By Francis Moran
“What is tetrazzini?” I remember asking chef/instructor Jim
Birmingham at the Feast for Floodies event in May of last year. I was with a
crew of other New England Culinary Institute students volunteering at the Crossett Brook Middle School
to prepare and serve a special community dinner for those affected by the flood
caused by Hurricane Irene.
Chef Jim, himself a village floodie,
teamed-up with Andrea McManus, a Waterbury
Center resident and NECI
faculty member who had helped with previous flood dinners, to create a menu and
recruit students to cook the big dinner.
The event was organized by Carrie Dessureau and her
dedicated committee, who within a few short weeks managed to solicit a
tremendous amount of donated food from area businesses and many generous people
from the area, to help keep the spirit of community alive with a
social gathering and meal.
We had enough food to feed an army;
including cakes, cookies and pies of all descriptions for dessert, lettuce
greens for salad, plus pasta, frozen mixed vegetables, cheese, ham, and I don’t
know how many cooked turkeys for the main course.
It seemed a little chaotic in the
kitchen at first, but Chef Jim quickly got us organized and gave us each a
task. I was assigned to get a big pot of water on the stove and cook spaghetti.
“After that, start pulling all this
meat off the bones,” he commanded, pointing to the large object still cooling
in a roasting pan beneath a blanket of aluminum foil.
“What are we making?” I asked. “A
kind of tetrazzini,” he replied. I had
never heard of such a thing. “What is that?” I wondered out loud, as I ripped a
turkey leg from its socket and shredded the meat into small pieces. “It’s a
fancy Italian word for casserole,” Chef Jim answered.
That sounded plausible, I thought to
myself; but I couldn’t see his facial expression, and quietly went back to
work. I would have to wait until I got home to look it up.
In fact, tetrazzini is named for famed Italian opera singer Luisa Tetrazzini. But whatever it's origins, it makes for a delicious day-after Thanksgiving dish to serve using leftover turkey and vegetables.
And for, after that inspiring meal for flood victims, tetrazzini will always be connected to the spirit of "thanksgiving."
In fact, tetrazzini is named for famed Italian opera singer Luisa Tetrazzini. But whatever it's origins, it makes for a delicious day-after Thanksgiving dish to serve using leftover turkey and vegetables.
And for, after that inspiring meal for flood victims, tetrazzini will always be connected to the spirit of "thanksgiving."
