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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
Bechamel Sauce
Béchamel and mornay sauces fall into the white sauce category. Mastering both of these sauces opens up a wide and wonderful world of flavors that you can use to enhance pasta and pizza creations. But first some background information is in ord...
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Menu Development
Fontina Asiago
Fontina and Asiago are two important Italian cheeses, and both are fortunate enough to carry a dual citizenship. Born in Italy –– fontina in the Piedmont, Asiago in the Veneto –– they have been successfully replicated in the U...
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Menu Development
Mushrooms
Look beyond cultivated white mushrooms to add flavor, texture and variety to menu items Diners who like mushrooms really like them, giving operators a chance to promote specialty pizzas like the “Champignone”, which is offered by Pizza Bu...
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Menu Development
Beer Offering
I know that to say “it depends” seems vague. However, it really does depend on what you are trying to create. Do you want to be known for having an incredible beer selection with beers from all over the world? More importantly, ...
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Menu Development
Fresh Mozzarella
Let’s go back in time to May of 1889. We find Queen Margherita and her husband, King Umberto I, being served pizza at the palazzo in Naples where they are staying. The king and queen had heard about the famous pizzas of Naples, so naturally the...
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Menu Development
Nut-Free Pesto
Worried about potential allergic reactions? Want a nut-free pesto? Start with coarsely ground cheese as opposed to finely ground cheese to help better approximate the texture of a traditional pesto. Next, add fennel or finely diced carrots, zucchini ...
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Menu Development
Veloutes Sauce
If you serve pasta-based dishes that feature chicken or fish, a velouté may be a sauce worth exploring. Veloutés are cheap to make, tasty and perfect matches for pasta. Start with a basic chicken stock — canned, concentrated or fr...
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Menu Development
Fried Artichoke & Zucchini
The appetizer section of menus has been taking a beating in the many Chicago restaurants I visit every day in my role as chief restaurant critic for the Chicago Sun-Times. I see customers moving away from expensive appetizers (and, believe me, t...
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Menu Development
Oven Dried Tomatoes
For added authenticity, consider trying tomatoes on your own (provided you have the manpower). It’s easier than you might think. Here’s a quick recipe: Oven-Dried Tomatoes 2 pounds Roma tomatoes 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus additi...
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Menu Development
The Bold & Beautiful Tomato
All of us in this business are well aware of the excellent canned tomatoes at our disposal, so it goes without saying that we use them –– a lot –– in various ways, whether it be a sauce for pasta, or to ladle onto a pizza crus...
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Menu Development
Fried Calamari
It wasn’t too many years ago that squid was considered nothing more than fish bait. Now it is on the appetizer menu of just about every Italian (and even non-Italian) restaurant you can name. There are several reasons why calamari fritti has be...
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Menu Development
Manchego Feta
Manchego and feta are two of the more interesting and important cheeses in the Mediterranean flavor. Manchego is Spain’s most famous cheese, and is made in the plain of La Mancha. Only the milk of La Manchega sheep can be used to make manchego....