When it comes to making a great pizza, no one knows better than Dan Richer, owner and chef of the nationally acclaimed Jersey City restaurant Razza.
Richer said to make a great pizza at home all a person needs is patience (greatness takes time), a kitchen scale (’a pinch of this and a pinch of that’ mostly only works on TV) and the fortitude to not get discouraged (you will get better at it, he says). And another thing, Richer warned: Avoid the urge to overdo it with the sauce, cheese and toppings.
“Pizza is a process and there are many steps to the process and no one step is more important than another,” Richer said. " Your first pizza is never going to be your best.”
Richer, 41, just published his first cookbook, “The Joy of Pizza: Everything You Need to Know.” He said the book allow people to make the “Razza pizza” they love in their own kitchen.
The 288-page cookbook pairs the story of Richer’s life and passion for the traditional cheesy dish along with recipes of all of his savory pies made right on Grove Street. The book, which retails for $35, includes QR codes that will send readers to videos of Richer making the pizza, so they can follow along.
Richer said he just wants to share his recipes with homemakers and professional pizzamakers alike.
“I have been making pizza for so long I developed so many recipes over the years and techniques for pizza-making that haven’t been said before,” said Richer, who has been in the business 19 years. “I just hope it brings people together around pizza.
“Pizza is such a communal food and it is fair and equitable food. Every person sharing a pizza gets an equal slice of the pie. ... Everybody shares. ... It just brings people together and that is the big thing about pizza that I truly truly love. "
Richer has loved pizza since he was a kid, but after flying to Italy in college, he knew opening a pizzeria was what he wanted to do. He started working in a pizzeria straight out of college and then bought a failing business at age 26.
Then in 2012, he opened up Razza Pizza Artiginale, which was named the best pizza in New York by The New York Times, even though it calls Jersey City home. Razza was just named the pizzeria of the year by PizzaToday.com.
Richer said it is his love for the community that has kept his restaurant in the second-largest city in New Jersey.
" I love the people who live nearby and stop by on a daily basis even if they are just walking by to say hi,” Richer said.
Richer’s favorite recipes in the book are for making the dough, tailored for DIY-ers to try them in their home kitchens.
As for Richer’s favorite pizza, he is continuously fascinated by the Margherita pizza — evidenced by the five different versions at his restaurant.
“They are all so unique and different,” Richer said. “Once you change one element of the (Margherita) pizza, it changes the entire pizza.”
When it comes to the never-ending internet debate on whether pineapple belongs on a pizza, Richer said he doesn’t judge. He said years ago he thought a pepperoni-and-corn pizza was weird, but after including it on his own menu, it has become one of his biggest-selling seasonal pies.
“I believe that I am not the person to tell anyone what they should like or dislike,” Richer said. " If you like pineapple on a pizza you should eat that and who I am to say anything otherwise.”
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