Pisa, the italians insisted

Source: Global Times

In Italy, known as the Kingdom of Pisa, pizza is a staple food and a snack, a formal meal and a light meal. You can taste the classic Italian "national" pizza, as well as a variety of derivative pizzas. Italian pizza has its own distinct style in terms of taste, style and cooking concept, and it can be said that pizza is in a sense a symbol of Italy. Italians are very insistent on what is authentic Italian pizza and will not give up.

Neapolitan pizza pays the most attention to ingredients

When it comes to Italian pizza, Italians are most proud and are best known for the traditional round Neapolitan pizza. As a "national" pizza, its deliciousness depends on the quality of the ingredients on the one hand: cheese, olive oil, tomatoes, etc. are the most representative star products of Italy, a "big agricultural country", and on the other hand, it depends on the special skin opening technique of the bottom. In Neapolitan pizza dough, the proportion of water is higher than that of American pizza dough, so the taste is softer, chewy, juicy, and the taste is more primitive, simple and refreshing.

Neapolitan pizza pursues the freshness of ingredients to maintain the original taste of food, rather than paying attention to the intricate stacking of fillings. As the "protagonist", the dough, vegetables, and cheeses all have traditional and strict matching requirements, less of the complexity and richness of American pizza ingredients, and more of the authentic taste of the ingredients.

The Global Times reporter once visited Da Michele, a century-old shop in Naples. The storefront is unremarkable, with diners from all over the world lining up at the door, spending hours patiently trying to taste "the world's best pizza".

The reporter tried the only two pizzas in the store, Mariana pizza seasoned with tomato, olive oil, oregano leaves and garlic, and Margaret pizza seasoned with basil, mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce. It is this simple recipe that gives italians a classic taste that italians will never get tired of.

The process of making a Neapolitan pizza, which has been inscribed on the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, is also very exciting, and in the small pizzeria, diners can see the pizza masters kneading the dough to make the cake blanks, sprinkling fillings, sauces, and using their own long-handled metal pizza shovels to bring the pizza into the fruit wood oven. The masters performed their duties, kneading, falling, sprinkling, roasting in one go, and soon an authentic Neapolitan pizza with a thin inside, high outside, with a ring of iconic black dots, and a hot and fragrant atmosphere was baked.

The special production standards of Neapolitan pizza have been passed down for hundreds of years. This set of standards is determined by the Standards Institute of Pisa in Naples, which certifies and issues qualification certificates to eligible stores.

At a Neapolitan pizza restaurant like Da Michele, about 12 inches of pizza is sold in its entirety, for 5 euros, or about 40 yuan. Interestingly, in Italy, people eat pizza without dividing it. The reporter saw in the store that even the family was a pizza in front of each other, accompanied by a glass of beer or coke.

"Street pizza" is affordable

Pizza is also italy's most affordable street food. In addition to an authentic whole-plate Neapolitan pizza for sale, Italians often choose a sliced, thick-bottomed Roman square pizza as a light meal, or "fast food." Walk into any pizzeria where all kinds of pizzas are neatly displayed in a square shape on a glass counter. Eat as much as you want, diners can choose the taste and size of the pizza they want, and the shop will slice, weigh and pack the pizza sharply. Unlike Neapolitan pizza, sliced pizzas have a hard, thick texture and a variety of flavors: from "white pizza" with no filling, to vegetarian pizzas such as potato pizza, mushroom pizza, eggplant pizza, artichoke pizza, and then to pumpkin flower fish pizza, shrimp pizza, ham pizza, meatball pizza, etc., it is dazzling. Sliced pizza has a variety of flavors, but diners with selection difficulties do not have to struggle, according to their own tastes and appetite size, "diversified" combination of their own pizza "big meal", at unimaginable affordable prices to taste different tastes, very satisfied, enjoyable.

Square pizza is not like Neapolitan pizza, suitable for sitting down as a meal to savor, some diners who buy square pizza eat in the shop, and more people choose to take it away.

Sergio ran a pizzeria in Rome for 30 years and also served as a pizza chef. I saw him grease and fill the dough on a rectangular baking sheet, and then use a pizza spatula to bake in an electric oven. Since square pizzas are not eaten freshly, restaurants usually slice the pizzas selected by diners, weigh them and heat them in an electric stove.

About the perseverance, inheritance and creation of pizza

There are also some special pizzas in Italy, such as fried pizza in the shape of dumplings, "sandwich" pizza with bottom and top, sweet pizza with chocolate sauce, spicy pizza with heavy flavor, and so on. According to statistics, there are hundreds of pizzas in Italy with different tastes and styles. From north to south, the style and taste of pizza in the Apennine Peninsula vary widely. According to the geographical division, the most famous factions are not only Neapolitan Pisa, but also Milan, Genoa, Marche, Rome, Sicily and other different regional factions of Pisa. But what is also true is that Italians who advocate the "Mediterranean diet" are very good at local materials, and also pay attention to inheriting and adhering to their own food culture, while creative Italians have never stopped exploring excellence.

But the interesting thing is that in Italy, you can't find any foreign pizzas such as American pizza. In countless pizzerias, it is almost impossible to see durian, pineapple and other fruits as the top of the pizza, many Chinese people love to eat "fruit pizza" for Italians can be regarded as "dark cuisine". Italians have been fighting Americans for years for pizza's "purity of blood" and "authentic taste." An Italian once did an interesting test in Naples, the delivery man sent a pizza covered with two pieces of pineapple top, the customer was provoked, excitedly shouted "disgusting", "disgusting" "take away", the delivery man was almost beaten. Although the test has a funny component, the Italians' adherence to pizza standards is not exaggerated at all.

In addition to loving pizza, Italians also love to make pizza. Although convenient and affordable to buy, many families still make their own pizza at home from time to time. The whole family participates together, hands-on, and enjoys the joy of the world.