I was in Della Fattoria yesterday, one of those lovely overpriced Italian-inflected cafes of which we have so many in Northern California. The bread is chewy, the eggs all "farm," everyone sits at harvest tables reading the New York Times, quietly smiling whenever they see an allusion to president-elect Obama. I was famished and ordered the pressato of salami and fontina. I think it was fontina. Anyway, the whole ordering decision was based on a blur of treat-like images: salami, cheese, baguette, pressato.
I should have known better. I did know better! But I was in starving, go-for-all-the-delicacies mode. Here's what was wrong with that $12 (yes) sandwich.
1. Certain cheeses, particularly "good" ones, shouldn't be melted. Something terrible happens in the minute it takes for expensive cheese to go from solid to semi-solid, something that makes it too powerful, too rich. Is it related to the way the fat beads on the surface? I don't understand this phenomenon, but repeated disappointments making grilled cheese with sharp white cheddar have taught me that the better the cheese, the worse the melting experience.
2. Strong cheese and salami are too much of an exciting thing. Salami -- especially thick-cut Fra Mani salami which this was -- needs a sweet, unctuous foil like mayonnaise to set off the garlicky meat. Salami can handle Swiss cheese, which is kind of thin and sarcastic, but basically mild. It was sadly overpowered by the fontina or havarti or whatever they melted on this fancy sandwich.
Upshot: wrong sandwich made with right ingredients. I blame both the person who put it on the menu and the greedy one who ordered it.
Okay, now the happier story of the chocolate gingerbread magnificence pictured above.
After resounding success with chocolate pumpkin bread I started looking for chocolate-spice recipes with the idea that my chocolate problem might be solved by giving the ingredient something lively to play with, something that can aggressively push back. A few years ago I made Nigella Lawson's awesome chocolate gingerbread and decided to try the chocolate gingerbread in Dorie Greenspan's Baking.
I would need to taste Nigella's and Dorie's cakes side-by-side for a scientific analysis of which is more delicious (party concept?!) but have meanwhile decided that, generally speaking, chocolate gingerbread is better than either chocolate cake or gingerbread. Chocolate and ginger and dark sugars belong together, unlike salami and fancy cheese. I am groping blindly towards some larger culinary theory here and maybe in a few decades you can read about it.
Meanwhile, gratuitous picture of my beautiful niece pensively eating chocolate gingerbread:
Oddly, even though i agree with you about the melting of cheese, and warming of salami, i somehow come away from this post very hungry for exactly that sandwich, in all of it's wrongness. and of course some chocolate gingerbread cake for dessert. And its 10:30 am.
ReplyDeleteAnd the lesson here is: Eat Dessert First! I love Della Fattoria, even if they sometimes (but almost never) get it wrong...
ReplyDeleteI love Della Fattoria too, especially the Meyer lemon rosemary bread.
ReplyDeleteMeyer lemon rosemary bread?! Nom nom nom nom.
ReplyDeleteray ban, adidas, ralph lauren online, levi's jeans, tory burch sale, chanel, pandora, tiffany jewelry, air max, nike canada, nike roshe run, tiffany and co, vans, cheap oakley sunglasses, nike free 5.0, swarovski online shop, ralph lauren outlet, tommy hilfiger online, north face, jordans, longchamp, omega watches, mac cosmetics, the north face, insanity workout, michael kors outlet, oakley, air jordan retro, nike free run, toms shoes outlet, nike uk, ray-ban sunglasses, new balance outlet, ugg boots, barbour outlet, the north face, polo ralph lauren outlet online, new balance, roshe run,
ReplyDeleteJual Kelinci
ReplyDeleteKelinci
who transport the furniture in the wrong ways in unprocessed cars and this will expose the purposes to Damage will cause a lot Of financial losses, it is better to hire a specialized company in this and we offer you here one of the best furniture moving companies in the Kingdom,شركة نقل عفش
ReplyDeleteشركة نقل اثاث من الرياض الى جدة
شركة نقل عفش من الرياض الى جدة
شركة نقل عفش بالخرج
Digital Marketing Services in delhi
ReplyDeleteseo services in delhi
web development services in delhi
content marketing services in delhi
ppc services in delhi
Website Designing services in delhi
Every weekend i used to visit this web site, because i wish for enjoyment .
ReplyDeletebuy marijuana online
For the reason that this this site conations really good funny information too.
marijuana for sale
buy marijuana
buy marijuana online usa
buy marijuana online
buy weed online usa
buy weed online
marijuana for sale
order weed online
buy cannabis online
cannabis for sale
weed for sale online
weed for sale
buy pot online
buy cbd oil online
kush for sale
cbd oil for sale
dankwoods
dankwoods for sale
Hello There. I found your blog using msn.This is a very well written article . I will be sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your useful information. buy marijuana online . Thanks for the post. I will definitely return.
ReplyDeletemarijuana for sale
buy marijuana
buy marijuana online usa
buy marijuana online
buy weed online usa
buy weed online
marijuana for sale
order weed online
buy cannabis online
cannabis for sale
weed for sale online
weed for sale
buy pot online
buy cbd oil online
kush for sale
cbd oil for sale
dankwoods
dankwoods for sale