# OT - Do you like Pizza?



## LGFugate (Sep 11, 2000)

I just saw this in the current issue of Network Computing - a pizza vending machine!!! Now we'll be able to get the perfect food without going to a restaurant!

http://wonderpizzausa.com/

Check it out!

Larry

:thumbsup:


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## lisfan (Feb 15, 1999)

that is cool


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## Zorro (Jun 22, 1999)

_*"It is an appealing, convenient, hot, nutritious, tasty pizza delivered in approximately two minutes."*_

I'm dubious about the "tasty" part.


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Yeah, I'd bet it _tastes_ just like vending machine pizza. :drunk:


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## the Dabbler (Feb 17, 2005)

As a true pizza lover,  some are better than others, but there's no such thing as a "bad" pizza !! :tongue:
( I've seen this on the Food Channel recently )


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## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

the Dabbler said:


> As a true pizza lover,  some are better than others, but there's no such thing as a "bad" pizza !! :tongue:
> ( I've seen this on the Food Channel recently )


You know what they say about sex being like pizza. Even when it's not good, it's still pretty good! But vending machine pizza? It's probably more like self-abuse! :devil:


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## the Dabbler (Feb 17, 2005)

SO, your point is .................??


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## CaptFrank (Jan 29, 2005)

> SO, your point is .................??


It's still pretty good?


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## woof359 (Apr 27, 2003)

*already room for Pizza*

radiated frozen Pizza...........wonder if it wood fit in the building room ??


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## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

*HUH??*


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## beeblebrox (Jul 30, 2003)

Wood fit?


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## MitchPD3 (Dec 27, 2001)

Possibly, I would enjoy a "real" pizza. To me, the fast food pizza joints (Pizza Hut, Dominos, etc.) are crap, but that is all we have in our area. I would love to find a "Mom & Pop Pizza Place" that could actually make an honest pizza.


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## ChrisW (Jan 1, 1970)

My dad used to work for ARA - Automated Retailer of America. They made vending machines back in the 1960s and 70s when they were in their heyday. He would tell me about new machines that were being designed - I remember him telling me about a _french fry_ machine, as well as hot/cold machines, and machines large enough to fullfill the needs of a small variety store(!).


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## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

*Warning: Nostalgia Alert!*

I remember the days when hardly anyone had a microwave oven in their home. Microwaves (we called them "radar ovens" back then) were bulky, expensive, and found mainly in institutional settings such as college cafeterias, business lunchrooms, movie theater lobbies, etc. You could get a cold burger or hot dog — or sometimes a mini-pizza — from a vending machine and zap it in the radar oven for a couple of minutes. Tasted like crap, but it was HOT!


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## Zorro (Jun 22, 1999)

scotpens said:


> I remember the days when hardly anyone had a microwave oven in their home. Microwaves (we called them "radar ovens" back then) were bulky, expensive, and found mainly in institutional settings such as college cafeterias, business lunchrooms, movie theater lobbies, etc. You could get a cold burger or hot dog — or sometimes a mini-pizza — from a vending machine and zap it in the radar oven for a couple of minutes. Tasted like crap, but it was HOT!


_Especially_ those burgers. I basically put myself through college working the night shift in convenience stores - 4 pm til' midnight. This was the late 70s/early 80s and my nightly supper was limited to what was on the shelves or in the coolers in those stores - which was extremely limited to begin with. I could stand those microwave burgers about once a month at best. The microwave ham and cheese sandwiches were tolerable and canned Hormel chili with saltines and cheese was even better. I actually learned to like sardines during those years and still do. But those burgers had an awful, artificial taste that I haven't forgotten to this day. They were just _wrong_.


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## beeblebrox (Jul 30, 2003)

Sometimes "fresh" food is just as bad. I worked the 11-7 nightshift at "Love's Country Store" making sandwiches for hungry drunks. If you ever saw the green stuff I scraped off the chedder cheese and slimy roast beef, you'd probably become a vegetarian. :freak:


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## El Gato (Jul 15, 2000)

You know, "vendor machine pizza" is not even an appealing thought to me :freak:

José


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## lisfan (Feb 15, 1999)

i worked at a movie drive in as a kid.i worked as a cook . i wouldnt eat my own cooking unless i got it right then  . they would switch the rolls on hamburgers and hot dogs as they got soggy. if they they passed the "smellTest" they go back i bet some could be carbon dated. just because i was cooking in front of you doesnt mean you were getting any, atleast for a few weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!! :drunk:


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## the Dabbler (Feb 17, 2005)

When I was a young kid my step-father was a butcher, and part of my job was, when they made ground meat out of very fatty trimmings, they ground it into a big laundry tub, and I had to pour in large cans of tomato juice, then dig in up to the elbows to mix it in by hand to mke the meat look redder & leaner. If the meat got too "runny" or thin they would sometimes add oatmeal. I heard in the earlier days they would often use fine sawdust.

And does anyone know what's really in bologna ?


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## Zorro (Jun 22, 1999)

the Dabbler said:


> And does anyone know what's really in bologna ?


.... "parts". Another thing I reluctantly consumed while working in those convenience stores was (and this may be an exclusively Southern foodstuff) "Potted Meat Food Product". I swear - that was it's "official" name. It was sort of the generic "cheap" version of "Underwood Deviled Ham", except without the devil and without the ham.:drunk:


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## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

Zorro said:


> .... Another thing I reluctantly consumed while working in those convenience stores was (and this may be an exclusively Southern foodstuff) "Potted Meat Food Product". I swear - that was it's "official" name. It was sort of the generic "cheap" version of "Underwood Deviled Ham", except without the devil and without the ham.:drunk:


Probably tasted like hell, though! Reminds me of the old Army joke about what "Spam" really stands for: "S--- Posing As Meat." It makes you wonder if things have really changed that much since Sinclair's _The Jungle_.


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## the Dabbler (Feb 17, 2005)

Spam is really just ham with pork shoulder, and I used to love :tongue: it until lately when my wife, who's getting Alzheimer's, started stocking 6 or more cans in the cupboard. I'm REALLY pretty tired and sick of Spam right now !!


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## El Gato (Jul 15, 2000)

Zorro said:


> .... "parts". Another thing I reluctantly consumed while working in those convenience stores was (and this may be an exclusively Southern foodstuff) "Potted Meat Food Product". I swear - that was it's "official" name. It was sort of the generic "cheap" version of "Underwood Deviled Ham", except without the devil and without the ham.:drunk:


 One time, near the start of my freshman year in college the menu at the main cafeteria said, "Dinner: Fried Shrimp Shapes".

Shrimp.. _shapes?_ :freak:

Thank God I'm a vegetarian.

It also made me realize why the upperclassmen referred to that cafeteria as "The Stalls". Before that I thought it was because we were the Cal Poly Mustangs. 

José


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## Zorro (Jun 22, 1999)

El Gato said:


> One time, near the start of my freshman year in college the menu at the main cafeteria said, "Dinner: Fried Shrimp Shapes".
> 
> Shrimp.. _shapes?_ :freak:
> 
> ...


Our college cafeteria served something called a "Deep Fried Seaburger in Newberg Sauce". No thank you.


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## Zorro (Jun 22, 1999)

Of course, my standard breakfast of choice in college (and I mean _every day_) was a 16 oz Coke and a Moon Pie, so what do I know about fine dining?


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## terryr (Feb 11, 2001)

A few years ago machine french fries were going to be the big thing. Where are they now?


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## El Gato (Jul 15, 2000)

Throughout most of high school, the lunch for this "champion" was a Snickers bar and some chocolate milk. 

Ahhh, yeah.

José


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## the Dabbler (Feb 17, 2005)

:thumbsup: God bless Lance's "nickel lunch" 5c. PB & Cheese crackers !


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## fjimi (Sep 29, 2004)

(hi-school) 8 tasty cakes and 2 1/2 pints of choc milk and I was good to go!


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## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

*"You should see the crap he eats — cheese balls and beer for breakfast!"*



Zorro said:


> Our college cafeteria served something called a "Deep Fried Seaburger in Newberg Sauce". No thank you.


Are you sure that wasn't "Deep Fried Sea_biscuit_"? _(horse whinny sound effect)_

When I was in my teens, my favorite weekend breakfast items were cold leftover pizza and cold leftover Chinese food straight from the fridge. That's one advantage of being young — you have a cast-iron stomach and the metabolism of a shrew! Or, as my dad used to say, "a hollow leg and two a--holes."


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## Old_McDonald (Jul 5, 2002)

do I like pizza, lemme count the ways. :thumbsup: 


When I was in college, lived in a dorm and I knew the local
pizza delivery people by first name. Even dated a couple of 
delivery girls we met so many times.

Lately, I make my own pizza's from scratch using Chef Boy r Dee's
pizza dough, Ragu pasta sauce flavored with meet or the onion/garlic
brands and I put just about any kind of meat / cheese combination that
I fancy. I've even had fried shrimp pizza (minus the tails). I really
like making my own now. Somehow, the thought of a vending machine
makes me think of over/under cooked cardboard pizza's 

Any of you ever tried to re-head pizza in a microwave? Crust turns
tough as leather.


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## TrekFX (Apr 15, 2004)

Old_McDonald said:


> do I like pizza, lemme count the ways. :thumbsup:
> 
> Lately, I make my own pizza's from scratch using Chef Boy r Dee's
> pizza dough, Ragu pasta sauce flavored with meet or the onion/garlic
> brands.


Sorry, my friend, but that is not scratch. I do scratch!

Flour, water, olive oil, yeast, salt, and honey for the dough go into my mixer with the dough hook installed. After the mix combines, it gets kneaded for about twenty minutes to really get the gluten developed.

The only difference between this and that packet of Chef Boy is that it takes a few extra minutes to assemble the ingredients... the rest of the prep can be simplified to the mix-knead process any dough needs (kneads???)

Sauce? What's sauce? I buy a can of whole tomatoes (preferably San Marzano, but any good plum tomato is yummy) and crush them by hand, making sure the seeds go away. They are then drained. That's it. Rustico!

After the dough has done its rise-punch-shape-rest cycles, it's layed out on a pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal, brushed with olive oil, the tomatoes added, a sprinkle of romano, whatever mozzarella (sliced fresh or shredded if I'm going more mainstream) and other toppings (such as grilled peppers, grilled onions, sausage, pepperoni, roasted artichokes... and one must not forget fresh basil!)

The oven, by the way, has been preheating at 550 degrees for at least 45 minutes with a pizza stone on the lowest rack.

Into the oven the pizza goes. It's done in a matter of minutes.

Out it comes, it rests for 3-5 minutes then it mysteriously "disappears."

(Now remember, you can make a bunch at a time and freeze them for later enjoyment! Frozen pizza to the next level :wave: )

Oh, did I mention that I **LOVE PIZZA****?!!!


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## Zorro (Jun 22, 1999)

I actually make spaghetti and meatballs from scratch. I start out with a 2 to 3 lb round roast which I cook with garlic, wine, and tomatoes for about three hours, _then_ let the roast cool, _then_ shred the meat and combine it with eggs, breadcrumbs, parsley, parmesan, and a couple of other ingredients, _then_ shape into meatballs, _then_ brown the meatballs and add them back to the strained sauce and let it all simmer for another 45 minutes or so. But I only make it about once a year because it is such a pain in the butt. I used to make the pasta by hand too but _that_ was ridiculous.


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## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

So now we're exchanging recipes?

I've seen OT threads go off on all kinds of tangents, but this is the first COOKING thread I've seen here!


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## Old_McDonald (Jul 5, 2002)

Like modeling, cooking is an art.

Well, I guess I learned what "scratch" cooking really means. I guess to get any more scratch, I'd have to butcher my own meat and make my own sausage with a grinder. :jest: . Still, for this ol' farm boy, if I have to do anything more than putting it in the oven, it's scratch to me. I'd rather be modeling than mixing ingredients. I don't even know what seasonings to buy or how much to use except for onions and garlic.:thumbsup: The pleasure I get from making my own is the variety you can't get from most pizzarias

Anyone here ever make a fruit pizza? I use pineapple / coconut combo and
apple / cinnamon/ cherries combo.


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## El Gato (Jul 15, 2000)

Um, I buy my own Snickers. 

José


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## the Dabbler (Feb 17, 2005)

Good grief, when did Martha Stewart join the board ??

NOW, if you want something REALLY good, you have to try my saurbraten !! :thumbsup: 
Herr Dabbler


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