JoeCascio.net

I’ve had a number of requests to post my tomato sauce recipe. I actually started with a published recipe, “Sally Colucci’s Gravy” (in some families, it’s called “gravy” as opposed to “sauce”) that I modified, and which has continued to evolve over time to be quite good. It generates a big quantity including about 15 meatballs, a half dozen hot Italian sausages and enough sauce for a pound of pasta with another couple pints left over for making eggplant or chicken parmesan.

At the moment, I don’t have any pictures or video of the preparation, but perhaps I can add that in the next week or so, when I make another batch. For right now, I’ll post the text so you can take a shot at making it. I would love to hear your comments about how yours turns out!

I’m not hard-core enough to make my own sausages yet, so I use Perri Hot Italian Sausages. But any good quality Italian sausage will do. All the hot-and-spicy in this sauce comes from the sausages. So if you don’t like spicy, switching to a sweet Italian sausage should work just fine.

Meatballs

• 1 pound 80-85% lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup Italian style breadcrumbs
• 2 eggs
• 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt, pepper to taste (I use none)

Sauce

• Olive oil from browning meat
• 1 lb hot Italian sausages (sweet also ok if you don’t like spicy)
• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil or 1/4 cup fresh chopped basil
• 2 – 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes
• 1-2 cups “starter” sauce. I use leftovers from previous batch or some bottled sauce.
• Salt, pepper to taste

Procedure

1. In small pot boil water and par-boil the sausage for about 10 or 15 minutes. When done, remove from water and dry excess water from casing. Save the water!!
2. In a bowl combine the meatball ingredients and mix with your hands until smooth and consistent. Be sure to squish the meat thoroughly. Roll into meatballs about the size of a golf ball. Cover and set aside.
3. In large frying pan or skillet cover the bottom with a good amount of olive oil and brown the meatballs and sausages on all sides.
4. Remove browned meat from skillet and set aside.
5. Pour oil from frying meat into a large sauce pot and heat.
6. When oil is hot, pour chopped onion in and cook until soft and translucent.
7. Add basil and garlic and stir well for a couple of minutes. (This onion, garlic, basil mixture smells great, by the way!)
8. Add the two cans of crushed tomatoes and heat until bubbling, but be careful not to overheat and cause sticking, burning on the pot bottom.
9. Add the sausage and meatballs and stir thoroughly.
10. Add the starter sauce.
11. Simmer for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally, add saved sausage boiling water in small amounts to keep at the desired consistency.
12. Tastes best if chilled overnight in the refrigerator before using.

Ok, it’s true, I won a free hotel room here for one night, but regardless, The Roger Smith is a deal even at the walk-in-off-the-street rate. If you’re into social media, it’s *the* place to stay. And it’s convenient. At 47th and Lexington, it’s only a 5 min walk from Grand Central Station.

If you think it’s impossible to get a decently sized hotel room for a reasonable price in NYC, check this out.

One of my Boston social media buddies, Todd van Hoosear (@toddvanhoosear), set me off on a rant a couple of days ago by retweeting this from Jon Silk (@prgeek) in London.

I responded with a string of tweets, about how restaurants should put their actual street address in a prominent place so I can enter it into my car GPS navigation system, and also to use regular HTML text (as opposed to a pretty image) so I can copy it easily. I also went off on “fake FAQs” that have softball questions written by the marketing department as a contrived way to push their message. For instance, “How does your restaurant have such consistently awesome food?”

Poor Todd. He had unknowingly triggered one of my hot buttons about business web sites, which is that a company’s site should be about customer service, not marketing. To me, it’s the simplest way to keep in mind the proper design approach and overall goal of the site.

One of my favorite quotes (author unknown) on this topic is, “Please. Just help me. Don’t make me endure the sales process.” I’m sure this will resonate with anyone who has been frustrated trying to find the simplest, most mundane piece of information on a over-wrought, cutesy, Flashy web site that was clearly designed by an agency accustomed to creating TV commercials or print ads.

It’s not about what you want to say, it’s about what they want to know.

As a restaurant owner, I’m sure you want to tell me about all the great things you have to offer, from drinks, appetizers, to decor. But often that’s not what I need to know. When I’m going to a restaurant, I want to know things like:

Where are you? Give me a real street address for my GPS system. If it’s in a crowded city location, give me some landmarks nearby so I can find the entrance. And as Jon Silk said, a Google maps link, not some cutesy schematic map.

Parking. This is huge one for me. If you have on-site parking, SAY SO! If you don’t, tell me where I can park without getting ticketed or towed. Tell me where the most affordable, accessible lot is nearby. Give me pictures of them, so I can find them easily. Don’t make me first double park outside, run inside, ask you where, and then have to go out again.

Dietary options. Are you vegetarian or vegan friendly? Or conversely, for veggie-oriented places, do you accommodate carnivores? How about gluten or lactose sensitivities? Do you use MSG? The list goes on. Know your customer base and let them know what to expect.

Busy/Slack time. Of course restaurants want their places packed all the time. Some actually enjoy that status, but most places have slack time. Personally, I prefer going at quieter times, when I can have a little privacy, talk and perhaps get better service. Rather than people be frustrated having wait an hour for a table, let them know when it’s quieter. You might even out your traffic and get more business overall.

Seating options. Does your restaurant have features like a child-friendly or adults-only section? (I’d LOVE an adults-only section, by the way). Handicapped access should go without saying, but provide details, if necessary. Older buildings sometimes have to use alternate entrances or elevators.

The more real-time, the better…

Nothing’s worse than an out-of-date site with stale information. I’ve actually seen sites lately with the wrong address after they’ve relocated, or bios of the former owners still up.

The ultimate is real-time information. I want to jump on a chat or be able to send a Tweet to a restaurant and ask them a question if their site doesn’t already provide it. I think a lot of people are like me and have grown to detest using a telephone to get customer service. I don’t like being tethered to a handset while  being on hold, or getting a sales pitch (live or recorded) or having to deal with some officious hostess who acts like she’s doing you a favor to talk to you.

How about an accurate wait-time, or even perhaps web-cams, so I can see what’s going on? Give people a Twitter hash tag to use so they can tweet while they’re there. If you love your customers and treat them right, they’ll do right by you, too. And it will give you a real-time sense of what kind of experience people are having, while they’re there, so you can do something about it!

FAQs that aren’t faux

Every restaurant manager knows the questions people ask and what they want to know. Just answer those questions. Ok, you may want to shy away from the last three health department citations you got, but if that’s the kind of place you’re running, this advice won’t help you much.

So, don’t look at your website as just another advertising or promotion medium. Use it to really help your customers and they’ll love you for it!

Back in August of 2007, in Twitter’s infancy, I had a cook-out at my house. One of the conversations revolved around the need for “groups” on Twitter. Since this feature, now called Lists, has finally been added, I thought it might be fun to see what people were talking about way back when. It seems we didn’t really get everything we wanted.

See if you can spot some of the now-well-known peeps sitting around the table. Drop a comment if you recognize anyone.

Click to Play

Today I in the mail, I received a dose of the financial reports that I’ve come to expect from various funds and stocks that I’m invested in. The one from Barclay’s Captial just offended me. It’s as thick as a local phonebook and has densely printed prose, tables and graphs on every page. My question is, who on earth is going to read any of that? This is a horrible waste of natural resources and simply denudes forests to fill up landfills. All this information is undoubtedly online but the default seems to be paper mail. I’m guessing there’s some law about disclosure that requires financial firms to publish these tomes. It wouldn’t suprise me if it was sponsored by the paper lobby!

Tags: commentary, ecology, financial reports, natural, paper, political, resources

I recently sent some form email to my congressional representatives and the FCC regarding the battle over wireless handset exclusivity agreements between the large carriers (ATT, Verizon, Sprint, T-mobile) and the phone manufacturers. These agreements are what force you to use ATT to get an iPhone, or other types of phone from other manufacturers. Like the Internet, mobile phone service should be standards based and open to all manufacturers and consumers. You can read more about this at FreeMyPhone.

Today, I received the following letter from my US Senator, Joe Lieberman (D-CT). I don’t have a lot good to say about Joe on many issues, but this letter does summarize nicely a lot of the important reasons we should all be on the side of an open mobile phone environment, in addition to keeping the Internet free and open. I’m hoping Sen. Lieberman is on the side of the consumer along with President Obama on this one.

July 29, 2009

Dear Mr. Cascio:

Thank you for contacting me regarding exclusive cell phone sales and distribution contracts that limit the services consumers can access on their wireless devices, a practice commonly referred to as “handset exclusivity.” I understand that this is a difficult issue, and I welcome the opportunity to respond.

As you mention, many wireless device manufacturers have reached agreements with large wireless companies, such as AT&T and Verizon, in which they agree to sell a certain phone exclusively through a particular carrier’s network. For example, those who purchase Apple’s iPhone can only use it to access AT&T’s phone and Internet service. Currently, nine out of the ten highest selling phones are locked into such exclusive deals. In addition, there have been allegations that service providers have prevented subscribers from accessing web content and downloading applications that directly compete with their own services. For example, many users have complained that they have a difficult time using the Internet phone service Skype because it competes directly with their carrier’s phone service.

Critics of exclusive device agreements argue that they adversely affect consumers by limiting choice and increasing prices. They point out that because many phones are sold through only one network, many consumers have to forego purchasing the device that best fits their needs so that they can sign up for a service plan they can more easily afford. In addition, critics contend that exclusivity allows carriers to charge more for popular devices than they would if the same device was being sold by multiple providers. Furthermore, many rural phone carriers assert that such arrangements unfairly prevent consumers living in rural areas that are not served by one of the major carriers from being able to use some of the more advanced phones on the market.

On the other hand, wireless service providers contend that exclusivity agreements result in lower prices for consumers because it allows providers to offer package deals in which customers can purchase a handset device at a reduced price in return for agreeing to subscribe to a carrier’s service. For example, they cite that the average price of the iPhone has declined by almost $300 since Apple first agreed to sell it solely through AT&T almost two years ago. Industry officials also suggest that exclusivity deals help to spur innovation because carriers will continuously request that manufacturers develop new features in order to stand out from their competitors.

You may be interested to learn that the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Technology held a hearing on this topic entitled the “the Consumer Wireless Experience.” For more information on this hearing, I suggest you visit the committee’s website at: http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID=03b81ffd-ba9f-42e6-8331-7c28f6d112b0.

Recently, Michael Copps, the Acting Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), announced that FCC would take steps to examine handset exclusivity agreements to determine whether they “adversely restrict consumer choice or harm the development of innovative devices.” Julius Genachowski, President Obama’s nominee for FCC Chairman, has also indicated that he believes FCC should investigate this matter. In addition, there have been reports that the U.S. Department of Justice has opened an initial review into whether large service providers are abusing their market power, including the use of exclusive agreements with handset makers. Please be assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind as I continue to monitor this issue.

Thank you again for sharing your views and concerns with me. I hope you will continue to visit my website at http://lieberman.senate.gov for updated news about my work on behalf of Connecticut and the nation. Please contact me if you have any additional questions or comments about our work in Congress.

Sincerely,

Joseph I. Lieberman

UNITED STATES SENATOR

JIL:gjz

Tags: cell phones, handset, handset exclusivity, mobile phones, open, politics, standards, telephony, wireless, wireless phones

Birthdays at our house are always excuses to make fancy food, drink champagne and eat too much. Tonight, for our son’s birthday (33), my wife Barb made a favorite of his that we discovered at a local restaurant, The Seahorse, in Noank, CT. The official name on her recipe is “Spinach fettucine topped with lobster, scallops, crabmeat, tomatoes and asparagus in a tarragon cream sauce” (whew!!). Herewith is the recipe.

Ingredients

1 sm. shallot, chopped finely

4 1/2 Tblspoons butter

3 tsps tarragon

Asparagus tips (1 bunch)

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

3/4 cup heavy cream (don’t subsitute light cream, it will curdle)

1 1/4 cup lobster stock (not bottled clam juice)

1/2 cup dry white wine

Meat of 2 1-1/4 lb lobsters, chopped

1/3 lb. small scallops

1 can crabmeat

1 box spinach fettucini

Salt, pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Cook shallots in butter 3 mins.

2. Add tomatoes and tarragon, increasing heat to high so tomatoes lose some of their moisture.

3. Add the lobster stock, cream and wine and continue boiling until sauce has reduced.

4. Add salt, pepper to taste.

5.Reduce heat, stir in seafood and already steamed asparagus tips. Cook 2 mins. until meat is hot.

6. Serve over spinach fettucini.

Tags: cooking, crabmeat, cream, fettucini, lobster, sauce, scallops, tarragon

In honor of July 4th, Independence Day, I am going to school all of you in the preparation of a proper New England Lobster Roll. To the visitor to New England (”from away” as you’re known here) I will warn you that there are dining establishments that claim to serve lobster rolls, but most are merely pretenders, poseurs. They serveth not the True, the Honest, the Original Lobster Roll, but merely a tawdry, cheap imitation. Beware, I say! Read here a description of an Authentic New England Lobster Roll and be not cheated! Or better yet, make your own and enjoy them at a third the price!

Ok, so I went on a bit there, but you get the point. I’m going to give you instructions on making a real lobster roll, like we enjoyed as kids here in New England before lobster became a delicacy in Japan and lobster meat became so expensive (like $40/lb) that restaurants began to find ways to cut it, add fillers and otherwise cheapen one of America’s most delicious summer treats.

Ingredients:

1. Lobster meat. You can make six well-packed lobster rolls with two 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 pound live lobsters. Or you can buy about 1 pound of pre-picked lobster meat, which will cost you dearly, chummy. Now right here I want to emphasize that a True Lobster Roll is filled with only lobster meat, not some abomination of Lobster Salad, which has celery, gobs of salad dressing, and god knows what other fillers in it so it ends up being cheaper to make. No. Use lobster and only lobster.

2. The Roll. If at all possible, use a New England style hot-dog roll, which is different from the rolls you may find elsewhere. These are known in cooking circles (thank you Grace Piper..) as a “top-loader”. Take a look at the first picture in the post. Notice that the roll stands up with the slit at the top through the toasted upper surface. It does not lay on its side.

3. Melted butter and mayo. What is lobster without melted butter? In a lobster roll, the butter is drizzled over the top of the lobster when in the roll. Optionally, one can coat the inside of the roll with a little mayonnaise for flavor, but for god’s sake don’t go overboard here, ok?

That’s it. It’s as simple as dirt and much better tasting.

Process:

1. If you’re working with live lobsters (much preferable) get a large pot of water to a rolling boil and throw the lobsters in. Cook for 10 minutes after the water begins to boil again. Remove from water, drain and let cool. You can get a bad burn from the residual water left inside the shell. Make sure they’re really cooled.

2. Break the lobsters apart and extract all the meat you can. I use a meat cleaver as a broad plate to break down the claws and knuckles (ie, the claw joints). Be careful to keep bits of broken shell out of the meat. Chop the tails into small enough pieces to fit in the rolls. The picture shows what two lobsters will yield in pure meat. Don’t bother too much with the bodies, as there isn’t enough meat in there to justify the time required to extract it. The bodies can be used to make a great lobster tomato sauce, so you can save them for that if you want.

3. Coat the sides of the rolls with butter and grill them on a skillet to a golden brown. This is a touchstone of a real lobster roll: the butter-grilled roll.

4. If you like mayo, spread a small amount on the inside of the roll, then fill the rolls with the lobster and serve with chips, and maybe some corn on the cob as we did today. They’re always good with beer, although my wife and daughter drank champagne with theirs today. I tried a little and it was excellent!!

Tags: lobster, lobster roll, New England, original

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