"Johnny Marzetti"

 

Below is an article about the dish known as "Johnny Marzetti":




"JOHNNY MARZETTI"

Until recently, I had never heard of the pasta dish called Johnny Marzetti. Honestly, I had stumbled across it, while reading an article about pastas on the Internet. Originated in the American Midwest, Johnny Marzetti consisted of noodles, cheese, ground beef or Italian sausage, and a tomato sauce with vegetables and mushrooms.

In 1896, an Italian woman named Teresa Marzetti and her family had immigrated to the United States and settled in Columbus, Ohio. Not long after their arrival, she and her husband Joseph started a restaurant called Marzetti's, located on High Street. Due to its location near the Ohio State University, Marzetti's became very popular with the university's students. I do not know exactly when Teresa Marzetti had created her famous casserole, but according to food critic John F. Mariani, she had created the dish in the 1920s and named it after her brother-in-law. But it is possible that Mrs. Marzetti had created the casserole a lot earlier.

Johnny Marzetti became popular with the Ohio State University students. Its fame later spread throughout Columbus, the state of Ohio and eventually the entire Midwest. The casserole eventually became a popular dish in the former Panama Canal Zone. The local Panamanians referred to it as "Johnny Mazetti", instead of Johnny Marzetti. The latter was even mentioned in an episode of the WB comedy-drama, "GILMORE GIRLS".


Below is a recipe for "Johnny Marzetti" from the Ohio Thoughts blog and the Ohio Historical Society:


Johnny Marzetti

Ingredients:

*3 tablespoons olive oil
*1 large onion, chopped
*3⁄4 pound mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
*2 pounds lean ground beef
*3 1⁄2 cups tomato sauce
*1 1⁄2 pounds cheddar cheese, shredded
*1 pound elbow macaroni, cooked and drained


Preparations:

*Sauté onion in oil until limp, about 3 minutes.
*Add mushrooms and fry until juices are released, about 5 minutes.
*Add beef and cook, stirring, breaking up clumps, until no longer red.
*Remove from heat and mix in tomato sauce and all but 1 cup of cheese.
*Transfer to greased 9- by 13-inch baking dish and add macaroni.
*Toss gently to mix. Scatter remaining cheese on top. Bake, uncovered, in 350-degree oven until browned and bubbling (35 to 40 minutes). Serves 10 to 12.

"Hoppin' John"

 

"HOPPIN' JOHN"

Popular in the Southeastern region of the United States, Hoppin' John is a peas and rice dish that has been popular holiday dish for generations. In fact, this dish has traditionally been served in the U.S. South on New Year's Day. Many believe serving Hoppin' John on this particular holiday will bring prosperity and luck for the year.

The peas - whether they are cowpeas, black-eyed peas, Sea Island red peas, and iron and clay peas - are symbolizes pennies or coins. Diners will sometimes add an actual coin to the pot or leave under the dinner plates. Ingredients such as chopped onion, and sliced bacon seasoned with salt are usually cooked with the dish. Some recipes use ham hock, fatback, country sausage, or smoked turkey parts instead of bacon. A few recipes also include green peppers or vinegar and spices.
Cooks usually serve Collard greens, Mustard greens, Turnip greens, chard, kale, cabbage or similar leafy green vegetables with Hoppin' John to further add to the wealth, since they are the color of American currency. Cornbread is usually served with Hoppin' John to also symbolize wealth, since it possesses the color of gold.

Hoppin' John was first mentioned in Caroline Howard Gilman's 1837 book titled "Recollections of a Southern Matron". The author referred to the dish as "bacon and rice". Sarah Rutledge's 1847 cookbook, "The Carolina Housewife" included a recipe for Hoppin' John. And "The Oxford English Dictionary"'s first reference to the dish came from Frederick Law Olmsted's 19th century travelogue, "A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States", first published in 1861.

However, it is believed the Gullah people first created Hoppin' John in the low county areas of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia; as a one-pot dish during the Colonial era. On Sapelo Island, Georgia; Geechee red peas are used instead of black-eyed peas in the community of Hog Hammock. Residents of the Sea Islands off of coastal South Carolina, use something similar - Sea Island red peas. The Gullah's West African ancestors brought rice and bean dishes to the New World, as enslaved people. Among the West African dishes that Hoppin' John may have evolved from was the the Senegalese dish, Thiebou Niebe.

Below is a recipe for Hoppin' John from the Soul Food Pot website:


"Hoppin' John"

Ingredients (Hoppin' John):
*1 pound of dried black-eyed peas
*6 cups of chicken stock (use vegetable stock for vegans & vegetarians)
*1 cup of diced red onion
*2 cloves of minced garlic
*1 bay leaf
*1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
*¼ teaspoon of red pepper flakes
*½ a teaspoon of dried thyme
*2 teaspoons of chicken bouillon (vegans & vegetarians use a Creole seasoning)
*1 ½ teaspoon of salt
*1 teaspoon of black pepper
*1 cup of collard greens, finely chopped, fresh, or pre-cooked
*¼ cup of green onion, chopped to garnish (optional)

Ingredients (Rice):
*2 cups of white rice
*2 cups of chicken broth
*1 teaspoon of salt
*¼ teaspoon of black pepper


Preparations (Hoppin' John):

1. Open the Instant Pot lid and pour the chicken stock into the stainless-steel inner pot.
2. Add the black-eyed peas, onion, garlic, bay leaf, paprika, red pepper flakes, thyme, chicken bouillon, salt, pepper, and collards.
3. Stir the ingredients to combine.
4. Make sure the beans are soaking and covered in the liquid broth.
5. Close the Instant Pot lid (make sure the valve is up – in the position for sealing) and pressure cook on high for 15 minutes.
6. When the cooking time is finished, allow a natural pressure release for at least 10 minutes.
7. To open the Instant Pot lid, move the valve to ‘venting’ and manually release any remaining pressure, if applicable.
8. Remove the bay leaf, transfer the black-eyed peas to an air-tight container, and set them aside. Or if you’re extra (like me!) and have more than one Instant Pot, keep the black-eyed peas in the Instant Pot on the 'keep warm' setting.
9. The next step is to wash out the inner pot or use a second Instant Pot to make the rice.

Preparations (Rice):
1. Add the rice, chicken broth, salt, and pepper to the Instant Pot stainless steel inner pot.
2. Stir to mix the ingredients and make sure the rice is covered in the liquid.
3. Close the Instant Pot lid (make sure the valve is in the sealing position – up) and pressure cook on high for 4 minutes.
4. When the cooking time is finished, allow a natural pressure release for at least 2 minutes.
5. To open the Instant Pot lid, move the valve to ‘venting’ and manually release any remaining pressure, if applicable.
6. Fluff the rice with a fork.


Preparations (Finish):
1. Use a large serving spoon to combine the set aside black-eyed peas with the cooked rice.
2. Mix well and then serve Black folks soul food Hoppin John right away.
3. Optionally, garnish with chopped green onion, serve, and enjoy!

"JULIE AND JULIA" (2009) Review

 

Below is my review of Nora Ephron's 2009 comedy-drama, "JULIE AND JULIA", about the life of celebrity chef, Julia Child and the New York blogger who was inspired by her, Julie Powell:





"JULIE AND JULIA" (2009) Review

Written and directed by Nora Ephron, "JULIE AND JULIA" depicts events in the life of chef Julia Child during the early years in her culinary career; contrasting with the life of a woman named Julie Powell, who aspires to cook all 524 recipes from Child's cookbook during a single year. Ephron had based her screenplay on two books - "My Life in France", Child's autobiography, written with Alex Prud'homme; and "Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously" by Powell. Two-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep portrayed Julia Child and two-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams portrayed Julie Powell.

The plot is simple. A New Yorker named Julie Powell, who works for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to help victims of the 9/11 bombings, has become disatisfied with her life when she realizes that her friends (or should I say acquaintances?) have more exciting professional lives. To help her deal with her apathy and knowing that she is an excellent cook, husband Eric (Chris Messina) suggests that she create a blog to record her experiences in cooking a recipe (each day) from Julia Child's famous cookbook, " Mastering the Art of French Cooking". Woven in to Powell's story is Child's experiences as the wife of an American diplomat in Paris during the late 1940s and early 1950s. The movie also reveals Child's entry into the world of French cuisine and her attempts to write and publish a cookbook on French cooking for Americans.

"JULIE AND JULIA" was not a movie that exactly shook my world. It was a warm and engaging look into the lives of two women whose interest in French cuisine attracted the attention of the public. In the case of Julia Child, her decade long attempt to write a cookbook on French cuisine led to her becoming a television celebrity and icon. Julie Powell's attempt to recount her experiences in preparing the recipes from Child's cookbook led to her blog, media attention and this movie. I have read a few reviews of the movie and most critics and filmgoers seemed more interested in Child's early years as a chef in France than they were by Powell's experiences with her blog. Granted, the Child sequences were a lot of fun, due to Streep's performance of the charming, enthusiastic and fun-loving chef. But I must admit to being surprised by how much I had enjoyed Powell's experiences with her blog. I realize that I am going to be bashed for this, but Powell's experiences seemed to have more emotional substance to them.

I am not saying that the Powell sequences were better written or more entertaining. But due to Ephron's portrayal of the Texan-turned-New Yorker, the Powell sequences seemed more complex and emotionally satisfying. In other words, Amy Adams - who portrayed Powell - had the meatier role. Most critics and fans of the film would disagree with me. After all, it seemed very obvious that Streep was having a ball portraying the enthusiastic and fun loving Julia Child. Her ability to easily befriend many of the French and her deepening love for French cuisine made it quite easy to see how she quickly became a celebrity. But Ephron never really delved into the darker aspects of Child's character or marriage - except touch upon the chef's disappointment at being childless. She certainly did with Powell. And Amy Adams did a superb job in re-creating a very complex and occasionally insecure personality. But I suspect that when the awards season rolls around the corner, it will be Streep who will earn most of the nominations . . . or perhaps all of them.

The rest of the cast of "JULIE AND JULIA" were just as excellent as Streep and Adams. Stanley Tucci portrayed Child's diplomat husband, Paul Child. He gave a warm, yet more restrained performance as a man happily caught up in his wife's growing interest in becoming a chef; yet at the same time, conveyed his character's unhappiness with his failing diplomatic career due to a change in the country's political winds. Like Adams, Chris Messina had a more difficult role as Powell's husband, Eric Powell. Unlike Child, he has to deal with his frustration in his wife's growing obsession with her blog . . . along with her occasional bouts with arrogance, insecurity and self-absorption. And at one point in the film, he loses his temper in spectacular fashion. I also enjoyed Linda Emond's performance as French cook Simone Beck, who co-authored Child's cookbook; and Mary Lynn Rajskub as Powell's acerbic friend, Amy. One other performance that really caught my eye belonged to Jane Lynch as Julia Child's equally extroverted sister, Dorothy McWilliams. Watching Lynch and Streep portray the McWilliams sisters take Paris by storm was a joy to behold.

Although I had enjoyed "JULIA AND JULIA", I had a few problems with it. One, it was too long. The movie's pacing started out fine. Unfortunately, I was ready for it to end at least twenty minutes before it actually did. By 100 minutes into the film, the pacing began to drag. And although I had no problems with the movie's alternating storylines, I felt that it failed to segue smoothly between Child and Powell's stories. The jump from Powell's story to Child's and back seemed ragged and uneven to me. And as I had pointed out before, the story surrounding Child's story seemed less emotionally complex and more frothy in compare to Powell's story, giving me another reason to view the movie as uneven.

Despite its flaws, "JULIE AND JULIA" is an entertaining film that many who are into cooking or food would enjoy. Both Meryl Streep and Amy Adams gave first-rate performances. And the movie also gave filmgoers a peek into life for Americans in post-World War II Paris. In the end, I found the movie enjoyable, but not earth-shattering. I would recommend it.

Ranking of "JULIA" Season One (2022) Episodes

 

Below is my ranking of the Season One episodes of the HBO Max streaming series, "JULIA". Based on the life of television chef Julia Child and created by Daniel Goldfarb, the series stars Sarah Lancashire in the titular role:




RANKING OF "JULIA" SEASON ONE (2022) EPISODES



1. (1.02) "Coq Au Vin" - Facing mounting pressure from station executives at WGBH Boston, cookbook author Julia Child struggles to figure out how to present a complicated recipe on television.
Later, on-set flubs threaten the future of the show and Julia's career.






2. (1.07) "Foie Gras" - While in New York, Julia and her new show receive both accolades and criticism. While Julia's husband and close friend, Paul Child and Avis DeVoto forge an unlikely, the show's producer, Alice Naman, finds an unexpected connection of her own.






3. (1.04) "Petit Fours" - As WGBH reaps the rewards of their new star's efforts, a jealous rival threatens the station's burgeoning success. While Julia struggles with the price of fame, Paul begins to accept defeat, and Alice changes tack.






4. (1.06) "Breads" - While Paul and book editor Judith Jones experiment with baking, Julia tackles a different kind of "bread." As sleep-deprived producer-director Russ Morash tasks Alice with even more work, the future of Avis's position on the show is questioned.






5. (1.08) "Chocolate Souffle" - After suffering a terrible emotional blow from a hostile critic, Julia's future - and the fate of the show - hang in the balance.






6. (1.01) "Omelette" - In 1962, Julia boldly pitches a groundbreaking television series centered on demonstrations for the home cook - despite pushback from male station executives and her own husband.






7. (1.03) "Boeuf Bourguignon" - When the show goes over budget, Julia doubles down on her efforts to continue making her dream a reality. As Paul contends with his fearsome father-in-law, Alice struggles with her new assignment.






8. (1.05) "Crepes Suzette" - In San Francisco, Julia tests the waters of her newfound celebrity status alongside celebrated chef James Beard, leaving a brooding Paul to question the true cost of his wife's fame.

Green Bean Casserole

 

GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE

I have an admission to make. I have only been aware of the dish called Green Bean Casserole for the past ten years. Only ten years. A former co-worker had informed me about the dish, claiming her mother had learned about it from a magazine for women. Because of this, I have always assumed that Green Bean Casserole was a dish first created around the late 20th century or early 21st century. I was wrong.

Green Bean Casserole is an American baked dish that consists of green beans, cream of mushroom soup, and french fried onions. Very simple. Chef and inventor Dorcas Reilly had created the dish, while working in the home economics department at Campbell Soup Company in 1955. Ms. Reilly created the dish for a feature article for the Associated Press. Campbell Soup required a quick and easy dish using ingredients that include one of their soups for most U.S. households. Ms. Reilly or Campbell Soup Company originally called the dish, "Green Bean Bake" when the latter began printing the recipe on their soup cans. Initially the dish did not test well within the company. However, due to Reilly's persistence, "Green Bean Bake" or Green Bean Casserole eventually earned a reputation for being "the ultimate comfort food".

The origin of the Green Bean Casserole truly began with the Campbell Soup Company's creation of their Creamed Mushroom Soup in 1934. When Ms. Reilly created the dish twenty-one years later, her ingredients included the soup, green beans, milk, soy sauce, ground black pepper and French-fried onions. She mixed the beans, soup, milk, and seasonings together, with a portion of the onions, and baked the mixture. Then she topped the dish with more French-fried onions and baked it for a few more minutes. Over the years, similar recipes have "updated" or "upgraded" the original recipe to use fresh green beans, homemade cream sauce, and fresh mushrooms, as the convenience-food based recipes of the 1950s and 1960s have become less fashionable.

The Campbell Soup Company had originally marketed the casserole as an everyday side dish. But it became popular for Thanksgiving dinners during the 1960s, after Campbell's placed the recipe on the Cream of Mushroom Soup cans' labels. The recipe popularized the combination of the soup with green beans and Campbell's Soup now estimates that 40 percent of the Cream of Mushroom soup sold in the United States goes into making Green Bean Casserole. Culinary historian Laura Shapiro called the recipe's use of the crunchy fried onion topping that gave the side dish a bit of "glamor", a "touch of genius". "Food & Wine" magazine called it "iconic". "Good Housekeeping" had declared that "few dishes are 'iconic'" as the Green Bean Casserole. In November 2002, Ms. Reilly, donated the original recipe card to the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio, while representing Campbell's Soup. A meal featuring the dish followed the donation.

Below is a recipe for the Green Bean Casserole from the Campbell Soup Company website:


Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients:

*1 can (10 1/2 ounces) Campbell’s® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup or 98% Fat Free Cream of Mushroom Soup or Condensed Unsalted Cream of Mushroom Soup
*1/2 cup milk
*1 teaspoon soy sauce
*4 cups cooked cut green beans
*1 1/3 cups French's® French Fried Onions (amount divided in recipe steps below)


Preparation:

Step 1 - Heat the oven to 350°F. Stir the soup, milk, soy sauce, beans and 2/3 cup onions in a 1 1/2-quart casserole. Season the mixture with salt and pepper.

Step 2 - Bake for 25 minutes or until hot. Stir the bean mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining 2/3 cup of onions.

Step 3 - Bake for another 5 minutes or until the onions are golden brown.

DISNEY'S CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE: Food & Wine Festival 2024

 

Recently, my family and I had enjoyed a day at the Disneyland Resort, where we attended the 2024 Food & Wine Festival at the Disney’s California Adventure theme park. The festival ended on April 22. Below is a selection of the food and drinks I had enjoyed at the festival:




DISNEY'S CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE: FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL 2024



BBQ Beef Brisket Slider - This small sandwich with barbeque beef brisket, smoked white cheddar and dill pickles on salt and pepper brioche was my favorite item at the festival. To my joy, I could barely make out the pickles and cheese.





Carbonara Garlic Mac & Cheese - The festival featured a few Macaroni and Cheese dishes with meat (especially pork). However, this old favorite of mine was seasoned with garlic and sprinkled with Nueske’s Peppered Bacon, cheese and bread crumbs. I really managed to enjoy this dish after I had brushed aside the bacon and bread crumbs.





Cheeseburger Bao - This dish was served with Thousand Island dressing, grilled onions, pickle, and tomato relish. This dish seemed okay. But I found the bao pastry too soft and inclined to become soggy. And the ground beef seemed to lack decent seasoning.





Chile Relleno Empanada - I have not eaten a Chile Relleno in years. Eating the dish as an empanada sprinkled with Arbol pepper, salsa and Oaxaca and Cotija cheeses made me remember how much I had enjoyed it. Very delicious.





Huckleberry-Citrus Cooler - This non-alcoholic drink featured Gold Peak Black Tea, huckleberry and agave syrups, grapefruit soda, and lemon and orange juices, garnished with an orange wedge. Quite simply, I found it not too sweet, delicious and very refreshing.





IMPOSSIBLE Beef Stroganoff - I cannot deny that this pasta dish with Egg noodles and IMPOSSIBLE beef, tossed in a mushroom cream sauce garnished with sour cream was delicious. But I was surprised to discover that the IMPOSSIBLE beef did not taste like genuine or artificial meat. Instead, it tasted like mushrooms.



If you had attended the 2024 Disney’s California Adventure Food & Wine Festival, what were your favorite dishes?

"JULIA" Season One (2022) Photo Gallery

 

Below are images from Season One of the HBO Max streaming series, "JULIA". Based on the life of television chef Julia Child and created by Daniel Goldfarb, the series stars Sarah Lancashire in the titular role:

"JULIA" SEASON ONE (2022) Photo Gallery

Dobos Torte

 

Below is an article about the dessert known as the Dobos Torte:




DOBOS TORTE

Several years ago, I had written a small article about the famous New Orleans dessert known as Doberge Cake. In my article, I had pointed out that the cake was a deviation of the Hungarian dessert, Dobos Torte. Below is my article on the latter.

The Dobos Torte is a Hungarian sponge cake layered with chocolate buttercream and topped with caramel. The layered cake or torte was named after its inventor, Hungarian chef József C. Dobos, who was a delicatessen owner in Budapest, Hungary. Tortes are commonly baked in a springform pan. A torte is a rich, usually multilayered, cake filled with whipped cream, buttercreams, mousses, jams, or fruit. The sponge cake serves as a common base, but a torte's cake layers may instead be made with little to no flour, using ingredients such as ground nuts or breadcrumbs.

Sometime during the late 1800s, Dobos had decided to create a cake that would last longer than other pastries in an age when cooling techniques were limited. Dobos coated the round sides of the torte with ground hazelnuts, chestnuts, walnuts, or almonds, and the hardened caramel top helps to prevent drying out, for a longer shelf life. His use of fine chocolate buttercream was very little known at the time, because cake fillings and frostings were usually made with cooked pastry cream or whipped cream. Dobos had discovered buttercream, while traveling in France. But he invented the cake's batter. Dobos also added cocoa butter into the buttercream for extra smoothness.

Dobos first introduced his torte at the National General Exhibition of Budapest in 1885. Both Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth were among the first to taste the dessert. The latter soon became popular throughout Europe, for both its durability through shipping and for its unique appearance. With its flat, shiny, caramel glazed top, the Dobos Torte proved to be a simple but elegant dessert, as opposed to the more intricate cakes of the age. During Dobos' lifetime, the torte was often imitated, but never reproduced. Dobos traveled to other countries in Europe to introduce his cake, and soon began exporting the product in specially designed wooden boxes. Near the end of his career in 1906, Dobos donated his recipe to the Pastry and Honey-Makers' Guild.

Below is a recipe for the Dobos Torte from the Spruceeats.com website:


Dobos Torte

Ingredients:

Cake
*1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature
*1 cup sugar
*4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
*1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
*1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling
*8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
*2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
*2 cups (1 pound) unsalted butter, room temperature
*5 large egg whites, room temperature
*1 cup sugar

Caramel Glaze
*2/3 cup sugar
*1/3 cup water
*Nuts of your choice, ground, to sprinkle on top and sides of cake


Preparation

Preparing the Cake
*Gather the ingredients.
*Preheat oven to 350 F.
*In a large bowl, cream the 8 ounces of butter and 1 cup of sugar until light and fluffy.
*Beat in the 4 eggs, one at a time. Beat in the flour and vanilla until smooth.
*Weigh the batter, remembering to subtract for the weight of the bowl. Divide that number by 7—this is the number of ounces you will need for each pan in order to create even layers.
*Lightly coat the bottom of 7 (9-inch) round pans with cooking spray. Alternatively, you can bake as many layers at a time as you have 9-inch cake pans and reuse them to bake the rest of the batter.
*Bake each layer for 7 minutes, or until edges are very lightly brown. Don't overbake.
*After removing from the oven, loosen the cake layer and immediately invert onto a cooling rack.
*Continue until all the batter is used and all of the layers are cooling.

Preparing the Filling
*Gather the ingredients.
*Melt the semisweet and unsweetened chocolates in a microwaveable bowl, stirring often. Set aside to cool.
*In a large bowl, beat the 1 pound of butter on low for 2 minutes, then on medium for 3 minutes, and finally on high for 5 minutes.
*Place the 5 egg whites and 1 cup sugar in a double boiler over medium heat. Whisk gently and heat to 120 F.
*Transfer to a mixing bowl and whip on high until stiff peaks form.
*Fold the melted and cooled chocolate into the whipped butter.
*Fold the egg whites into the mixture until all traces of white are gone.
*Refrigerate until ready to use.

Preparing the Caramel Glaze
Gather the ingredients.
Place 1 cake layer on a cooling rack set over a pan to catch the drips.
Add the 2/3 cup sugar and 1/3 cup water to a small heavy saucepan.
Without stirring, cook until the sugar dissolves and it comes to a boil and begins to darken in color.
Swirling the pan, continue to boil until the caramel becomes a golden brown.
Immediately pour the caramel over the cake layer, creating an even coating.
With a buttered knife, mark the glaze before it completely hardens into 16 equal wedges without cutting all the way through.


Place 1 cake layer on a serving plate or in a 9-inch springform pan to use as a guide, and spread on 1/8-inch of filling.
Repeat with remaining layers and portions of filling, and finish with the glazed layer on top.
Use the rest of the filling to cover the sides of the cake. Sprinkle with ground nuts of choice, if desired. Refrigerate until serving.
To serve, slice along the lines marked in the caramel glaze.

How to Store
A Dobos Torte will keep for a few days, covered, in the fridge. The caramel may become chewy stored in the moist refrigerator over time. A Dobos Torte freezes best if cut into individual pieces and tightly wrapped. Freeze for up to a month and defrost in the fridge before serving.