To all you pizza purists out there, let me share a tale of...either wonderful
EurAsian food fusion...or arrant cultural appropriation, depending on your PC
stance:
Daisuke Matsumoto
and <http://www.lasorrentinavw.com/home.html>
He was introduced to me by my DIL, who had worked with him at another
restaurant here. He learned pizza in Naples, had a truck with a wood-fired
oven. Made good pizza with interesting ingredients.
Last year IIRC there was a series in the Oregonian newspaper doing a search for the best
pizza in the metropolitan area. Portland has a reputation as the location of some
world-class restaurants, while the suburb across the river that I call home is derided as
a backward bunch of rubes: "Vantucky". And yet, the pizza truck in a microbrew
parking lot won the Oregonian's top marks.
Unfortunately, pizza in not on my personal menu very often. And I must admit a
certain chauvinistic aversion to Dice-K's, because of the Neapolitan vs.
Sicilian style. My lineage is Sicilian and Calabrese. But I welcome the
Japanese element!
Greg
Who grew up on Brooklyn pizza.
-----Original Message-----
From: Mercedes [mailto:mercedes-boun...@okiebenz.com] On Behalf Of Meade Dillon
via Mercedes
Sent: Tuesday, January 07, 2020 11:44 AM
To: Mercedes Discussion List
Cc: Meade Dillon
Subject: Re: [MBZ] Fw: Re: pizza oven talk
I remember reading that as well.
I'm totally spoiled, having eaten pizza in bella Napoli for years and
years. On the must-do list at every trip to Italy is pizza made in a real
brick oven, the closer to Naples the better.
Once when family was visiting, we all went to a local pizza ristorante to
pick up about five pizzas. The pizza oven was right up front next to the
cashier, big wood fired brick oven, heated up like a blast furnace. We had
so much fun just watching the chef build each pizza, put them all into the
oven, and then turn them a time or two and minutes after they went in, they
came back out, perfectly done. Family from the mid-west was suitably
impressed, probably their favorite event of the day, talked about that
pizza oven experience for a long time afterward.
-------------
Max
Charleston SC
On Tue, Jan 7, 2020 at 1:26 PM Craig via Mercedes <mercedes@okiebenz.com>
wrote:
I mentioned recently about us talking about pizzas; well today I found
the original email. It's attached below.
Craig
Begin forwarded message:
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2009 01:58:43 -0500
From: Allan Streib <str...@cs.indiana.edu>
To: Mercedes Discussion List <mercedes@okiebenz.com>
Subject: Re: [MBZ] pizza oven talk
Conveyor ovens are awful. They do produce a consistent quality pie
without the need for any real skill on the part of the operator, which
is why the chain pizzarias use them. Unfortunately for the consumer,
however, the consistent quality they achieve is not excellent or even
good, but medocre.
In college I worked at a Domino's franchise. Not world class pizza
maybe, but at the time really not bad. Back then they used deck ovens,
which were later replaced by conveyors. The pizza took a noticable turn
for the worse at that point. Same dough, sauce, cheese and toppings;
the only difference was the ovens.
The deck ovens could turn out a really nice crust, nicely browned and
crispy on the surface but moist, airy and flavorful on the inside,
cheese carmelized on the surface but melted and stringy underneath, the
tastes of the toppings individually discernable. The conveyor ovens,
with the same ingredients going in, turned out a tough cardboard-like
crust that had no crunch, with the cheese and all the toppings hardened
into a tasteless, dehydrated layer on the surface.
All the chain pizzarias here, as well as most of the independents, use
conveyor ovens now. Some do better than others, but the best pizza we
have is found at one or two independents that still use deck ovens.
Our deck ovens at Domino's were electric, and ran at about 580 degrees
F. A coal-fired brick oven could approach 1,000 degrees. Intense
radiant heat is the key to a great pizza. Baking at these temperatures
requires experience and attention. The difference between an underbaked
and a burnt pizza can literally be a matter of seconds.
Aside from the oven, another critical element of a good pizza crust is
the flour. You need to use a high protein flour, which you cannot buy
at the typical supermarket. So-called "bread flour" is better than
all-purpose, but still not ideal. The best I've tried is "Sir Lancelot"
high-gluten flour from the King Arthur flour company. You can order it
on-line. With this flour, you really have to work the dough to develop
the gluten, so it's best to use an electric mixer such as a Kitchen-Aid.
For anyone interested, I can enthusiastically recommend a book on the
topic, "American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza" by Peter
Reinhart. The first half is sort of a diary or narrative of his "hunt",
starting in Italy then moving to New York and across the USA, sampling
and comparing locally famous pizzarias. The second half is a collection
of recipes and instructions for how to make a decent pizza at home from
scratch. The author's love for his subject is obvious throughout.
Allan
--
1983 300D
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Craig McCluskey
Present: 1982 240D/3.0 (Euro 1984 617.912 engine, 4-speed) 254 kmi
1994 E420 117 kmi
Past: 1964 190Dc
1972 220D/8
1972 220/8
1987 190E/2.3
/"\
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X AGAINST HTML MAIL HTML email."
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http://pruffle.mit.edu/~ccarter/I_do_not_use_microsoft.html
Craig
----------------------------------
Present: '93 E300D/2.5 Turbo 354 kmi
'89 Chevrolet G20 Beauville 210 kmi
(the Big Red Van, BRV)
'00 Kenworth W900 Helmut 943 kmi
Past: '90 E300D/2.5 Turbo 265 kmi RIP
'07 Peterbilt 386 Bruno 885 kmi
'82 240D/3.0 Bluebell 286 kmi
'95 E320 Sebastian 135 kmi RIP
'94 E420 Oskar 127 kmi RIP
'87 Dodge Grand Caravan RIP
'86 190E/2.3
'72 220/8
'61 Willys Utility Wagon
'59 Willys Utility Wagon
'67 Volkswagen Fastback
'64 190Dc Emma
'72 220D/8 Herman 186 kmi
'69 Lotus Europa
'64 Alfa Romeo Turrisimo Internationale
'59 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spyder Veloce
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