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Menu Development
Detroit Style Pizza: A Guide to Detroit Pizza
Discover Detroit-Style Pizza Detroit style pizza is a square, deep dish pizza that is known for its racing stripes sauce on top, cheese crust crown and light crust. Whether you call them red tops or square pizza, Detroit-style pizza is a unique pizza style that hast become one of the hottest pizza styles and one […]
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Menu Development
2009 November: Fired Up
Cooking with wood has been around since the dawn of civilization, so there’s no singular revelation attached to that method of cooking. On the other hand, cooking pizza in a wood-fired oven has been going on only since the turn of the century in th...
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Menu Development
2009 November: Pasta Primer
Spaghetti with Meatballs This recipe is very close to how my mother did her meatballs, but there are as many recipes for meatballs as there are Italians. This recipe makes 18 meatballs, each about 2 inches in diameter. Makes 6 servings (scale up in d...
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Menu Development
2009 September: Italian Classics
If we do a time machine scenario and zip back to May of 1889, we find Queen Margherita and her husband, King Umberto I, being served pizza at the palazzo in Naples where they were staying. The king and queen had heard about the famous pizzas of Naple...
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Menu Development
2009 September: Mushroom Magic
My father was a mushroom farmer. During my high school years, I put in more than a few hours getting acquainted with mushrooms in every way possible. Most of the mushrooms we grew (from scratch, including inserting the mushroom spawn into the compost...
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Menu Development
2009 September: The Original
The Italians take their pizzas seriously, which is why, in June of 1984, Antonio Pace put into writing the precise rules for the preparation of the “veraci” (original) pizzas. He was against the commercial industrialization of the modern day pizz...
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Menu Development
2009 September: The Power of Pasta
Pizza and pasta is a match made in heaven. If pasta isn’t already on your menu, start up the printing press — because that’s all about to change! Not only should you be offering both, but why not create a “family feast” by combining a pasta...
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Menu Development
Ask Chef Jeff
Q: With so many new restaurants opening around me and the economy being what it is, I’m getting scared watching sales drop. What can I do to keep my name out there without going broke? A: It’s time to turn your advertising inside out! Here’s wh...
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Menu Development
Dough Doctor: How does gluten affect dough?
Gluten is the one thing that holds our dough together. Without it, the dough would be a pasty mix of ingredients, lacking the capability of being shaped, hand-tossed or slapped. Contrary to what a bag of fl our might say, flour does not contain any g...
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Menu Development
Old School Sicilian Pizza
What makes a Sicilian pizza a Sicilian pizza? In two words: shape and thickness. A true Sicilian pizza is rectangular. A true Sicilian pizza has a crust that is almost a half-inch thick. How do I know this? I know this because next door to my boyhood...
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Menu Development
Pasta Primer: Fettuccine
This is the time of year that many of us (especially those of us living in the Midwest) go bananas over fresh tomatoes. If I had the time, I would write another cookbook called “101 Ways to Use Fresh Tomatoes.” So this time of year I am constantl...
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Menu Development
Pizza Bianco
White pizza is often defined by what it lacks rather than what it offers. White pizza is devoid of tomato sauce, but not flavor. By omitting the bold, acidic base that most pizzas build on, the toppings take center stage with nuance, subtlety and com...
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Menu Development
Fruitza
Think fruit pizza and the ubiquitous “Hawaiian” most likely comes to mind. While no one will argue against the popularity of this ham-and-pineapple delight, fruit toppings aren’t limited to pineapple. Consider pears, apples, oranges — even co...