite an extensive selection of cheese and have a lot of
'gourmet' ingredients.  



Jan    who_has_always_wondered_how_to_use_creme_fraiche

    
    
     rep .14
    
      You can use creme fraiche for any recipe that calls for cream.
    It's big advantage in my mind is that it doesn't curdle like most
    cream when added to very hot dishes, sauces, ...
    
    
      -mike
    

    
    More on creme fraiche----
    
    I have not been without 1 cup or more of creme fraiche lurking in
    the secret part of the fridge (that being, away from where my 12-
    year old son normally forages) for the past 15 years.  It is really
    incredible how many uses this delightful creme has.  It has been
    stirred into assortments of waffles, pancakes mixes, cake mixes,
    you name it, I've tried it with creme fraiche.  Because it is a
    nice departure from traditional creams, I've been using a spoonful
    on sourdough pancakes (mine, that is) for years. 
    
    Want to add a little zip to your fried chicken gravy? Easy-- right
    toward the end of the stirring, while you are praying your gravy
    will thicken before your children eat the tablecloth off the table,
    stir in a dollop of creme fraiche while you are gently whisking
    the gravy around the skillet (don't do it too early, 'cause you
    will notice a great difference in the resulting taste of the gravy--
    not bad, just different. Also, don't use much, just 1-2 TBS.)
    
    Experiment with creme fraiche--don't just let the unused portion
    turn rainbow colors in the fridge (that does take a while, by the
    way!)!
    
    Mac
    

    
    	Help... I've forgotten the name of the Italian "meat pizza" that
    	is really along the lines of a meat pie made with proscuitto,
    	capacolla, ricotta and a mixture of other strong Italian deli meats.

    	It's popular both in southern Italy and in the Italian community in
    	Boston's North End. I've forgotten the Italian name for it.

    	Anyone remember?

    	-Erik

>    	Help... I've forgotten the name of the Italian "meat pizza" that
>    	is really along the lines of a meat pie made with proscuitto,
>    	capacolla, ricotta and a mixture of other strong Italian deli meats.
    
 	The name of this dish is "pizza geana." I have no idea how it's
    	spelled, but it's pronounced 'gay-nah'...
    
        -Erik