Around The World In 80 Days (1956) - Movie Reviews

The moment I read that there was a biographical movie being made about Mario Moreno Cantinflas [Cantinflas (2014)] - I put that one on my watch-list. I was not disappointed.

I grew up watching Cantinflas. He was my first comedic hero -  and for a good reason, the man was a genius. I thought I had seen all of his movies, but I guess I missed his entry into Hollywood - the epic Around The World in 80 Days.

Quick review of the Cantinflas (2014) movie. Beautiful piece, the set, the tone, the heart; it was like watching the character of Cantinflas in his role as Mario Moreno. Oscar Jaenada captured the essence that made Cantinflas stand out on camera the way he did - it took me back to my younger days. I highly recommend, but my recommendation comes from a personal place, so it is biased. On the other hand, I will go on a limb and say that Cantinflas' legacy lives through the humor style of Latin America cinema today - so give it a watch if just for cinematic research.

Then again, for cinematic research I would rather recommend you watch the topic of this post. I guess the best way I can describe it is: it is such a great movie that it will make you appreciate the 2004 remake of the same title. Granted the original is a thousand times better. Nothing against the newer production - I am a long-time Jackie Chan fan after all, but there is no real point of comparison. The original film, as you watch it, you will realize the amount of production is at the level of an epic film.

Favorite line: "I told you not to spoil the natives" - one of the many stabs at Americans that this movie makes - although this is a Hollywood movie.

As the title says, the movie is shot in different parts of the world - yes, some of them were made in a stage, but still. With that said, the depiction of the different cultures are quite stereotypical. But at the same time, remember that most people back in those days were born in their own town: where they would grow up, find their place in society and the workplace, marry someone from their own town; and then die and grow old together - or is it the other way around? - so I can only imagine that at the time seeing more than two distinct locations in a movie was not commonplace.

There is a big lesson to be learned through this movie. See, for every scene/chapter - the filmmakers took their time. You feel like you're going through a long journey with the characters, be it on elephant-back, trains, boats, or an air balloon. Before the plot moves on, you see the characters explore the area they are visiting. The bullfighting scene with Cantinflas is about five minutes long - it had little to do with the whole plot, but it doesn't matter - it's the experience.

Movie Foods - Pizza - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1984 - present)

Easy mode: buy some pizza dough if you can. I had originally planned to buy it for the recipe because I did try making some a while back and I had failed, but since I couldn't find one - I was forced to make it.

So, if you find the combination of chiles, tomatoes, and chocolate a little too familiar; that's because it is. The sauce is a modified version of the tradicional Mexican sauce known as 'mole'. It may sound like cheating, but I had my reasons (the chiles are found in the 'Chiles in Adobo Sauce' sauce I made for my fish taco recipe).

I wanted to post my recipe video to coincide with the premiere of the Ninja Turtles movie that came out earlier this year - to see if that would improve the amount of hits I get on my videos, but since I have been trying to figure out a better method for making my videos; I missed the mark.

The point is, I could have made this a five cheese pizza or a ninety-nine cheese pizza - I can only imagine how hard ninety nine cheese varieties can hurt the bank account - just like in the movie. But I decided that it would be much better if I had based this recipe on the original animated series from 1987 since the show is close to my heart.

Throughout the run of the original show, the turtles would mention the most ridiculous combinations of ingredients - including one with shredded coconut and sweet pickles. For this recipe I attempted to use as many of those ingredients without making it a foul pizza: peanut butter, marshmallow, anchovies, onions, extra garlic, and chocolate [in syrup, chips, and fudge forms] were all mentioned in the series - I just didn't know what to do with licorice or jellybeans.

It just so happened that while I was researching mole recipes - some mole varieties call for chocolate - I noticed how mole used in some form some of the ingredients that the turtles would use, so there.

Fun bit: anchovy is one of the main ingredients for one of the four original pizzas from Naples, Italy. The fish can be a great addition of flavor for some recipes when used as a condiment.

So, the big question you may have is; does the pizza taste any good? Well, as it is with any other recipe I post here: I do my best to produce the best dish based on the topic at hand. It has a different taste than a cheese pizza - not saying it's necessarily better. You do have to be careful though, too many marshmallows and the whole thing will taste like chocolate fudge.


Pizza Dough
1.5 cups of flour
0.5 cups of water
0.5 tsp salt
1 tsp honey
1 tsp yeast
olive oil for coating

The ratios here are for one large pizza.

When working with flour, it's best if measured by weight, but I just couldn't find a way. The ratio by weight is usually eight parts flour by five parts water (aprox.). Also, I used all-purpose flour, which works... but bread flour is much better.

The method I use on the video: mix, fridge for 18 hours, knead for twenty minutes, proof for two hours, and redistribute 30 minutes before use is something out of my own head, almost. I based the recipe from Jim Lahey's no-knead bread recipe. The idea is that the moment water hits flour, gluten starts forming. So the idea of resting before kneading is to accomplish two things: to produce that rich sourdough experience, and two help form the gluten early on  - Keep in mind that this is a hand-knead recipe, if you have the proper mixer, I encourage you to use it - without this resting period, the dough would take 40 minutes of kneading, or so I hear.

I did mention that you can opt for other types of syrups other than honey - like molasses; this is just to add some of those aromatics into the dough other than just plain sugar.

Lastly, when forming the pizza, do not be afraid to play around with the dough, have fun.

Ninja Sauce
On the pan:
1 onion, chopped
garlic, extra garlic
olive oil, salt, basil, oregano, thyme.

In the blender:
400g can of tomatoes
0.25 cups chiles in adobo sauce, sauce (chipotle in adobo sauce will work just as fine)
0.25 cups peanut butter
6-10 anchovies
2 tsp of banana (optional: it adds even more depth to the dish. I mean, you've come this far)

After blending:
3 oz dark chocolate (60% or higher)
2 marshmallows

When spreading the sauce into the pizza, make sure you're not overly generous or the pizza could turn out soggy.

As for the cheese, I used mozzarella cheese. You don't really have to grate the cheese, you can just put it in chunks, and it will melt just fine.

About the timing, I later on found out that for my oven, the best time is five minutes and thirty seconds. A good way to tell if the pizza is ready is when the dough stops rising, and starts taking on a golden color. A crisp bottom is a good sign as well.

I used a cast-iron skillet instead of a pizza stone or a ceramic tile. As long as you can help bring the oven temperature up, either way is fine - the best pizzas are the ones that cook the fastest.

References

Lahey, Jim - My bread - 2009: http://www.amazon.com/My-Bread-Revolutionary-No-Work-No-Knead/dp/0393066304