Pizza Sauce

[Stephen Tashiro]

I have the impression that most modern pizza has little pizza sauce on it and the sauce that's there doesn't have a strong taste. Has pizza been like that for years and years?

My memory of pizza may be biased by the pizza-at-home kits sold by Jeno's in the 60's. They had lots of sauce and the sauce had a strong taste - heavy on the basil as I recall.

[Lee Schierer]

It really depends on where you buy your pizza. You can also ask for heavy sauce at some locations.

[Bill Orbine]

Those kit pizzas we're good. My dad added olive oil and oregano when he was serving up Tree Tavern pizza kits.

[Marvin Hasenak]

Try adding some picante sauce to your pizza sauce, it will up the game plan for pizza.

[Jim Koepke]

They had lots of sauce and the sauce had a strong taste - heavy on the basil as I recall.

More likely the strong taste you recall is oregano. A good whiff of oregano and all people can think of is pizza.

If you ever get to Berkeley, CA try a pizza parlor called Zachary's. They make a stuffed pizza that has more sauce than crust. That is one of the things my wife and me miss most from where we used to live. She will be going down there soon. Maybe she will be nice and bring one back.

jtk

[roger wiegand]

Lightly crushed San Marzano DOP tomatoes with a little salt, not further cooked, used sparingly. A sprinkle of olive oil and a shake of oregano. With a few dabs of mozzarella di bufala, some fresh basil, and some parmagiano you have the perfect pizza. Retaining the bright tomato taste is key, overcooking kills that.

390550

[George Bokros]

We always order extra sauce when we order Papa Johns pizza.

[Jerome Stanek]

We always order extra sauce when we order Papa Johns pizza.

We do to love their tribe5 code also

[Jim Becker]

Sauces vary greatly...both because of traditions and because of, well...some of the public's taste or lack thereof. :) There does seem to be a small trend in many areas for less sauce and more cheese from my observation. A good pizza sauce has flavor from both use of and properly cooking down quality tomatoes as well as fresh herbs, etc. Pizza sauce tends to have a little sweetness compared to pasta sauce, too, also in my observation.

What's really disappointing beyond any "bad sauce" is how much commercial crust dough that pizza shops buy to use rather than make in-house. It is so reminiscent of, um...cardboard. I so rarely buy pizza out these days because of that.

[Ted Calver]

The thing nobody wants to talk about. "Between the ages of 40 and 50, the number of taste buds decreases, and the rest begin to shrink, losing mass vital to their operation. After age 60, you may begin to lose the ability to distinguish the taste of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter foods.":D

[George Bokros]

We do to love their tribe5 code also

We do too!

[Stephen Tashiro]

After age 60, you may begin to lose the ability to distinguish the taste of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter foods.":D

That just makes them all taste equally good.

[Jim Koepke]

The thing nobody wants to talk about. "Between the ages of 40 and 50, the number of taste buds decreases, and the rest begin to shrink, losing mass vital to their operation. After age 60, you may begin to lose the ability to distinguish the taste of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter foods.":D

My sniffer isn't what it used to be. My nose no longer smells the aroma of bay leaves. What is interesting is the effect of the aroma can still be felt in my nose. This is kind of weird.

jtk

[Ted Calver]

My sniffer isn't what it used to be....

As long as I can still smell bacon, my sniffer is working good enough.:D

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

I think Pizza preferences vary from area to area. There is one shop nearby that has a loyal following, but I think their pizza tastes like they use tomato soup and American cheese. My Preference of all shop pizzas is Pizza Hut. An acquaintance owned a Pizza shop and one of his more popular pizzas was made with fresh sliced plum tomatoes instead of sauce. Some folks try to use plain spaghetti sauce, but that is to bland and too sweet. Mrs. likes white pizza for a change up. One pizza shop nearby puts the sauce on top the cheese. Looks weird, but tastes ok. We have several grocery outlet stores here that sell over runs and special runs, etc. One such store had had some huge frozen pizzas recently and those pizzas are so big that they stick out slightly over the edge of our biggest pizza pan, 18 inch, I think. Those are good, but I can't find a name brand on the box. Many PA Dutch families did not eat pizza in the 1950's and 1960's. My father still avoids it when he can. (same for any tomato based sauce in or on food.) Some areas like soft bread type crusts, others like thin crispy crusts. I can't stand the crispy crunchy crusts myself. Probably the best tasting pizza I ever had, was from a restaurant called the Pines of Naples in Bethesda Maryland. It was crushed tomatoes with spices spread fairly thick over the crust. There was so much cheese and olive oil, that small pools of oil formed on the pizza.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Wife likes plain cheese pizza, with sauce. Pizza Hut here doesn't put any sauce on their cheese pizza. It's unsliced bread sticks with melted cheese. Surprisingly, Little Caesar makes a decent cheese pizza, which she likes

[Rick McQuay]

Lightly crushed San Marzano DOP tomatoes with a little salt, not further cooked,...

This guy knows pizza.

I like light saucing, plenty of fresh basil (too much), and crust is the most important part. Bad crust is bad pizza no matter how good the toppings. And the crust should be crunchy in the bottom, and not too thick.

[Tom Stenzel]

After age 60, you may begin to lose the ability to distinguish the taste of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter foods.":D

After working at a sewage treatment plant for over 30 years I know I don't smell so good.


-Tom

[Jerome Stanek]

My wife and I can't stand the Garlic butter that so many shops seem to use. We used to like Dominos Pizza Hut and Marcos but they started using that butter on their pizzas and I just can't get past the smell.

[John Sanford]

My wife and I can't stand the Garlic butter that so many shops seem to use. We used to like Dominos Pizza Hut and Marcos but they started using that butter on their pizzas and I just can't get past the smell.

Just tell them "no garlic butter." Keep in mind that the vast majority of pizzas are simply assembled and cooked. So you can get extra this or light that or none of the other.

[Mike Henderson]

Around here, Blaze Pizza is pretty good. They have a set up like a buffet but the things in the containers are for making a pizza. A worker is on the other side of the "buffet". As you move down the line, you tell them what (and how much) of each item to put on your pizza. Their standard pizza (12"?, 14"?) is a bit less than $9. My wife and I split one and it's plenty to eat.

Mike

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Mod Pizza is very similar to the Blaze Pizza described by Mike. You go down the line telling them what you want on your pizza...it's fire baked and your name is called to pick it up. A store opened here earlier this year IIRC and it's excellent! Sounds like the prices are similar too.

[Alan Rutherford]

Wife likes plain cheese pizza, with sauce. Pizza Hut here doesn't put any sauce on their cheese pizza. It's unsliced bread sticks with melted cheese. Surprisingly, Little Caesar makes a decent cheese pizza, which she likes In the belief that there is no personal preference or menu oddity too trivial to argue about, I'll point out that, legally speaking (according to Google and also some late-night talk show host a while back), if it doesn't have a baked leavened crust AND tomato sauce AND cheese it ain't pizza.

We make our own pizza with store-bought sauce on home-made crusts. The dough for the crusts is mixed in the bread machine and pre-baked on a pizza stone. Many of the crusts are eaten without being made into pizzas - it's pretty good bread. I use the sauce sparingly because most sauces are too thin to use much of without the pizza being a drippy mess. We have room for improvement there and will look for thicker sauce or more intense flavor. I'll probably have to make it myself.

[Bill Dufour]

When I was first setting up shop I would dumpster dive behind Piazza shops. they get sauce in one gallon cans branded by the franchise name. Those cans are still on my shelf with nuts bolts etc.
Bil lD

[Yonak Hawkins]

Alan, please keep me apprised concerning your pizza sauce progress. I need a good sauce for my home-make pizza crusts, as well. Currently I am using store-bought Classico sauce. I don't use a bread machine for the dough but I do use a stone for baking.

[Yonak Hawkins]

Hey, I wonder why they don't do a Braves5.

[Dave Zellers]

We are into August. A river of fresh tomatoes is running from the garden to the kitchen every day.
It’s pizza and pasta time baby.
Fresh maters
fresh peppers
fresh garlic
fresh basil, oregano, tyme, rosemary, chives, on and on and on.
Lots of work goes into all this in the spring and now it’s rewards time.

Heaven. We make a pizza from scratch every week this time of year.

[roger wiegand]

legally speaking (according to Google and also some late-night talk show host a while back), if it doesn't have a baked leavened crust AND tomato sauce AND cheese it ain't pizza.

You'd have a hard sell on that one in Naples, where the pizza marinara (no cheese) has been a favorite for centuries.