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John Yoo: Good News and Bad News
The good news? John has just agreed to guest-host the Ricochet podcast this week, sitting in for Rob. (Rob will be back in April. He swears.)
The bad news? John revealed in an email exchange just now–don’t ask how the subject came up–that, priding himself on the cuisine, if that is the word, of his hometown of Philadelphia, he insists, insists, on putting Cheez Wiz on steak sandwiches.
Remember John in your prayers.
Published in General
You make a solid argument, but that requires a level of planning I’m unlikely to make. Using RoTel means I can stock up when that’s cheap and be ready whenever.
Actually, I sorta like both, but it’s probably been 40 years since I had any Cheese Wiz, and 10 years on Velveeta.
I hasted to add that Peter’s very choice of words reveals his origins in Upstate New York.
For only in Upstate do people refer to a Philly cheese steak as a “steak sandwich.”
well, as someone who has grown up on a dairy farm and suffered my fathers passions for cheese (and having the bedroom in the basement that was precisely the right temperature to store cheese through the summer months) I must declare that I have an opinion about all this.
Cheese is ok. it is a type of food that is very flexible in its application to any cuisine. it can be brilliant in a casserole. It can be comforting at the end of the day with a glass of port and a few grapes. it can be understated in aroma and a good blue cheese can reach out and give you a shake by the throat.
Like it or not, it is part of the food we daily use to make up what we call “cuisine”.
cheese whiz or velveeta, while not what you would call an artisan cheese still touch the hearts of many of us who just say: it tastes really great. We are not swimming in the stuff. We just like the taste and texture.
The fact that you can microwave it and turn it instantly into a liquid for ease of application to any food is simply a plus
A cheesesteak isn’t cuisine … it’s a pleasure. It’s sloppy. It’s bad for your arteries. It’s not intended to be an entree with the beaujolais. (Philly now had plenty of those places now, by the way.) Philadelphia is the home of both Grace Kelly and WC Fields; of both Mario Lanza and Will Smith; of both Andrew Wyeth and Bob Saget; and yes, of both Ben Franklin and Rocky Balboa. We get all kinds, and we like ’em all.
The cheesesteak ain’t pretty and it’s ain’t for pretty people. We like it that way.
Yeah, he piqued my interest with the wine but the rest of it sounds a little too close to actual “cooking” sort of activities.
“Open/Combine/Stir/Enjoy” — that’s my kinda recipe.
Thanks for the trigger warning, Peter. My wife’s family is from Philadelphia. They think it will require more than prayers. Possibly only an exorcism will suffice.
But I’ll overlook the sacrilege in the interests of hearing more from the inimitable Mr. Yoo.
That’s not “cooking.” That’s assembling.
Peter, Are you with John Yoo or John Kerry?
What, pray tell, is more all-American than Cheese Whiz?
Agreed. To claim I’m capable of the former would be dissembling.
(Actually, considering I once managed to mess up a “cake-from-a-box” by forgetting one of the 3 ingredients I was supposed to add, I guess I’m none too skilled in the assembly department either.)
I enjoy Gruyere, Gouda, Emmental, Camambert, etc.
But a good Velveeta ‘cheese’ dip when watching a game is a lot of fun. It just goes with watching football.
ct,
Swiss Cheese on a hoagie!! I am appalled! I always knew that something was very very wrong with Kerry. Now there is no doubt.
Harrumph!!
Regards,
Jim
This is pure elitism over traditionalism pure and simple. CheezWhiz forever.
I am put in mind of the late Michael Kelly’s piece on the food of New Jersey, drawing on the twin influences of New York and Philadelphia. I never read anything that made me so homesick in my life.
As @ctlaw notes, getting snooty about the cheese on a cheese steak is such a John Kerry thing.
I just realized that’s cheese and not mustard….that was a close one…
I awoke extremely discomfited today, and realized that the evil Robinson had used mind control on me, causing me to misspell Cheez Whiz in my original comment. The shame may endure unto the next generation. I swear that I had no bias against the necessary second h. Spare me, god of Kraft!
For a complete explanation of the wonders of Cheez Whiz, go here:
http://gizmodo.com/is-there-any-real-cheese-in-cheese-whiz-1681322493
Trinity,
I suspect this will appear as a 3D holographic display in the new National Museum of Junk Food now under construction.
No thanks to one Peter Robinson!
Harrumph!!
Regards,
Jim
Phew. I saw this and got worried about him.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/white-rhino-shot-dead-french-zoo-horn-sawn-152535469.html
I cannot believe how many favorable opinions of Cheez Wiz there are in the comments. Cheez Wiz is disgusting. It’s not even real whiz.
I will have only genuine, organic, 100% natural, ninety-nine-and-forty-four-one-hundredths-percent pure Cheez Whiz on my steak sandwich, thank you very much.
And delays ensure you’ll have plenty of time to enjoy it.
Yes, but you must admit it tastes closer to whiz than it does cheese!
Now I know it’s possible to actually hear the sweater tied around Peter’s neck. Also, the folks from Philly that I know swear that Whiz is authentic. And it’s just some on the top–not all of the cheese in the ‘steak. It’s not bad.
The one and only time I’ve ever had to spend the night in an airport, it was in Philly, which is especially lame, when one lives in New York. I spent a few hours writing letters in an empty food court, with this guy silently pleading for a hug the whole time:
Creepiest. Mascot. Ever.
What’s it even supposed to be? Can John tell us?
I bow to your superior knowledge of such things.
(The way the article begins, it looks like the bad news is that a person name Rob Long might be coming back…)
Shameless plug: As Peter points out, John will be in the @roblong chair and the guests will be Andy McCarthy and Avik Roy.
It’s simple. You walk up to the window at “Pat’s King of Steaks” in Philly. Your order: “One; Wit, wit!” You patiently wait a few minutes, and then the heavenly ambrosia of the definitive steak sandwich is handed to you. Peel back the paper, and sink your teeth into gastronomic perfection.
If you haven’t had it, you can’t know. If you’ve had it and don’t understand, well…you have my sympathies.
Upstate New York, where Talented and Successful Americans come from.
And every cheese steak is good, some are great, but none are bad.
Let’s join together and enjoy the grease, beef, cheese, bread and variables.
And God Bless America!