The T List: Five Things We Recommend This Week
Fancy frozen meals, Egyptian housewares — and more.
Jan. 28, 2021
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The maialina, one of La Rossi Pizza’s 10-inch blast-frozen pizzas, which is topped with organic tomatoes, local mozzarella, pork sausage and fresh basil.Credit...Courtesy of Giada Paoloni
By Kate Guadagnino
Despite intermittent bouts of effort, almost a year of relative solitude hasn’t resulted in my becoming a more competent cook. But this isn’t as embarrassing as it could be thanks to two new food companies offering frozen options you can feel good about. I first learned of Ipsa at a pre-Covid dinner party, having assumed the chicken pot pie the host served was homemade until she told me otherwise. (In fact, it was prepared at the brand’s kitchen in Long Island City, which emphasizes thoughtful sourcing and currently delivers to much of the New York City area.) I’m also fond of the heirloom bean soup, seasonal mac and greens and beef and kimchi stew — for dessert, try the bread pudding, made with local strawberries and She Wolf Bakery sourdough. Now, thanks to La Rossi Pizza, founded by a mother-daughter team of food-industry veterans, Martina Rossi Kenworthy and Bianca Kenworthy, I can add fine frozen pizza to the rotation. It was the women’s longstanding tradition of hosting make-your-own-pizza parties for friends and family that eventually led to conversations about sharing the food with a wider audience and, after years of research in the States and Martina’s native Italy, they’ve honed a production process built on beautiful ingredients — including organic tomatoes from Los Gatos, Calif., and stone-ground flour from upstate New York — and cutting-edge technology. Their bakers use a conveyor oven that gets up to 950 degrees Fahrenheit (as opposed to the typical 500), and they’re certifying a machine that simulates the hand-stretching of dough. On the menu are the margherita, the maialina (“little piglet” in Italian), the veggie and the “just crust.” I’m not picky about pizza, but can tell you that the crust on all of these, which is crunchy on the outside and pillowy on the inside, is leagues apart from that of your typical frozen fare. What’s more, both brands are mindful about packaging, so you’ll likely end up with less waste than if you’d gotten takeout — however much I’d like to believe that man can live on pad Thai alone.