The Wood-Fired Blog
Fire and Water
May 06, 2012I have to admit right up front that the next couple of things I am going to say are really (really) obvious. But bear with me, I might make a little bit of sense and find a bit of insight. Maybe. 1. Dry firewood, with less than 20% moisture burns fast and better and is far easier split than damp wood. 2. Firewood that has been stored properly, and not... Read More
Tuk Tuk Electric Catering Cart
May 04, 2012I’ve been reading and writing about Food Trucks, and came across this. From www.designboom.com, this is an electric vehicle designed specifically for cater and food vending. What a kick. I want one. Put an oven in the back, and I could deliver pizza to our neighbors. Here is more from Design Boom. The dutch company tuk tuk factory has developed ‘e-tuk vendo‘, a fully electric rickshaw-style van for foodtrucks and mobile catering.... Read More
Sew Hungry in Ottawa
May 03, 2012From the The Spectator in Ottawa. It’s the second incarnation of Sew Hungry, a food truck and restaurant rally sponsored by the Ottawa Street BIA. They say it will be the biggest such rendezvous ever held in Canada, with 15 trucks from all over southern Ontario in one place at the same time. And yes, wood-fired pizza from a truck. Sew Hungry takes place May 4 along Ottawa North between... Read More
More on Pizza Amore in Buffalo
May 03, 2012Here is a follow-up article on Pizza Amore (that’s a portable Forno Bravo oven) in BuffaloNews.com. They are getting some good press, and, as the article is quick to point out—the line was 10 people deep when the reporters go there. That’s nice. Though I have to agree with the reporter—the pizza could have stayed in the oven for a couple of more seconds to get a better char (and... Read More
Mussel Pizza
May 03, 2012From the NY Times, in the “Recipes for Health” column. To quote the author, “One bite of this and I’m transported to a seaside town in Italy or Provence”. Nice. If you’ve been reading FornoBravo.com for a long time, you will have heard that Pizza Frutti di Mare is one my favorites. This recipe even calls for whole wheat pizza dough. Here’s to taste and health; it can be done. Read More
Pizza Pilgrims FB oven in a Piaggio Ape
May 02, 2012This starts with a photo from the good people at Slice: Serious Eats. It’s a pizza oven in a Piaggio Ape, a classic Italian three-wheel mini truck. You see these things puttering all over the place in Tuscany. They don’t go very fast, but they have a big payload in the back. I’ve seen entire vineyards of grapes driven from the field to the winery in a Piaggio Ape (Ape... Read More
Food Truck Economics
May 02, 2012I listened to a good Podcast on Food Trucks in NYC today from NPR’s Planet Money. Did you know that 3,000 food trucks converge on the city every day? each jockeying for the best positions—and that a good parking spot can be the difference between success and failure. And with all the different zoning and land use laws, it is basically illegal for a food truck to park just about... Read More
Seasoned. Or Aged.
May 02, 2012Writing about seasoned wood got me thinking about the Italian and English words for aging, or seasoning. Italian uses stagionato for cheeses—seasoned. A quattro stagioni pizza is a four season pizza, with olives, artichokes, mushrooms and ham. This list of toppings comes from our friend in Florence, Kyle Phillips, the Italian food editor for About.com. Photo from The Italian Dish Blog. On the other hand, in English, we use aged... Read More
Proper Seasoning. Seasoned Wood That Is.
May 02, 2012I don’t think you can overstate just how important dry wood is to an enjoyable session of wood-fired cooking. Damp wood is hard (dare I say impossible) to light, it smokes when it burns (that’s because the fire needs to bake all the moisture out of the wood before it actually combusts) and it takes much longer to fire your oven for cooking. It can take all of the fun... Read More
