Pizza Blog from pizzatherapy.com

Shhh. Listen: It's me, Albert Grande, The Pizza Promoter . I try to keep a low profile. Sure sometimes I tend be a little loud. And I have gotten carried away occasionally...but that is my personality. I can't help it. I'm Italian. I guess its a genetic thing. Most of the time, I just try to remain anonymous. Now don't get me wrong, I love eating pizza. I love writing about pizza and I love making pizza. But most of all, I love talking about pizza. Hey, don't get me started.  For most of my pizza adventures, I quietly enjoy my pizza. Anonymously. The other night while eating pizza with some friends I got a tap on the shoulder.... "Are you that Pizza Therapy  ( http://pizzatherapy.com/ )  guy?" "Well, yeah", I answered sheepishly. "I have to tell you... you changed the way I look at pizza." "Are you kidding me? I changed your pizza perceptions?   Pizza Therapy , changed the way you look at pizza? I asked. "Absolu...

Learn to Make Pizza at: http://pizzatherapy.com/ Let’s face it, when you go to Pepe’s you expect a quality pizza. You know your pizza will contain top quality ingredients. You expect the pizza to be cooked in a coal fired oven. You know you are in a for a positive pizza experience. So when 11 members of the official Pizza Therapy Taste Testers descended on Pepe’s we were expecting nothing less than a high quality pizza experience. And Pepe’s did not disappoint us. Because of the diversity of the group (both ethnically and ethically) we decide on three different pizzas. For the seafood lovers (hey, everybody in the group was a seafood fan), we ordered the original clam pizza. This was Frank Pepe’s signature pie. Hey, Frank Pepe invented the clam pizza. you can see the whole story right here. (BTW, you can also listen to more pizza interviews at this link) . The standard clam is not made with “mootz” (mozzarella), just a sprinkling of Parmesan. The pizza just oozes with cl...

"Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today..." OK I'm not leaving today for The City, but soon. (We'll be there in June...) And one of the Big things on our agenda is to go on The Brooklyn Pizza Tour . Honestly I can't wait. I'm looking forward to spending some quality pizza time with Tony Miura, the genius behind the tour. As a matter of fact, our friend, Adam Kuban , over at Slice , reminded us that Tony was featured on the Today Show . This is not the first time I have bought a ticket for The Brooklyn Pizza Tour . But it will be the first time I get to go. Let me explain. We had tickets to go last summer, but  Pizza Therapy  got banned from Brooklyn by Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan.  True story, you can read about it here. I just got an email from Tony and he assured me all things are go for our tour date,. We're locked, loaded and ready! Here's a video of the tour: Honestly, I can't wait to try Neapolitan-style pizz...

Our friend in Glasgow is at it again.... Watch   Domenico Crolla  on an episode of The Hour Show. Chef Domenico Crolla shows a step by step method for creating his incredible tasting Spaghetti Alla Carbonara. What I found most interesting in this video is the simple step by step instructions he provides. He takes you by the hand so that you will be able to re-create this amazing dish in your own kitchen. I think the important point he makes is worth repeating. For quality, elegent dishes, you must use quality ingredients. For example note that Chef Dominico only uses Extra Virgin olive oil. Also, instead of bacon he uses Italian pancetta. pancetta is "a type of dry cured meat, similar to bacon. It is pork belly that has been salt cured and spiced." He does explain though,you can also use other meats if you wish, as well as using no meat at all. He insists that you should not use bacon due to all of the additives. I love this recipe and I look forward to s...

Our friend Gail recently won the Ultimate Recipe Showdown on the Food Network. Her prize? $25,000 in cash, plus a $5,000 bonus in other prizes. I knew I had to interview her and get all of the inside secrets of how she did it. I was able to record an exclusive interview for Pizza Therapy . She explains: •How she came up with the recipe •What she did to enter the contest •What she asked Flo Consiglio, wife of Sal Consiglio •Her secret ingredient that she took from Sally's Apizza on Wooster Street in New Haven, Connecticut •Why this helps her make award winning pizza •What goes on behind the scenes at the Food Network •What she will do with her $25,000 •Her other $5,000 bonus prizes as part of her winnings •Inside pizza tricks and tips •Her secret hobby and passions •Why you should enter your own recipe You can listen or download the entire interview at this link: The $25,000 Pizza Recipe Interveiw with Gail. pizza all over the planet, albert Legend...

Checking Out Pizza with Chicago Pizza Tours Chicago Pizza Tours Will Take Care of it for You! Chicago’s Hottest New Pizza Tour Allows Participants to See Chicago One Slice at a Time! Chicago, IL, May 21, 2010 -- The Windy City. Wrigley Field. The Bears. The Magnificent Mile. Chicago has its share of icons, but one of its most famous attractions – delicious world-famous pizza – is receiving special attention with the launch of Chicago Pizza Tours, LLC. The brainchild of Chicagoland native Jon Porter, the concept for Chicago Pizza Tours began with a gourmet foods walking tour his wife participated in with coworkers. While the group sampled a number of items from the city’s various neighborhoods there was one specialty missing from the list: pizza. Porter quickly got the ball rolling, surveying dozens of friends, family and even strangers to identify their favorite pizza venues.  “I felt it was important to get a wide array of feedback in order to provide a good variety o...

Say it Ain't So... Recent news out of Naples allege that some pizzerias in that city are using coffin wood to fuel their pizza ovens. This was reported in Il Giornale, a local Italian daily. Police have been investigating reports that some of the smaller pizzerias may have used stolen coffin wood to keep their wood fired ovens going. In recent years there has been a rash of grave robbers in the city of Naples. According to reports last year 50,000 flower pots were stolen. As a pizza maker, I am in utter shock and disbelief. All of the pizzas made in Naples that are DOC certified are made to exact specifications.  For more information check out this resource: Associazione Verace Pizza Neapolitan .   Another pizza organization is:  Verace Pizza Napoletana Americas The idea that pizza made under such stringent conditions would get woods from coffins to me is outrageous. I find it hard to believe that anyone would willingly violate the trust placed in these...

Pizza Vending Machines Come and Go...But the Pie-O-Matic will live forever... Marty sent me the following article from the New York Times about Pizza Vending Machines in Italy. "Is Europe bringing back the automat? Claudio Torghele hopes so. Over the last decade, Mr. Torghele, 56, an entrepreneur in this northern Italian city who first made money selling pasta in California, has developed a vending machine that cooks pizza. The machine does not just slip a frozen pizza into a microwave. It actually whips up flour, water, tomato sauce and fresh ingredients to produce a piping hot pizza in about three minutes..." The article goes on to explain how through various testing different devices the developers of Let's Pizza  were able to create a viable machine that will actually make pizzas... You can read the entire article here . According to the Let's Pizza Website : Let's Pizza is the only machine able to create pizza by kneading it on the spot and add...

Noted pizzaiolo Dick Cami shares the following pizza tale, exclusively for The Pizza Therapy Pizza Blog : Hiya Albert...here's a story that happened to me when there were only about four or five pizzeria's in the Bronx...that's going way back: White Pie We opened the Daiquiri Palace about twenty two years ago in Palma, Majorca and my partner's son Gil Davis runs it now as a seasonal business, besides daiquiri’s we serve fresh made pizza’s on the beach. I'm a transplanted New Yorker that moved to Miami in '59 and I've been in the nightclub and restaurant business all my life, I now live Portland, Oregon My grandfather was a chef who came over from Faenza, Italy to work at the Ritz Hotel in New York City in the early 1900’s and when he retired he still kept his hand in the business by making sauces for local restaurants in the upper Bronx and he also made a lot of specialties for Mercurio's market in Mount Vernon, an Italian specialty store. A...

How about this for a crazy idea. Fry some hot Italian sausage, drain it. Make some dough, put on a little tomato sauce and then put the sausage on the pizza. Put the pan in an oven and cook. Then add some perfectly good, fresh eggs to the mix. Gently add the eggs to the top of the pizza and cook. Hmmm . Believe it or not...it works! You can watch Chef John as he goes step by step through the entire process. This pizza looks simply incredible. This could my new personal favorite breakfast pizza. Or anytime pizza. Watch, learn and get hungry for a pizza. Now that's a pizza! Simply amazing! Thanks Chef John. You can discover more of Chef John's Recipes at his Blog . Chef John is also known as The Denver Food Guy. He also features a whole library of step by step videos at his YouTube Channel called Food Wishes. pizza and sausage on earth, albert grande The Pizza Promoter at Legends of Pizza This looks like the kind of pizza pan used by Chef John:

In honor of Earth Day , let's spread some pizza re-cycling awareness...What follows is the answer to recycling pizza boxes. Introducing the reusable pizza box. My thanks to William Betz , who unraveled the mystery of re-using pizza boxes... Here's what Bill told me: Americans consume 3 billion, yes, 3 BILLION with a B, cardboard pizza boxes every year...in the 2 minutes you've spent reading this message...12,000 have been used...and they are NOT recyclable as they are contaminated w/ grease and foodstuffs... My response: Three Billion Bill? What can be done about the pizza box problem? Reusable Pizza Boxes explained Bill... Bill pointed me to Mombo's pizza in Santa Rosa, California as a prime example. He said they are using reusable pizza boxes. And this concept has been very successful for the business, their customers and the planet. Chris Smith a Press Democrat Columnist, wrote the following: " Mombo's has introduced the first Re-usable p...

This dish was often served when we would visit Auntie Anna. Whenever we would eat at her house there would be many different types of Italian food. Lots of food. And you were always expected to eat it. All of it. If you didn't eat, you were in trouble. She always served this dish as an appetizer. It was always the first thing on the table. She would serve this dish with a loaf of Italian bread. She explains: "I thought you might like my Famous Sausage and Pepper Special! This recipe can be made into a casserole and baked also." Ingredients 1 lb. of Italian sausage 2 medium potatoes, thickly sliced 1 large red or green pepper, cut in strips 1 can of mushrooms onion to taste pinch of salt and pepper corn oil or olive oil Directions Sprinkle or spray olive oil on to surface of frying pan. (I use corn oil) Sauté sausage very slowly. When sausage is half cooked, add potatoes, salt and pepper. When potatoes are semi-cooked add peppers, mushrooms and oni...