Just before slipping in the theater to see The King's Speech the other week (some movie opening dates here are literally months after they have been released in North America and the UK), we nipped into local favorite Zeit & Raum (Time & Space) for a quick bite. Before I could inhale this, I figured I'd take a photo (food blogging is all the rage, isn't it?) of a regional dish. What we have here is known as Flammkuchen, literally "flame cake." Because this originates in the Alsace region (which longtime readers --and yes, I see you new folks, thanks for stopping by and subscribing!-- may recall in posts like this one and this one is right on the French/German border and has flipped between the countries for centuries), it's known there as the nearly identical flammekueche, and elsewhere (particularly snooty restaurants) as Tarte flambée. Dude, it's really just a type of thin crust pizza. The key with the Flammkuchen is that it needs to be made in a wood fired oven, traditionally of stone or brick. It has a distinct oval shape, and has a very light texture with the crust being pastry thin-- my thin crust aficionado parents would go ape for this stuff--and it's more of a snack or appetizer than a full-blown meal. If memory serves, I had one with peppers, diced tomatoes and diced salami while B had mushrooms and peppers on hers.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Germano-French Pizza
Just before slipping in the theater to see The King's Speech the other week (some movie opening dates here are literally months after they have been released in North America and the UK), we nipped into local favorite Zeit & Raum (Time & Space) for a quick bite. Before I could inhale this, I figured I'd take a photo (food blogging is all the rage, isn't it?) of a regional dish. What we have here is known as Flammkuchen, literally "flame cake." Because this originates in the Alsace region (which longtime readers --and yes, I see you new folks, thanks for stopping by and subscribing!-- may recall in posts like this one and this one is right on the French/German border and has flipped between the countries for centuries), it's known there as the nearly identical flammekueche, and elsewhere (particularly snooty restaurants) as Tarte flambée. Dude, it's really just a type of thin crust pizza. The key with the Flammkuchen is that it needs to be made in a wood fired oven, traditionally of stone or brick. It has a distinct oval shape, and has a very light texture with the crust being pastry thin-- my thin crust aficionado parents would go ape for this stuff--and it's more of a snack or appetizer than a full-blown meal. If memory serves, I had one with peppers, diced tomatoes and diced salami while B had mushrooms and peppers on hers.
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Not sure what the official definition says about this, but I have certainly noticed that every Flammkuchen I've ever had has been tomato-sauce-less. The saucy layer on those has always been some kind of cheesy, oniony, spreadiness. Almost like one of those herby Chavroux cheeses slightly thinned out to help it spread. Tanginess galore!
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