Pizza all over the world

[lenquixote66]

I have eaten pizza in over 200 US cities and in more than 100 Canadian cities since having my first ever slice in 1959.No two pizzas taste totally alike .

[Harters]

I rarely eat pizza. My companion in life more often. Now, I've only been keeping notes of our meals out since 2008 and I don't record  who had what. So these won't be all mine but, between us, we've eaten pizza in the UK (of course) and on foreign trips to Spain, Italy, America, South Africa, Norway and Cyprus. 

[Harters]

4 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

over 200 US cities

Reminds me just how big a country the USA is. By contrast, the UK only has 76 cities. The metro area where I live has ten boroughs, but only two of them are cities. 

[lenquixote66]

4 minutes ago, Harters said:

Reminds me just how big a country the USA is. By contrast, the UK only has 76 cities. The metro area where I live has ten boroughs, but only two of them are cities. 

I have never been to the UK.One of my daughters lived there in the late 90’s

[Harters]

I remember you mentioning, on a previous thread, that she lived here for a while. My brother in law and family lived in New York state for a few years. My youngest niece was born there - which I think makes her eligible to run for president (assuming she claimed citizenship). 

Edited August 9, 2023 by Harters

[CntPAcruiser]

I'm sure I will get heat for this, but I dislike the floppy giant slices of New York pizza. Where I live in Pennsylvania, we have a local family-run pizza restaurant that makes a lovely thin crust pizza that is golden and crispy all the way to the center.

 

Strangest "pizza" I've ever had was in a small spa town in Germany. It was actually a calzone, I guess, with the crust folded over the toppings after a raw egg was cracked on top. After baking, it was served with a ladleful of tomato sauce over the top of it all. The egg wasn't completely cooked--I never found out if that was intentional or not. It tasted good, but was strange to eat.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

Really great pizza is hard to find.  The dough should be made from a natural starter vs yeast and the dough should be aged for 3 days.  The sauce needs to be cooked with onion and garlic, not straight out of a can, and properly seasoned.  The cheeses need to be mixed not just mozzarella.  The toppings need to be fresh and top quality.  I love a fresh mushroom pizza or a Italian fennel sausage, fresh mushroom and fresh onion pizza.  

[CntPAcruiser]

10 minutes ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Really great pizza is hard to find.  The dough should be made from a natural starter vs yeast and the dough should be aged for 3 days.  The sauce needs to be cooked with onion and garlic, not straight out of a can, and properly seasoned.  The cheeses need to be mixed not just mozzarella.  The toppings need to be fresh and top quality.  I love a fresh mushroom pizza or an Italian fennel sausage, fresh mushroom and fresh onion pizza.  

 

And yet there are those who would say the sauce should not be cooked at all, but simply passatta, i.e., pureed tomato, with olive oil and seasonings. As for the cheese, some people who consider themselves purists would say only mozzarella should be used prior to going into the oven.

 

I can agree that sausage, mushroom, and onion would make a great set of toppings for a good pizza.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

1 minute ago, CntPAcruiser said:

 

And yet there are those who would say the sauce should not be cooked at all, but simply passatta, i.e., pureed tomato, with olive oil and seasonings. As for the cheese, some people who consider themselves purists would say only mozzarella should be used prior to going into the oven.

 

Like I said…really great pizza is hard to find.  I’ve dined with the purists and found their pizza to be average to a bit above.  The best pizza I ever had was onboard the Leonardo DaVinci and they cooked and seasoned the sauce.  The dough was made 3 days ahead.  They also added a basil leaf and they laid a strip of anchovy over the top of the pizza with an Italian black olive in the middle.  I’m from Boston and we have several highly rated pizza joints…Regina’s, Santarpio’s and many others in the metro area.  We also have hundreds of mediocre pizza joints…one worse than the other.

[MBP&O2/O]

....and some purists would say only Bufallo Mozarella, and the pizza should be cooked in a wood fired oven.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

8 hours ago, MBP&O2/O said:

....and some purists would say only Bufallo Mozarella, and the pizza should be cooked in a wood fired oven.

Seen it, done that and been there.  IMHO the classic Neapolitan Margherita pizza is not the be all end all.  I’ve had better pizza baked in regular pizza ovens.  Wood fired is very good but so is coal.  To me the quality of the ingredients makes all the difference.

[lenquixote66]

On 8/13/2023 at 9:32 PM, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Like I said…really great pizza is hard to find.  I’ve dined with the purists and found their pizza to be average to a bit above.  The best pizza I ever had was onboard the Leonardo DaVinci and they cooked and seasoned the sauce.  The dough was made 3 days ahead.  They also added a basil leaf and they laid a strip of anchovy over the top of the pizza with an Italian black olive in the middle.  I’m from Boston and we have several highly rated pizza joints…Regina’s, Santarpio’s and many others in the metro area.  We also have hundreds of mediocre pizza joints…one worse than the other.

The first time I was in Boston I was in a pizzeria with a friend who was enrolled in Harvard.He took me to a place that many of the students gravitated to .It was delicious but I cannot recall the name .It was in 1962.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

7 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

The first time I was in Boston I was in a pizzeria with a friend who was enrolled in Harvard.He took me to a place that many of the students gravitated to .It was delicious but I cannot recall the name .It was in 1962.

Cambridge still has a number of very good pizza joints…some…more upscale than others.  There is a small shop over on Huron Ave. called Armando’s and it is rated as one of the best neighborhood pizzerias.  There are also some newer brick oven shops in the Tech Square area.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

On 8/14/2023 at 1:18 PM, MBP&O2/O said:

....and some purists would say only Bufallo Mozarella, and the pizza should be cooked in a wood fired oven.

Pizza Today just named Modern Apizza in New Haven, Connecticut as the number one pizzeria in America.  Modern Apizza uses oil fired ovens.

[lenquixote66]

13 hours ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Cambridge still has a number of very good pizza joints…some…more upscale than others.  There is a small shop over on Huron Ave. called Armando’s and it is rated as one of the best neighborhood pizzerias.  There are also some newer brick oven shops in the Tech Square area.

One of my friends from HS lives in Cambridge as does one of my cousins.

I posted once about their pizza preference in the town but I cannot recall which place.Subject for my next conversation with them.