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In my experience, at least in the Northeast, I've never seen a small farmer produce the kind of big, juicy celery stalks that commercial growers produce. The celery is darker, tougher, and much more intensely flavored. I suspect it is more like "cutting celery," a different variety of the plant. For people (like myself) who love the flavor of celery, it's very cool stuff, and I too find it works well as a flavoring element. If you're going to use it in soup or stock, use less (by volume) than you would commercial celery--remember, it's going to impart all of that intense flavor. Basically, think of it more like an herb than a vegetable, and you'll be on your way to success.

Thanks for this round-up folks. As a recent Boston transplant I was unaware of the emphasis on square slices until this report. I had been meaning to hit Umberto but I didn't realize it was a regional slant. This is good news, given the general mediocrity of round pies in this city (a few notables excepted).

Stopped into Pinocchios this weekend and it was, indeed, quite good. Just needed a moment more in the oven. If it's inconsistent, I got it on a pretty good day.

Adam, is this inspired at all by my comment about pizza strips in the Bob & Timmy's post? Come on, let me feel special!

As for your critique: First off, if I'm not mistaken the classic neapolitan Marinara has no cheese, right? And neither does the most traditional New Haven apizza! Secondly, if you really won't accept it as a pizza style without cheese, occasionally the pizza strips have a light dusting of grated cheese (probably some kind of romano or cheap parmesan). And finally, I can foresee further critiques that this is really more akin to a focaccia, but isn't that also true of Roman pizza bianca?

Basically, if I am forced to admit that Chicago deep dish is "pizza," then I think the rest of the world needs to acknowledge the pizza-ness of the RI pizza strip. No?

Bryan, I HAVE read about something like this, because my girlfriend feels quite ill only when she eats beef that is not completely cooked. Beef stew -- fine. Medium-rare burger -- she gets sick.

If you have similar reactions (you didn't mention doneness being a factor, but if you love burgers maybe you always eat them fairly pink), then you may have the same allergy. It's actually an allergy to BSA, a protein in cows' blood that is rendered harmless by fully cooking. Chow ran a good piece on it here:

http://www.chow.com/stories/11307

If you suffer from BSA allergy, of course, it's a mixed blessing. Better than 100% beef allergy, but kiss bloody steaks goodbye.

Good luck.

My feelings about "deconstructed" classics aside, they should have at least gotten it right -- pecorino romano and guanciale ought to have been used instead of parm and prosciutto. (Or at LEAST pancetta.)

Very sad news. I have fond memories of Sal and Carmines and their pizza is truly exemplary. One quibble, though, comes from my northern correspondent and S&C devotee Barn, who wrote to me:

"As one who lived in the neighborhood in the early 60's, I can assure all concerned that Carmine was there from day one."

Having not been around back then, I'm inclined to believe him. Can anyone else confirm or deny?

"this whole organic unprocessed fad is a phony game to separate well meaning folks from their money. my wife and daughter drink chocalate soy milk, direct from the "organic" section at Fairway, because they like the taste better. Crushed and processed soy bean mush is more "green" than regular old pasteurized 2%?. "

No, it's not a phony game, you're just not taking the time to understand it. Industrially produced chocolate soy milk is NOT the "whole, organic, unprocessed" alternative to pasteurized 2% milk from industrially-raised cows. One of the many whole, unprocessed alternatives to that milk is MILK from cows that have been raised humanely on pasture, without excessive antibiotics or hormones, maybe raw, maybe organic... from a small local farmer (that you know and trust) or a reputable group of producers (such as Organic Valley).

Two of the many factors contributing to the perceived faddishness of this movement include companies attempting to greenwash their products and the consumers who have been taught to inherently believe the claims made by corporations, supermarkets, and the like.

And whether soy milk in general is more sustainable than cow's milk is another question for another day.

Likewise, I've found that the Five Guys in Dedham is pretty good for what it is (a way-above-average, chain fast food style burger), but I have nothing to compare it with in terms of other 5G locations.

In terms of Boston being bad for burgers, I think that case may be overstated on here, in part because Kenji (whose posts I have truly enjoyed) likes a very particular style of burger. I've not been to many of the oft-lauded burger spots in Boston, but Highland Kitchen in Somerville usually serves up an excellent one, and I found Four Burgers in Cambridge much better than it's usually given credit for (though not truly great). For my part, more research to come...

I definitely thought of a dutch baby right off the bat.

"If organic is important to you, buy those items where they're cheapest, at places like Wal-Mart and Trader Joe's"

That problem is that, in some (but not all) cases, the difference between corporate-scale organic farms and nonorganic farms isn't all that substantial. Especially when it comes to some of the most-purchased organic foods, like milk. Watchdog groups like the Cornucopia Institute have documented how corporate organic milk producers like Horizon aren't really following organic regulations. When I have to pick between conventional milk and, say, Horizon organic, I prefer to save the money buying conventional. Then I have more money to buy something really good at the farmers' market.

I'm not totally sure about the lardo, but at least for the prosciutto I would suggest wrapping it in wax paper and refrigerating it. Once the ham has been cut, it is susceptible to mold growth, and the fridge will slow that. And I would wrap it so that it doesn't dry out in your arid fridge. I'm assuming it's a chunk rather than really a WHOLE prosciutto, but props if you managed to smuggle an entire pig leg home in your duffel bag. I suspect you'd want to do the same with the lardo, and for either if you do get mold growth you can just cut it away and keep eating.