Vegetarian Pizza

Regular readers of best pizza toppings can probably guess that we’re not vegetarians. There are too many vivid descriptions of salumiand photos of prosciutto for us to pass ourselves off as non-carnivores.

But as we’ve gotten older, staying healthy and looking good have become more important. So like everyone else, we try to watch what we eat.

While it’s true that you can substitute greasy pizza toppings like pepperoni and meatballs for leaner options like chicken sausage and ham, even the healthiest meat toppings are usually pretty high in sodium.

If you want a truly guilt-free experience, a vegetarian pizza is the way to go. Since we’re not vegetarians ourselves, we assumed that any pizza without meat was vegetarian, but that’s not strictly true.

To qualify as vegetarian, the pizza must be made with cheese that doesn’t contain animal-based rennet. Fortunately, there are a number of great cheeses on the market now that don’t. So, problem solved.

You can make a conventional pizza crust with flour, water, and olive oil, or use any number of other bases. While canned tomatoes – especially San Marzanos – make an excellent tomato sauce, they often have quite a bit of sodium. If you use fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes, they’ll have just as much flavor with a lot less salt.

Just be sure to seed the tomatoes before you use them. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a limp, soggy crust.

You could also use pesto as your sauce. If you don’t have lots of fresh basil on hand, most groceries sell good, ready-made pesto.

To add an extra depth, consider opting for a smoked cheese. Gouda and mozzarella are both excellent and melt well, which is key for pizza. If you have a smoker – though if you’re a vegetarian, I can’t imagine why you would – you can even smoke the cheese yourself.

Vegetarian Pizza with Mushrooms

With the sauce and the cheese nailed down, the sky is the limit as far as toppings go. Artichokes – either marinated or canned – are excellent. They’re also terrific grilled. Steam one for 30 minutes, cut it in half, remove the choke, baste it with some oil and grill for 5 minutes on each side.

Olives add a lot of flavor, as do roasted red peppers. Of course, you can use raw green or red pepper, although it’s a little harder on the stomach. Onions are practically essential. You can even make a four-variety pizza with sweet, green, red, and caramelized onions.

Garlic is delicious, especially if you take the time to roast it ahead of time. And mushrooms add a rich, savory note. If morels, shitakes, or crimini mushrooms are in season, so much the better. And add plenty of fresh or dried herbs for even more flavor.

When you take your pizza out of the oven, drizzle it with a little extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with crushed red peppers flakes, if you like a little spice.

Read more vegetarian pizza ideas.

Vegetarian Pizza Image Flickr: Boon Lee
Vegetarian Pizza with Mushrooms: Brocco Lee

Most of the time, we use quite a few pizza toppings. But some times, less really is more. And a plain old cheese pizza — done well — can be the most delicious pizza ever.

Like most dishes with only a few ingredients, it’s important that each one of them be top quality. If you can’t buy fresh pizza dough at your neighborhood grocery store, make it yourself. And use San Marzano tomatoes if you can find them.

Pizza Cheese

But for the ultimate cheese pizza, the most critical ingredient is the pizza cheese, or more likely, cheeses. Although mozzarella cheese is the obvious choice, it’s quite mild and without some spicy pepperoni to jack things up, you could end up with a boring pizza.

If you want a mouth-watering pizza that’s bursting with flavor, you’ll need to add some other cheeses. Emmental cheese is a very popular pizza topping in France. A Swiss cheese made from cow’s milk, it has a nutty, buttery flavor. Jarlsberg, which comes from Norway, is similar. Both melt beautifully.

Another Swiss cheese that makes a fabulous pizza is Gruyere. Slightly salty from being brined, Gruyere is aged from a few months to a year. The flavor intensifies with aging. The French cheese, Comte, is quite similar. These cheeses are too rich to use as you would mozzarella. Either combine them with mozzarella, or use less than you ordinarily would.

As you’d expect, Italy also has several great pizza cheeses in addition to mozzarella. Fontina, which hails from the Val d’Aosta region, near the Swiss border, is mellow and slightly sweet. Burrata cheese — basically mozzarella with a center of heavy cream — is subtle, but delicious. Ricotta also adds a smooth, creamy texture. Just be sure it’s well drained before you use it.

No pizza is complete without one of the Italian grating cheeses: parmesan, grana padano, Asiago, or pecorino romano. These add wonderful depth, but be mindful of their saltiness. For the best flavor, grate them right before you use them.

Although the four cheeses in pizza quattro formaggi vary based on the preferences of the pizza maker, there’s usually a bleu or veined cheese, often gorgonzola. Use the gorgonzola sparingly, otherwise it will overwhelm everything else.

Cheese Pizza

If you’re not a fan of bleu cheese, consider substituting goat cheese or feta. These range in flavor from mild to pungent.

Before you put your pizza in the oven, drizzle a little top-quality olive oil over the top. And if you’re so inclined, add a couple of twists of freshly-ground pepper or crushed red peppers flakes.

Once the aroma of melting cheese starts to waft from the oven, it will be difficult to be patient. But let your oven bake until the cheese turns golden brown and bubbly. Pour yourself a nice glass of Italian red — maybe Montepulciano or Chianti — and enjoy the best pizza there is.

Read more tips on pizza cheese or learn how to make your own.

Pizza Cheese Image Flickr: quinn.anya
Cheese Pizza Image Flickr: avlxyz

We’ve had many great pizzas in Italy, but our favorite has to be Pizza Capricciosa. The ingredients complement each other so perfectly — the saltiness of the olives, the woody taste of the mushrooms, and the tang of the artichokes — that is more complex and satisfying than any other Italian pizza.

The best one we ever had was on the island of Capri. So we thought that maybe the pizza was named for the isle and originated there. But neither is true.

The name roughly translates as “capricious pizza” because it seems like the maker couldn’t decide which pizza toppings to use. Most often, it’s made with artichokes, mushrooms, ham, olives, chopped tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese. Sometimes, a raw egg is broken over the pizza before it’s put in the oven or chopped, hard-boiled eggs are added.

All our favorite pizza toppings.

The ingredients are the same for a Quattro Stagione or “four seasons” pizza, but the presentation is different. The pizza is divided into fourths and each quarter has different toppings.

The thing about pizza capricciosa is that there is room for interpretation in the ingredients — but each must be absolutely top quality.

Starting with the base, either pizza sauce or chopped tomatoes can be used, but they really should be San Marzanos. You can use almost any kind of mushrooms — white, creminis, shitakes, morels, or baby bellas. Of course, they’re best if they’re sautéed in a little butter first or you can use mushrooms from a jar that have been packed in oil. Just don’t even think about using canned ones.

Artichokes can be from a jar or can, marinated or not. The ham can be paper-thin prosciutto or diced cooked ham. And the olives can be black, green or mixed.

When we were in southern France this summer, it seemed like every pizza we ordered came with Emmental cheese in addition to mozzarella. And they were absolutely delicious. The best Emmental comes from Switzerland — but don’t tell the French who make a similar cheese called Emmentaler. It’s mellow, nutty flavor really complements the other ingredients. The cave-aged, which have a fruity taste, is the best.

While there are many pizza recipes for capricciosa, the best pizza will be the one that uses the toppings you like best.

Learn about other kinds of Italian pizza here.

In France, they make both sweet and savory crepes. You can order them filled with a variety of cheeses, meats like ham or chicken, and vegetables such as tomato and mushroom. But our favorite are the dessert crepes, especially those filled with Nutella or salted caramel.

If you’re not familiar with Nutella, it’s a wonderful spread made from cocoa and ground hazelnuts. It’s surprisingly nutritious, considering how delectable it is. In fact, it has about the same number of calories as peanut butter, but 5 grams less fat per two tablespoons. It’s delicious on just about anything from a toasted English muffin to a shortbread cookie.

We were thinking about making a pizza for dessert, and Nutella seemed like the best place to start. We put our cast-iron pizza pan in the oven and heated it to 450 degrees.

Nutella

We rolled out the pizza dough as usual and spread some cornmeal on our pizza peel. We put the dough on the paddle, and then spread Nutella all over the crust. This turned out to be the most challenging part, since the Nutella sticks to the raw dough. We decided not to be too fussy about the appearance and just distributed the Nutella as evenly as we could.

Next, we cut some marshmallows in half and placed them cut-side down on the dough. Fruit sounded like a good idea, so we sliced up some ripe strawberries. They’re at their peak here in California.

So far, we had a nice combination of flavors, but it seemed a little one dimensional. Then if came to us. What if we soaked the strawberries briefly in balsamic vinegar and a little brown sugar. That would add depth and complexity. And the tartness of the vinegar would offset the sweetness of the marshmallow. Perfect.

Nutella Strawberry Marshmallow Pizza

Our dessert pizza was sensational fresh from the oven. But it was also quite good at room temperature. What we didn’t eat for dessert, we had for breakfast with a little whipped cream. Sure, it was decadent. But you’re supposed to indulge a little this time of year.

You may not think of Nutella and marshmallows as suitable pizza toppings, but our dessert pizza was a big hit and will probably indulge in it again soon.

Now that it’s fall, can pumpkin puree and nutmeg be far behind?

Nutella Image Flickr: Enrico Matteucci

Sooner or later, most serious pizza lovers will need to go on a diet. Unless you were lucky enough to inherit an incredible metabolism, chances are, you’ll probably end up with a few unwanted pounds one day.

Low carbohydrate diets, like the South Beach diet, are usually effective for weight loss. In fact, they’ve even been shown to lower cholesterol levels. Low carb diets are pretty easy to stay on because there are lots of satisfying foods you can enjoy, and it’s not hard to find something to eat if you go to a restaurant.

The down side is that conventional pizza is off limits. And after a few weeks of protein and veggies, you’ll likely be craving one. Most pizza toppings are okay on low carb diets. It’s the pizza crust that’s the deal breaker. Just one slice of Boboli thin crust has 24g of carbohydrates.

Delicious low carb pizza.

But recently, we tried a low carb pizza crust that was worth getting excited about.

(subhead)
Really good low carb pizza crust.

This crust is tasty, inexpensive, easy to make, and perfectly legal. There are really only three ingredients:

1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1 beaten egg

Cut a large head of cauliflower in half and then use a hand-grater or food processor to cut it into rice size pieces. Put the riced cauliflower in a microwave-safe dish with a lid and microwave it for about four minutes. Don’t add any water.

Spread the cauliflower on a plate to let it cool for a couple of minutes. Then combine it will the grated mozzarella and egg. We added some oregano, basil, garlic powder, and a little grated parmesan for flavor.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Oil a cookie sheet or pizza pan — we got good results with our cast iron pizza pan — then spread the cauliflower mixture onto the pan. We ended up with about a nine inch round.

Bake the crust for about 15 minutes, or until it starts to brown. Remove it from the oven, add you favorite pizza toppings, then pop it under the broiler for a few minutes until everything is hot and melted.

Because there’s so much cheese in the crust, you’ll need less cheese as a topping. If you’re doing the Atkins diet, you can use traditional pizza meats like Italian sausage and pepperoni. Just make sure they’re cooked before you use them. For the South Beach diet, leaner meats like ham, prosciutto, or sausage made with chicken are preferred.

Tomatoes and tomato sauce have some carbs, so use these sparingly. But most vegetables are virtually carb free, so add as many as you like. Onions, peppers, artichokes, olives, and mushrooms are all good choices.

The pizza we made was extremely satisfying. In retrospect, we added more cheese than we needed to. And even though it was smaller than the pizzas we usually make, we couldn’t even finish it. We each ate about a third, and left a third for some other time.

We didn’t get hungry later, and we satisfied our pizza craving without blowing our diet. If you’re trying to lose a little weight, or even if you’re not, give it a try. It’s a good way to get another serving of vegetables into your diet.

Find more diet pizza ideas here.

We just got back from traveling in the South of France, and as you’d expect, the food was fantastic. One of the most enjoyable parts of our trip was visiting the fantastic food markets. Each town has its own market day, and some have a market every day but Sunday. The Saturday market in the town of Arles is one of the best is the area. And there’s a permanent market in Antibes that’s open every day but Sunday.

The restaurants here serve lots of fresh seafood and other ingredients that you find in the market — vegetables, herbs, and olives. Because the South of France is so close to Italy, there’s also lots of pasta, dishes with tomatoes, and pizza.

There’s a pizza restaurant in just about every small town, and many of them having wood-burning ovens. They don’t make traditional Neapolitan pizza here — the crust is thicker and there are more pizza toppings. But they do create a delicious pie.

We were a little surprised by the pizza toppings, which don’t vary a lot. Nowhere did we see pepperoni, Italian sausage, or the usual pizza meats. Here, as in Spain, it’s all about the ham. Jambon cru, which is like prosciutto, is the most popular choice. Some places, you’ll see specific types of ham, such as Serrano or Iberico ham from Spain.

Proscuitto Pizza

Seafood, especially ancovies, are also popular toppings. But you’ll also see tuna and calamari.

Most places offer both white and red pizzas. White is sauced with crème fraiche, which is absolutely delicious. The white pizzas are best with vegetables like caramelized onion and mushroom.

The French are known for their fabulous cheeses, and here’s where they make their mark. Unlike in American and Italy, mozzarella isn’t the star of the show when it comes to pizza cheeses. Emmental, which is similar to Swiss cheese, and is made in Switzerland, is very popular. Chevre, or goat cheese, is also used a lot, and it’s frequently combined with arugula.

Arles Market

Gruyere, Fontina, Reblochon, Comte, and Roquefort all makes delicious pizzas.

Many of the pizzas we had has a black olive in the center, and virtually all of them had a drizzle of excellent local olive oil. This really brought all the flavors together and improved the overall taste. A carafe of olive oil with chili peppers is served with your pizza. It’s pretty spicy and adds a nice zing.

We found an artisanal olive oil at our local farmers market and we’ve started drizzling it over our pizzas. It wasn’t inexpensive, but it was well worth the money.

The best pizza we had in the South of France was at La Cantina in Saint-Remy-en-Provence. The town itself is quite charming, one of the cutest in the region. And the restaurant was surprisingly quite modern. But the pizzas there were some of the best we’ve ever has, anywhere.

It’s summer and no one wants to heat up the kitchen by having the oven on at 450 degrees. But sometimes you want a pizza, and chances are the pizza you make yourself will be better than a pizza that you can get delivered.

Cooking a pizza on a barbecue grill isn’t hard, but there is some technique involved. And which method works best for you depends on what kind of grill you have.

As a rule, you’ll be able to use all your favorite pizza toppings. But since it’s summer, lighter toppings such as shrimp or chicken may be more enjoyable.

If you have a gas grill with a lid, it’s a little easier, because you have more control over the temperature and the flames. But charcoal adds more flavor. You can add some wood chips soaked in wine to the coals for extra smokiness.

Pizza on the grill

Before you get started, brush the grill with some oil so your pizza dough won’t stick. Once you roll out your pizza dough, you’ll want to put it on the grill before you put on the pizza toppings, so you need to plan how to transfer it.

You can put some corn meal on a pizza paddle or peel and use that to transfer the dough onto the grill. Another alternative which works really well is to roll out your pizza dough on waxed paper or parchment. Brush some olive oil on the dough, season it with some garlic powder, a little freshly grated Parmesan, and herbs, then take it out to the grill, lay it face down on the grill, and peel off the paper.

Cook the dough on one side until it gets golden brown. Depending on how hot the barbecue is, this might only take a couple of minutes. It may get charred in a few places, but that’s okay. Once it’s done, turn it over and add your pizza toppings.

Make sure all the ingredients are well drained so your crust gets nice and crisp.

Just topped pizzas

You’ll need to keep an eye on things so your pizza doesn’t burn. If you’re using toppings that take a while to cook, such as onions or peppers, you may want to pre-cook them. That way, your pizza will be ready when the cheese is melted and all the ingredients are heated through.

If your grill is big enough, you can also place a pizza stone or pizza pan in the grill, preheat it, and then transfer an already topped pizza to the stone and cook it as you would in a conventional oven. This will produce a pizza that‘s similar to what you‘d get using an oven. So the main advantage to this method is that you won’t heat up the kitchen.

Brian Boitano buys bricks at the home stores, heats those up in his grill and then cooks his pizza on top of the heated bricks. This technique produces a pizza that’s very similar to the brick-oven pizzas that are popular in New York and Chicago.

Pizza on the grill Image Flickr: gesika22
Just topped pizzas Image Flickr: Michael_Lehet

Although you can make pizza with almost any kind of cheese, mozzarella cheese is the hands-down favorite. Stringy, chewy, and slightly salty, it holds its own without overpowering the other pizza toppings. In fact, what many argue is the world’s best pizza — Pizza Margherita — has only tomatoes, fresh basil, and mozzarella as its ingredients. And the flavor is incredible.

There are actually several kinds of mozzarella cheese available. So if you’ve been using the packaged, pre-shredded kind that comes in a plastic bag, branch out and try something different. Fresh, high-moisture cheese produces a pizza that‘s quite different from one made with the low-moisture kind.

Two kinds of mozzarella are used in Naples, which is the pizza center of the universe. Fior di latte is made from cow’s milk — it can be either pasteurized or unpasteurized. And mozzarella di bufala is made from the milk of the water buffalo.

Fresh mozzarella cheese

During the 16h century, water buffalos were brought back to Italy from India. The milk is hard to digest, but it makes cheese that’s sweet and creamy. Unlike mozzarella from cow’s milk, it is pure white. Because there are so few herds, it’s more expensive than fior di latte, but you don’t need much to make a great pizza.

Mozzarella di Bufala Campana, which is made in the area around Naples, is a European Union Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) product. Most authentic, Neapolitan pizzas are made with this.

Unlike most cheese, mozzarella isn’t aged and it’s best when it’s very fresh.

To make mozzarella, the cheese curds are heated in water until they form into strings. Then they’re stretched, kneaded, and shaped into balls. This fresh cheese is stored in brine and is quite moist, so you’ll need to drain it and press out the liquid before using it to top your pizza. Otherwise, your crust will be limp.

Pizza with burrata cheese

Don’t grate it. Use a sharp knife and cut it into thin slices, then lay them on top of the pizza about three or four inches apart. They will spread a little during cooking. But this kind of mozzarella should cover the pizza. And consider foregoing other pizza toppings so you can really savor the flavor of the cheese.

Burrata cheese has been eaten in Italy for decades, but it has only recently become popular in the United States. It has an outer shell of mozzarella, and an inner core of fresh cream. When you cut into it, the center oozes out, blends with the mozzarella, and creates a sinfully delicious concoction. The sweetness of burrata is great when combined with salty meats like prosciutto.

As the burrata bakes, it will spread over the surface of the pizza. It’s very rich — and expensive — so use it sparingly.

Smoked mozzarella, also called affumicata, can add a whole other dimension of flavor. And hard, grating cheeses like Parmigiano-Reggiano and Grana Padano also are an excellent complement to fresh mozzarella.

Next time you’re at your grocery store, look in the cheese section for fresh, high moisture mozzarella cheese and give it a try.

Read how to make your own mozzarella cheese here.

Fresh mozzarella cheese Image Flickr: SanFranAnnie
Pizza with burrata cheese Image Flickr: arnold | inuyaki

When most people think of Chicago pizza, they think of the deep-dish pies with cheese on the bottom.  But the best pizza restaurants in Chicago make all kind of pizza.  You’ll find organic, designer pies with gourmet pizza toppings, Neapolitan pizzas baked in wood-fired ovens, and square-sliced tavern-style pizzas covered in Italian sausage.

No discussion of Chicago Pizza is complete without mentioning Pizzeria Uno.  The first Chicago-style pie was served here in 1943, and it was an immediate hit.  So much so that they opened Pizzeria Due on the next block.  The dough is made each morning, and the sauce-to-cheese ratio is just right.  They make healthy, flatbread pizzas here too.  You can choose multi-grain crust and top it with roasted eggplant, spinach, and feta.  But why bother?  If you come to Chicago and want to try a Chicago-style pizza, go to Pizzeria Uno, order a deep-dish with “the works” and repent later.

Lou Malnati’s is the other legendary Chicago deep-dish pizza restaurant.  Lou’s dad, Rudy Malnati, was the chef at Pizzeria Uno, and some even credit him with inventing the deep-dish pizza when he worked there in the 1940s.  The first Lou Malnati’s opened in Lincolnwood in 1971.  Today, there are 30 Lou Malnati’s in the greater Chicagoland area.  But if you don’t live in Chicago, no problem.  They ship pizzas on dry ice to anywhere in the United States.   The buttery crust travels pretty well.

Bacino’s specializes in stuffed pizzas, and several of them are pretty healthy.  The owner, Dan Bacin, is committed to uses the freshest ingredients, and everything here is made from scratch.   Spinach, broccoli, and mushroom are popular selections, but plenty of meat toppings are available.  Bacino’s has been the top selling pizza at the Taste of Chicago for the last 30 years.  The wine list is also a cut above.

Bricks Chicago has been serving gourmet, thin-crust pizzas since 1997.  Try a Creole Shrimp Pizza with spicy shrimp, pesto, red peppers, mozzarella, and gouda or a Sweet Heat with chicken breast, bacon, diced jalapeno, smoked gouda, barbecue sauce, and mozzarella.  If you don’t like any of the specialties, you can create your own with interesting pizza toppings like Maytag bleu cheese, pureed artichokes, or banana peppers.  Bricks has a good selection of microbrews on draught and in the bottle.

Fans of Neapolitan pizza should head to Coalfire.  The coal-burning oven here reaches temperatures up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit, which produced a crispy, yet chewy crust with a little bit of charring.  In a departure from the Naples way, the pizza is topped with cheese first, and then tomato sauce.  Three topping or fewer are recommended — the crust can’t hold up to more than that.  The white pizza with ricotta, mozzarella, Romano cheese and fresh basil is delicious.    And the Pizza Margherita may be the best in Chicago.  Coalfire used to be BYOB, but they’re now serving beer and wine.

The first certified, organic pizza restaurant in the Midwest, Crust serves inventive flatbread pizzas that are cooked in a wood-burning oven.  Try a cocktail made with one of their vodka infusions.  Start your meal with brussel sprouts with crispy bacon, tapenade, roasted peppers, kalamata olives, caramelized onions, roasted garlic, goat cheese, and flatbread pieces, or a winter beet salad.  Then try a pizza with slow-cooked beef brisket, house-made barbecue sauce and pepper jack cheese, or a Carbonara with bacon, béchamel, caramelized onions, peas, and a sunny-side up egg.

Famous for its stuffed pizzas, Giordano’s has been in business since 1974.  Two brothers from a town near Torino, Italy, named the restaurant after their mother, who made a double-crust pizza that inspired the pies served here.  The flaky, buttery crust is what set Giordano’s apart — that and the prodigious amounts of stringy, mozzarella packed inside it.  For something different, try the shrimp pizza.

One of the other great places in Chicago for Naples-style pizza is Sapore di Napoli.  They import many of their ingredients from Italy, including Molino Caputo 00 flour, Bufala Mozzarella, and Calabria salami.   Although the tomatoes aren’t the traditional San Marzanos from Campania, but Stanislaus from California.  In keeping with Neapolitan tradition, toppings are simple and few.   Try Quattro Formaggi with mozzarella, Italian gorgonzola, fontina, and Parmigiano Reggiano or Patate e Rosmarino with sliced potatoes and rosemary.   Save room for some of their delicious gelato — there are more than a dozen flavors nightly.

The Art of Pizza serves deep-dish, thin-crust, and stuffed pizzas.  They also serve Italian-style subs on yummy bread, ribs, wings, and pasta.  But the deep-dish pies, voted best in the city by the Chicago Tribune, are the big draw.  Try the Southwestern stuffed pizza with barbecue sauce, ground beef, onions, and bacon.  Or the special with sausage, onions, mushrooms, and green pepper.  For dessert, have a creamy, ricotta-filled cannoli.

Members of all the Neapolitan pizza associations, including Associazione Pizzauoli Napoletani and L’Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana, Spacca Napoli makes authentic Naples-style pizza in a custom-made, wood-burning oven.  In business since 2006, they import their flour, San Marzano tomatoes, and extra virgin olive oil.  There’s an assortment of novel appetizers like new potatoes, tuna, cucumber, and capers or white anchovies over arugula, cherry tomatoes, and olives.  A nice selection of Italian wines, and some lovely desserts.  When the weather’s nice, you can dine outside on the terrace.

Find more great pizza restaurants here.

If you’ve been to gourmet pizza restaurants like Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles or Co. in New York, you’ve probably seen the term “salumi.” But since the word has come into fashion only recently, you may not know exactly what it means.

Salumi is Italian (it’s the plural form of salume), but it’s not a misspelling of salami, although salami is a form of salumi. Confused yet?

Salumi refers to Italian-style cured meats in the same way that “charcuterie,” refers to the French equivalent. And what’s not to like about that?

Most salumi is made from pork. A notable exception is bresaola, which is made from beef. Salumi is usually cured with salt, which kills bacteria, and dehydrates the meat. As the meat is cured, it become firm and the flavor intensifies.

Authentic Italian salumi

Salumi can be smoked (like speck), or unsmoked (like pancetta). Encased (like salami), or not (like lomo). And cooked (like Italian sausage) or eaten raw (like Prosciutto Crudo). It’s often thinly sliced as served as part of an antipasto.

Because it’s cured, most salumi lasts a long time if stored properly. But once it’s sliced, it should be eaten quickly. Otherwise, it dries out. Salami, which is made with ground pork and a variety of seasonings, lasts a little longer because of the added fat — usually from 20 – 25%.

Many Italian pizzas feature some kind of salumi. The most popular are pepperoni and Italian sausage. But many other Italian meats make delicious pizzas too. Coppa, capicola, and sopressata are all great meat pizza toppings.

Salumi from Molinari in San Francisco

Because of the cost of meeting U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards, few Italian salumi makers can afford to import their products into the United States. Which is too bad, because they’re really wonderful. What sets them apart is the quality of the pork, which in most cases comes from pigs that were naturally raised on a farm.

Outside Italy, most Italian butchers sell some salumi. And prosciutto and pancetta are available in most groceries. There are several American producers who are making salumi the way they do in Italy. The best known is Salumi Artisan Cured Meats in Seattle, which is owned by Mario Batali’s father, Armandino. You can order their products at www.salumicuredmeats.com

The next time you’re craving a real Italian pizza, try using some of these delicious salumi cured meats as pizza toppings.

Read more about Italian pizza meats here.

Authentic Italian salumi Image Flickr: rfarmer
Salumi from Molinari in San Francisco Image Flickr: biskuit