I went to my usual favorite Neapolitan pizza joint with the Mrs. last night. They specialize in the type of pizza that’s made with the basics: Durum wheat flour, water, salt, San Marzano tomatoes, and bufala mozzarella, tossed into a 900+ degree wood fired oven for about 2.75 minutes or so. I love their pizza, and I love the amazing varieties of topping they’ll judiciously mix to enhance the basics. I’d list a few, but here’s their basic menu for those interested.
Last night, their Calabrese con Miele pizza caught my eye: their basic pizza with tomato and bufala mozzarella, plus burrata, Calabrian chili paste, calabrese salami, spicy honey. Spicy honey? on a pizza! Too weird. And what’s burrata, anyway?
Burrata is a cheese dish made with a mozzarella shell, filled with stretched mozzarella curd strands mixed with cream. Oh really? I’m in!
The finished product was amazing. I love a creamy bufala cheese on a pizza, but the addition of burrata added a new level of taste, texture, and creamy richness. The calabrian chili paste added a wondrous heat and smokiness, and that slight hint of honey (not sticky or gooey or overwhelmingly sweet) sweetened the spice, and just made the whole thing a celestial experience. Calabrian salami was a superior sausage to standard pepperoni in my opinion too.
The most surprising ingredient was the spicy honey. I’ve no idea what the honey was flavored with, I really only tasted the sweetness with the heat of what I suspect was the calabrian chili paste in the background. But I liked it regardless. I also like pineapple on pizza for its sweet tartness, but let’s not let this thread devolve into a debate on pineapple on pizza, please.
Honestly, even with your description, I can’t picture it at all. Wait, no, not picture… I can’t dish it at all? Whatever the gustatory equivalent of “picture” is.
I imagine the sweetness of the honey complements the saltiness of the other ingredients, making the whole more than the sum of its parts. I’d love to try it.
I worked in the kitchen for a (regrettably) short time at a Calabrian restaurant, now closed, and I dearly miss the complexity of the simple but intense flavors. The seafood pizza still brings a tear to my eye…
It’s funny, as we almost went to Il Ritrovo a few weeks ago when we stayed up at the Blue Harbor Resort up there in Sheboygan. I had actually thought for a moment maybe we had gone there, as the pizza you’re describing I feel I’ve had before, but we only stopped for pizza on the way back in Milwaukee on that trip.
From what I remember when I had the spicy honey-drizzled pizza (and this was, I think, in Phoenix) . Ah, wait. I figured it out. It was Myke’s Pizza in Phoenix, and it was actually their pineapple pizza with: Mozzarella, pineapple, pickled chilies, pork roll, aged Gouda, spicy honey.
I was actually intrigued by the pork roll on the pizza, not so much the spicy honey. And I clearly have no problem with pineapple on pizza. This particular pizza was like a grown-up version of a pineapple pie. Apparently it started out as a special item and was eventually cemented on the menu due to popularity. I found it just okay. I have a bit of an anti-sweet tooth, but even though the honey was applied judiciously, it kinda edged a bit too sweet for me, probably due to it being combined with the pineapple. (There are places here in Chicago I generally avoid because their pizza sauce is too sweet.) This particular pie was just okay to me. I’m glad I tried it, but I’d have something else next time.
Next time I’m through Sheboygan, though, I’ll have to keep Il Ritrovo in the back of my mind, as I think I’d like the honey used in the context described by the OP much more.
OP got me thinking of one of my non-traditional NYC faves, which was a brick oven pie at Covina, that had spicy prosciutto, soppresata or salami (can’t remember which) and honey on it. It was amazing, but alas, it is “permanently closed” I assume due to the pandemic. A friend mentioned that the “Bee Sting” pie at Roberta’s is a very good substitute, but I haven’t tried it yet.
Cool. I’ll keep that in mind. We usually find ourselves through the area a handful of times a year. Our regular stops are Charcoal Inn North and Meisfeld’s for some meat products to take home.
You should try garlic fermented honey (if you’re not one of those heathens that can’t stand garlic). Crush a bunch of cloves into a canning jar, cover with honey (leave some head space but make sure cloves are submerged), may need to crack the lid to release built up CO2. After a couple of weeks, the cloves are really nice for anything you use cloves for. The honey IS delightful to drizzle of pizza or a number of dishes.
I’d try a square (the perfect unit of pizza) but cant imagine ordering a whole pie. I’m just too sensitive to sweet anymore and I say that as someone who enjoyed some pineapple, jalapeno & pepperoni pizza this weekend.
I don’t think the honey would work if the salami and other salty elements weren’t there. Just like pineapple + ham/Canadian bacon/pepperoni. With the salty elements, I can guess the honey pulls it all together.
I recently had some fabulous pizza from a place that puts spicy honey on a bacon&pineapple pizza. I don’t do “spicy”, nor did another of the diners, so we didn’t get that one. But I’ve been curious.
Did I mention it was a fabulous pizza place, with a really really good basic pie and interesting accompaniments?
A really good place near me make the Angry Bee: Homemade Sauce, Mozzarella, Cremini Mushrooms, Fresh Garlic, Sweet Fennel Sausage, Calabrese Honey Sausage, Ricotta Infused with Roasted Garlic, Mike’s Hot Honey, Hot Bomba Chillies.
Sounds delicious. Burratta is, indeed, food of the gods - in Puglia (where it’s from originally), they often serve it on its own as a starter; a whole ball on a plate, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt. Occasionally a piece of anchovy draped across the top with some lemon zest. Honey would work great served in this fashion too.
Honey is a great accompaniment to cheese generally.
I love burratta. I bought it by mistake, thinking it was a fresh mozzarella, and I “sliced” it and served it with fresh tomatoes, basil, olive oil, and a little salt.
A local restaurant also serves it with rounds of toasted salty bread and some olive oil as a starter. Yum.
