Know When to Hold Them, Know When to Fold Them

🍕Modernist Pizza Podcast will record the science, history, and culture of pizza, all told through in-depth interviews with the book’s coauthors and the people who are shaping the future of the world’s most popular food.🍕Each slice of this series examines a different aspect of pizza, from deep dives into flour, sauce, and cheese, to its roots and the evolution of regional styles. From Naples to New York City, South America to St. Louis, slice joints to frozen pies, listen in as we talk to experts, enthusiasts, and the pizza elite who put this humble pizza pie on the map.🍕 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕 As this is the last episode of Season 1, we’ll take a moment to reflect on pizza’s long and winding path to pervasiveness. It’s impossible to put pizza in a box, but we’ll do our best here — or at least freeze a few pies for future consideration, and ship some straight from Naples. We’ll attend the Union Nations of pizza school, or maybe retreat to the woods, all the while finding ways to give back that way pizza has given to all of us. We’ll write love letters to pen pals, read some pizza-themed kids’ lit, and look towards the next generation of pizza makers, who maybe, just maybe, might see pizza in space. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕 Pizza is a universal language, one of love, and legend. We’ll start with a trip to South America, by way of Argentina and Brazil … No, we’re not doing this alphabetically, but rather, chronologically. The first pizzas sold in Buenos Aires were by Don Agustin Banchero, at his bakery Olivarria in 1893, who, surprisingly, was a Genoan immigrant, not Neapolitan. Banchero, the standalone pizzeria, wasn’t opened until the 1930s in the La Boca port area.Whereas Brazil’s pizza culture dates back to the early 1900s, thanks to an influx of immigrants from Campania — here, the style is personal pies, served at dinner only, and eaten with a knife and fork.In Japan, there’s an emergence of Tokyo-style marinara, a 50/50 ratio of tomato sauce to olive oil, but what seems to be most important there, is the experience, or as they call it: ometanashi.And of course we’re going to talk about Italy … but what is there to say that hasn’t been said already? A lot it seems! We’ll hear from modern day masters, a chef in Rome applying modernist techniques to toppings, as well as the making of “mountain pies” in the hills between Venice and the Dolomites. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕 Don’t worry, we’ll address the elephant in the room: why does Modernist Cuisine think Portland, Oregon, is the pizza capital of the United States? Francisco will make this abundantly clear. We’ll also clarify California-style pizza, do a deep dive into Chicago’s pizza allegiances, get our fricco on with Detroit’s cheesy crust, and drive a 250-mile stretch of highway along the Mississippi river to visit seasonal pizza farms in Wisconsin. We’ll also cross bridges and tunnels to find out why the best pizza in the tristate area may be from New Jersey? And how Mystic, Connecticut, a seaport town that came to fame in the late 1980s for a pizza-themed movie, now has a umami-packed pie of its own! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕 We survey the multitude of pizza making ovens around the world, why wood is the romantic choice for fuel source, how one pizzeria had to burn to the ground to reinvent themselves, what the first steps to building your own oven are, and how to take that portable pizza oven from the backyard to realizing your own brick and mortar — not to mention how pizza trucks are driving the pizza oven revolution. Oh, and pans. Because who doesn’t love a pan pizza! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕 Why is buffalo mozzarella considered a luxury cheese, and what makes it different from regular mozzarella, anyway? And why don’t more people make mozzarella at home? We’ll talk to the makers of DIY mozzarella kits, how Wisconsin brick cheese defined Detroit-style pizza, and how to make your own Franken-cheeses like St. Louis’ Provel, as well as why vegans are nuts for imitation cheeses. Modernist Cuisine will teach you the tricks of infusing your mozzarella for extra flavor like you’ve never had before — even before you put on your pepperoni, pineapple, anchovies, and/or mayonnaise. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕 Why is the humble plum tomato the gold standard for pizza sauce? According to the AVP, there are only three tomato varieties permitted to make real authentic Pizza Napoletana: San Marzano (the most famous/infamous), Piennolo (known for being preserved in bunches, hanging on a piece of twine), and finally, the Corbarino. We’ll talk to growers of the two latter tomato types, and find out what sets their fruit apart. We’ll also find out what happens when a California canning company joins forces with a wood-fire pizza legend, how northern Italian pesto Genovese became the go-to green sauce for many pies, and what sauces Modernist Cuisine constituted as pizza sauce. Spoiler alert: that can of soup you have in your pantry may comply. What’s in your sauce? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🍕🍕🍕🍕 Dough is a living, breathing thing. It rises, it reacts to its environment: temperature, time … it’s an extensible object that shapes the way we interact with pizza. But how malleable is it? People are pushing the boundaries of what constitutes crusts throughout the country, giving new parameters to how we think about grain builds, proofing, shaping, baking, and handling the process of pizza making in general. While there are unlimited options for pizza toppings, Nathan posits that what may set it apart the most, is its base. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🍕🍕🍕 What’s the secret behind a perfectly charred Neapolitan pizza? Answer: the cornicione—that famed leopard-spotting that blisters around the edges. But is this a sign of superior pie, or just burnt dough? Whether you like a soft crust with a chew, or a nice crisp bite, it’s merely a matter of the dough’s four main ingredients: flour, water, salt, yeast . . . or is it something else? We’ll find out more about the foundations of a perfect pizza — from Italy’s prized 00 flour, to farms that grow ancient wheats specifically for pizza. But is flour as different as the homophones: palate and palette? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🍕🍕 In Episode 1, we gave pizza a home. Now that we’ve let it into all of ours, let’s see how pizza plays a role in personal histories — from that of pizza champions to those championing pizza for change. What we’ve learned so far is that pizza is indeed of Italian descent, but how did that change with the Italian-American hyphenate? Who are these nonnas behind grandma slices? And do you remember a time when pizza parlors were where we gathered, making them central to who we were as a people. There have always been different slices for different folks, and that’s really the story here — that pizza can be the personification of who we are. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.