“Sacrilege” and “culinary blasphemy” is what some Greeks called a recipe for Pastitsio that The New York Times posted on their Facebook page.
Food writer Colu Henry didn’t know what he was getting himself into when he decided to change centuries of every Greek grandmother’s choice of meat (beef), opting instead for ground lamb.
The second offense? Tomatoes. Many people slammed the “inexperienced” food writer’s excessive (two cans!) use of tomatoes. The nerve, Ms. Henry, the nerve!
And last, but certainly not least, if you read the hundreds of comments, despite authoring a popular cookbook about pasta called “Back Pocket Pasta”, Ms. Henry’s biggest offense was her choice of pasta.
“Pastitsio without tubular macaroni? Well, that’s not Pastitsio. That’s baked ziti with a strange sauce on top,” wrote one keyboard chef.
“Lamb? Garlic? Oregano? Parmesan cheese? 2 cans of tomatoes? And those noodles…this is a baked ziti, not pastitsio,” wrote another critical commentator.
“Please don’t call this travesty “pastitsio”…”
The comments are pure entertainment.
Some takeaways…
- Don’t mess with a Greek’s comfort food and generations of yiayia’s cooking. It’s like taking away an American’s fireworks on the Fourth of July.
- Never use lamb in Pastitsio and post about it, unless you want the wrath of Greeks everywhere on your Facebook wall.
- Never use anything but tubular macaroni!
