[Sca-cooks] pizza OOP

[Daniel Myers]

On Wednesday, October 9, 2002, at 11:17 AM, Olwen the Odd wrote:

> OK, Here are my Wednesday stupid questions:
> anyone know if all pizza has a layer of grease on top?
> does pepperoni change colour much or at all when cooked?
> is the cheese always cheese colour or does it sometimes get burn spots?
> does glyceryn take colouring?
> how much glyceryn is too much?

H'okay, here's my $0.02 from my year long pizza-making career back in
college.

The layer of "grease" on some pizzas comes from the oils present in the
cheese - if the pizza place is using a good grade of real cheese then
the pizza will have the oils pooling a bit on top.  If they're using
cheap, processed cheese with fillers then there will be less - possibly
none.

Pepperoni gets a bit darker when cooked, but not much.  If the
pepperoni is (incorrectly) placed under the layer of cheese then the
color change will be insignificant.  However when it is placed
(correctly) on top of the cheese then it may become crisped, or even
slightly burned around the edges.  So if a pepperoni is curved enough
that an edge is sticking up from the surface of the pizza then that
edge may be crisped to a dark brown or black.

The cheese on properly cooked pizzas will have patches that have just
turned golden-brown.  If it's a uniform yellow color then the pizza is
not done yet.  If it's a uniform brown then it's overcooked.

Can't help you on the glycerine - we never used it on pizza.

- Doc

p.s.  Of course more Truths about pizza can be found in The Book of
Refreshments, Chapter 14.
http://www.bookofrefreshments.com/refresh14.html

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  Edouard Halidai  (Daniel Myers)
  http://www.medievalcookery.com/
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