VIEW SLIDESHOW: Dear Slice: Dhorst's Syracuse Pizza Party
Reaching in to the Slice mailbag, we've got ... a pizza party report from dhorst!
Dear Slice,
On a recent Saturday night, people came from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rochester, the St. Lawrence River/Albany and the Adirondacks to make pizza at my place in Syracuse. A couple of canine friends also came along and joined in on the fun, Red, "the official blog dog of Tupper Cooks!" and younger pup, Ellie, romped with Miss Ellie! It was great seeing Glenn (Tupper Cooks!) and his wife, Nancy again!
We kept it pretty fast and loose, as far as what to bring. There was dmcavanagh's smoked cheddar, polish sausage, and Martin's handmade pretzels that Dave brought with him on his way down from his camp on the St. Lawrence. He also brought a boat load of dough. Potato chips and some beautiful produce came up with Diane (diane2001v) from Pennsylvania. Anne Marie and Jack Lewis brought some homemade Chardonnay, dough, and a wonderful tomato sauce. You may remember AMLewis's MPM submission of a Dutch oven pizza. Anne Marie and Jack are masters when it comes to cooking outside.
Jenny (creativecookinggf), brought some gluten free dough from Rhode Island and made a Buffalo chicken pizza. We had her go first so it would be as gluten free as possible. Her dad, Dave Manseau from Massachusetts brought along some Angry Orchard Cider and we showed off his master carpentry skills to folks. He trimmed out our kitchen island for us and has helped us out with many other DIY projects through the years. Deanah Kim, (deanadoll) and her fiance, Casey rolled in from Rochester with some great wines, terrific hummus, an eggplant spread and a fresh corn, green bean and tomato salad. That's one gal who can cook!! You should see some of her creations over on the FB SE Water Cooler.
Cheese curds and garlic scapes from the farmer's market.
I had some Grande mozzarella, provolone, a couple of kinds of asiago, goat cheese and Parm Reg on hand, along with some hot Calabrese sopressata, mushrooms, red onion, garlic scapes, and of course some Sclafani crushed tomatoes and aleppo chile pepper. If you see a powder horn in some of the pics—well that's filled with the aleppo!We blabbed about dough, making a starter, cheese, and of course Adam, Slice, and SE. Chichi also came up with her Nasty Bits column. Deanah is quite knowledgeable in that regard and so is Dave Manseau, who spun a yarn about eating beaver tail. Fishing and hunting also came up and there was some great talk about beer and wine making. And then there was more talk about dough, stretching dough, how long people let it rise, methods, pizzamaking.com, Slice, Adam, Girl Slice and Baby Slice.
The non-food obsessed guests, a couple of neighbors and a couple from my husband's workplace were blown away by the food talk, the food, and the pizza. Totally different culture than what they are used to and they thought it was amazing that we all got together to make pizza, eat, and talk about food even though some of us have never met in person before. I've said to people that I like to think of each other as food focused pen pals who came together at a long running party that was hosted by Adam over in Slice and SE Talk.
My sons, Taylor (18) and Jacob (14), met everyone and found it funny to meet these wonderful people that they've heard me talk about. They hid out in the basement, playing Call of Duty on Xbox and told me later that we were so loud with the laughter and talk that they couldn't hear each other. Heh. About time considering how loud they get when playing Call of Duty!
DMC brought me a 25 lb. bag of Adirondack flour. He went home with some Wake Robin Farm cheese curds and just before he left for the night, he made a sopressata and mushroom pizza for his friend Karen, and managed to make it in time to Albany to get it to her for her dinner break. Lead foot!! Jars of secret dipping sauce also left the house with some of the guests, which were followed up with requests for the recipe over on "The Cooler."
We did have leftover dough, which did not go to waste. I made a 2 foot by 8 inch four strand braided bread with Dave's dough. I herbed it up with some garlic scapes, marjoram, savory, and thyme egg wash. I gave a quarter of the loaf to my neighbors and my teenage locusts devoured the rest!All in all, a great friggin' time. I can't wait until the next time we get together with fellow Slice'rs and SE folks. Sounds like an early fall event may be in the works for Tupper Lake and there may be some SU hoops related events come winter!
You know how to throw one heck of a pizza party, Diana! Thanks for sharing. Looks like a great time was had by all. It's great to see the Slice and SE community get together in the real world!