at 4 p.m., with chef Mathieu waiting for us. Jeffrey,
however, was nowhere to be seen, though he had warned
me that he might be a bit late due to an important meeting.
Ed phoned up his assistant. Evidently, his important meeting
was in his bed with Sky King, his dog, but not to worry—his
jacket was on, and he was hard at work on his shoelaces.
Meanwhile, Mathieu informed us that he’d dropped half
of the first sample on the floor, meaning that for that batch,
we’d only be tasting one pie, not two. Not to worry. Even
Tesla must have dropped a few coils in his day, right? My
perfectly orchestrated plans were beginning to slip, but a
glass of Brachetto and a small plate of fingerling potatoes
tossed with anchovies and olives helped me pull my senses
back into focus.
Key to a Good Tasting #5: Watch Out for Palate Fatigue
As soon as Mr. Steingarten arrived, fresh from his nap, I
turned to Mathieu and gave him the go-ahead. Within three
minutes, the first leopard-spotted, tender-crisp beauty was
on the table. Eight pizzas among six people is a lot to
consume in a single sitting, even for epic eaters like our
humble tasting panel, and there was no way the pizzas in the
latter half of the tasting were going to get a fair shake.
Ideally, we’d have each taster taste samples in a different
order. That way, one would be starting with number one,
another with number six, another with number three, and so
on, hopefully evening out the playing field. But given that
the pizzas had to be baked one at a time, this was simply not
possible. So we did the next best thing: one pie out of each
batch of two was eaten straight out of the oven and the