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National Pizza With Everything But Anchovies Day

donmedeirosdonmedeiros Posts: 3,379 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

I'm posting this a bit early as I have to go to sleep quite early tonight - taking our boys team and 1 girl qualifier to the FL state championship meet tomorrow - in Tallahassee. Have to get up at 3 to meet my ride, so I won't be able to do it tomorrow.

There are actually 3 food related national days tomorrow.

NATIONAL PIZZA WITH EVERYTHING EXCEPT ANCHOVIES.

This National Day says to hold the fishes! Anchovy lovers move over on November 12th. All the other pizza lovers get their due and pile on their toppings. This annual pizza holiday gets the spotlight with olives, pepperoni, sausage, peppers, and onions. How about mushrooms, bacon, or pineapple? Approved! Just no fishy business on this national day, or no pizza for you!

Classified as an oily fish, Anchovies are a family of small, common salt-water forage fish. There are 144 species found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Anchovies are small, green fish. They have blue reflections caused by the silver longitudinal stripe, which begins at the base of the caudal fin.

Traditionally, anchovies are processed in a salt brine and then packed in oil or salt, resulting in a strong, characteristic flavor. Optionally they may be pickled in vinegar, giving the anchovies a milder taste.

Pizza History (sans anchovies)

  • In ancient Greece, the Greeks covered their bread with oils, herbs, and cheese. Some believe this practice is the beginning of the pizza.
  • In Byzantine Greek, the word was spelled “πίτα,” pita, meaning pie. 
  • The Romans developed a sheet of dough topped with cheese and honey. They then flavored it with bay leaves. 
  • The modern pizza began in Italy as the Neapolitan flatbread.
  • The original pizza used only mozzarella cheese and was produced in Naples using the highest quality buffalo mozzarella variant. 
  • In 1997, the United States produced an estimated 2 billion pounds of pizza cheese annually.
  • The first United States pizza establishment opened in 1905 was in New York’s Little Italy. 
  • Americans love pizza. So much so, it’s one of our favorite meals. 

Use in a sentence: My favorite pizza with everything except anchovies is not Marco’s.

 

NATIONAL CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL DAY

National Chicken Soup for the Soul Day celebrates who you are and how you get there. Take time to nurture your soul on November 12th. 

A little chicken soup does a lot of good. It’s warm and hearty. As we cup our hands around the bowl, the heat radiates into our bodies. The steam hits our face with a comforting aroma. Similar to what chicken soup does for our bodies, the regular nurturing of our souls benefits our health. Whether you pick up a book, meditate or go for a long walk, reflect on who you are and your achievements.

Use in a sentence: It seldom gets cold enough in FL to want a cup of chicken soup for my soul.

NATIONAL FRENCH DIP DAY

On November 12th, warm up some au jus and celebrate National French Dip Day!

Served up hot, tender slices of beef or pork on a French roll make up a delicious sandwich. Sometimes cheese is added. However, the key ingredients are the au jus and spicy mustard. The combination of tender beef swimming in a flavor bath of pan drippings absorbed into the crusty roll makes the French dip a decadent, multi-napkin experience everyone needs to have. And if you’ve never had one before, follow the instructions below and find one.

When your order arrives, apply a generous helping of mustard. Next, dunk your sandwich into the au jus for 2-3 seconds. Permit the bread to soak up the delicious, au jus. Be prepared for a flavor experience when you take your first bite of a French dip!

Use in a sentence: I love a French Dip much better than a dip of Skoal.

 

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Comments

  • Bdw3184Bdw3184 Posts: 12,727 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
    edited November 2021

    Just don’t understand having a pizza day with no anchovies allowed. My favorite pizza ingredient! LOL! With chicken and bacon! Nothing better! Mmm-mm!

    oh well regular pizza it is! Thanks @donmedeiros !

    Go Dawgs!

  • DawgBonesDawgBones Posts: 2,189 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Donm, Good Luck tomorrow in Tally. I was also heading there in the AM but now putting it off till next week. Back on topic, I am planning on having Pie Za, as my grandmother used to call it, tomorrow night. No anchovies, but I do appreciate the fresh ones that are not loaded with sodium.

  • AnotherDawgAnotherDawg Posts: 6,761 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    I love pizza, and I enjoy anchovies. Have to confess, I've never tried them in combination.

  • HuckleberryHuckleberry Posts: 463 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    I'm old school. I like my fish fried.

  • dragonslayerdragonslayer Posts: 697 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    "No anchovies?! You've got the wrong man! I spell my name... Danger!!!"

    5 points if you know the origin of the quotation...

  • philipsmith99philipsmith99 Posts: 2,082 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
    edited November 2021

    No anchovies on my pizza and my fish fried, smoked, grilled. Occasionally boiled in a catfish stew.

  • truepingtrueping Posts: 360 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
    edited November 2021

    I like pizza. I do not like Tennessee!!! (or Auburn, or Florida, or Alabama, or Georgia Tech) That just about covers it.

  • donmedeirosdonmedeiros Posts: 3,379 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Any French dip fans on this thread ?

  • AnotherDawgAnotherDawg Posts: 6,761 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
  • HuckleberryHuckleberry Posts: 463 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
    edited November 2021

    We would get along real good. I could eat a piece of cardboard fried 😂. Got to have my daily allotment of grease. I would love to have some of my wife's oldest brother's catfish stew. He made the best! He took one secret ingredient in it to the grave with him. He wouldn't let anybody stay in the kitchen with him when he cooked it. He used fried bacon and the drippings in it. Also smother fried potatoes. He fried his catfish and put the boned out meat from them in it. Cooked it in a Dutch cast iron pot. Me and him were like brothers. Spent many a day fishing and hunting with him. My wife knew all but the one secret seasoning ingredient that he used. Her's is close. The only time I ever fell out with him was one time he invited us to come eat mustard greens with him. He had biscuits instead of cornbread 😖. And of course my cornbread has to be,,,,,,,,,fried! Little thin lacy cornbread 😍. Yellow cornmeal.

  • philipsmith99philipsmith99 Posts: 2,082 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    That is how my mother made cornbread, in a cast iron skillet. I cannot duplicate it, can never get it as thin as she could.

  • philipsmith99philipsmith99 Posts: 2,082 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
  • AnotherDawgAnotherDawg Posts: 6,761 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Same.

    My mother is still alive, but barely, so I got her to share her recipe with me so I can keep it in the family. (I don't have any sisters, and my brother and I are both divorced.) Happy to share it here.

    Ingredients:

    1. Aunt Jemima white cornmeal (I assume yellow would work fine too if that's your preference).
    2. Buttermilk (real).
    3. Eggs.
    4. Refrigerated bacon drippings. (As most southerners know, you save your bacon grease over time and use that in certain recipes rather than store bought grease or oil.)

    Steps:

    1. Place cast iron skillet in the oven at 400 degrees. Leave until fully hot.
    2. Mix cornmeal and buttermilk together.
    3. Add egg(s) and re-mix.
    4. Take skillet out of the oven and add bacon drippings, making sure the bottom and sides of the skillet are fully coated.
    5. Pour the excess drippings, now melted, into the cornmeal mixture, and re-mix.
    6. Pour everything back into the skillet.
    7. Bake at 400 degrees for approx. 15 minutes (or until it's halfway browned on top.)
    8. Remove skillet from oven and flip the cornbread out upside down onto a large plate.

    While it's still hot, cut a slice, add a small pat of (real) butter, and enjoy. 🙂

    *Note: I can track down the specific measurements if anyone really wants them.

  • Michael_ScarnMichael_Scarn Posts: 1,388 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    I love anchovies on my pizza!

  • AnotherDawgAnotherDawg Posts: 6,761 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    @philipsmith99 and @Huckleberry - I know that recipe is not for fried cornbread like y'all were talking about, But the iron skillet got me thinking, and I realized there are probably some folks on here that don't know how to make cornbread one way or another, so just thought I'd share what I knew with the forum.

    If y'all have a recipe for thin/fried cornbread (my mom calls it cornbread pancakes), please share!

  • HuckleberryHuckleberry Posts: 463 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
    edited November 2021

    My wife learned to make it from my mother. My mother learned from her mother. Passed down from one generation to another. My wife mixes it without even measuring anything. She uses yellow cornmeal that we have ground from one of the few remaining folks in our area that still does it. The lady also grinds fresh grits. They are so creamy and good. They are a little bit more trouble to cook than instant grits but well worth the time. You have to stir them around in the water and wash them several times to get all of the husks and other stuff out that come to the top of the water before you actually cook them. Her cornbread recipe uses the plain cornmeal. She mixes in self rising flour to keep it from being too packy. She uses about a four to one mixture of the meal and flour. Salt to your taste. A mixture of a cup of plain meal would need a one fourth cup of self rising flour. Add in water as you mix it up. Fry a piece or two of it to see if you have the patties thin as you want them. If you want them thick, don't use as much water. If you want it thinner, add a little more water. You need to use a cast iron skillet and use whatever type of oil you use. You want the oil to just cover the bottom of the pan and the pan needs to be hot. Spoon the mixture into the pan with a spoon. It will take you a few times to get your technique down pat. Once you get the mixture down with the amount of water, meal and flour along with the salt, you will be good to go. Just fry a piece or two of it at the time until you get it figured out. Like I said, my wife doesn't measure anything because she has done it so many times. She can look at the mixture and tell if it is right. She often has to tell so many people how to fry the cornbread and how to cook the grits. Things like this are going to be lost in time. Once you learn how to do it, pass it on to family members. She cooked some mustard greens, baked some sweet potatoes, fried some of the cornbread and fried some pork chops the other night. She took a picture of her plate and put it on facebook. She had folks begging for a plate in just a few minutes. Folks are starving for home cooking these days. There were folks wanting to know where the mustard greens came from. She told them from our garden, the next thing was were we going to sell any of them. The little old lady that does the grinding is in bad health. My wife and her will talk for hours when she goes to get meal and grits. She is true treasure. We had two millers in our area years ago but both of them are no longer living. Things of the past.

  • HuckleberryHuckleberry Posts: 463 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Read my comment to anotherdawg. It has the recipe for the fried bread. The secret ingredient for the catfish stew? I don't know. My wife was always in the kitchen with him cooking but he wouldn't let her see what he put in it. He died of a massive heart attack at 38. Never had a bit of trouble until it hit him.

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