Yet Another Cycling Forum

Off Topic => The Pub => Food & Drink => Topic started by: lahoski on 08 January, 2021, 11:04:25 am

Title: Pizza toppings
Post by: lahoski on 08 January, 2021, 11:04:25 am
I may have acquired an Ooni Koda 12.

Turns out my dough is good enough for making pizza, it was just my oven is crap. I can now make pizza which is round, has a pillow-y crust and a nice, proper thin base with a bit of a char.

What I now need is topping inspiration... Google suggested double cheeseburger and pickles, or buffalo chicken, which wasn't really the vibe I was aiming for. Yesterday evening's toppings were:

Nduja*, honey and grana padano
Plain ol' mozzarella and basil
Stilton, chestnuts and caramelised onion

The latter was a white pizza which I must admit I am partial to.

What would the panel recommend?

* Weird nduja paste, tasted okay tho.
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: Mr Larrington on 08 January, 2021, 11:07:39 am
Anything but pineapple :demon:
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: Chris N on 08 January, 2021, 11:07:52 am
Ham and pineapple.  ;)
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: lahoski on 08 January, 2021, 11:11:43 am
tbh, I had forgotten about ham and pineapple.

It is also the greatest pizza topping.

I bet its even better on a proper Neapolitan pizza base...  ;D
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: ian on 08 January, 2021, 11:16:07 am
Don't pingu it up with goat funk and bee vomit, for sure.

I like ham and pineapple. But then I like taco pizza. I'd definitely do buffalo chicken.

The basics are good: ham, olives, mushrooms. I mostly cheat with the sauce and smear the base with pesto and tomato puree. Sometimes I'd make a basic ragu (or save some from a previous meal). I'm a bit so-so with mozzarella, it's often watery and doesn't taste of much. Italians may frown, but I prefer cheddar.

If you can get proper Italian sweet sausage, get it, it's awesome (but you'll need a good Italian deli). Sliced fennel works well, as does potato (get it thin with a mandolin though). Egg in the middle (I find this over-rated, but it looks nice). Anchovies I never really like unless they're in the ragu, the don't do much other than a hit of salt.
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: pcolbeck on 08 January, 2021, 11:25:40 am
Anything but chicken or sweetcorn. Nothing wrong with either of those but they don't belong on pizza.
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: Regulator on 08 January, 2021, 11:30:17 am
Squid, smoked oyster and prawn, with fresh tomato and lemon zest...  :thumbsup:   :P
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: Mr Larrington on 08 January, 2021, 11:33:52 am
The Democratic Ruthless Bastards Party is taking names.  The pineapplistas will be among the first for Reëducation.
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: Chris N on 08 January, 2021, 11:34:57 am
The real answer is anything you fucking like.  People who dictate what can and can't go on pizza are worse than Hitler.
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: citoyen on 08 January, 2021, 12:53:45 pm
Quote from: Regulator on 08 January, 2021, 11:30:17 am
Squid, smoked oyster and prawn, with fresh tomato and lemon zest...  :thumbsup:   :P

Oooh! That sounds good.

Quote from: chris n on 08 January, 2021, 11:34:57 am
The real answer is anything you fucking like.  People who dictate what can and can't go on pizza are worse than Hitler.

Also this. Although the classics are the classics for a reason.
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: quixoticgeek on 08 January, 2021, 01:11:29 pm

I am of the belief that the big mistake a lot of people make with pizza is Too much toppings.

In the first instance if you put too much on you risk the centre becoming a soggy mess, This is esp true if you use fresh mozzarella. Also if you put too many on you end up with it just being overwhelming.

I have found after much experimenting that the best pizzas I've made have often been the simplest. A Margarita with red bell pepper and ham and then Rocket added after it comes out the oven is my favourite for simplicity.

For the same reason that when you add to many toppings to a burger the point of the burger is defeated, add too much to a pizza and the same happens.

The quality of the ingredients you put on there is more important than the quantity.

J

Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: lahoski on 08 January, 2021, 01:24:07 pm
Quote from: ian on 08 January, 2021, 11:16:07 am
If you can get proper Italian sweet sausage, get it, it's awesome (but you'll need a good Italian deli). Sliced fennel works well, as does potato (get it thin with a mandolin though). Egg in the middle (I find this over-rated, but it looks nice). Anchovies I never really like unless they're in the ragu, the don't do much other than a hit of salt.

Have you tried making the sausage, or at least the sausage meat? There seemed to be recipes but they were a bit American and might be shit. There is a nearby Italian deli but I'm lazy and have some minced pork in the freezer.

Might try potato as I have a mandolin. Carbs on carbs.
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: lahoski on 08 January, 2021, 01:26:36 pm
Quote from: Regulator on 08 January, 2021, 11:30:17 am
Squid, smoked oyster and prawn, with fresh tomato and lemon zest...  :thumbsup:   :P
I could go with that. Just need to find some smoked oysters.
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: ian on 08 January, 2021, 01:58:17 pm
Quote from: lahoski on 08 January, 2021, 01:24:07 pm
Quote from: ian on 08 January, 2021, 11:16:07 am
If you can get proper Italian sweet sausage, get it, it's awesome (but you'll need a good Italian deli). Sliced fennel works well, as does potato (get it thin with a mandolin though). Egg in the middle (I find this over-rated, but it looks nice). Anchovies I never really like unless they're in the ragu, the don't do much other than a hit of salt.

Have you tried making the sausage, or at least the sausage meat? There seemed to be recipes but they were a bit American and might be shit. There is a nearby Italian deli but I'm lazy and have some minced pork in the freezer.

Might try potato as I have a mandolin. Carbs on carbs.

It's good, it's like putting crisps on your pizza.

I do make the sausage (meat, sweet pepper, fennel, chilli, garlic), it's just a bit of a palaver as a pizza topping. I confess, when I first encountered the concept of sweet Italian sausage in the US, I was terrified. But it's very good (and not that sweet per se).
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 08 January, 2021, 04:59:09 pm
Quote from: ian on 08 January, 2021, 11:16:07 am
Don't pingu it up with goat funk and bee vomit, for sure.
:demon:
Yes, do Pingu it up!
Quote
I think I have achieved pizza nirvana.
Made the goats cheese pizza again, tomato sauce this time, mozzarella, soft salty goats cheese (which was amazing) more rocket and honey again. The salty cheese was a nice foil for the honey.

Also, smoked salmon (I just buy a pack of the trimmings) and prawn
Spinach & egg
Artichoke, black olive, speck.
I also tried putting some nduja on this pizza recently but the first time I put too much on and it was a bit frikkin' hot.
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: hellymedic on 08 January, 2021, 09:19:54 pm
(click to show/hide)

People are very picky/pedantic over what's 'authentic' when dishes combined available ingredients.

You may like roast duck & hoisin sauce or you could accuse me of cultural appropriation.

Pile on loads of Mediterranean vegetables with Italian herbs and cheese.

Go for a 'ploughman's' pizza, with Cheddar, apple, pickle, onion and peppers.

Kill me now; I don't care!

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: Ham on 08 January, 2021, 09:26:14 pm
I likes pineapple, I does.


(just not on pizza)
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: ian on 08 January, 2021, 09:39:07 pm
I'm not bothered either, I just wouldn't put goat cheese on my worst enemy. It's the foetid love spume of Satan's loins.

Taco pizza is awesome, it's basically a giant taco in pizza form - taco mix, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, and lettuce. But taco goes with anything – you can get taco rice in Japan, it's marvellous and features chopsticks. Who hasn't wanted to eat taco with chopsticks? I encountered taco pizza in Norway where they take especial pleasure in off-kilter pizza. It's the long, dark nights.

Buffalo chicken. I salivate at the very word. I once ate 48 buffalo wings in a single sitting. They had to sit me in a paddling pool to catch the sweat. Buffalo chicken pizza is the sort of meal the angels are holding back from the dirty realms of humanity. That's a judgement call. If I got to even and found out they'd traded it with the demons for a healthy poke bowl, you'd see me sliding down the middle of the down escalator. Oh baby, hold on, I'm on my way.

After a year without, I'd kill for a proper greasy New York slice. Really, I would. Send me their name and prove you can get me the oozy goodness, and they're a gonna. I'd even do them with the chopsticks.
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: hatler on 08 January, 2021, 10:41:31 pm
Another new Ooni Koda 12 owner here. Two outings already. The kids love what it produces.

We have a half moz half cheddar cheese mix. My simplest and favest topping is a mix of our own boiled down tom sauce, cheese mix, jalapenos, black olives, roasted peppers, fresh pepper slices with rocket and a topping of chilli oil.

The dough we knock up includes a portion of semolina too.

Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: Ham on 09 January, 2021, 07:49:03 am
Wandered over to the Parler website to see what could be seen (ans: little without an account). I thought I'd read about their values and came across

Quote
all parleyers are equal
Regardless of race, sex, age, sexual preference, religion, politics, or dietary choices —- well , except pineapple pizza -- every user is treated equally under Parler’s Community Guidelines.

 ;D
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: Regulator on 13 January, 2021, 02:38:40 pm
Quote from: lahoski on 08 January, 2021, 01:26:36 pm
Quote from: Regulator on 08 January, 2021, 11:30:17 am
Squid, smoked oyster and prawn, with fresh tomato and lemon zest...  :thumbsup:   :P
I could go with that. Just need to find some smoked oysters.


Normally available (tinned) in Tesco and Waitrose.   :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: spesh on 13 January, 2021, 03:02:20 pm
Quote from: Ham on 09 January, 2021, 07:49:03 am
Wandered over to the Parler website to see what could be seen (ans: little without an account). I thought I'd read about their values and came across

Quote
all parleyers are equal
Regardless of race, sex, age, sexual preference, religion, politics, or dietary choices —- well , except pineapple pizza -- every user is treated equally under Parler’s Community Guidelines.

 ;D

I'm reminded of a paragraph and its accompanying footnote in an early Discworld book:

Quote from: Mort
The first pizza was created on the Disc by the Klatchian mystic Ronron “Revelation Joe” Shuwadhi, who claimed to have been given the recipe in a dream by the Creator of the Discworld Himself, Who had apparently added that it was what He had intended all along. Those desert travellers who had seen the original, which is reputedly miraculously preserved in the Forbidden City of Ee, say that when the Creator had in mind then was a fairly small cheese and pepperoni affair with a few black olives** and things like mountains and seas got added out of last-minute enthusiasm as so often happens.



**After the Schism of the Turnwise Ones and the deaths of some 25,000 people in the ensuing jihad the faithful were allowed to add one small bayleaf to the recipe.
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: citoyen on 13 January, 2021, 03:11:25 pm
Quote from: hellymedic on 08 January, 2021, 09:19:54 pm
Pizza is just an over-rated open, toasted sandwich and it's no skin off my nose whatever you use to top fill it.

I imagine the first pizza was just a loaf that didn't rise properly, so the baker decided to wing it by dumping a load of cheese and sauce on top and pretending he'd invented something new.

This is pretty much how all my most successful kitchen experiments happened.
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: ian on 13 January, 2021, 04:00:57 pm
Quite frankly, carpet bombing with cheese is the solution to most kitchen problems. OK, possibly not a failed Victoria Sponge.
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: lahoski on 19 January, 2021, 08:19:31 am
I did Pingu it up, sans rocket, and it was bloody delicious.

I spotted the smoked oysters in the shop, so that's on the list.

It's.occured to me that in 2 weeks, I've made 15 pizzas. Make of that what you will.
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: ian on 19 January, 2021, 09:37:50 am
I do make two pizzas, his and hers, every Saturday night because that's pizza night and I'm boring.
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: lahoski on 19 January, 2021, 11:22:27 am
Pizza night is a noble tradition but not if it's every other night, although increased frequency might mean taco pizza is much closer than previously thought.

WFH did mean pizza lunchtime was enjoyed last week. And I wonder why weightloss has stalled... :facepalm:
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: ian on 19 January, 2021, 11:28:42 am
There's also pie and mash night, which is Wednesday. I did break with tradition last week and make cauliflower cheese rather than mash as the cauliflower had been in the bottom of fringe since Christmas as was starting to look like it might have issues with its prolonged confinement. Anyway, I chopped the dubious bits off, and smothered with enough cheese sauce that it didn't matter.

Cauliflower cheese on a pizza might work, if the sauce isn't too juicy.
Title: Re: Pizza toppings
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 19 January, 2021, 11:42:17 am
 :smug:  :P