Why Three Is the Tastiest Quantity for Pizza Toppings

• On this article republished from PMQ’s March 2015 problem we discover the choices for scrumptious pizzas that includes only a trio of toppings.
• “The extra toppings you add,” one pizza chef notes, “the extra you lose the flavors of every ingredient.”

Ask any Italian for his secret to scrumptious pizza preparation, and he’ll seemingly stress easy, flavorful, high-quality substances—a distinct strategy than many Stateside pizza cooks, who usually go by the American credo “larger is healthier” and pile on the toppings. Granted, lots of your clients gained’t accept something lower than a totally loaded Supreme pie, however you may also make scrumptious and distinctive specialty pizzas with simply three toppings, thus holding down your meals prices and maximizing profitability.

Easier is commonly smarter, notes Italian-born Leonardo Landini, proprietor of Landini’s Pizzeria in San Diego. “The extra toppings you add, the extra you lose the flavors of every ingredient,” he explains. “When there are too many flavors taking place directly, the shopper doesn’t get pleasure from anyone factor.”

For some pizza makers, three is the tastiest quantity. We talked to a number of who function deliciously easy three-topping pies on their menus and acquired their suggestions for creating distinctive specialty pizzas with out piling on the costly meats and veggies.

When it comes to three-topping combos, mushrooms pair deliciously with pineapple and ham for a twist on the Hawaiian and with black olives and feta cheese for a specialty Greek pizza.

—Pete Wilder, To-Jo Mushrooms

Begin in Your Personal Kitchen

When Landini needs to whip up a brand new recipe for his menu, he doesn’t enterprise far to search out the substances. “From an proprietor’s perspective, it’s finest to have a look at what you have already got in-house,” he says. “You retain prices down by working with substances you’re already utilizing.” For instance, when Landini observed he was utilizing Brussels sprouts for a salad and pancetta for a specialty pie, he multipurposed each for a pizza—known as the Rustica—that mixes the 2 substances with a balsamic vinegar discount on a white pie base. Just lately, he dreamed up a brand new menu merchandise, pastizza, by merely filling two layers of his dough with pasta within the center, making a product that’s much like focaccia and is already heating up gross sales—despite the fact that Landini laughingly calls it a “calorie bomb.”

Associated: Simplicity is the rule for culinary knowledgeable Mario Rizzotti 

Bending the Guidelines

Pizzeria operators abroad have been rethinking the pizza making craft for years. Pepperoni and mushrooms isn’t sufficient for connoisseurs in Brazil, the place crave-worthy toppings embrace inexperienced peas, beets and quail eggs. In the meantime, Pizza Hut raised British eyebrows in 2012 with its uncommon scorching dog-stuffed crusts (drizzled in mustard, no much less). People have lately begun following swimsuit, bending the principles and creating distinctive topping mixtures impressed by fast-food favorites. On the New York-based Ribalta, for instance, the Americana pizza is topped with scorching canines, mozzarella and French fries. This combo—whereas perennially in style in ballparks throughout the nation—is exclusive sufficient on a pizza to warrant loads of consideration, together with from the media: The favored food-focused web site Eater printed an article on the pizza in December 2014, with the buzz-building headline, “Ribalta Has Perfected the Artwork of Sizzling Canine and French Fry Pizza.”

Throughout the nation at Landini’s, the traditional American wiener impressed one other pizza unique: The Maialona combines scorching canines, scorching salami and Italian sausage for an oinking extravaganza. “Folks in America love meat, particularly scorching canines,” Landini says. “‘Maialona’ interprets to ‘huge pig’ in Italian, and this has all the things folks love on one pie. Plus, the recent canine pairs surprisingly nicely with our crust.” Name it an Italian-inspired “bun.”

Alternatively, you would possibly jazz up a scorching dog-based pie with conventional condiments, corresponding to ketchup, mustard or relish. Or high burger-themed pizzas with pickles and onions. By contemplating the nonpizza meals which might be in style in American tradition (or by in style taste/ingredient combos from different nations), you’ll discover no scarcity of inspiration.

“Intense flavors appear to be spreading. Daring sauces and robust seasonings have emerged from Texas and Louisiana and are extra in demand nationwide as the patron craves extra taste.”

—Vincent Todaro, Todarini Meals

Highlighting the Distinctive or Uncommon

Landini loves the mix of candy and spicy, or candy and bitter, when creating his specialty pies; for instance, he could mix spicy jalapeños, creamy ricotta and candy pineapple on a pie. In the meantime, textural selection will be achieved by the addition of crunchy parts, corresponding to nuts or, for a dessert pizza, crumbled biscotti.

Justin De Leon, proprietor of Apollonia’s Pizzeria in Los Angeles, showcases his most unusual substances on easy pies in order that the “star” can stand out. “Complement and distinction, however you probably have one thing actually distinctive on a pizza, you need to give it the highlight,” De Leon says. “It is advisable know when sufficient is sufficient—take into account what you actually need on the pizza with out going overboard. Step again and ask, ‘What am I attempting to attain?’” And, for those who discover that you just’ve gone awry on one mixture, preserve experimenting; usually an ingredient that clashes with sure flavors or textures will pair seamlessly with one other.

L’inizio Pizzeria affords minimal toppings and a powerful presentation on the Ripieno Carciofo, with complete baked artichokes full of selfmade ricotta, adorned with roasted purple peppers, over creamed spinach. Photograph courtesy L’inizio Pizzeria.

Telling a Story

De Leon, a photographer and artist, likes his menu gadgets to inform a narrative—and his most unusual pie, The Soiled Agent, tells a story that every one locals can perceive. As a result of he’s based mostly in Los Angeles’ entertainment-saturated Miracle Mile space, he based mostly this pie on the predatory nature of Hollywood and its denizens. It’s topped with natural purple onion and tomato, plus the shopper’s selection of rattlesnake sausage, duck and bacon sausage, or alligator sausage. “The snake and alligator are predators, whereas the pig and duck are prey,” he explains. “However even taste-wise, they differ; those that need a leaner meat (much like a hen breast) can select the ‘predators,’ whereas the duck and bacon sausage is extra like a bloody steak. As a result of the sausages are so distinctive, folks take into consideration them as ‘gotta strive’; clients are instantly intrigued.”

Operators can simply get slowed down with the entire pizza prospects on the market, however limiting your self to minimal toppings can really be liberating—and academic. While you’re compelled to maintain it easy, you’re in a position to simply discern what taste combos are most interesting and which of them are finest left as behind-the-scene experiments. Why not strive drilling right down to the fundamentals for a pie or two in your menu?

Tracy Morin is PMQ’s senior copy editor. This text initially appeared within the March 2015 problem of PMQ.