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From Talk

Latex gloves in the professional kitchen?

I was born in India and ate street food there for years. Then I moved to Africa. Ditto. If anyone is going to get sick from food it's going to be in a country with no hygiene practics and temperatures in the 90s half the year.

I never got sick.

From Serious Eats

Pizza Hack: Broil Your Pies

I instantly upgraded my pizza with a combination of having visited Luzzo's in Manhattan a couple of weeks ago and coming here.

The cast-iron pan idea wouldn't work for me because I'm too lazy and poor to go out and buy one big enough, but putting the pizza stone one level down from the broiler and pre-broiling the oven for one hour worked like a charm!

I had previously been par-cooking the crust so that the middle wouldn't be soggy (which it always was, in the days when I cooked it 20" away from the broiler) but this time I did just like at Luzzo's--sauce, mozza, toppings on the raw dough--and it turned out brilliantly! I had never been able to get any kind of a char before on the bottom but obviously the broiler heat must have baked the stone beyond 500, because this pizza only took 3.5 minutes where before it was 8 or even 9.

Molto bene!!!

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Recent Comments | Response to Comments

From Talk

Latex gloves in the professional kitchen?

I was born in India and ate street food there for years. Then I moved to Africa. Ditto. If anyone is going to get sick from food it's going to be in a country with no hygiene practics and temperatures in the 90s half the year.

I never got sick.

From Serious Eats

Pizza Hack: Broil Your Pies

I instantly upgraded my pizza with a combination of having visited Luzzo's in Manhattan a couple of weeks ago and coming here.

The cast-iron pan idea wouldn't work for me because I'm too lazy and poor to go out and buy one big enough, but putting the pizza stone one level down from the broiler and pre-broiling the oven for one hour worked like a charm!

I had previously been par-cooking the crust so that the middle wouldn't be soggy (which it always was, in the days when I cooked it 20" away from the broiler) but this time I did just like at Luzzo's--sauce, mozza, toppings on the raw dough--and it turned out brilliantly! I had never been able to get any kind of a char before on the bottom but obviously the broiler heat must have baked the stone beyond 500, because this pizza only took 3.5 minutes where before it was 8 or even 9.

Molto bene!!!

From Serious Eats

Pizza Hack: Broil Your Pies

I tried this and I had a few problems I'm hoping someone can correct...
1. My pan got WAY hot on the burner and turned ashen in the middle. The burner coil coating flaked off when I removed the pan to put it under the broiler. Maybe I left it on too long (25 minutes or so)?
2. The dough was really difficult to manage being so thin and flimsy. It was hard to maneuver accurately, and dealing with such extreme heat, I decided to put the pie on the upside down skillet before placing it under the broiler. It cooked while I was holding it.
3. 1 minute 35 seconds under the broiler was maybe too long as the bottom turned to coal.
4. Have to say, all this aside, that was one delicious pie. Willing to try again with a few adjustments, provided I didn't ruin my pan or my stove coil.

From Serious Eats

Pizza Hack: Broil Your Pies

Cast iron pans are a great way to get a good pizza. Very tasty. In fact, I made a how to video on this very subject!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDrELqxz45w

Enjoy!

From Serious Eats

Pizza Hack: Broil Your Pies

I just saw this posting yesterday and tried it tonight. I used Mark Bittman's Basic Pizza Dough. I used 2 cups KA bread flour and 1 cup KA white whole wheat flour. I heated my cast iron skillet in the oven while it was preheating (I don't quite understand why you would put it on the stove and then put it in the oven). Then I slid my pizza in and my gosh! This was gorgeous. Thin in the middle with a nice thick brown crust. The bottom could hold its own and it was cooked so fast. I will never go back to cooking pizza on a cold pan again at a low heat!

From Serious Eats

Pizza Hack: Broil Your Pies

Okay. I stumbled across this recipe because, in a weird half-dream, I thought about using cast iron to solve the eternal problem of home pizza makers. That being the problem of conventional home ovens never, ever getting hot enough to make truly excellent home pizza.

I've got a stone. I crank my tiny apartment oven as high as it can go. I take out the batteries in my smoke alarm and open every window. And I'm pretty sure I've suffered mild smoke inhalation on more than one occasion. Still, no matter these efforts, my pizza has ended up good, but not G-R-E-A-T. Charred. Bubbly. Chewy. That's what I'm looking for.

So anyway, while in a pizza mood this evening and with a ball of dough thawing on the counter, I thought about how well cast iron holds heat. A quick little Google search on "cast iron pizza" lead me straight to, and to my delight, Serious Eats. This confirmed the crazy idea in my head; if you guys had something on it, it had to work.

I followed Blumenthal's procedure and all I have to say is: FINALLY. CHARRED, BUBBLY, CHEWY, PERFECT PIZZERIA PIZZA IS FINALLY POSSIBLE AT HOME. Done. That's all she wrote. Finished.

From Serious Eats

Pizza Hack: Broil Your Pies

Just a note: you can buy griddles designed to cover two eyes of the stove at once. They are reversible, with grill marks on one side and a flat surface on the other. If you used one of these, you could do 2 8-inch pies at once!!! Search "cast iron griddle double reversible" on Amazon, and you'll see some good results. Many are also available for about $20 at Macy's and the like during specials. You can find them at ross and other discounters also.

From Serious Eats

Pizza Hack: Broil Your Pies

If you live in the Central or Western part of the U.S., you can always hit up a Papa Murphy's http://www.papamurphys.com/.

They specialize in Take 'N' Bake.

From Serious Eats

Pizza Hack: Broil Your Pies

Homemade dough is *not* a pain. I use Mark Bittman's recipe/technique (I found it in "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian"), which uses a food processor to knead the dough. If you can measure ingredients and push the button on a food processor, you can have excellent dough in as little as an hour. The actual dough-making takes all of 5 minutes, then you just let it rise for an hour (or more, if you can spare it). Roll it out and throw it into the oven, and voila, a damn tasty, perfectly textured crust as thick or thin as you like it.

Try it and I swear you'll never want to buy a pre-made crust (or pizza) again. And it's at least as pain-free as the skillet/broiler finagling.

From Serious Eats

Pizza Hack: Broil Your Pies

I do this with the walmart deli pizza, and add a few things, amazing how good they are, thanks for the tip!

From Serious Eats

Pizza Hack: Broil Your Pies

I made this last night with very good results. Having a thin crust is imperative--because I didn't stretch it out enough, it was slightly doughy. Still delicious, though. AND quick.

From Serious Eats

Pizza Hack: Broil Your Pies

this technique worked great. it took me about 2:30 under the broiler, but emerged with a great crisp, even crust. here are pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/goodbyeohio/sets/72157603707373936/

From Talk

Latex gloves in the professional kitchen?

Thanks Jerry...your correct...my apologies to you and the people of Oregano. I'll keep that in mind when I travel to Oregon or other states that have such a law.
Pepe-roni

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