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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
The Dough Doctor takes a look at using herbs in dough
Herb infused doughs are one of those things that seem to come and go. It gets popular for a short time, and then it disappears, only to come back again after a few years. For some of us, though, it has found a home on our menu boards as a variation t...
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Menu Development
Gourmet toppings next wave of pizza trends
Gourmet toppings for pizza? Where do I begin? I suppose I could start by recounting something I read recently about a pizzeria in New York City that is big on seasonal gourmet toppings such as Brussels sprout leaves, shaved porcini, black truffles an...
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Menu Development
2009 December: Pasta Primer
Rigatoni with Chicken & Ricotta The idea behind this delicious pasta dish is that the ricotta is actually the sauce that coats the pasta. To this end, I like to add a tablespoon or two of the hot water from the pasta pot to thin the sauce just a ...
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Menu Development
2009 October: The Sweet Life
It’s no secret that times are tough for restaurant operators. Money is tight, customer numbers are down, and more than ever profi t margins are at a premium. But even though you may not be able to add that second location (yet), there are ways to b...
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Menu Development
2009 October: Udderly Delicious
In a race to outdo the competition, there aren’t a whole lot of ingredients left that have not turned up on a pizza. The fact is there’s nothing new about all of this; it now simply becomes a matter of marketing and advertising to get the custome...
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Menu Development
2009 November: Done with Style
From parsley and Parmesan to lemon slices and dustings of powdered sugar, plating food is an art form that delights guests. I want to teach you some plating techniques to let your passion for food shine through. I’m sure you’ve heard it a hundred...
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Menu Development
2009 November: Dough Doctor
Oil is a truly multi-functional ingredient in pizza dough production. It can affect everything from the crispiness to flavor of the crust, as well as the way the dough handles during shaping. The type of oil used can influence the flavor of the finis...
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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 November: Prep School
Adam Goldberg, owner of Fresh Brothers in Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach, California, was slammed — on a Monday. The restaurant’s volume was up way more than normal. The lunch rush had extended to 3:30 p.m., leaving staff only one hour to prep...
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Menu Development
2009 October: Cool & Creamy
As temperatures rise this summer, diners look for ways to cool down. Ice cream presents a practical solution. Sure, you can sell it by the scoop, but why not pair ice cream with cookies or brownies? Ice cream lends itself to many easy-to-prepare dess...
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Menu Development
Dough storage can make or break your operation
Dough storage –– this is one of those topics that I continually get questions about, so it’s probably time that we go back and revisit the basics. The way in which we store our dough has changed over the years. Back in the 1950s it was common t...