Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart

Lately I’ve been thinking about my ninth grade history class. What I recall most vividly was that at the time I had almost no interest in world history. Like a lot of kids that age, I wasn’t looking much at the past, and I really couldn’t understand what all that old stuff had to do with my life. You see, by the age of 15 I had already spent several…Read More…

Hi Again,If you are a regular here then it’s probable that you all have your own list of favorite pizzerias. So here’s a little fuel for the forno, a link to a recent Huffington Post posting of Food and Wine.com’s Top 25 pizzerias. Bear in mind, this list represents what they call “New Guard” pizzerias, not the venerable oldie but goodies like Frank Pepe’s or DiFara’s. After you read about…Read More…

This week we feature the first of our two part conclusion to the Pizzeria Mozza webisodes. In this segment, I’m sitting in the beautiful dining room of Osteria Mozza with Nancy Silverton and food writer Kristine Kidd. Osteria Mozza is located next door to Pizzeria Mozza, literally through the door around the corner of the same building, and never serves pizza. But, since the Osteria is open only for dinner,…Read More…

I’m not going to get into the history of how this dressing came into existence–you can read all about it on a bottle of Cardini’s, since Caesar Cardini owns those bragging rights (though I’ve heard it disputed by others who claim the dressing may have other origins–if you know these stories please tell us about them in the comments section). What I do want to say is that a good…Read More…

This week we return to Pizzeria Mozza for the first of the final two Mozza webisode segments, this one featuring a round table discussion held at Osteria Mozza (next door to Pizzeria Mozza) with food writer’s Russ Parsons and Kristine Kidd, as well as Nancy Silverton and me. Of course, the real stars are the pizzas, but it sure was fun making pizza talk with some serious, well respected fellow…Read More…

Lately I’ve been thinking about pizza and the industrial revolution. Ok, I know we think of pizza making as a craft or even an art form, but let’s face it; before the recent artisan pizza renaissance the state of pizza was in pretty sorry shape. So how did something that was an expression of individuality in the hands of a great pizza maker like Antonio Pero (founder of Totonno’s) become…Read More…

Here’s a great pizza from Kelly Whitaker of Boulder’s fabulous Pizzeria Basta. {youtube}bwjvziBf-5E{/youtube}   We asked him to create something on the spot, using Bel Gioioso Fontina cheese and he quickly pulled together a few other great ingredients: speck (smoked prosciutto), regular prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, local mushrooms, and a garnish of arugula. We all loved it! (I got to eat the slice you see me with in the video but…Read More…

I discovered this in northern Italy, in the Ligurian town of Recco, just south of Genoa. I’m in love with it!! It is made with the simplest of all doughs yet makes an extraordinary type of unusual focaccia. The dough is unleavened and, when rolled out paper thin, is not all that different from Greek phyllo (aka, fillo) dough. It is used not only in the Ligurian Focaccia col Formaggio…Read More…

Hi Everyone,We had a great demo today at Johnson & Wales University (JWU –JayWoo as we call it) by Chef Ben Roche, the Executive Pastry Chef at Moto Restaurant in Chicago. For those who don’t know about Moto, it is one of the few molecular gastronomy restaurants in the United States, featuring a 20 course tasting menu (also a 10 course version for the less adventurous) consisting of wildly imaginative…Read More…

Hi Everyone, We had a great demo today at Johnson & Wales University (JWU –JayWoo as we call it) by Chef Ben Roche, the Executive Pastry Chef at Moto Restaurant in Chicago. For those who don’t know about Moto, it is one of the few molecular gastronomy restaurants in the United States, featuring a 20 course tasting menu (also a 10 course version for the less adventurous) consisting of wildly…Read More…