Why pizza? What am I missing?

[jgg85234]

patcrail

ok.

Either the cast iron 14” Lodge or a pizza stone. Cooked at 600:degrees for me. As far as where to get the right ingredients, depends on where you live. The last few years have been lots of weird medical problems for me so we’ve been relying on Lou’s, both at the restaurant and brought home partially cooked. The partly cooked ones definitely come out the best on a preheated stone up high in my KJ. From scratch, just like the original, a cast iron pan cooks a beautiful crust.

i’ve had a few conversations on here over the years with others who no longer live in Chicago. If you are still there, you can probably get the same ingredients they use. So, where are you?

Pequod we need some help. You chased down some of the original suppliers in Chicago.

Jim

[Pequod]

6-in-1 tomatoes best match Chicago flavor but lack the chunkiness. They are hard to get since Heinz bought out Escalon. For Sweet Italian sausage, best bet is to make your own. I’ll post the recipe I use a little later...after coffee.

[patcrail]

jgg85234 I’m in Cincinnati. I’ve been ordering frozen from the original Uno (not the supermarket version), and zero complaints, but I’d really like to try my own! Thanks for the tips!

[Potkettleblack]

Most good Chicago places use San Marzano canned tomatoes. They are consistent, as they adjust the canning liquid to maintain a standard brix, to take out variation from season and year.

[Attjack]

You need high heat to make pizza like you would get in Italy or NY etc. Home ovens can't achieve that although you can still make good pizza in them. So with a kettle you can go hotter than your oven. Personally I have a pizza oven that can get to 900f which is more than hot enough. At my cabin I use a kettle attachment and make good pizza there too mostly because it's fun to do and probably 1/4 of the cost of a restaurant.


I went heavy on the cheese here because I was trying to use it up. I was also using up leftover grilled chicken and pulled pork.

[pinot59]

Looks delicious! Which kettle attachment do you use at your cabin? I don't have space for a standalone pizza oven, which is truly unfortunate given my insatiable love for pizza.

[Attjack]

pinot59 I use a pizzaque. I got it for free. If I was going to get one now I would get the Only Fire brand pizza/rotisserie combo from Amazon.

[Pequod]

jgg85234 - Here's what I use for Italian sausage. I find it matches my memory of sausage on the south side -- places like Aurelio's.

https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,17662.msg171285.html#msg171285

Note: You must use a scale for this sausage. There is no way to accurately estimate the amount of salt needed otherwise. This recipe can be made with pre-ground pork as well. Mix ingredients as directed in Day 1, allow to rest at least 8 hours, then skip the grinding step and proceed as directed in the paddling step in Day 2 (i.e., all you need is the first step of Day 1 and last step of Day 2).

INGREDIENTS

• 2 lbs. pork shoulder cut into rough 1-inch chunks
• 17 g kosher salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 Tbs fennel seed, cracked/crushed in mortar & pestle
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 3 Tbs cold white wine (cheap, dry, and Italian), to be added on Day 2

PROCEDURE [Needs 24 hrs., ideally]

DAY 1:

• Combine all ingredients EXCEPT WINE in a large bowl and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to 48 hours.
• Place the meat grinder in the freezer overnight: the feed shaft, screw, blade, and 1/4-inch plate (the larger of the two for the KitchenAid).

DAY 2:

• Chill meat and mixer bowl for 15-30 minutes in freezer before grinding. Grind meat at speed level 4 into the mixer bowl. Make sure it doesn’t "smear" as it comes out: it should look clean and dry and ropey, like fresh ground hamburger.
• In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, ADD THE WINE and beat the sausage meat on medium high speed until it becomes tacky and sticky, about one minute. Wrap in plastic wrap to get out extra air and transfer to a zipper-lock bag and seal. Sausage will keep for up to 1 week in the refrigerator.

For tomatoes, I like 6-in-1 for the flavor, but they are hard to find. Lately, I've been using these which you can find at Whole Foods. They are Fake San Marzanos, but very good. I get the diced ones, drain the liquid, then hand crush.


https://products.wholefoodsmarket.co...omatoes-a329ab

[Pequod]

patcrail - without a mixer you’ll find the flavor is right, but the consistency is wrong. If you’re familiar with Chicago pizza sausage, it isn’t grainy like ground beef, which is what you’ll end up with without the mixer.

[Pequod]

If you like UNO’s and haven’t seen this thread, give it a look: https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...ciating-detail

[mnavarre]

You can do the mixing step by hand, it's just slower than a mixer.

[hoovarmin]

I think most, or at least many folks here in The Pit have strong desire to learn and master things for the sake of mastery itself. That, and it just really ups your coolness to be able to crank out a great pizza for your friends and family.

I've not arrived when it comes to pizza but it's on my bucket list.

[Skip]

Agreed. There's lots of things I want to learn to make and then learn to make well. Pizza is on that list for me. I'm in the middle of the curve right now, trying to make it better.

[Richard Chrz]

I agree with the idea of mastery. Reproducible high quality food on a grill (smoker, cooker), which ever. Is something to be proud of, it's not as easy as it seems. sourcing consistent quality ingredients, especially for pizza, is difficult. Tony Gemagnani has a thing called the theory of pizza relativity.: there are very few ingredients in Pizza, so every ingredient is relative. Says it should be considered a slow food, not a fast food. He even has the 12 commandments of making a pizza.

[patcrail]

I agree, but oddly enough, I’m kind of in a different camp: I enjoy finding the oddball cooks, trying & experimenting with new cooks, and especially, making something work that I’m told won’t... like the chuck eyes I had, sold as chuck underblade roast, that I kept hearing couldn’t be cooked to medium rare & be edible— they were like a ribeye roast... but pizza falls in that category for me: don’t want to master, but have to try

[FireMan]

I write this before I read everything that’s posted, cuz there’s to much at this time fer me to peruse. But here’s the deal, you can use stones, steels, cast iron whatevers and the list goes on. Ya joined the Pit. So, who ya cookin for? We know, it’s fer fam & friends, so you can see smiles on there faces when they eat the goods you produce. It’s up to you if you want to tinker with pizza, there sure is enough to master in our world here. The motivation factor might be, how much do you want to learn & how much do you want to please someone else, especially if there are members of the hot dog & popcycle guild. They’ll love ya. Plus, ya just might git really good at it & make somethin that you can’t ever git at any restaurant. Just sayin.

[Richard Chrz]

I have a pizza steel that really fires up hot in my grill. Still working on a few dough recipes, eventually I hope to have one that does it every time.

[Potkettleblack]

The fermentation action on that dough in the first pic.... wowwiewowow.

[patcrail]

Looks delicious!

[Potkettleblack]

Because it’s fun?

I mean, I can get good everything here in Chicago, somewhere. Even good NY Style pizza. But to make it and customize it myself... there’s joy in that that isn’t found from a restaurant meal.

restaurant meals have their own charm, as do delivery places. But some times you want the pleasure of setting your own menu and making your own thing.

[patcrail]

Potkettleblack I get that, 1000%, I just meant that pizza isn’t something I’ve ever thought about on the grill. I’ve always thought of the oven. I was more asking what the grill brings to the equation, but thanks to all the replies, I’m gonna have to give it a go and find out for myself!

[Potkettleblack]

High heat that is hard/impossible to achieve indoors. I have an indoor method, but it involves heat loading the oven and a pizza steel for a long period of time, and alternating with the broiler to add extra heat. Much easier to dial to Warp 10 on the gas grill or with charcoal...

The pizza ovens in Naples run about 900*F.

[Richard Chrz]

Potkettleblack. I use that same system in my oven, for indoor bakes. It is a lot of work for my oven to heat such an environment.

[Richard Chrz]

I got into cooking last year, because I wanted something I could learn, and use the science to reproduce it. There is certainly no shortage of rabbit holes one can go down. I think pizza is no different then any, to grill a good crust, you have to know it’s ingredients, it’s proportions, like hydration, levels of protein, and what all of that means, and then developing a flavor you want, and then the fun comes, because, then you have to figure out how to make it happen on a grill. I enjoy that more then the actual eating, of any of the food, but, especially pizza. If pizza is an important cook for you, you will enjoy the process. Also, I find the more I learn about cooking, and the little details, the more I am in awe of those that do this, at the highest level, day in and day out.

[rickgregory]

I think making pizza at home is a thing for people who really like pizza. It's not something I've gotten into for a couple of reasons, the biggest two being a) that I have a very good NY style pizzeria a mile away that does slices as well as pies and b) that I think you need to have a few different ingredients around to make a credible pie - sauce, cheese and toppings if you want more than the basic Margherita. And then for really good dough you want to ferment it at least overnight and...

[Richard Chrz]

Making really good pizza is not easy, meaning, like you said, sourcing and having fresh quality ingredients. 24-48 Plus hour ferments, with pre ferments. Shredding your own cheese, finding good cheese, etc...