Scott's Pizza Tour Pizza News

I know I know - they are supposed to turn red, but this has been a long and tedious process so I am entitled to celebrate. People freak their baby’s first haircut or the funny position in which they found their dog sleeping, but I have no baby and I have no dog. Instead, I have nine tomato plants growing in an improvised plot behind my Brooklyn apartment. What started as a handful of seeds is now taking up significant space in my backyard. Some of the plants remain barren but others are starting to show me they mean business and I’m ready to cash their lycopene-filled checks at the bank of my belly.

I still have a few weeks to go before these suckers are ready to eat, but I’m really excited that they are starting to ripen. I see more baby tomatoes popping up every day and I think things are going to really kick in as we approach August. Some helpful YouTube videos showed me how to prune the plants and I have been paying careful attention to extraneous branches that grow off the main vine. The idea is to pinch off the unwanted bits so that all sugar is diverted to the tomato-bearing arms. It’s my first time growing tomatoes so I’m trying to do everything I can to learn the ropes in preparation for next year’s garden.

The photo on the left shows a couple San Marzanos just hangin’ around and turning red, much to my delight. A mysterious variety ripens in the other photo — on of my neighbors must have forgotten that she left this plant in the backyard so I assumed responsibility and it is now producing the loveliest fruit of the bunch. I’m pretty amazed because the bulk of growth happened when I was out of town for a couple of days, thus unable to obsess over watering and pruning.

Perhaps patience is the secret ingredient for a successful tomato crop, but my built-in recipe includes heaping helpings of nervousness and torment. I’ve just heard too many horror stories of unwanted backyard guests enjoying tomato season more than the humans who made it possible and I’m getting more afraid of the inevitable tomato thief with every day that passes. Because as the tomatoes ripen and turn red, they become even more appealing to The Enemy. I’ve read a few tips about keeping rats away, from cayenne pepper spray to Irish Spring soap. You can see the chicken wire cage I built in the photo above, but I’m not convinced it’s going to do much. If I disappear for a couple weeks, it just means I’m sleeping with the tomatoes.

If you have any tips for keeping The Enemy out, I’m all ears.

So I’ve noticed a pattern with myself lately. After reading a couple books about tomatoes, I ordered some seeds online and planted a tomato garden in my backyard. Then I read some books about oven construction and thermodynamics only to readjust the heat strategy in my home oven (I’ll explain that in a future post). Well last week I was trying to figure out what book to read (just finished Jane Ziegelman’s 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families) when something magical happened. Immortal Milk by Eric LeMay arrived in my mailbox to answer my pizza-related reading needs.

Eric was on a pizza tour last month but he kept silent during all of our discussions about cheese. He’s an incredibly smart guy to keep his true identity a secret because I would have assaulted him with questions for the bulk of the tour had I known. Instead, he waited until the conclusion of the tour before he casually mentioned “I had a really great time. Oh, and I just wrote a book about cheese. I’ll have to send it to you.” And send it he did.

I have a few cheese guides and books about cheese history but Immortal Milk falls into an entirely different category. It’s a memoir of personal discovery through cheese. Eric begins the book with a comparison of the words “expert” and “enthusiast.” I was sold from the start because, like Eric, I am lulled to sleep by experts who merely site facts and figures without mention of context or personal involvement. His book chronicles trips to cheese shops around the globe in search of significant cheeses.

The book weaves travel stories with in-depth research about all things cheese - including a terrific chapter about why we call things “cheesy.” Eric’s humor is right up my alley, so I had a lot of fun reading his milky musings. He also brings in the experiences of his travel partner and wife “Chuck,” whose final chapter recommends pairings that compliment particular types of cheese discussed throughout the book.

Two amazing things happened after I read Immortal Milk. First, I found myself in Choice Greene, an incredible specialty food shop in my neighborhood in Brooklyn. They have a great selection of cured meats and quality cheeses, so I poked around and found a couple cheeses I had never tried before but were mentioned throughout the book. I finally tasted Comte, a French cow’s milk cheese that carries AOC protection (same thing as Italy’s DOP certification). It’s so creamy and mild, I’m surprised I haven’t tasted this on a pizza. Comte has an extremely versatile flavor, although not incredibly exciting on its own. I bet it would be nice on a pie with pear and walnuts! Choice Greene also has Parmigiano Reggiano and fresh mozzarella if you’re looking for standard pizza fare.

The second incredible cheese discovery happened at Pizza A Casa, the Lower East Side’s incredible pizza school. Owner Mark Bello had recently returned from the Fancy Food Show at the Javits Center and he was showing me some mozzarella making kits he found at one of the booths. This is exactly what I was looking for, as Eric’s book made my brain-gears spin into motion about how cheeses all start out as milk but end up as any one of thousands of flavors. So I took the mozz kit home and went to work.

The kit has everything you need to make fresh mozzarella except for a gallon of milk and the entire process takes only 45 minutes. I learned a lot by making a batch of cheese but it made me think about how many simple homemade foods have become gourmet rarities. Mozzarella is a cheese intended for home preparation and home consumption, so it only shows how the tables have turned when this simple process becomes a novelty.

Visit Pizza A Casa for your own mozzarella making kit or for classes on home pizza making.

Thanks to @pauliegee for the heads-up about the TSA’s pizza box top recruiting campaign. I really need one of these for my pizza box collection. Read more about the TSA’s recruiting campaign and send me a box if you find one.

Pizza often gets pegged as a fattening fast food but one pizzeria owner from Florida is turning that assumption on its head. Matt McClellan, owner of Tour de Pizza in St Petersburg, FL, created a diet that pairs pizza with a brief daily workout and the results have been staggering. Over the course of 30 days, Matt lost 24 pounds and shaved 86 points off his cholesterol.

Matt’s currently biking up the East Coast, stopping at pizzerias along the way to share his story. The journey ends in New York City on July 4, where he’ll be capping off his tour with a Scott’s Pizza Tour! Here are the details:

Matt and Scott’s HEALTHY Pizza Tour
Monday, July 5
3:30 - 5 PM
FREE!!!
Meet us at the corner of Bleecker and 7th Ave South. We’ll hit a couple pizzerias along Bleecker Street and talk about Matt’s diet.

*Follow Matt on Twitter @tourdepizza

On June 11, 1889, Queen Margherita of Italy had a letter composed to thank Raffaele Esposito for making her a pizza with mozzarella, tomato and basil. This photo of the letter is posted in Esposito’s restaurant in Naples, Pizzeria Brandi.

It’s tough to see, but the date in the upper right corner is June 11, 1889. I found the phrases “Raffaele Esposito” and “tomate buonissime” but the rest is a mystery. Please contact me if you can translate it. I can send you some close-up shots.

Queen Margherita was the second queen of a newly unified Italy. By eating a dish so associated with the peasants of Southern Italy, she made an incredible, and probably accidental, political move and earned the support of her country. As word of her taste test spread, so did the dish itself. But recipes changed to suit local customs and ingredient availability, so pizza developed into several localized varieties. This is why the thin and crunchy pizza of Rome is so different from the soft and chewy pizza of Naples.

So eat a pizza with fresh mozzarella, crushed plum tomato and basil to celebrate this historic day!

Sometime in mid-March I planted a bunch of seeds I purchased from Tomatofest in California. Seedlings of several varieties sprouted: San Marzano, Super San Marzano, San Marzano Redorta and Roma. I spent weeks keeping their Styrofoam cup homes in direct sunlight and out of harsh temperatures. There were several times I thought the plants had stopped growing, only to find major developments the next day. This week, I took a big step and transplanted my little darlings into the Earth.

My neighborhood in Brooklyn has an industrial past, so I don’t trust the soil in our yard. I brought in some soil through some friends who are doing a massive gardening project in NJ and let it warm up in the sun for a few days. The next challenge was finding something to put the soil into, so I kept my eyes peeled and found a bookshelf on the streets of Soho right outside Lombardi’s! I dug up a hole in the yard in an area that gets the most sunlight and nested the bookshelf/raised bed into its new home. I’m only using the frame of the unit, so there is no back and only one shelf in the center for support.

These tomatoes are supposed to have lots of room, so I kept the plants super spaced out. I’m probably giving them too much space but I really want them to have a shot at survival. I covered the soil with black plastic to keep weeds out and moisture in. It will also help to keep the soil warm, which will make the tomatoes happy!

I’ll be modifying the setup a bit over the next few weeks, adding bamboo support posts for the plants and some chicken wire around the outside of the raised bed.These things have survived longer than I thought they would so I’m pretty optimistic that we’ll make it to harvest in late August. 

On Thursday, May 27, SPT and GAP Adventures joined forces to raise money for the homeless and hungry by harnessing the powers of pizza. We collected pies from some of the city’s top spots and offered slices for $1 each. Donations came in from Lombardi’s, NY Pizza Suprema, Arturo’s, Luzzo’s, Joe’s, John’s of Bleecker and Lazzara’s.

Since we had lined up about 45 pies, our main concern was finding enough people to eat all of them. So we were a bit overwhelmed when the event began at 6:30 and huge line formed out the door. All of the pizza was gone by 7 PM and reinforcements were called in from Joe’s, Ben’s, Lombardi’s and NY Pizza Suprema. We ended up eating all 65 pies, raising $1600 for City Harvest. Because of our love of pizza, we are putting 7,272 pounds of food on the tables of people who need it.

Our exhibit of international pizza boxes (and menus) was also a huge hit. We had submissions coming in right up to the last minute and more are on the way for next year’s event. Please contact me if you have a box you’d like to submit.

We also raised money by selling $1 raffle tickets. Prizes ranged from SPT tickets and shirts to GAP Adventures travel coupons to pizza books to passes to the Vendy Awards! We even had some great prized donated by PMQ’s Pizza Magazine.

Huge thanks to everyone who attended, especially our pals in the pizza blogosphere. You can read their accounts of the evening at Passion4Pizza and Me Myself and Pie. And just in case you’re curious, this is what the aftermath of a huge pizza party looks like.

MORE INTERNATIONAL PIZZA BOXES!

Tonight’s the night for our $1 slice fundraiser for City Harvest, featuring Pizza Boxes of the World. We’ll have so much pizza it’s insane. Please come and eat it. Pizza will be provided by Arturo’s, Lombardi’s, Joe’s, John’s, Pizza Suprema, Luzzo’s amd Lazzara’s. Most of those places don’t even sell pizza by the slice so this event is your big opportunity to try them all in one place!

This video features boxes from the Netherlands, which will be on display tonight. See you there!

Slice Out Hunger
Thursday, May 27
6:30 - 9 PM
GAP Adventures
364 Avenue of the Americas
www.gapadventures.com/store/newyork
www.cityharvest.org
www.scottspizzatours.com

This Thursday night we’ll be holding our annual fundraiser for City Harvest. The event features pizza from some of NYC’s top pizzerias (Lombardi’s, John’s of Bleecker, Joe’s, Pizza Suprema, etc) and we’ll have raffle prizes too! Admission is FREE but slices, soft drinks and raffle tickets are $1 each.

Last year was amazing and this year’s going to be even better because we’re getting MORE PIZZA! We’re also exhibiting a collection of international pizza boxes sent in by pizza enthusiasts all over the planet.

Slice Out Hunger
Thursday, May 27
6:30 - 9 PM
GAP Adventures
364 Avenue of the Americas
www.gapadventures.com/store/newyork
www.cityharvest.org
www.scottspizzatours.com

GOODIES FROM THE SPT MAILBAG!

Scott’s Pizza Tours will be holding a “Slice Out Hunger” fund raiser for City Harvest on May 27 at GAP Adventures in NYC from 6:30 to 9 PM. We’ll have pizza from New York’s finest pizzerias available for $1 per slice. Most of these places don’t even sell pizza by the slice, so this is going to be a real treat. Our goal is to raise a billion dollars.

We’ll also be hosting an exhibit called “Pizza Boxes of the World,” which features several international pizza boxes. So far, we have boxes from Hungary, China, Czech Republic and more on the way! They are all beautiful and they will most certainly blow your mind.

Event Information:
Slice Out Hunger
Thursday, May 27
6:30 - 9 PM
GAP Adventures
364 Avenue of the Americas
www.gapadventures.com/store/newyork
www.cityharvest.org
www.scottspizzatours.com