Robert P. Herbst
08-31-2007, 08:32 PM
A NEW CULINARY DELIGHT
Written July 9, 2001 Fiction 763 Words
Copyright © 2001 Robert P. Herbst. All rights reserved.
By
Robert P. Herbst
After the Florida Fried Goose disaster, the Mount Perry School Of Culinary Artistry, has longed to recoup their excellent reputation by developing a new culinary delight and introducing the new dish to the world. At long last there seems to be some hope of success, if an acceptable name can be found for the new dish developed by one of the schools brighter students.
The student maintains, he had a dream about this entree and awoke in the middle of the night with an uncontrollable desire to create his masterpiece. Having scribbled the directions on a scrap of paper, he raced to the school’s kitchen and began his creation.
In the dream he created the dish and became world famous because of his creation, but a name for the dish eluded him. Try as he might, the name of his creation could not be brought to mind. He felt strongly, if the masterpiece was created and introduced to the student population, a name would quickly follow.
The next day, he related the story to his teacher and class mates as he offered some of his creation to each student. He told them he started off with a bread dough which he created especially from the ingredients in his dream. There was a whole list of secret ingredients, but even under pressure and hypnoses he could not be made reveal what they were. All he would tell them was the general formula of; flour, eggs, sugar, water, olive oil and yeast.
The result was a fairly common looking bread dough. This dough, he formed into round balls of about a half a pound each. He then left them stand in a warm area of the kitchen until they had risen to about double their normal size. He then kneaded the dough back down to its original size and allowed it to rise again. After this, the bread dough is left to “proof” over night.
In the morning the dough ball was flattened into a circle by either tossing it in the air or pressing it out with the finger tips. Once formed, the circle of bread was about 18 inches across and maybe a quarter inch thick or less. This whole process can be done in a matter of a minute or two, but only after considerable practice.
When forming the circle a small amount of the bread is left around the edges to form a ridge, acting as a kind of dam. Into this ridge, long strings of mozzarella cheese are rolled. This ridge then forms a kind of retaining dam around the entire flattened piece of dough.
Once formed, the circle is covered liberally with a good grade olive oil. After the olive oil, the bread is carefully covered with a layer of cooked and flavored tomato paste. Next the dough is covered layer after layer, with a delightful selection of cheeses, sausage meats, ground meats and anchovies.
Just before cooking the whole thing is covered again with a wide variety of fresh vegetables, mushrooms and more cheese. The ridge with the mozzarella cheese keeps the olive oil and tomato paste from running off the bread during cooking and preparation.
Cooking is done in a large, flat, brick lined oven for about ten or fifteen minutes. The smell from the oven, as the dish cooks, is positively tantalizing. This dish is obviously destined for success if only a catchy name can be found to popularize it.
The Student, a Mr. Peter Zapie, has asked his fellow students to help him find a name for this new dish so he can introduce it to the world. Without a catchy name the dish isn’t going to go anywhere.
To date some of the names his fellow students have come up with are, Peter’s Flat Bread, Peter’s Flat Bread with Cheese, Flat Bread With Meat and Vegetables, Flat Bread with Cheese, Flat Bread with Cheese and Meat and the list goes on. All these names have been categorically rejected by Mr. Zapie. He maintains he wants a name that will be easy to remember, catchy and have some relationship to himself as originator.
At last the Mount Perry town idiot, Yodar Hoopelhoffer stepped forward and asked, “Why don’t you just call it a PeteZapie?” This suggestion was instantly rejected because it was assumed Yodar was too stupid to come up with any kind of creative name.
And so the search goes on.
Written July 9, 2001 Fiction 763 Words
Copyright © 2001 Robert P. Herbst. All rights reserved.
By
Robert P. Herbst
After the Florida Fried Goose disaster, the Mount Perry School Of Culinary Artistry, has longed to recoup their excellent reputation by developing a new culinary delight and introducing the new dish to the world. At long last there seems to be some hope of success, if an acceptable name can be found for the new dish developed by one of the schools brighter students.
The student maintains, he had a dream about this entree and awoke in the middle of the night with an uncontrollable desire to create his masterpiece. Having scribbled the directions on a scrap of paper, he raced to the school’s kitchen and began his creation.
In the dream he created the dish and became world famous because of his creation, but a name for the dish eluded him. Try as he might, the name of his creation could not be brought to mind. He felt strongly, if the masterpiece was created and introduced to the student population, a name would quickly follow.
The next day, he related the story to his teacher and class mates as he offered some of his creation to each student. He told them he started off with a bread dough which he created especially from the ingredients in his dream. There was a whole list of secret ingredients, but even under pressure and hypnoses he could not be made reveal what they were. All he would tell them was the general formula of; flour, eggs, sugar, water, olive oil and yeast.
The result was a fairly common looking bread dough. This dough, he formed into round balls of about a half a pound each. He then left them stand in a warm area of the kitchen until they had risen to about double their normal size. He then kneaded the dough back down to its original size and allowed it to rise again. After this, the bread dough is left to “proof” over night.
In the morning the dough ball was flattened into a circle by either tossing it in the air or pressing it out with the finger tips. Once formed, the circle of bread was about 18 inches across and maybe a quarter inch thick or less. This whole process can be done in a matter of a minute or two, but only after considerable practice.
When forming the circle a small amount of the bread is left around the edges to form a ridge, acting as a kind of dam. Into this ridge, long strings of mozzarella cheese are rolled. This ridge then forms a kind of retaining dam around the entire flattened piece of dough.
Once formed, the circle is covered liberally with a good grade olive oil. After the olive oil, the bread is carefully covered with a layer of cooked and flavored tomato paste. Next the dough is covered layer after layer, with a delightful selection of cheeses, sausage meats, ground meats and anchovies.
Just before cooking the whole thing is covered again with a wide variety of fresh vegetables, mushrooms and more cheese. The ridge with the mozzarella cheese keeps the olive oil and tomato paste from running off the bread during cooking and preparation.
Cooking is done in a large, flat, brick lined oven for about ten or fifteen minutes. The smell from the oven, as the dish cooks, is positively tantalizing. This dish is obviously destined for success if only a catchy name can be found to popularize it.
The Student, a Mr. Peter Zapie, has asked his fellow students to help him find a name for this new dish so he can introduce it to the world. Without a catchy name the dish isn’t going to go anywhere.
To date some of the names his fellow students have come up with are, Peter’s Flat Bread, Peter’s Flat Bread with Cheese, Flat Bread With Meat and Vegetables, Flat Bread with Cheese, Flat Bread with Cheese and Meat and the list goes on. All these names have been categorically rejected by Mr. Zapie. He maintains he wants a name that will be easy to remember, catchy and have some relationship to himself as originator.
At last the Mount Perry town idiot, Yodar Hoopelhoffer stepped forward and asked, “Why don’t you just call it a PeteZapie?” This suggestion was instantly rejected because it was assumed Yodar was too stupid to come up with any kind of creative name.
And so the search goes on.