Italy In SF

Pizza is something dear to all Italians, and all references to other edible products similar to pizza, but not “original”, are likely to stir a discussion with any Italian! Chicago style pizza? Great, but not pizza. New York style pizza? Good, but not pizza. Italians are fairly inflexible on this matter: the only pizza recognized as such is the thin crust type cooked in a wood burning oven. And we’re very particular about what should be placed on top of the pizza crust!

In 2004 Italy’s Ministry of Agriculture issued strict guidelines that regulate the terms for a real pizza: a round pie, no larger than 14 inches in diameter. The official guidelines go as far as defining the maximum thickness both at the center and at the edges. Backed by Neapolitan pizza makers (“We don’t want to claim we have the only pizza, we just want to preserve our own tradition,” says the website of the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana), the guidelines were an effort to preserve a centuries-long culinary tradition. This should stand as a testimony of how passionate Italians feel about their pizza!

A culinary culture is made of the ingredients that are available in the area where the traditions were born, and where a certain type of diet has been followed for centuries. In our culture, the food is a focal point, and the order in which dishes are consumed, along with the ingredients “allowed”, is quite embedded in our way of thinking about food. Hence, it is important to understand that availability of ingredients is key in Italy, and it does not mean that these ingredients can be arranged in just any order. Italians consider certain foods as complementary and in harmony, and are very resistant to certain combinations – for example, ketchup on pasta is a no-no.

So, while in this day and age, all sorts of ingredients are available, Italians do not condone ingredient combinations that steer away from tradition. Many other cultures, including the American one, who have not traditionally made of food a focal cultural element, are more open to “ingredient democracy” – in other words, what I feel like, when I feel like it. Italians just don’t think of food in the same way, and we respectfully ask Americans to keep their frustration at the waiter’s refusal to put chicken on pizza at a minimum! In Italy, you will not see chicken on pizza – anywhere.

For those of you interested in authentic Italian pizza, how it is made, and what ingredients are “allowed” as a topping, I hope to provide an entertaining guide of the do’s and don’ts, and a bit of insight into the Italian culinary culture.

Got Pork?

I am not sure why this is the case, but the only meat “allowed” on authentic Italian pizza is pork. Salami, prosciutto, ham, sausage – all are fine choices! Chicken and beef, however, are not. In the case of chicken, it is easy to explain – in a pizza oven with temperatures in excess of 900 degrees Fahrenheit a pizza cooks in 3 to 5 minutes. That is obviously not enough time for chicken to cook, and food borne illnesses can be derived from the process. You could ask why not cook the ingredients first? Well, now we could, theoretically, but after two centuries of pizza without chicken, we are just sticking to our traditions. I am not sure why beef is not allowed – even cured beef, called bresaola, is a rare find on a pizzeria’s menus. Maybe this is because bresaola is a delicacy as a starter, or antipasto.

Prosciutto should be added to pizza after it comes out of the oven, and not before – the cooking process dries out the prosciutto and makes it taste very very salty! In fact, I don’t think there is any Italian dish that requires prosciutto to be cooked – why cook something that took about 2 years to cure to make it perfectly safe, and incredibly tasty! Salsiccia (sausage) on pizza tastes fantastic by itself, and it is often coupled with either mushrooms or eggplants. A quick word on salsiccia – in Italy we don’t use fennel as much as you do here! Italian sausages do not contain fennel seeds in Italy, except in a few regions, and even there they are an exception, not a rule! Salame… well, nobody’s going to look at you funny if you order a pizza with salame, but in many “purists”‘ opinion it is not the best fit for pizza – again, due to the cooking process, salame put in the oven dries out and it just is not the best pizza topping.

Make up your mind!

In Italy, a pizza is a wholesome experience, where you order your own pizza and enjoy it all by yourself. The amount of dough used for one entire pizza is about what you would find in a single slice of a typical deep-dish pizza. We just spread the surface to support more toppings! Any good Italian pizzeria will display a range of about 20 or 30 pizzas, and in addition to those, you can ask for the pizzaiolo (pizza maker) to create your own favorite (remember: only meat allowed is pork!). However, it would be considered rude to ask for a split topping: half a pizza one way and half a pizza a different way is just not a concept Italian pizzaioli will grasp. And they have a valid argument – given the small size, the fact that different ingredient weight differently and cook differently make the pizza hard to handle in the oven – the best solution is to just order two different pizzas with your dinner companions and share that way rather than splitting toppings! What is the worst that can happen – leftover pizza!?

No Pizza For You!

The traditional incarnation of pizza, a round pie served in an individual plate only for you, is for dinner time and dinner time only. You will find only very few pizzerie in Italy open for lunch, and even fewer places with the oven running. If you find such a place, however, it will be filled with tourists and the pizza will likely not be too good…

If you crave traditional pizza during lunch time, have no fear: the handy “pizza al taglio” (pizza by-the-slice) variation is available for you before sunset! Pizza al taglio is a sort of deep dish pizza, baked in rectangular pans and cut to order in squares. It’s a “to-go” type of food – you order a piece from those available, and they will have pre-made pans with certain toppings. Usually a two or three pieces lunch is considered sufficient – and you will also find many Italians grabbing pizza at taglio for lunch. You can think of pizza al taglio as the ultimate Italian fast food!

Learn the Lingo

Some pizze have names, and that name denotes the same ingredients all along the Italian peninsula. Those are the pizze with a weird name that doesn’t include the ingredients in it. All can figure what a Pizza con Mozzarella di Bufala is, but what if I say that I want a Capricciosa? Here are the most frequent names you’ll see:

Pizza Marinara: Tomato sauce, no mozzarella, garlic, oregano.

Pizza Napoletana: Tomato sauce, mozzarella and anchovies.

Pizza Quattro Stagioni: an “almost” split topping pizza: tomato sauce, mozzarella, and four toppings “isolated” (one in each quarter): mushrooms, ham, artichokes and olives.

Pizza Capricciosa: Same as Quattro Stagioni, but the toppings are scrambled.

Pizza al Prosciutto: Italians use the same word for ham and prosciutto, the former being referred to as prosciutto cotto and the latter as prosciutto crudo). So, a pizza al prosciutto is likely to be a pizza with ham, not prosciutto – be sure to ask!

Pizza Quattro Formaggi: there are different interpretations of this one, but in almost all of them, mozzarella and gorgonzola are a must, and the other two cheese… well, they are different from place to place!

Filed under: Culinary Culture