Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Coming Wednesday: Steaks and (bad) pizza


Yes, that is a Chef Boyardee pizza made from a boxed kit. And yes, I made it (and ate it). It's part of our Father's Day tribute in Wednesday's Food section.

Don't worry, we have better food in honor of fathers, too: Experts Walter Royal of the Angus Barn, Robert Brener of Johnson & Wales and Vic Giroux of What's Your Beef share their tips for grilling the perfect steak.

Also: Whether it's OK to eat fruit on an empty stomach, and recipes for Green Goddess dressing, turkey wraps and bacon blue-cheese burgers.

Look for it all on Wednesday at www.charlotteobserver.com/food.

9 comments:

  1. Hi Kat. I'm very sorry to see thaqt you also got suckered into making "pizza from a box".

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  2. Oh, I wasn't suckered. I knew exactly what I was getting into. In my column tomorrow, I'll explain why.

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  4. WOW! I have not made one of those since sometime in the 70s. We were young,poor students and would most anything that was cheap.

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  5. I'll always have soft spot for the mediocre Chef Boy-ar-dee (sp?) pizza from when my mom would make it as a kid. She'd cook the sausage to put on the pizza and then have to keep me away from just dipping the sausage in the tomato sauce and eating that before she could throw the pie in the oven. That was good stuff. :-)

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  6. Chef Boyardee was a big part of our family's menu. I was lucky enough to walk home from school for lunch and ate countless cans of ravioli and spaghetti.

    My dad also discovered pizza in WWII - but we lived in Harrisburg, PA - and there was a little neighborhood tavern owned by another WWII vet that made wonderful pizza. My dad would take me with him to sit in the dark bar waiting for our takeout order of that big, beautiful pie. He would drink a beer and I would have a Coke - I was so happy to be with him. I still think of that perfect pizza - slightly burned crust with large squares of mozzarella baked on top of the rich tomato sauce - dusted with parmesan.

    Despite the availability of real pizza, my mom relied on Chef Boyardee spaghetti in a box. She'd serve it with garlic toast made from Lawry's spread on a loaf of Sunbeam Italian. There would be a salad with Kraft Italian (which I secretly drank from the bottle)and she would bring out her special Italian table decor - a candle in a Chianti bottle.

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  7. Love this post. We frequently had the box pizza on Friday nights in rural N Fla back in the early 60s. It was a special treat. No pizza parlors in those times and location. Thanks for the memories.

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  8. In the 60s/70s, my Mom and I would make a Chef Boyardee box pizza every Saturday night. Then, my parents and I would eat it while watching The Lawrence Welk Show. I still make one about once a month. I pre-cook the crust to make it thin and crispy and use organic cheese and local vegetables and herbs. The unhealthy flour, the weird parmesan dust, and the salty, but addictive, sauce in a tin can added to fresh produce makes for a combination that I really enjoy. Although I dine at a lot of ethnic eateries and upscale restaurants, on a weekly basis, when it comes to pizza, I'm far happier just eating a Chef Boyardee box pizza. Thanks for a great article.

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