"toppings" news and stories

Labor Day is less than a week away and is the last big grilling day of the summer season. It is a weekend of picnics and barbecues, which means that hot dogs and hamburgers will be popping up on everyone's menus. These hamburgers already made an appearance on my grill, but I'm sure that I'll be cooking up a few more over the weekend. I used sharp cheddar and provolone (except for the lone cheese-less burger topped with bbq sauce in the back), adding the cheese during the last few seconds of cooking, keeping the burgers on the grill just long enough to melt it onto the patty.

Cheese is just the start of a good burger, though. Some of my favorite toppings are basics, like lettuce, tomato, onions and avocado, though bacon, pickles, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and barbecue sauce are always out alongside the grill for anyone who wants them. You can't go wrong with those options, but what else do you put on your burgers to make them the best they can be?

The fat and calorie content of some pies is enough to make nutritionists cringe, but let's face it: pizza tastes good. Really good. The Miami Herald says that 93% of Americans have pizza at least once per month. Very few people are willing to swear of pizza for more than a brief period of time, even during a diet, let alone for any substantial length of time. Can you make pizza a healthier part of your diet? Sure. There are quite a few ways to cut down on the worst parts of pizza and still enjoy it.

The first option is to limit yourself to one slice of pizza. Good luck with that - though it is a good idea to pair a pizza with something lighter, like soup or salad, to prevent yourself from reaching for that last slice.

The second option is to eat low fat, low calorie pies. This is actually a great way to get your fix without blowing your diet or your top button. The taste is the same or similar to regular pies, especially if you sprinkle on some of your own toppings, like a bit of parmesan cheese or red pepper flakes.

 

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Yesterday, students at York, Pennsylvania's Locust Grove Elementary School doused their principal with hamburger toppings in an act of charity. A local supermarket chain offered to double the amount of money they normally donate to local schools whose principals did something "original and entertaining," according to the York Daily Record. Locust Grove principal Robert W. Shick (above) was one of five administrators chosen from hundreds of entrants. Shick sat on a hamburger bun as students covered him with all sorts of fixins, including lettuce, relish, ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise (shiver). "It felt very good between my toes," Shick told the YDR.

[Photo: AP/York Dispatch, Bill Kalina]

Now, if I was a god-fearing, church-going man, I might think twice about a project like this. That not being the case, I was pretty amused with Kevin Kelm's "sacri-licious experiment" of trying to improve communion wafers by adding a variety of condiments. From French onion dip ("It's like eating a blister") to Grey Poupon ("six kinds of horrible"), the wafers get a lot of mileage. They also get dressed up with some Easy Cheese, anchovy paste and Oreo cookie filling. Ultimately, none of them seem to please Kevin and his tasting partner Gary. The final conclusion is that alcohol is needed to make the wafers palatable. Surprise.

[Photo: Kevin Kelm]

Domino's Pizza recently sought the advice of a taste and smell expert to learn more about what pizza toppings say about people's personalities. According to their "Toppings Tell All" study and Dr. Alan Hirsch of Chicago's Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, those chunks of pineapple and anchovy say a lot. "Non-traditional" toppings, like pineapple, indicate aggressive, leader-type personalities. Meat lovers also love to be the center of attention, apparently. Veggie lovers, on the other hand, seem to be humble and introverted.

The Domino's site isn't to clear on the rationale for any of this, but c'mon, it's pizza, what do you want from it, really?

[Via Slice]