Italians have great raw ingredients, if only somebody would teach them how to use them.
this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2023
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That’s my point about Italy having better ingredients. The assembling of the ingredients is the issue. This is why authentic Italian-American pizza is the best. The bougie places shell out for imported ingredients and cook them in the American style.
Im not saying you should go to naples to try the real one, but have you at least ever been to Italy?
Yes.
Just this month I was there and the pizza is a different concept there to be sure.
Street pizzas of thinly sliced zucchini or potato covering bread rounds with olive oil. That’s pizza in Rome.
Focaccia bread like crust with some anchovies and potatoe? Pizza.
Neapolitan style is just a different style again, but the theme is dough is not the delivery agent, it is the primary purpose. The dough is the important bit, with toppings being intended to enhance subtle flavors for it.
Italian pizza is most similar in American expectations of food typically found there, to flatbread dishes. It’s flatbread with some stuff on top to accent it. There is no cheese on most of the pizza I had in the various parts of Italy I was in. Cheese was not an expected component. Healthy or at least flavorful variations on additions to the dough are the goal.
Whether you are in Sardinia, Calabria, or Rome; pizza is pizza dough with local additives.
I have seen French fries on top of pizza in Sardinia, and this was called there “American pizza” :)
I have not been to Italy, but I have made several of the authentic recipes used as reference in “Modernist Pizza”. I know it’s called modernist, but they go back to the roots before rebuilding.
I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys food history and techniques regardless of their desire to cook at home.
And you really think Domino's is better? I believe the quality of the ingredients used are very, very different. With Domino's specifically I only had bad experience and only in Europe, but when I was in NYC I tried some slice of NY style pizza and it was ok. But for me it was just a normal pizza like thousands I can have randomly around Italy.
It was authentic pizza that convinced me it’s true people eat with their eyes. Just deeply off putting and lacking in symmetry.
Of course it’s better if I put on the completely serious no fun hat. One is a chain the other is not. No such thing as a chain that’s better than non-chain. One is all about consistency and cost-cutting whereas the other is constantly judged solely on quality, usually with only a single shot at it.
When I was in Venice I only tried a Diavolo at a local restaurant. It certainly could be my American expectations but nothing amazed me about it; definitely feel like a bit more could be done to mesh the ingredients. Or, maybe my American brain just craved sweeter, cheesier stuff.
Then again, I went to Germany and the bread there was fantastic compared to America, so unless they boarded the sugar train it feels like there must be something that can be done right with good ingredients.
Venice is a hard place. Pretty much every restaurant is a tourist trap. For good food it is better to have different appetizer sized things in bars and trattorias. Didn't find a single sit down classical restaurant with good food for reasonable price.
Idk man, I see a lot of mesh