Today I'll talk about the various levels of quality of meats that you find out there.
Pepperoni: This is by far the #1 topping of choice in North America and there are various grades of quality out there. At Diana’s, we use a premium dry cured pepperoni, comprising of a mixture of 50% beef and 50% pork, our cost is over $4.50/pound. There are pepperonis out there that are less than $0.50/pound, and I don’t want to gross you out, but suffice to say we all know what cheap hot dogs are made of, it’s not much different. I wouldn’t feed these pepperonis to my cats, much less my dogs whom I’ve even seen eat some pretty gross stuff.
Chicken: There’s 100% white meat, and there's dark meat, then there’s mixtures of each. Then there is ‘whole muscle chicken’ which is exactly what it sounds like: whole muscle as opposed to chicken meat that has been ground up and reformed to look like pieces of whole muscle chicken. At Diana’s, we only use the top quality 100%, whole muscle chicken breast, which has gone through an extensive scanning process to ensure all the bones have been removed and we hand slice it before it’s ready to go on your pizza.
Beef: Here’s a scary fact for you. Years ago, we were shocked to find that the leading ‘beef topping’ used at many pizza places does not contain any beef. Way, way down on the ingredients list, past the yellow dye #68, past the fillers and by-products, you’ll find ‘beef flavouring’. At Diana’s, we start with 100% lean ground beef, then we cook it and drain the fat off, then it’s ready to use. From there we add a special blend of taco spices to create our ‘Taco Beef’ and that becomes the base for our ‘Hot & Spicy Beef’ which we add Frank’s Hot Sauce and let it marinate for at least 24 hours before it’s ready to use. All of our beef is 100% real beef, there are no ‘beef toppings’ or ‘beef flavouring’ allowed at Diana’s.
In the summer season we source as many fresh vegetables as possible from a local farmer including, green peppers, red onions, Roma tomatoes, zuchinni, spinach and Basil.
A few months ago we purchased an Aerogarden hydroponic garden and we set that up in the dining room to grow fresh Basil for our Marguerita pizzas. It grows Basil very well, which is great because the shelf life of fresh Basil is very limited, usually only lasts 3-4 days after it’s been cut.
Perhaps one of the things that make us most unique is that we’re always adding and looking for top quality unique toppings to expand the palette and create interesting yet tasty pizzas for you, our customer. Even though neither Pierre nor I compete in baking competitions anymore—it’s a huge honour to be on the judges’ side:), we are always open to your suggestions and on the lookout for something spectacular to share with you.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
All Pizzas Are Not Created Equal part III
Enriched white flour vs. unbleached flour vs 100% Whole Wheat vs Whole Grain
Many pizza crust recipes are made with enriched white flour, which on the surface sounds like a good thing, but the fact is that it’s not. When your digestive system breaks down enriched white flour it because sugar, which gives you some energy, however doesn’t provide you with many nutrients, and also leaves you still feeling hungry. Try to avoid simple carbohydrates like enriched white flours and refined grains. North American diets are severely lacking in fiber. Fiber comes from whole wheat and whole grain breads. Fiber takes longer for your digestive system to break down and as a result leaves you feeling fuller longer. Also a source of complex carbohydrates (starches) and a major source of B vitamins, magnesium and many other minerals. Most flours are also bleached, which leaches nutrients from the flour. Why do they do this? Good question—apparently at some point in time in North America, someone decided that natural coloured flour wasn’t ‘white enough’ and added the bleaching process. I don’t know about you guys, but I usually try not to bleach any of my food before I eat it.
At Diana’s Gourmet Pizzeria, we use a high protein, unbleached white flour for our White and Moosehead beer dough recipes. It’s an industry specific product, you won’t find it on the shelves of your local grocery store. The higher protein content ensures the crust will have a crispier bottom and be able to support layers of sauce, cheese and toppings that North American pizzas are known for. This flour is more expensive than the standard all purpose enriched white flour, but it’s key to a better North American style pizza.
Who knew there was so much to know about great pizza? Twenty-one years in the industry has taught me a lot, and I’ve also taken pizza baking courses at the Italian Scuola Pizza and the American Institute of Baking to advance my knowledge and skills. You could say I love pizza.
Next post I'll discuss the quality of meats that are used in the most popular toppings found on pizza.
Many pizza crust recipes are made with enriched white flour, which on the surface sounds like a good thing, but the fact is that it’s not. When your digestive system breaks down enriched white flour it because sugar, which gives you some energy, however doesn’t provide you with many nutrients, and also leaves you still feeling hungry. Try to avoid simple carbohydrates like enriched white flours and refined grains. North American diets are severely lacking in fiber. Fiber comes from whole wheat and whole grain breads. Fiber takes longer for your digestive system to break down and as a result leaves you feeling fuller longer. Also a source of complex carbohydrates (starches) and a major source of B vitamins, magnesium and many other minerals. Most flours are also bleached, which leaches nutrients from the flour. Why do they do this? Good question—apparently at some point in time in North America, someone decided that natural coloured flour wasn’t ‘white enough’ and added the bleaching process. I don’t know about you guys, but I usually try not to bleach any of my food before I eat it.
At Diana’s Gourmet Pizzeria, we use a high protein, unbleached white flour for our White and Moosehead beer dough recipes. It’s an industry specific product, you won’t find it on the shelves of your local grocery store. The higher protein content ensures the crust will have a crispier bottom and be able to support layers of sauce, cheese and toppings that North American pizzas are known for. This flour is more expensive than the standard all purpose enriched white flour, but it’s key to a better North American style pizza.
Who knew there was so much to know about great pizza? Twenty-one years in the industry has taught me a lot, and I’ve also taken pizza baking courses at the Italian Scuola Pizza and the American Institute of Baking to advance my knowledge and skills. You could say I love pizza.
Next post I'll discuss the quality of meats that are used in the most popular toppings found on pizza.
Friday, July 13, 2012
All Pizzas are Not Created Equal Part II
Tomato bases
We start our award winning marinara recipe with grade ‘A’ premium quality crushed tomatoes that are bright red in the can, naturally sweet and full of lycopene which studies have shown prevents prostate cancer. We use fresh packed tomatoes, not from concentrate. There are grade ‘B’ through ‘D’ quality tomatoes available, which many pizza places use as a base for their sauce. Lower quality tomatoes are orange & sometimes even brown in the can. The increased acid makes them bitter to the taste, especially compared to the premium grade ‘A’ tomatoes. Many of these lower grades of canned tomatoes have plastic liners inside the tin cans because the acid from the tomatoes is so strong it will eat the tin and leach tin flavor into the tomatoes. Pizza places that use low quality tomatoes try to overcome the bitterness and orange colour by loading the sauce with sugar and red dyes to mimic a better quality tomato. I’ve tasted some pretty bad sauces, some that seem more like cheap ketchup than a pizza sauce.
Real cheese vs. fake cheese
A lot of places that sell pizza mix their real cheese with fake cheese. Non dairy products called ‘pizza mozza’ and ‘pizzarella’ are being used at many chains and low quality independents. Some of these fake cheeses are made from soy, others from oils. While I don’t have any issues with soy cheeses, in fact I’ve tried to source good quality ones for a segment of my customers, I do take issue with pizza places using these ingredients but not disclosing it to the public in an effort to keep their prices unrealistically low. Since the 1980’s two large pizzas with two toppings are often advertised for $19.99 (or less) and come with a free 2L? Everything and I do mean everything; minimum wages, dairy prices, wheat prices, fresh vegetables, top quality meats, real estate, and especially gas prices has gone up since then. But the math for mainstream pizza has stayed the same. More and more savvy consumers are questioning how that’s possible. Some people have found that they have allergic like reactions to these kinds of food like substances. Again, know what you're eating, know what it's made of.
I often hear from people in their 50's that they don't like pizza, to which my next question is, "Is it real-deal pizza, made with the best ingredients that you don't like, or cheap pizza made with stuff you normally don't eat or enjoy in the first place?". Taste the difference from an award winning, gourmet pizzeria.
Full fat cheese vs. low fat cheese
A lot of pizza places will use a full fat mozzarella, sometimes mixing it with low-fat or soy cheese. They do this because the full fat mozzarella adds a lot of flavour, (fat=flavour) and many people find it palatable, but then don’t feel well afterwards. Typically, pizza places that use full fat are trying to add flavor to a cardboard tasting crust and low quality meats and vegetables. Personally, I can’t eat pizza made this way. Rather, I can eat it, but my body doesn’t digest it well unless I chase it down with a big bottle of the pink stuff. And that’s no way to eat, much less a way to live.
Next post I'll talk about different flours used in making pizza.
We start our award winning marinara recipe with grade ‘A’ premium quality crushed tomatoes that are bright red in the can, naturally sweet and full of lycopene which studies have shown prevents prostate cancer. We use fresh packed tomatoes, not from concentrate. There are grade ‘B’ through ‘D’ quality tomatoes available, which many pizza places use as a base for their sauce. Lower quality tomatoes are orange & sometimes even brown in the can. The increased acid makes them bitter to the taste, especially compared to the premium grade ‘A’ tomatoes. Many of these lower grades of canned tomatoes have plastic liners inside the tin cans because the acid from the tomatoes is so strong it will eat the tin and leach tin flavor into the tomatoes. Pizza places that use low quality tomatoes try to overcome the bitterness and orange colour by loading the sauce with sugar and red dyes to mimic a better quality tomato. I’ve tasted some pretty bad sauces, some that seem more like cheap ketchup than a pizza sauce.
Real cheese vs. fake cheese
A lot of places that sell pizza mix their real cheese with fake cheese. Non dairy products called ‘pizza mozza’ and ‘pizzarella’ are being used at many chains and low quality independents. Some of these fake cheeses are made from soy, others from oils. While I don’t have any issues with soy cheeses, in fact I’ve tried to source good quality ones for a segment of my customers, I do take issue with pizza places using these ingredients but not disclosing it to the public in an effort to keep their prices unrealistically low. Since the 1980’s two large pizzas with two toppings are often advertised for $19.99 (or less) and come with a free 2L? Everything and I do mean everything; minimum wages, dairy prices, wheat prices, fresh vegetables, top quality meats, real estate, and especially gas prices has gone up since then. But the math for mainstream pizza has stayed the same. More and more savvy consumers are questioning how that’s possible. Some people have found that they have allergic like reactions to these kinds of food like substances. Again, know what you're eating, know what it's made of.
I often hear from people in their 50's that they don't like pizza, to which my next question is, "Is it real-deal pizza, made with the best ingredients that you don't like, or cheap pizza made with stuff you normally don't eat or enjoy in the first place?". Taste the difference from an award winning, gourmet pizzeria.
Full fat cheese vs. low fat cheese
A lot of pizza places will use a full fat mozzarella, sometimes mixing it with low-fat or soy cheese. They do this because the full fat mozzarella adds a lot of flavour, (fat=flavour) and many people find it palatable, but then don’t feel well afterwards. Typically, pizza places that use full fat are trying to add flavor to a cardboard tasting crust and low quality meats and vegetables. Personally, I can’t eat pizza made this way. Rather, I can eat it, but my body doesn’t digest it well unless I chase it down with a big bottle of the pink stuff. And that’s no way to eat, much less a way to live.
Next post I'll talk about different flours used in making pizza.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
All Pizzas Are Not Created Equal
There are a few ways to make a pizza, but unfortunately many places create their pizzas to fit a low price model ie; $5. When a place is tied to a low price model, they then need to source ingredients that can sustain that price model.
Typically for the industry, food cost is 30% of the pizza, so for a $5 pizza that’s $1.50 to create that ‘zza, including the box. We talk a lot about ingredients when we do our pizza making class and everyone agrees that despite all the marketing they’ve seen, you really can’t make a top quality, gourmet pizza for $1.50, even at home when your labour is free.
What Makes Diana’s Pizza so Different?
This is a great question. For the simplest answer we can begin by comparing our pizza to almost every other pizza out there. Our pizza is better because we start with only top quality ingredients, and while many places repeat the quality mantra, we begin creating our superior, gourmet pizza from the crust up. Our crusts are only made with olive oil while other places use canola or vegetable oil and even lard. Olive oil is healthier and when you use it in pizza dough it gives the crust a great bread flavour. We also only use an organic sea salt in our dough and in our sauce while other places use table salt. Sea salt is a more natural salt, while table salt is sodium chloride, something many doctors and nurses tell us to cut down on. The organic sea salt we use is 90 times more expensive than cheap table salt, but we feel you’re worth it. But the best way to answer this question is to study the ingredients that are used to make a pizza.
Diana’s Definition of Gourmet Pizza:
Healthy food made with the best ingredients; low fat 100% dairy cheeses, lean meats, fresh veggies, sauce made from ripe red tomatoes grown in the sun belt, whole wheat crusts, white crusts made with premium unbleached flour. Most are made with enriched flour & canola oil. Some are made of lard. We could buy an 18 gallon jug of canola for the same price we pay for a 3 litre jug of Olive oil, but I recommend Olive oil because it’s more beneficial than canola or vegetable oils and it adds that great bread flavour.
Guaranteed Quality Spices vs. cheap spices:
Many spices are grown in 3rd world countries where access to clean water and education about proper food handling are serious issues. Villagers typically get paid by the pound so sticks, stones and other foreign matter that I don’t want to completely gross you out, but the truth it’s not just a big difference in prices on guaranteed quality spices versus cheap ones. There’s also a big difference in the amount of spice per gram. Choose a brand / company that work with villagers to insure maximum quality & pureness. When you use the best quality spices, recipes requires less quantity to create great and satisfying flavours. Plus you can be certain that your recipes will always turn out as intended, every time. We only purchase the best quality of spices at Diana’s Gourmet Pizzeria, yet the cost is only 1% of the total cost of the recipes. Most of the flavour is provided by the least expensive price per serving. When you buy the best spices, less is truly more.
More on this next post....
Typically for the industry, food cost is 30% of the pizza, so for a $5 pizza that’s $1.50 to create that ‘zza, including the box. We talk a lot about ingredients when we do our pizza making class and everyone agrees that despite all the marketing they’ve seen, you really can’t make a top quality, gourmet pizza for $1.50, even at home when your labour is free.
What Makes Diana’s Pizza so Different?
This is a great question. For the simplest answer we can begin by comparing our pizza to almost every other pizza out there. Our pizza is better because we start with only top quality ingredients, and while many places repeat the quality mantra, we begin creating our superior, gourmet pizza from the crust up. Our crusts are only made with olive oil while other places use canola or vegetable oil and even lard. Olive oil is healthier and when you use it in pizza dough it gives the crust a great bread flavour. We also only use an organic sea salt in our dough and in our sauce while other places use table salt. Sea salt is a more natural salt, while table salt is sodium chloride, something many doctors and nurses tell us to cut down on. The organic sea salt we use is 90 times more expensive than cheap table salt, but we feel you’re worth it. But the best way to answer this question is to study the ingredients that are used to make a pizza.
Diana’s Definition of Gourmet Pizza:
Healthy food made with the best ingredients; low fat 100% dairy cheeses, lean meats, fresh veggies, sauce made from ripe red tomatoes grown in the sun belt, whole wheat crusts, white crusts made with premium unbleached flour. Most are made with enriched flour & canola oil. Some are made of lard. We could buy an 18 gallon jug of canola for the same price we pay for a 3 litre jug of Olive oil, but I recommend Olive oil because it’s more beneficial than canola or vegetable oils and it adds that great bread flavour.
Guaranteed Quality Spices vs. cheap spices:
Many spices are grown in 3rd world countries where access to clean water and education about proper food handling are serious issues. Villagers typically get paid by the pound so sticks, stones and other foreign matter that I don’t want to completely gross you out, but the truth it’s not just a big difference in prices on guaranteed quality spices versus cheap ones. There’s also a big difference in the amount of spice per gram. Choose a brand / company that work with villagers to insure maximum quality & pureness. When you use the best quality spices, recipes requires less quantity to create great and satisfying flavours. Plus you can be certain that your recipes will always turn out as intended, every time. We only purchase the best quality of spices at Diana’s Gourmet Pizzeria, yet the cost is only 1% of the total cost of the recipes. Most of the flavour is provided by the least expensive price per serving. When you buy the best spices, less is truly more.
More on this next post....
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