Monday, April 30, 2012

Oraginis: Del Re Unity

Platter of oraginis on my kitchen counter
 Going on vacation was always a great thing, but I always had feelings of homesickness. I loved travelling because I got to see new and exciting places, but I never could wait to be back in my own bed. Coming home from vacation always went the same way for my family. The day before we would arrive, my parents would call my babysitter and ask her to make oranginis for when we get back. The second we arrive at home my brother and I would leave our luggage in a heap in the living room floor and run into the kitchen, mouths watering at the smell of oranginis. They would be sitting in the warming drawer, just waiting to be gobbled up. My brother and I would grab paper plates and napkins from the pantry while my father got glasses of water for each of us. My mother would remove the platter from the warming drawer and divvy the little balls of orange heaven equally among the four of us. After a long day of travel, nothing tasted better than a hot and steamy orangini. The hot outside shell of bread crumbs traps the heat inside on the rice and meat, and after the first bite steam rises from the center of the ball. It smells so good and just beckons for you to take another bite. Among the four of us, my father, mother, brother and I, a batch of forty oranginis could disappear in the blink of an eye. I have never thought about the significance of oranginis to myself and my family. The recipe includes strong influences from outside Italy and has changed over time as my family dynamic and culture has transformed. In my family, oranginis represent the bringing together of my family and the importance of being home.

Oranginis are easy to make, but they also taste great. An orangini is a deep fried rice ball that can contain pretty much anything. They are usually prepared with meat or cheese, but I have seen oranginis with peas, spinach, or even shrimp. They usually have a core of meat and cheese, a middle of rice, and then an outside of crunchy deep fried bread crumbs. The oranginis I have had in my life lack the core of a particular meat or cheese, but rather have the meat and cheese mixed in with the rice. They are prepared by frying garlic in olive oil until the garlic turns brown. Add tomatoes to the garlic and simmer for about fifteen minutes. While the tomatoes and garlic simmer boil rice until it is done. Once the rice is cooked add cheese to it and let the cheese melt throughout the rice. Cook chopped sirloin in a frying pan until they are cooked to satisfaction, but note that this chopped sirloin can be replaced with any other kind of meat, shrimp, or vegetable. Once everything is finished let it all cool for a few minutes and then mix the meat, rice, and cheese with tomato sauce. Use your hands to form the oranginis into spheres about the size of a small orange. Dip the rice balls into beaten eggs and roll in bread crumbs to sufficiently coat the outer surface. Once they are covered, deep fry them in olive oil till they brown. My experience in this process has only occurred after the rice, cheese, meat, and sauce has been mixed together. My babysitter would give me advice while I would roll the orangini into balls. She told me to make sure they are firm and dense to ensure they do not break apart when dropped into the frying oil.

I was wary when I began to search for this dish on the internet. I have never really heard of it outside of my family and the rice balls I have seen super markets never shared the same name. They would usually be called “rice balls” and almost always taste worse than the oranginis I know and love. I was further discouraged when I searched orangini in the Oxford English Dictionary and received no results. I realized, through my research, that my family uses an incorrect spelling for the name of the dish. Orangini is my family’s anglicized version of the actual name, “arancini”, the Italian word for “little orange” (Zeldes). According to my father the alternate spelling originated because little children are not able to speak well and create their own versions of words (Del Re). The name derives from the Italian word for orange, arancia. Arancini have a golden brown color and are about the size of an orange (Zeldes). Even though the actual name is arancini, I will still refer to them as orangini. The Oxford Companion to Italian Food describes oranginis “as a well-known bar snack, eaten freshly cooked and hot, so that the soft filling contrasts with the crisp outside” (Riley, 23). Many varieties of orangini exist, differing throughout the different regions of Italy.

      courtesy of :
 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54564231
@N04/5257120547/
 


Italy used to be a decentralized nation and thus different regions would each have their own foods and variation on a specific dish. There are only few dishes that can tell as much about the peoples who have contributed to the island of Sicily over the centuries. They are said to have originated in Siciliy in the 10th century when rice and oranges were introduced to Sicily from the Middle East (Zeldes). Sicily maintains a strong presence of influence from the Middle East because of its proximity to Africa. The Moors moved through Africa and moved up through Italy (Chamberlain, 462). The canestrato fresco, a fresh, mild, cheese is often replaced with mozzarella from Greece. Arabs and the Middle contribute the rice and saffron, the French add the ragout, and the tomato sauce originates from the Spanish (Correnti). Although oranginis are considered a Sicilian food, my family is from Naples and the version we eat is closest to the Neapolitan style. The Neapolitan cousin of oranginis, Palle di Riso, incorporates peas, meats, and mozzarella. In palle di riso the cheese and the meat are mixed in the rice. This contrasts to the Sicilian style orangini, arancini di riso, which have centers with cubes of cheese (Riley, 23). Versions of oranginis in Rome are called suppli al telefono because the eater has to contend with the strings of cheese that form after each bite that resemble telephone wires (Zeldes). Italian cities were decentralized and disliked each other. Someone from Naples would not like someone from Sicily based simply on the fact that they are from Sicily.  My father doubts that oranginis originated in Italy, despite all the evidence, because he still follows the divisions of old Italy. “People from Sicily are the lowest class Italians and oranginis are too tasty to have come from that dreadful Island” (Del Re). Regardless of where they are from, oranginis can only benefit from having such a diverse history.

Oranginis have been engrained into the Italian culture. Italians hold a carnival in celebration of excessive eating before the forty day fast of Lent. During Carnival, excess reigns everywhere and people eat large amounts of food. This excess is not in terms of quantity, but rather in eating a little of a wide variety of foods (Kostioukovitch, 158). In Rome and the south, orangini make outstanding bar food. This embodies the southern Italian tradition of eating while walking in the street. A person walks into a bar and orders a drink with a small food item (Riley, 186). Oranginis are small, easy to carry, and can be eaten with one hand, like an apple or orange (Kostioukovitch, 157).  The popularity that oranginis possess in Italy has carried over to America. Unsure of where or when oranginis first came to America, my father assumes they came over with the immigrants. Early recipes were shared by everybody who came from the same areas of Italy. Millions of immigrants flowed into the United States from Naples and they moved into the same neighborhoods, sharing their food (Del Re). Oranginis were immortalized by the story of Andrea Camilleri in which the main character, Inspector Montalbano goes through hijinks to get to his beloved oranginis (Riley, 23). Montalbano narrowly escapes diverting the courses of justice to enjoy a feast of arancini to celebrate their short lived release from jail (Camilleri).


example of Palle di Riso courtesy of: http://vittoriagourmet.blogspot.com/2011/05/arancini-italian-rice-ball.html              

Oranginis have been an important piece of my family culture and history for generations. During an interview with my father I learned many things about orangini, my father, and my ancestry. My family is from a small town outside of Naples called Morcone. Oranginis originated in my family through my father’s great grandmother. She found the recipe and passed it on to my great grandmother, “Nanny” Dora (Del Re). The orangini recipe is one of a few deep family recipes that are very important to my family and our history, but it has changed over time.

Today my babysitter, Margarita, makes oranginis for the family. Since Nanny Dora passed away, oranginis were not made until twenty seven years ago, when Margarita came to work for my family. The recipe came from my father’s paternal side and his mother never made them. Margarita got parts of the recipe from my great Aunt Connie who could not remember every detail, but Margarita filled in the gaps with her own ideas on what she should include. This change in the recipe added a Central American influence to the recipe. The recipe, just like culture, is always changing for better or for worse. The culture that we have is an invisible bond that ties my family and those around my family together. This connection is determined by both the past and the present which strongly influence the future. According to my father, Margarita’s recipe tastes good, but is not the same as the authentic Del Re recipe he remembers from his childhood. Since Aunt Connie died, Margarita is really the only one associated with my family that has the recipe memorized. There are copies of the recipe floating around somewhere in the family archives, but no one has been able to find it to use it. I do not want oranginis to die out of my family so I intend to learn it from her as soon as I can because I will not have my babysitter forever. Once I learn it from her I want to make her version as well as Nanny Dora’s version and see how much it has changed over the years. Seeing how it has changed will give me sense of where my family has come from.

In my family oranginis are reserved for special occasions. My father only had them on Christmas and Easter because they were a lot of trouble to make. I never realized the emotional connection that my father has with oranginis until after our interview. One of his most fond memories as a child is his grandmother holding a big platter of oranginis at Christmas when he was ten or twelve years old. He remembered all the adults and children laughing and having a good time being together. My father, who is a stoic man, had tears running down his eyes while recounting this story. I asked him what comes to mind when he thinks about oranginis. He responded, with a big smile on his face, “I think about my Nanny, family and happiness” (Del Re).

The definition stated by the Oxford Companion to Italian Food describes oranginis as a bar snack or antipasto (appetizer). This definition makes the dish seem as an insignificant part of the meal, something they are not. Oranginis play a huge significance in my family. They represent the bringing together of my family after long absences. Whether it be coming back home from a vacation to  my dog  jumping for joy or seeing relatives I have not seen for months or years, oranginis are only made for special events. Special is what I define my experiences with oranginis. For my father, these special occasions were big family holiday dinners, while my special occasions have been coming home after long periods of time. Oranginis represent so much more than just a great food in that they represent my family and how we can all be far apart, but still be connected. I always look forward to coming home because I know one thing will be waiting for me when I get back. I look forward to the oranginis not only because they taste great, but also because oranginis mean I am home, my family is there, and we are finally together again.

The orangini recipe has changed over time, gathering influences from different cultures and peoples. In my family, oranginis represent unity and the importance of being home. The importance of home was never really clear to me until I went off to college in the fall. Home is so much more than a place. Home is not only a physical location, but it is the family you have, the people that you care about, and the food you love. Oranginis have clearly been an important part of my family history. It is not merely a tasty food that my family eats when we are together and on holidays. The traditions that surround this small rice ball represent the bonds of family love that manage to stay strong, even over long distances. To some people it is just an antipasto, the beginning, but to my family it is the main course, the most important. Even though the recipe has changed over time, the importance of oranginis is still there. It is still and will always represent the importance of family. I was unaware of the numerous family traditions and stories that surround this dish. It just shows how incredible the history of something can be and how central a role it plays in how you came to be and who you will become.

Recipe
  • —  1 lb. of chopped sirloin 
  • —  2 lbs. of long grain rice 
  • —  1 1/2 lbs. of crushed tomatos
  • —  1/2 lb. of fresh salted mozzerella 
  • —  1/2 lb. grated parmasean cheese 
  • —  1 fresh garlic clove chopped fine 
  • —  3 eggs and seasoned breadcrumbs 

1.     Fry garlic in olive oil until garlic is brown.
2.     Boil rice until done.
3.     Add tomatoes to garlic and simmer for 15 minutes.
4.     Cook the chopped sirloin in the fry pan until half done.
5.     Add cheese to rice and let stand until melted. Let all partly cool, then mix rice, meat and sauce.
6.     Make balls and dip into beaten eggs, roll in bread crumbs and
7.     Deep fry in olive oil until brown. Mmmmmmm. 

Works Cited 


Camilleri, Andrea, Gli arancini di Montalbano. Milan, 1999. Print.

Chamberlain, Samuel. Italian Banquet: An Epicurean Tour of Italy.  New York: Gourmet Books Inc.,  
          1958. Print.

Correnti, Pino. Il libro d'oro della cucina e dei vini di Sicilia. Milan: Mursia, 1976. Print

Del Rey, Alfred. Personal Interview. 17 Apr. 2012

Riley, Gillian. The Oxford companion to Italian Food. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print. 

Zeldes, Leah A. "Eat This! Arancini, great balls of flavor from Sicily" Dining Chicago. Dining Chicago, 
          21 Oct. 2009. Web. 15 Apr. 2009. 

 


 

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Farmburgerizza


This week, on my journey to explore Atlanta for pizza, my Aunt and I went to Farmburger. I know this is not a pizza place, but neither of us were in the mood to eat pizza and I have always wanted to try Farmburger. I have heard good things and I can always appreciate a great tasting burger.
Farmburger has two locations in Atlanta. My aunt and I went to Farmburger in Decatur. Since it was Easter everyone was probably eating at home and we got the benefit of having no line.
The restaurant has a very friendly atmosphere. You walk up to the register to order your food and it is then brought over to you. The menu allows for a very customizable burger with everything from house pickles to gruyere. Some toppings are free while the more exclusive toppings range from $1 to $2. The extra price for some of the toppings is in addition to the flat cost of $6.50 for the burger itself. I was too hungry to think about what I wanted on my burger so I decided to get one of Farmburger’s pre-customized burgers. I got “The Farmburger” with a side of sweet potato fries and a drink. I got a sweet tea which tasted surprisingly good.
The burger came and I could barely wait to eat it. The meat was still sizzling from being on the grill. Farmburger takes pride in that their burgers are grass-fed, antibiotic and hormone free, locally raised, ground fresh, and made in house. The fact of the matter is that they should take pride. Their burgers are DELICIOUS! I think I ate the burger in what seemed like 3 seconds because I could not believe it was gone. “The Farmburger” has white cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, bacon, and Farmburger sauce. All the toppings were so tasty and also very fresh. One of the greatest things about the Farmburger burger is that it manages to smell good and taste good without being covered in grease. Each bite is juicy and flavorful, but afterwards I don’t get that gross feeling I get after eating Five Guys. The sweet potato fries were also amazing. I always prefer to have sweet potato fries over regular French fries. The fries had a crispy outside with steaming potato goodness inside. Those I ate with some restraint because I wanted them to last as long as possible.







Sunday, April 1, 2012

The JUMBO Slice


               I have not had the chance to get pizza in Atlanta for some time due to a myriad of factors. School work has been building up for me and it has been the same case for my aunt. She teaches at Oxford and her workload has been, according to her, unrelenting. In addition to my schoolwork I have been pledging a fraternity and that has been eating up a lot of my time. 
               Fortunately I had the pleasure of going home for spring break, allowing myself to get New York pizza. My flight landed around midnight on a Friday night, and the second I arrived home my friend and I jumped into a car and drove into the city to grab some food. We went to a tiny little pizzeria, filled with big things, called Koronets. Koronets is an unique pizzeria because the slices they serve are literally bigger than your face (See picture below). Located uptown in Manhattan near Columbia University, Koronets is locally famous among the people who live there, especially those who are looking for a good meal at a bargain price. It manages to be one of my favorite places to go in the city. They somehow are able to keep the crust crisp and perfect while creating a super sized pizza over 30 inches in diameter. To put into perspective, a normal pizza is around 16 inches in diameter. It is remarkable that their slices are able to stand up to their own weight. Most slices I have had in Atlanta can barely keep rigid when they are folded in half. The tips droop and cause, one of the most terrible things in the world, the cheese to fall off the slice. On a half fold, the Koronets slices are surprisingly rigid. Their ability to keep the slices rigid shows the true talent of the Koronets chefs. It requires more skill than one would think to get this right. They are artists when it comes to making pizza.
Slideshow
               Koronets achieves in creating their amazing jumbo slices, but they still manage to keep the price down. One jumbo slice costs only $3.75, while a regular slice of $2.50. A jumbo slice is definitely equivalent to at least two and a half regular slices and they taste as good, if not better. My friends tell me they taste the same as a regular slice, but I think they taste better. All pizza lovers should get a chance to experience the joy of eating a giant slice of pizza. Not only do the jumbo slices save you money, they taste good. Some people do not order it because they are afraid of the daunting task of eating a literally giant slice of pizza, but you have to be up to the task to truly enjoy something special.
               
              








Thursday, March 1, 2012

Sapori Di Napoli :)


Last weekend my aunt and I were joined by a few of her friends to try a restaurant called Sapori di Naploli in Decatur. To start off, let me give some background about the place. The owners are from a small town outside of Naples. Two brothers, fluent in Italian, work behind the counter making pizzas right in front of a 5000 pound wood fired oven. A waitress, who I assume is the sister of the two brothers, also works there and they are truly enjoyable people.
Before we got any food my aunt and her friends, who also could speak a little Italian, chatted with the staff. As a non-Italian speaker, I mainly looked at the menu and smiled whenever I heard, “Alessandro”. There was a lot of laughing and hand motions I could not join in on, but it was so Italian and I loved it. This made the restaurant a truly great experience even before I got to order any food. My aunt later told me they talked about how the pizza oven is one of only three in Atlanta that uses wood as a fuel. The other two are in Antico and another restaurant in Atlanta. The two brothers explained how American pizza ovens are too big and as a result the heat does not spread well causing the pizza to not cook evenly. I don’t really understand much about the distribution of heat or any of that mumbo jumbo, but let me tell you; it works. The Margherita pie we ordered was amazing.
We ordered few appetizers before the main course. I could not believe my eyes when I saw arancini’s on the menu, or as I like to call them, oranginis! My favorite food from home was replicated well and it tasted almost as good. Five were ordered for the table and I ate three of them. My companions at the table weren’t too happy, but I couldn’t help it.
The best part about the pizza was definitely the crust, although the sauce and cheese were not too shabby either. It was the perfect representation of Neapolitan pizza. The crust was light and airy, lightly blackened in spots and held up the pizza well. Sapori di Napoli benefits from the the bufala (mozzarella cheese) packs a lot of flavor into each slice.
Sapori di Napoli is one of those places that just wants you to go back. It has a great atmosphere that exhumes casualness. The way the tables are set up and situated in the restaurant reminds of an old style pizzeria from my home town. The staff is lovely and they cater to your needs. Saporo di Napoli stays high on my list for best pizza in Atlanta and I will be going back soon and I encourage you to go as well.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Greek Pizza?


This weekend my Aunt and I tried Athen’s Pizza. It is quite close to Emory. Going from Emory, head up North Decatur, make a right onto Clairmont and it should be the first right at 1341 Clairmont Road, Decatur, GA 30033. When you hear the name Athens you usually think Greek and that does not necessarily correlate to great pizza. At least when I think of Greek food I think of gyros, olives, feta cheese, and pita bread. Those may be only small aspects of Greek cuisine, but I never would think that Greeks would make good pizza.  I was definitely unsure of what to expect, but I was really hungry and was looking forward to something tasty. My aunt and I both started off with a Greek salad. Lots of lettuce, olives, feta, olive oil, and tomato slices are what we got. The salad was rather good and refreshing, but it just was not satisfying enough. It really was only a precursor to what we were waiting for, PIZZA! As I said in my previous blog post, a good pizza has to satisfy three critical criteria. The crust has to be excellent, the sauce has to be delicious, and the cheese has to be delectable. Athens Pizza only offers whole pizzas rather than individual slices. They come in 6”, 10”, 12”, and 16”varieties. I got a 10” pizza. When the pizza arrived I was greeted by the aroma fresh dough, tomato sauce, and melted cheese. I wanted the pizza to taste good, I really did, but it just wasn’t. The bread was way too doughy and the cheese was too stringy and gooey. The rim of the pizza was way too thick. Each slice had too little cheese and sauce and way too much bread. It seemed as though the pizza was undercooked. I feel as though if they left the pizza in the oven for about 10-15 minutes longer the crust would have acquired some sort of crispiness. As it was the crust was just too chewy. It had too much of the doughy taste and not enough of the cheese and sauce. The cheese was too mushy and chewy. Every bite was met with endless chewing and some taste. Before serving the pizza, the servers should have let it cool a bit so the cheese would not be falling off as I was eating slice. The overall pizza was not very good, but compared to the cheese and crust, the sauce was tasty and flavorful. It was sweet, but not too sweet and at the same time somewhat bitter. Athens pizza had a good experience with a good homey and traditional feel, but it did not have stellar pizza. I would recommend going there because it is a really well kept restaurant with a good feel. Get classic Greek food because that is what would be good at.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012


  I came to college with an expectation of the food not going to taste too good, and unfortunately the DUC has lived up to that expectation. I can definitely say that DUC food is not something I look forward to everyday.  I miss food from home so much and probably the one I miss the most has got to be pizza. My hometown, Pelham, NY, is known for its high taxes, low crime, and having way too many pizzerias. Seriously, looking on urban dictionary will prove my point. I think have a pretty I good idea of what a good slice of pizza tastes like. I don’t want to act like an expert, but in my opinion a mouthwatering pizza has to have certain type of crust, cheese, and sauce. The crust, I believe, is what defines a slice of pizza. It can also determine whether the slice will be taste good or not. The bottom crust has to be crispy, but no too crispy and at the same time it also has to be slightly chewy and at the same time flavorful. When a pizza crust is too dry, bland, or crunchy it ruins everything. The crust also has to be capable of being folded and supporting the weight of the slice without any aid. Nothing is worse than folding a slice and having the tip sag down and seeing the cheese slip out of the pizza. The cheese plays a vital role in a decent slice of pizza. It has to have that requisite “gooey factor”. It has to be gooey, but no too gooey, and chewy, but not too chewy. I kind think of it as a Goldilocks kind of thing. The sauce what brings the crust and the cheese together. It has to have tomatoey taste that balances both sweetness and acidity with a hint of I don’t know what, but it tastes good. With these high standards I find it difficult to be able to find a slice of pizza that will be able to match the quality of a slice from hometown. Last semester my aunt and I embarked on a challenge to find really good pizza in Atlanta.
Photo courtesy of: Lin
     We started by choosing a different place to go to every weekend. Last weekend we had Fellini’s Pizza on Mclendon Ave near Candler Park. I ordered a Fellini’s special slice, my aunt ordered a  plain slice, and we split a calzone. The special slice had a myriad of toppings including mushrooms, sausage, onions, olives, peppers, and pepperoni. The slice of pizza was actually fairly good. The addition of the toppings made the slice special. The crust was a little too crunchy, but the overall package was really good.  I blame my crunchy crust on the fact that they probably had to cook it longer due to all the extra toppings. Next time I’ll try to keep it simple.