There is of course another pizza axis. I grew up with New York pizza. Chicago pizza tastes like a tomato quiche to me - good but it isn’t pizza.
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You know, its funny but my husband is Italian and his dad was a chef. His mom was a terrific cook too and they never went out to dinner. Fresh parm always, so when we went to my husband’s sister’s house and spotted the green can of Kraft parm I almost passed out!!
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No fresh mozzarella. I adore the stuff raw, but it just gets rubbery when melted and releases moisture that makes the pizza soggy. No part skim either. Whole milk “aged” mozzarella. Usually I add a bit of young Provolone and a bit of Fontina to the blend for a bit more complex flavor, but plain mozz will do as long as it’s whole milk and decent quality.
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Very unusual …
We all have a Reggiano Parmigiani vendor in Emilia Romagna aged 50 months as well as an Italian Market, owned and operated in Spain who ships to us as well.
Each to his or her own.
How about draining?
Confession: I was looking at pizza techniques & I was surprised to see the fresh mozz used in some of them. I was raised on aged, whole milk.
No pineapple? Chicken? M&Ms?
You mean draining the released moisture off after the pizza is cooked? Unfortunately the damage is already done by that point - the crust underneath the mozzarella water will never really cook correctly. If you mean before cooking, you really can’t get enough water out of the raw product to make a difference. In either case, you still have rubbery melted cheese in the end.
There’s enough love in my heart for me to appreciate both cake and pizza made from a mix, bought from a store or made from scratch.
Lol.
Is a nicely charred $19 pizza made by a recently immigrated pizzaiolo from Naples better than a frozen pizza? Probably! Doesn’t mean I won’t eat frozen pizza.
I don’t know if something is lost in translation, but some of yinz seem to pride yourselves on disliking, or not being willing or open to try, frozen pizza or cake mix cake.
It’s just food.
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I love what you wrote. I also chuckled because the diverse Hungry Onion community celebrates all things food to such a degree that it’s just food seems ironic…and worth pondering.
Until I started baking, making for instance popovers until I nailed a homemade version I was proud of, I didn’t appreciate the care it takes. I enjoyed them in countless restaurants without much thought. Let’s just say, I actually prefer my own now…because I met my own challenge.
I don’t buy into snobbery in any form because what we are exposed to and interested in is so personal.
I try to stay open, curious and adventurous but I do read a lot in order to better understand the habits of others. I couldn’t possibly have learned a tiny bit about baking from scratch without staying open.
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Since I pretty much buy only fresh mozzarella from specialty stores, I would appreciate your recommendation for a good aged version. I think fresh mozz works pretty well on pizza, but I also think my lasagna game could be stronger.
Good points. And sometimes you have to dig behind opinion for fact. Fact is, I don’t crave or hanker for either cake or pizza, so a shortcut isn’t appealing to me. Now pasta is a different matter. If someone would just invent boxed boiling water I’d be a super happy camper.
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Good one!
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That is the difference between Spain and The USA, I suppose.
I’d imagine even top chefs here have had a frozen pizza or 10.
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That’s why I started this thread.
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PS the least snobby people about Italian food I’ve ever met are Italian-Americans. It’s only in the last 25 years or so* that they’ve become food snobs.
*I’m giving away my age.
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@missdior, interestingly, the fussiest eaters when it comes to Italian food that I know are some of my Italian Canadian friends (mostly Friulan), and one of my closest elderly family friends who immigrated from Italy at age 30. My elderly family friend mostly likes Italian food and steak, and tolerates some good French food. 
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I don’t know about that. My sister-in-law was first generation italian American and her family was very concerned with proper sourcing. By that I don’t mean the most expensive but rather the most appropriate. For example, Nonna refused to pay for imported parmesan but insisted on the best quality of dry jack she could find,. Her cooking was impeccable and never stinting.
Once her granddaughter, my niece, was at our house when only my father was home. Trying to entertain her, he asked if she wanted lunch? Ravioli? Okay. He heated a can of Chef Boyardi. She looked at them suspiciously, took one bite and reported, “Those aren’t ravioli”.
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I absolutely understand that
Most of the Italian-Americans I grew up with were Sicilian. They told me that Northern Italians looked down on them. This is a nice website so I won’t elaborate.
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My comment was a general one. They probably would have turned up their noses at Chef Boyardee, but I ate many a plate of spaghetti and meatballs in Italian-American homes, which I learned somewhat recently is an American thing, not Italian at all.
And mostly the sauce came from jars, and as for fresh pasta? Never saw that, once, growing up. Always from a box.
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