American Pie (How a Neapolitan street food became the most successful immigrant of all)

American Heritage.com ^ | April/May 2006 | Hanna Miller

[SamAdams76]

Americans have the knack for taking ethic foods and "Americanizing" them. The menu of a typical chinese restaurant barely resembles what you would actually eat in China. Ditto for Mexican and Italian restaurants.

If fact, you could say egg rolls, tacos and pizza are as American as hamburgers, hot dogs and apple pie.

[WorkingClassFilth]

I think the secret ingredient you may be lacking is the juice from the dollop of canned corn that the hairnet ladies slung onto your lunch tray right alongside the pizza.

[A knight without armor]

"Old enough" ???


It is still very much in the stores right now. There are two or three versions and you can get a single pie box or one that makes two pies.

If you make it right the crust is very good. I think it is flat and greasy plain but add your own toppings.

[A knight without armor]

I never thought my father had anything in common with Sofia Loren but he always said when he came home from WWII he could not believe Americans were eating pizza. He said in Italy is was food of the poorest people.

[angcat]

When my mom was a kid Downtown they ate Macaroni all week. A treat was Sausage on the weekends. She said they would over cook the macaroni because it would be more for the family.

[The KG9 Kid]

Before I posted my original comments here, I Googled for the 50's-era advertising for the 'Chef Boyardee Cheese Pizza Kit' that had remained unchanged at the time it was inflicted upon me as a kid. I didn't find it exactly, but I did see that Chef Boyardee still makes an updated version that doesn't resemble the original recipe.

When I was eating it as a wee tyke, it was still in the original mid-50s packaging it was introduced to America. I guess I meant to say that I'm old enough to have had firsthand experience with the 'TV Dinner'-era phenomenon.

I can't remember where I saw it, but there's a black and white TV commercial for Chef Boyardee Pizza Kit from the 50s that showed the contents exactly. Looking at that ancient grainy video, I swear I could smell and taste that sour roasted bread smell and slightly0burnt Parmesan cheese that my parents made from the kit. What memories.

To those who mentioned the small 'Mom-and-Pop' places back in New England, I know just what you mean. Although I can find great pizza and Italian dinners here in San Francisco, I don't think I've ever had pizza like I've had at a tiny strip mall pizza joint in Staten Island NYC. The best Italian food that I had overall that's never been beat was at a swanky bistro in a New Jersey township I was passing through.

I could never live East of the Rockies, but I know that you folks out there in the NorthEast have me beat hands down on this particular sort of food.

[Rte66]

Oh my! I don't know that place, but my very favorite burger in the universe for many years was also in Ardmore, OK! It was the "educated" hamburger (meaning it had cheese, lettuce, onions) at Bill & Barb's!

Must be something in the water there, lol.

[Rte66]

No kidding. Try asking for nachos some time in Mexico. "No comprende."

I had a "yen" for an old-fashioned "ethnic" home food of the 1950s earlier this year and was pleasantly surprised when I made it that it was still good and tasted the same. My dad was the cook in our house and he made "egg foo yungs" for dinner sometimes.

They were just little omelets with canned bean sprouts in them and green onions, but smothered in this wonderful brown sauce made from the pan debris from browning the omelets, plus soy sauce and cornstarch. Ha, I tried making them with fresh mung bean sprouts and found that I had to parboil them first to get that "canned" taste and mouth feel. But, yum, they were good.

[Rte66]

There was a pizza dough dry mix in the stores for quite a while that I can't find anymore. I think it was Chef Boyardee that packaged it - and it might be that same dough mix that's in those pizza kits.

I used to make the pizza kits when my oldest niece would come stay with me, when she was 2-3. That's the only thing we could count on her to eat, so we made a big production out of it. It was a fun time in the kitchen as she could "help" while I chopped all the veggies and toppings for it and she would put them on the pizza dough.

The dry mix I had been getting was so handy. I think the small canister would make 6 pizza crusts in all. You could just measure out however much you wanted to use. I don't have a stone, just used an aluminum pizza pan or even a baking sheet, for two smaller 7-8" rounds.

It took exactly 20 minutes to rise and was always perfect. I used cornmeal on the pan so the dough would stay in place when I formed it.

I'm always amazed at the folks who will plunk down $8-10 for the biggest frozen pizza from the grocery store. I've only tasted one once and never again. I will buy one of the cheaper ones and add my own Italian sausage, pepperoni, onions, sun-dried tomatoes, homemade pesto, green peppers, Feta cheese, black olives, muffuletta olive salad, and extra mozzarella, though. Yumm!

But, I still haven't found a pizza sauce, packaged or homemade recipe, that I really like and can "get behind" so it's a standby to always use.

[A knight without armor]

Yes, I think I've seen dry pizza dough mix in the store.

All this talk about Chef Boyardee pizza mix makes me want to get one for tonight. I'd add goodies on top. I learned to make the dough and let it sit covered in an oiled bowl for a good long time, usually through at least two commercial breaks! I used to try to spread it out too early and it would fight me and create holes. But leaving it alone for like you say 20 to 45 minutes makes it get so puffy and soft and it spreads beautifully. I'd add extra cheese and put the dried cheese on top. Yet I must say sometimes just the plain kit prepared and cut into small pieces makes a nice snack throughout the evening. It may not be like big delivery pizza but it hits the spot. I'll eat frozen pizzas but they have never been perfected enough for me. Frankly, I'd take the Chef Boyardee before a frozen one.

[Drew68]

I'm reminded of an old saying from my younger years, "Sex is like pizza. Even when it's bad, it's still pretty good."

I've had pizza from more numerous locations than I can count and I hate to admit that my favorite pizza still remains the deep-dish varieties from Pizza Hut. Something about the way they bake their crust is like no other.

Great article. I love reading stuff like this!

[OKIEDOC]

When I was a small child, once a month, my father would take me to Ardmore to shop for ranch supplies.

We would walk downtown and eat at a place called the Hamburger Inn that was run by an Indian called Chief.

This place was located close to the banks.

As I remember he only made hamburgers two or three ways.

He cooked his onions on the grill with the meat.

Hamburgers were 10 for a dollar.

I don't think you could buy an educated burger at his place.

There were very few places to sit so people ate out on the sidewalk.

Another good place in Oklahoma was Ms. Doveys store on the school grounds at the Davis high school.

For 25 cents you could get a chili burger, potato chips and a big Pepsi.

In todays politically correct world of blandness that could never be.

[Rte66]

Oh, I've got goosebumps. I went googling for the Hamburger Inn because I felt certain I would've eaten there at least once. I was "stuck" in Ardmore for quite a while when my ex-hubby was on a lease ticket at the courthouse and we had to eat "out" every meal for many weeks.

Sure enough, I found it. Hamburger Inn is still there and still getting raves. It is definitely the onion burger that is its claim to fame, which explains why I didn't recall it. We had a favorite onion burger place in Chickasha and since we lived in OKC at the time, it was closer when we got a craving.

But while in Ardmore, my hubby would sometimes bring sacks of burgers back to the motel - and those were from Hamburger Inn! I just never went inside and ate there - but did drive by the window a couple of times. Yummy!

We had another favorite place at the time which is gone now, but it was just for lunch - a buffet with all you can eat for $5 and they had petite filet mignons that were fork tender and perfectly cooked - I could eat 2-3. So, we were always full at lunch. That was called the Gourmet, run by Mazola, who had been the mayor of Ardmore. Her brother was named Lieutenant, lol.

What gave me goosebumps was that I found out that the cook at the Hamburger Inn (where "educated" hamburgers were first called that, by the way) was the same one who made the burgers at Bill & Barb's (now defunct) that I loved so much.

We were raving about the same burgers, except I got lettuce, mayo and fresh onions on mine, in addition! Too funny.

I don't mean to hijack this pizza thread with burger talk, but have some cool stuff I found that I'll FReepmail you.

[OKIEDOC]

I read your Freep mail and was grateful to get the information.

I sent it on to several fellow and former Okies all over.

We lived for several years on a Washita river bottom ranch up by Turner Falls.

Tell you the truth I like this part of Southern California but miss many things that Oklahoma has to offer.

[Rte66]

Oh, good - glad you enjoyed the info. I got a kick out of the overall coincidence of the onion burgers.

Wow, what a beautiful area to live in as a kid - near Turner Falls. I, on the other hand, was a kid screaming in the car 10-12 times a year as we sped past - to *please let us stop and go see the falls and go exploring*, lol.

We actually did stop from time to time and go on down to the bottom and have a picnic. Other times, the best I could do was the rock shop up on Hwy 77 and the viewing machine/telescopes to see the Falls.

Later in life, I went to a couple of church retreats in the cabin area and other times, stopped and ate trout many times at Cedarvale Gardens - what a beautiful place! Last I heard, the restaurant had closed at least a couple of years or more ago. I think they had a bad flood through the canyon down there. Some of the tables weren't more than 3 feet from the creekbank, it seemed. That must be Honey Creek.

A friend from grade school was living on a ranch near there but I missed our last HS reunion and time flies, so they may be gone from there now. Anyway, I would've loved to have lived anywhere around Davis or Sulphur at some point in my life - for a *little* while.

I didn't realize you are in SoCal. Glad you like it!

[Jeff Chandler]

never eat a hamburger north of Oklahaoma or west of Texas!

Obviously, you have never eaten a Famous Sam's burger.