What’s Hot? Outdoor Pizza

Memorial Day marks the beginning of the season for cooking outdoors, and I’ve heard from several friends who say they are looking forward to making pizza. Outside. Apparently, outdoor pizza ovens are a “thing.”

Pizza is one of the first things that I learned to cook. Of course, back in the 1950s, I made use of the Chef Boy-Ar-Dee pizza kit that included flour mix, a can of pizza sauce, and grated cheese – everything you would need to make a 12-inch pizza to pop in the oven. I made many of them in those years. Convenient for a teenager, and as for taste, well, they did the trick.

Humans have been putting toppings on flatbreads for thousands of years. Persian soldiers under Darius the Great baked flatbreads with cheese and dates on top. Ancient Greeks made a plakous flatbread topped with herbs, onion, cheese, and garlic. And the Aeneid refers to a meal of pita bread topped with cooked vegetables. You can find naan and paratha in India, a bing in China, and rieska in Finland. As for pizza as we know it in the U.S., the usual tomato-topped, melted-cheese pie was probably brought to America by Italian immigrants in the late 19^th century.

These days, one of the new hot and trendy outdoor cooking gizmos is a tabletop outdoor pizza oven. Retail consultants expect consumers to buy some $557 million worth this year, with sales expected to rise to more than $1 billion within a decade. Costs vary from about $200 to $300 on the low end to more than $3,000 to $4,000 for an oven that would rival those in artisanal pizza shops. I have several friends who have acquired an oven, and another friend has built his own in his back yard.

In the heat of the moment

What sets these devices apart is their ability to reach temperatures of more than 700 degrees F., allowing you to cook your pizza in just 2-3 minutes. Most experienced outdoor pizza makers recommend baking pizzas between 850 and 900 degrees to achieve a crisp undercarriage and “leoparding” on the crust. That results in an “authentic” pizza because the sudden heat melts and blends the topping and makes the base pop up properly. The devices that use wood or wood pellets also enhance the pizza with smoky flavors. And at those temperatures, any onions, spinach, mushrooms, or peppers will hold more of their natural nutrients. (Extended heat results in the gradual loss of nutrients.)

My trendy friends with the new ovens extoll their pizzas. The heat from their new devices allows them to mimic the true Neapolitan flavors. One told me about a white pizza covered with a simple garlic sauce and thin layer of ricotta and Asiago cheeses. Once it emerges from the oven, they cover it with fresh greens from their garden. Another couple was enthusiastic about their simple pizza made with a light coating of cheeses topped with pre-roasted cherry tomatoes. When it comes out of their oven, the tomatoes have popped and released their juices. Hearing these stories gives me pause to contemplate a future acquisition.

Not just for pizza

I should point out that you’re not limited just to pizza with these hot ovens. It’s all about the temperature settings. The most obvious other foods to bake are focaccia and flatbreads. But these ovens can be versatile and, provided you have the right tools, you can cook a number of other dishes: roasted vegetables, baked or grilled fish, steaks or barbecued ribs, potatoes, and even stews, casseroles, slow-cooked meats, and hot desserts.

How about you? Are you ready for grilling season? And what’s on your grilling agenda?

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