What wouldn’t he do to make an authentic cheesesteak in London, England?
– Linn Washington Jr.
When JP Teti decided to serve up Philly cheesesteaks in London, he knew nothing less than full authenticity would do.
That meant one thing: Whiz.
But in a land where people eat stuff called “toad in a hole,” wholesome Cheez Whiz seemed to be contraband.
Teti was forced underground to ensure he could fry up steaks just like the ones he remembered from his frequent childhood visits to South Philly, where he has family dating back to the 1800s.
“I started buying cases of Cheez Whiz at an American military base in Britain through a friend of mine,” said Teti, who was born in Trenton. “When questions started about those purchases, I shifted to a middleman in Amsterdam who operated on a ‘no ask, no tell’ basis.”
After the Amsterdam connection became a little too clandestine for him, Teti decided to concoct his own Whiz replacement. It took three months of experimentation to get the flavor right. Making Whiz turned out to be much more than melting down some cheese.
Then came the rolls. As any Amoroso’s-roll-savoring cheesesteak lover knows, even perfect Whiz cannot atone for the wrong roll.
(WHYY.org, 2016, United Kingdom, <https://whyy.org/articles/what-wouldnt-he-do-to-make-an-authentic-cheesesteak-in-london/>)
