Rosmarino at DeLaurenti's

Like many Seattleites, we’ve developed an affinity for Salumi Artisan Cured Meats. We patiently waited with bated breath for them to receive their USDA certification. The moment that happened in 2005 we could barely contain our excitement and built a seasonal around their Finocchiona salami.

Consequently, we have been looking for an excuse to feature more of their products. We are overjoyed to announce that we are starting Salumi specials that will spotlight a rotating Salumi product throughout the year. It is similar to our seasonal offerings, but will be available for a longer period of time. We have started with a favorite, the Salame Picante, which features their rosmarino salami.

You don’t hear much about their rosmarino salami. That’s because back in 2007 DeLaurenti’s Pat McCarthy contacted Armandino Batali asking Salumi to develop an exclusive DeLaurenti product. They batted around a couple of ideas, and then Pat hit upon the thought of a rosemary salami. Armandino found a fresh rosemary source that he liked from Vashon Island. The rest, as they say, is history. Pat is extremely proud to say that DeLaurenti remains the only place where you can buy Salumi’s Rosmarino salami. You can’t even buy it at Salumi. The only exception is on our Salame Picante. It will be available through the spring, or until we run out of it!

We are still working out what will be featured next. Early indicators point towards Salumi’s mole salami. We’ll keep you posted!

This past Saturday we held the finals for our annual March Madness contest at the Bridle Trails Delivery Kitchen. It was a battle between some experienced tossers – the least tenured competitor has been with Pagliacci for over 2 years. The Final Four were all competing for pride, cash, and dinner for their entire store (and, no, it’s not pizza).

Quinn Ressler from Crossroads, Hugo Uitzil-Tun from Juanita, Marlene Tun-Gil from Bellevue Square, and Jon Obrycki from 85^th were this year’s finalists. All have participated in March Madness before but were first-time finalists. Prior to competition Bridle’s lobby began to fill up with spectators ready to cheer and jeer. Juanita was the best represented out of the stores but Crossroads had the edge on props.

All of the competitors tossed out very fast pizzas – the fastest was 31 seconds and the “slowest” was 38 seconds. That means each of these crewmembers can turn a dough ball into a large cheese pizza in just over half-a-minute!

We tallied all the seconds and graded all of the pizzas. We know our customers have high standards so we grade hard. We look at size, even cuts, color of bake – top and bottom, spread of sauce and cheese, crust appearance, and a handful of other criteria.

Quinn had the fastest pizza, but once they were all out of the oven it looked like a race between Hugo and his aunt Marlene. In the end, Marlene proved that Pagliacci and family seniority counted for something. She earns the title of Best Cook in Pagliacci 2012 and gets to defend her crown next year.

Thanks to all the stores for coming out and congrats to Jon, Quinn, Hugo, and especially Marlene for busting it out and proving to be the best of the best!

Let’s face it…just about everyone loves bacon. Many people have called it “the gateway meat” and its salty, smoky charm can even turn some vegetarians back into carnivores.  The demand for the Bacon Leek pizza that won our recipe contest last year proved so strong that we knew we had to bring it back.  This year we are using an all-natural uncured bacon from Hempler’s Food Group, just up I-5 a stretch in Ferndale.

Hans Hempler and his wife Emmy bought a small meat and sausage shop in Bellingham in 1934 and, using techniques that Hans had learned in his native Germany, started to produce their own unique brand of sausages, bacons, and hams. From this little shop they have expanded and Hempler’s now operates out of a 30,000 square foot facility in Ferndale.

The bacon that we are using this year is free of nitrates, nitrites or any other preservatives, and is as minimally processed as possible. That means no antibiotics or hormones, either. The ingredients are simply pork, honey from Oregon, and sea salt. Their pigs (somewhat ironically) are fed a vegan diet. Hempler’s likes to say that they make the “Leanest Bacon on the Planet Earth”, so that there is less fat and more delicious porky goodness in their bacon.

We are proud to be using their bacon on our pizza, and hope that you enjoy it as much as we do! Bacon is also available as a pizza topping while the Bacon Leek is on the menu, so if there is a combination that you have wanted to try, now is the time!

Enjoy!