jaybee
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Posts posted by jaybee
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The McDonald's Extra Value Meal, which showcases the bundling aspect of upselling, is something of an innovation in marketing because it makes salesmanship almost automatic.
Supersize is more what you are talking about upselling. The meal bundling concept, which is brilliant, was designed to speed the process of ordering. McDonald's did a very sophisticated statistical analysis to determine the combinations that would cover the largest number of customer transactions. The decision time for the customer was cut in half, the time spent telling the clerk what they wanted was reduced to a number or letter, and the process transmitting the order and ringing it up was shortened, In all the method increased the "throughput" of customers at busiest times by a huge factor.
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I had leftovers tonight and the flavor was just as good and maybe even better than yesterday.
I often find that to be the case with a complex recipe (stews, soups). The flavors seem to blend and fuse after a day or so. True for cioppino. Good to make a batch of sauce and freeze it. Then you just have to add fresh fish.
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I was this kid, see, selling men's shirts and ties in an upscale department store in Morristown NJ. A guy and his wife came in to buy a dress shirt. By the time he left, I had sold him $1500 worth of clothes, including a suit, top coat, ties. (This in 1960).
If someone came in to look at a dress shirt and said they were thinking of spending about $20-25, I would show them those and then showcase the newest styles in Egyptian cotton that cost $35, but "feel that material." What's wrong with that?
Any good deli counter man says "What else? We just got some nice whitefish in. Here take a taste."
When you've got a customer in front of you, your nuts if you don't try to get them to spend as much as you can get them to. They can always say no.
We never called it upselling. Just good salesmanship.
Bait and switch is an unethical form of upselling. That's a different story.
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The OED says that pizza is simply Italian for "pie", but Mark Morton, author of Cupboard Love, does not agree. He says that torta is Italian for "pie" and that pizza simply means "pizza"! How's that for etymology? Actually, there is a bit more to it. Pizza, he suggests, carries the etymological meaning of "sharp point", a reference to the tartness or sharpness of the tomato sauce and the herbs in the sauce. He cites a related Italian word and phrase: pizzicare, a verb meaning "to pluck" (cf. pizzicato, a musical term which tells a string player to pluck rather than bow), and a la pizzaiola, an Italian phrase used for any dish containing tart tomato sauce. Anyhow, as far as usage, the OED first records the word in 1935
Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's talk a wee bit about the history of pizza. A form of pizza had been eaten by Italian peasants for hundreds of years before the modern version was created. Once the tomato made it to Italy, a close relative of today's pizza was born: pizza alla marinara (marinara because it was popular as a food for fisherman; marinara sauce takes its name from this), made from tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, and later, anchovies.
Today's pizza is said to have been born in Napoli (Naples) at the hands of S.G. Raffaele Esposito, baker at the pizzeria Pietro e Basta Cosi. In honor of the visit of King Umberto I and Queen Margherita to Naples, he prepared what was the typical pizza alla marinara, but he added mozzarella and basil to it. This he named in honor of Queen Margherita. That type of pizza, often called pizza Margherita, can be found served in restaurants today (after an absence of several decades, at least in the U.S.). It is claimed that Esposito settled on that array of toppings because they reflected the colors of the Italian flag: red (marinara sauce), white (mozzarella cheese) and green (basil). All of this happened back in 1889. To this day, Naples is considered the official home of pizza, where strict pizza-making rules are enforced.
Interestingly, we have found another explanation of the derivation of the word pizza: that it evolved from picea, the corrupted form of a Latin word used to describe the black ashes and debris underneath the pizza in the oven. However, this source does not give the uncorrupted Latin word and gives no other supporting information for this etymology.
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JAZ,
You must be awesome in a jam session! When I saw Scottish Chef's question, I thought, yes, that's really what being a great chef is about. The ability to plan and produce a sequence of dishes that stand alone and enhance each other.
Early in my eating education, a three star French chef (Jaques Manier) told us that "your meal is on the wrong track." And he went on to explain a redundancy in the dishes we ordered. From that time, whenever we chose a main course, we ask "what track we should be on?"
And I am nowhere near knowing how to lay one down myself.
Thanks JAZ for laying one down, and thanks SF for asking.
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Okay, fellow old farts--does anyone remember the Nedick's jingle from the late 40's and early 50's when the chain sponsored college basketball from the old Garden on WMGM (the once and future WHN)? All I remember is the first line which went, "Whaddya say Little Nick."
"Good like Nedicks" said Marty Glickman as the CCNY player's shot went swish.
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This is the recipe that made a cioppino addict out of me. Brought to Tadich's in 1976 by a Bay area friend, I fell in love with the place. Last time I was there was in 1998. Too long ago...
Tadich Grill CioppinoList of Ingredients
1/2 Cup Olive Oil, divided
1 Small Onion, chopped
1 Medium Carrot, finely chopped
1/2 Medium Green Bell Pepper, chopped
1 Small Leek, White part only,Chopped
1 Small Rib Celery, chopped
1 Tablespoon Fresh Fennel, chopped
28 Ounce Can Crushed Tomatoes withPuree
1 Tablespoon Tomato Paste
2 Cup Water
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Pepper
1 Teaspoon Fresh Basil, minced
1/2 Teaspoon Fresh Oregano, minced
1/4 Teaspoon Fresh Thyme, minced
4 Bay Leaves
1 Dash Cayenne Pepper
1 Teaspoon Garlic, finely chopped
1 Pound White Fish, cut into 1/2x2" strips
8 Large Shrimp, shelled and deveined
8 Large Scallops
3/4 Cup Sauvignon Blanc Wine
8 Small Clams in Shell, scrubbed
4 Ounce Cooked Shrimp Meat
6 Ounce Cooked Crab Meat
Italian Parsley, chopped
Recipe
Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in Dutch oven or large heavy pan over medium heat.
Add onions and saute 1 minute without browning. Add carrot, green pepper, leek, celery and fennel and saute 5 minutes. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, water, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, thyme, bay leaves and cayenne pepper. Partially cover and simmer over low heat 2 hours, stirring occasionally. (Sauce can be covered and kept warm over low heat for several hours longer. Stir occasionally.) Remove bay leaves.
Heat remaining 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add garlic and cook 5 seconds. Immediately add fish, shrimp and scallops. Saute until just cooked through, 2-4 minutes. Add seafood to sauce and stir gently.
Pour wine into skillet and cook 30 seconds over medium heat, stirring up any loose bits. Add clams to skillet. Cover and cook until clams open, 2-6 minutes. Transfer clams as they open to sauce. Discard any that do not open.
Gently stir shrimp and crab meat into sauce. Cover and cook cioppino until all seafood is hot, 2-3 minutes longer.
Ladle cioppino into large casserole or soup tureen or directly into shallow soup plates. Garnish with chopped Italian Parsley.
Source: Tadich Grill, San Francisco
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A humungous broiled hamburger made from 2/3 ground chuck and 1/3 ground brisket, with sliced onion and root beer in a frosted mug. What was it someone said about simplicity?
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With a little practice, sharpening is not difficult at all, and quite satisfying.
Why am I finding so many funny lines on EG tonight?
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Sorry Jaybee -- Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen have beat you to the punch. They've already optioned it to open their latest mystery/slumber party direct-to-video video.
Can we please just focus on the schwerma?
Darn.
Ali Baba's on Amsterdam and 85th has a turkey schwerma on their menu. Plotnicki says it isn't too good, but the one time I had it I liked it.
But then, I wouldn't know schwerma from derma...
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First, you catch a rabbit. (with apologies to MFKF).
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That is not a criticism and re-reading them it may be that you use a lot of descriptives for the ingredients so it sounds like it is more complicated than it actually is
Sort of like a Danielle Steele novel, eh Simon?
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The murder of the proprietress of my favorite Lebanese/Armenian take-out joint in LA has awakened my hunger for their schwerma.
Muon, may I have your permission to use this sentence as the opening line for my new noir detective novel?
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Almost every version made in San Francisco includes dungeness crab.
You know, you're right Jason. Funny I don;t think to buy crab when I am making it. I should. Next time.
Some good ideas here for variations on the theme. Hey, I wonder how this stuff would taste cold, in the summer, with a dollop of sour cream on it? Sort of gazpacho gone insane!
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A re-read of Levine's article reveals that the Fairway Mitchell London burger does indeed make his list.
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My staff now think I'm insane, Jaybee. I just burst out laughing at your post. Maybe my staff are right.
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One thing that I think is important with Irish Stew is that two types of potato are used. One a starchy type which breaks down over the long cooking period and in effect thickens the sauce and stops the large amount of fats from dominating the mouth feel. The second a waxy type that holds together and offers some interest to the stew in terms of texture. When I was on the west coast of Ireland, I had a good stew based on this idea, they used some type of local starchy potato that was very yellow fleshed, which gave a stew a golden yellow colour.
That is very interesting. In the cioppino thread, I mentioned experimenting with small waxy and starchy potatos in the fish stew. It is not part of the "authentic" recipe, but I found that they added to the texture and taste of this "fisherman's stew."
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A number of years ago, I bought a ten inch long razor sharp push button knife in a Paris shop. It has a bone handle and the blade flies out of the handle at amazing speed and locks open. I love to bring this to the table and slice cheese and bread, watching people's reactions as this relic of my greaser days pops open with a resounding "thwack."
Another variation I bought in Italy has an eight inch blade emerge directly out of the handle, stiletto fashion. It makes for great theater cutting pears and apples at the picnic table.
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But your new-made claim that this is relevant (to food) is stretching things a bit far, I think
Ah, honorable Macrosan-san. Thank you for your felicitous comments.
I humbly point out that I did not intend to stretch the relevance of the thread to food, only that it was "relevant." I see by your parenthetical emendation that you added this stretch-mark to my comment. I intended to leave it to the beholders to determine relevant to what.
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Isn't Dinty Moore now a brand name owned by Hormel? Uh-oh.
It has been for many years. Full disclosure: I am a consultant to Hormel (among other companies), and I have worked on the Dinty Moore brand. I was impressed with what I saw at the Austin MN. facility where they cook the stew. Based on my dealings with them, I wil say that Hormel is a company that has integrity and high standards.
No one is claiming a tinned product is equal or better to scracth made. But the product is (surprisingly) good tasting.
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Planning to go to OTTO for lunch today, I caught up on both threads. Sorry for being Grinchy about the OTTO pronounciation topic. On sober reflection, I can see how it can be relevant, or interesting, at least. To maybe huit of us.
Remote thermometers
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
I bought the model sold by Williams Sonoma, and so far it seems to work pretty well. Turkey and roasts have been cooked as indicated by the digital readout. They make me nervous, but so far innoccent until proven otherwise. They are convenient.