PIZZA --- The Real Thing !
By M.-L.
@MALUSE (69413)
Germany
June 14, 2019 2:31pm CST
In December 2009, the pizza Napoletana was granted Traditional Speciality Guaranteed status by the European Union. The pizzerias making the traditional pizzas are organised in the Pizza Napoletana Association. What is the secret of ‘the real thing’?
- The dough stretching technique is vital. A pizzaiolo (pizza baker) needs at least 2 to 3 years of apprenticeship to become perfect.
- The dough is made the day before it’s used so that the yeast can rise for at least 10 to 15 hours. The result is a soft and light crust.
- The pizza can only be cooked in wood burning brick ovens.
Doesn’t sound too complicated, does it? And yet, it isn’t easy. If it were, there would only be top notch pizzerias in Italy (and the world), but as it is, the Antica Pizzeria Da Michele in Naples is the undisputed No 1 establishment. They just know best how to do it. Here "each component is the essence of what it is meant to be at its highest potential of being. The components interact in a sublime equation, their ratios perfect: charred to non-charred crust, crust to sauce, crust to cheese, and sauce to cheese - the Platonic ideal in pizza form" as one aficionado confesses on the net.
Can we say that the Antica Pizzeria Da Michele is famous not only in Naples, not only in Italy, but worldwide? Well, it’s fame has spread at least across the Atlantic. Clinton was there and also Julia Roberts for the Italian part of the film 'Eat, Pray, Love'. Rumour has it that they didn’t have to queue, heehee.
So Pizza and Naples are synonyms? Not really, only the pizza as we know it nowadays. The origin goes back to ancient times. Already the Babylonians, the Phoenicians, the Israelites, the ancient Egyptians and other Middle Eastern cultures used to eat flat, un-leaven bread seasoned with olive oil and spices and cooked in mud ovens. A great leap forward to what we eat and love nowadays happened when the tomato came to Europe after the discovery of America.
Pizza is even a healthy food! Tomato sauce provides vitamin A, mozarella cheese protein and calcium, dough and oil complex carbohydrates. Vegetarians don’t have to be afraid of hidden meat. The lactose intolerant can eat pizza without cheese. People who can’t stomach acidic tomato sauce can eat so-called white pizza containing only crust, cheese, spices and oils.
Whatever, let’s come to the end with a line of the cheesy (mozarella?) song, “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie - that’s Amore!” sung by Dean Martin (whose real name was Dino Paul Crocetti).
Do listen to the song! It's a classic.
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Photo: pixabay (pizzabay?)
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Tratto dal film del 1953 "Occhio alla palla" (The Caddy) interpretato da Jerry Lewis e Dean Martin e diretto da Norman Taurog.
17 people like this
17 responses
@BelleStarr (61047)
• United States
14 Jun 19
I have to admit I do love a good pizza and we do have good places to get it locally.
1 person likes this
@BelleStarr (61047)
• United States
14 Jun 19
@MALUSE Nope but the people who make it here are all Italians, there are more Italians in this town than anything else. We are sister cities with Mellili Sicily. Many people from Naples have also emigrated here. Three of my nephews are 50% Italian and my niece married an Italian.
@MALUSE (69413)
• Germany
14 Jun 19
@BelleStarr Then you've got as near as you can to the Italian cuisine without going to Italy. Of course, it's not the real thing as the Italians who emigrate cook for the taste of the people of their host country.
For example, the Italians like to eat pasta quite hard. Non-Italians don't like that. So you get softer pasta outside Italy. Once my (Italian) husband and I had pasta in an Italian restaurant in London. It was horrible.
1 person likes this
@ptrikha_2 (45454)
• India
22 Apr 22
A lot of information here.
If made properly and with right ingredients, Pizza can be good for one's health.
Yet I believe that moderation would be the key.
1 person likes this
@prashu228 (37526)
• India
7 Aug 21
wow ..that's good story about Pizza...
two points i loved the most 1) " The pizza can only be cooked in wood burning brick ovens." but nobody is following now..
2) Pizza is even a healthy food! Tomato sauce provides vitamin A, mozarella cheese protein and calcium, dough and oil complex carbohydrates....
I never thought of all these while having pizza...only one thing in my mind "it's junk " i am happy 
Thanks for sharing..such a lovely information..
2) Pizza is even a healthy food! Tomato sauce provides vitamin A, mozarella cheese protein and calcium, dough and oil complex carbohydrates....
I never thought of all these while having pizza...only one thing in my mind "it's junk " i am happy
Thanks for sharing..such a lovely information..1 person likes this
@sabtraversa (12890)
• Italy
22 Jul 21
Aww, pizzabay?! 
I have to go to Naples someday. Perhaps in winter. I wonder which season is best for enjoying pizza. Well, every season is. However, it must not be enjoyable for the pizzaioli to bake next to hot ovens when it's also hot outside.
I have to go to Naples someday. Perhaps in winter. I wonder which season is best for enjoying pizza. Well, every season is. However, it must not be enjoyable for the pizzaioli to bake next to hot ovens when it's also hot outside.1 person likes this
@cahaya1983 (11121)
• Malaysia
7 Aug 21
Oh, the wood burning brick ovens! Yes I remember seeing this in one travel show (the name of the restaurant totally escaped my mind, sorry). It even looks more delicious than the one baked using contemporary ovens nowadays. They also showed the mud oven baking method, in Egypt. Very interesting.
And the next time someone tells me pizza is not healthy, I'm definitely going to tell them they're wrong.
1 person likes this
@aureategloom (8344)
• Bosnia And Herzegovina
9 Aug 21
the song is playing in the background while i'm typing this comment (what a nice voice the other boy has )
thank you for sharing this with us. i didn't know that they need that much experience. i want to taste that pizza now.
i used to put ketchup and cheese on bread and microwave them - tastes pretty good and i think that these ingredients taste good no matter what kind of dough they're put on... i don't know
)
thank you for sharing this with us. i didn't know that they need that much experience. i want to taste that pizza now.
i used to put ketchup and cheese on bread and microwave them - tastes pretty good and i think that these ingredients taste good no matter what kind of dough they're put on... i don't know 1 person likes this
@marguicha (215325)
• Chile
14 Jun 19
A beautiful and interesting ode to the pizza. I am glad that you added that tomato was brought from America. There are lots of veggies that have come from America and many people don´t know about it.
@marguicha (215325)
• Chile
14 Jun 19
@MALUSE One of my uncles lived most of his life in Bolivia and married a lady from Bolivia. We went to visit many years ago and my aunt prepared typical Bolivian dishes for us. She used and showed us many different kinds of potatoes. It was incredible!
@MALUSE (69413)
• Germany
14 Jun 19
@marguicha If I'm not mistaken, there are about 6.000 different kinds of potatoes in this world. Bolivia should be paradise for me! :-)
1 person likes this
@MALUSE (69413)
• Germany
14 Jun 19
Many people don't know anything. :-(
Potatoes! I couldn't or rather wouldn't like to live without them.
(Wikipedia) "The potato was first domesticated in the region of modern-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia between 8000 and 5000 BC. Cultivation of potatoes in South America may go back 10,000 years..."
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (457822)
• Switzerland
15 Jun 19
Great discussion Maluse. I know that Neapolitan pizzaioli are asking to call "pizza" only the real things, all the "imitations" should be called "pies". I have to agree, when I order a pizza I expect what you described, not a dry tiny crust topped with tons of overcooked burnt cheese that stays on your stomach for 3 days.
@LadyDuck (457822)
• Switzerland
15 Jun 19
@MALUSE I do not believe that many ever tried a real pizza in Napoli, because this is a world of difference from the one you eat there and the one you eat in the north of Italy. Even the spaghetti are a lot better there, I cannot understand where is the difference, but their spaghetti are better.
@MALUSE (69413)
• Germany
15 Jun 19
@LadyDuck I took part in a guided tour through a pasta factory near Foggia many years ago. They never use eggs for their pasta and only a certain kind of grain - which doesn't all come from Italy, however. They import a lot from Canada. Italy can't produce enough grain for all the pasta eaters. :-)
1 person likes this
@MALUSE (69413)
• Germany
15 Jun 19
That would be a good thing but I'm afraid the initiative of the Neapolitan pizzaioli comes too late. The term 'pizza' may have been included in all languages by now where a flat piece of dough with something on it is eaten.
What I find funny is that several members claim that they like eating the pizza which is made in their country. Liking or not liking is not the topic of this discussion. As we know there are even people who claim that pizza with pineapple on it tastes good. Maybe it does - but what has this concoction (aberration??) to do with the original pizza?
1 person likes this
@xFiacre (12589)
• Ireland
14 Jun 19
Your reference to ‘That’s Amore’ reminded me of this little snippet I wrote some time ago on Mylot.
And as for pizza - what passes for pizza in most places is an embarrassment when compared to What comes from the ovens of Naples.
A gang of friends stood or sat together round a piano singing 'That's Amore'. Good natured but raucous. People passed about bottles of wine. I could see into...
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
16 Jun 19
I am considered as being rather boring when it comes to pizza. I only like tomato and cheese. No frivolities on it as it really is not needed just cheese and tomato. .I hate these other imitation pizza's, deep pan, Crust filled pizza etc. What surprises me is the price these pizza places charge for a pizza it is an astronomical cost considering it cost pennies to make the dough. The best pizza I have ever had was in Naples and it was as cheap as chips! Not £20 if you have one delivered here.
@MALUSE (69413)
• Germany
17 Jun 19
The pizza you like best is the pizza Margherita. It's also the only one I eat if I eat pizza which isn't too often. Yes, pizza is really a cheap dish and has always been affordable for the poorer people in Italy. Especially the Americans have perverted it with putting, say, pineapple on it.
1 person likes this
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
17 Jun 19
@MALUSE That will do me when I have pizza which is rarely. I do not understand how anyone could consider it a meal. I consider it a snack. I admit I can not remember the last time I had pizza I find it a bit underwhelming.
@MarshaMusselman (38645)
• Midland, Michigan
15 Jun 19
I could sing that song without listening. It's a good one and your picture looks good enough to eat especially since that type of dough isn't on the keto diet.
So, you can have my piece today.
@MALUSE (69413)
• Germany
15 Jun 19
@Ronrybs You can see 'pasta' and 'noodles' as synonyms. The Italian word 'pasta' simply means 'dough'. 'Noodles' is an unspecific term. Italians have a special term for the dozens of shapes in which the pasta=dough comes in. It's always the same dough but each Italian can tell you which shape is the best because the sauce sticks to it in the best possible way.
Have a look (scroll down):
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search For list of dishes prepared using pasta, see List of pasta dishes. Some different colours and shapes of pasta in a pasta specialty store in Venice There are many different varieties of
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@MALUSE (69413)
• Germany
14 Jun 19
@LindaOHio Very much so! In German, we say, "It goes down like honey." :-)
1 person likes this
@didinedhia (8475)
• Algeria
14 Jun 19
@MALUSE not italian !! algerian restaurants makes really good pizza too
