Saturday, August 16, 2008

Perfecting an Almost Perfect Pizza

What is the perfect pizza? The crust should be thin and crispy, and it should hold the weight of the toppings above it. The sauce should be a perfect savory balance of flavors, low in acidic bite, high in flavor. Or, the sauce should be left out and the crust coated with a thin brush of extra good olive oil. And then the toppings, what are the perfect toppings? For my perfect, or almost perfect pizza, I top the crust with caramelized onions, arugula, black mission figs, and soft, crumbled goat cheese.

In June, I was so close to constructing the perfect pizza, but something was missing. I thought the pizza I describe above needed a little something to balance out the sweetness of the caramelized onions, the figs and the sweet and tangy goat cheese. A small dose of balsamic vinegar should do the trick, I thought. So last night, I made this pizza again, and caramelized the onions along with some good 10 year aged balsamic vinegar. Was the pizza perfect? I don't know. I may need to make one with the balsamic vinegar and one without, on the same night, and do a taste test.

Whatever the case may be, my pizza of caramelized onions, arugula, black mission figs, and soft, crumbled goat cheese, drizzled with good olive oil (no sauce,) is the best pizza ever to come out of my kitchen. Should I continue to try and tweak it or leave a good thing alone and just enjoy one damn good pizza? I'll think about it while I'm at Fenway Park tonight watching the Boston Red Sox play baseball, eating a Fenway Frank and drinking an overpriced, watered down beer - it's all part of the Fenway Experience!

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