Queen Margherita's Pizza 
In 1889 Margherita Maria Teresa Giovanna of Savoy, wife of Umberto I, King of Italy was part of a taste and travel journey that brought her to the city of Naples. In her travels she saw the peasants eating a large flatbread which she tasted and loved. She asked a local chef to make this regional specialty for her and the rest is history.
Pizza Margherita represents the classic Italian pizza. Lightly crisp with a chewy crust and a hint of smoke baked in a wood fired oven.
Eat like an Italian. Come taste a slice of history "nella campagna", in the countryside, with your family and friends for something truly different.
Going out for pizza will never be the same! |
 Mozzarella di bufala
The local pizzaiolo who made the first Margherita pizza used mozzarella di bufala, a type of mozzarella cheese never before used as an ingredient. Today mozzarella di bufala is the soft moist cheese ooozing with milky flavor that makes Pizza Margherita so unique.
Made from the milk of the water buffalo, these massive bovines have been populating the once-waterlogged regions south of Rome (Lazio, Caserta) and south of Naples (Campania) since the 6th century. With their large hooves, they were used to plough muddy southern-Italian terrain for centuries. But it wasn't until much later that the first record of a mozzarella type cheese was found in the writings of 12th-century monks.
The name "mozzarella" comes from the Italian word "mozzare" meaning to cut or "mozza", the manual "breaking off" process that shapes the cheese . . . and didn't appear until 1570 when it was mentioned in a cook book from the papal court.
Most of the mozzarella di bufala found in this country is imported from Italy and a good one is hard to find. There is a a similar cheese made with cow's milk called fior di latte that is more common. A creamy cousin of mozzarella is a fresh Italian cheese called Burrata made from mozzarella and cream that you can find at Bin 36 in Chicago. It is very good.
As much as I like mozzarella di bufala as a topping on my pizza and as part of an Insalata Caprese, most Italians would say that the real way to eat buffalo mozzarella "is with a fork and a knife" No salt, no pepper, no oil - no nothing."
|
