[Photograph: Meredith Smith]

Two things inspire today's poll. 1. We are entering the week leading up to one of the most pizza-eatingest days of the year—Super Bowl Sunday! And what in the snacking pantheon better represents the two most prevalent Super Bowl foods than the union of Buffalo chicken and pizza? 2. After re-visiting one of Boston's oldest and most famous pizzerias last week, and spotting a sign announcing that they now serve Buffalo chicken pizza, I've realized the hold that this topping has taken. It's been around in chains and is served in most college town pizzerias, but seeing it prominently advertised in an old guard pizzeria was striking... and telling. Heck, we've even seen it show up on an all Neapolitan menu.

Many voices from the pizza community are offended by the very idea of this pizza. And yet, it clearly has its fans. In his "In Defense of Buffalo Chicken Pizza" post, our own Max Falkowitz advocated for the topping pointing out, "there's textural contrast, sharp balanced heat, and enough distance from your average pizza that you could almost consider it as a separate food group. There's something daring and brazen about it, a gonzo bastardized pizza that's just so wrong it's right." So where do you stand on the topic of Buffalo Chicken pizza? Is it total crapola or the best American contribution to pizza since pepperoni?

About the author: Meredith Smith is the Slice editor. You can follow her on Twitter: @mertsmith.

Daily Slice gives a quick snapshot of a different slice or pie that the folks at the Serious Eats empire have enjoyed lately.

[Photographs: Meredith Smith]

I thought I had the pizza scene all mapped out in Boston's North End. There's Umberto's for Sicilians, Regina's for thin-crusted cheese pizzas, Ernesto's for giant gourmet topped slices, Antico Forno for brick oven pies, etc. But there was one Italian pizza staple missing from list: the bakery slice. And the missing shop I had previously overlooked, Parziale's Bakery, provides the missing piece of the pie.

According to the website, the bakery was the "first to introduce pizza to the New England area." Now that's quite a claim! The family business was opened when the Parizale patriarch, grandpa Joe, moved to the North End from Naples in 1907. In which case, that is around the time the first mention of pizza licenses are made in the US (specifically the Lombardi's pizza license of 1905). So all the more shame to only now being introduced to Parizale's.

In typical bakery style, the slices are served room temp straight from the case. The marinara style sauce judiciously covers the top of the slab and has a rich, deep tomato flavor that tastes naturally sweet from a slow cook. The cheese here provides a salty underpinning but definitely plays a supporting role to the dominate flavors of the sauce. Leaning more towards the blond end of the spectrum, the crust is of the soft, squishy bread variety that most resembles the Philadelphia style of bakery pizza known as tomato pie.

See the pizza all the way to the right?

Even standing in front of the case, you could miss the pizza. For holding such a prominent place in Boston pizza history, it's a shame that the sheet tray of bakery slices are tucked in, almost like an afterthought, among the cookies, pastries, and confections. But after grabbing a slice, there is no way that this doughy square will be overlooked on future visits to the neighborhood.

Parziale's Bakery

80 Prince Street Boston, MA (map)
617-523-6368; parzialebakery.com

About the author: Meredith Smith is the Slice editor. You can follow her on Twitter: @mertsmith.

[Photograph: Hawk Krawl]

We figured pizza was the top pick for takeout and delivery orders in the U.S., but we weren't expecting numbers this high. In a survey conducted by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Viggle, an interactive service for TV fans, 72% of respondents who use mobile food apps report ordering pizza through mobile web, compared to a mere 31% each for the next two highest categories, burgers/sandwiches and Chinese.

The survey, which pulled from a random sample of of Viggle's 2 million person user base, didn't ask a comparison question for phone orders, and didn't ask about how frequently users ordered each of the foods they reported. But it did report a curious (and slightly frightening) outlier statistic: of the nearly 600 respondents who completed the survey, 2% (about 12 people) reported ordering takeout or delivery every single day. Dayum.

[Via: IAB]

VIEW SLIDESHOW: My Pie Monday: Savoyarde, Dutch Gouda, Gas Station Pizza and More!

We have lots of worthy new additions to the My Pie Monday pizza making crew this week! Self-proclaimed long-time lurker, Pizzabakker, joins the ranks with a Baking Steel Margherita, duvelusa sends a Rosa also baked on the Steel, and newcomer JinDc's no Knead pizza is a product of the Baking Steel as well. Emsey submits the clean-out-the-fridge variety of pizza, Capt.Troy sends in a Funyuns topped "gas station pizza," and Topango Pies adorns this first MPM submission with three types of peppers. It's great to see so many more pizza makers submitting their pies—welcome! Among the veterans, Imwalkin finds success with thawing out frozen dough, Norma427 and TXCraig1 continue to perfect their detroit square pies. Amusebouche1 gets back on track post-Sandy, and jumpyfroggy sends in his first pizza on his new Steel. There is a potato topped pie from bunster10 and a Margherita from Wagyutail. Last, but not least, comes a gorgeous NY-style pie from Scott Wiener and his friends Will and Claire.

If you're making pizza this week, send us a shot for next week's My Pie Monday!

Just take one snapshot of your homemade pizza, describe your cooking method (briefly!), and follow these instructions to get it to Slice HQ by 8pm EST on Thursday night. Be sure to let us know your Slice/Serious Eats screen name!

About the author: Meredith Smith is the Slice editor. You can follow her on Twitter: @mertsmith.

A couple months ago I tried to make a case for Totino's/Jeno's as THE BEST FROZEN PIZZA. I blabbed and blabbed and blabbed. And then, in the comments, I managed to distill my take on frozen pizza to to a couple sentences:

I'd just give up frozen pizza before [buying] the imported ones. To me, they are the UNCANNY VALLEY of pizza.Close enough to the real thing but not quite there. Either give me the real thing or give me the obviously cartoonish version of "pizza."

The uncanny valley, if you're not familiar, is a concept that grew out of robotics. The graph of the original concept looks like this:

Basically, we prefer robots with familiar human shapes and attributes—but only up to a point. Once they start looking too much like us, but not exactly, we freak out. (Beats me why Wikipedia put zombies on this chart. They're not even robots, and who wouldn't freak out at the sight of a zombie?) The CGI animation in The Polar Express is a classic example:

Or, perhaps even better is this Japanese doppelgänger robot:

Is it me or does that guy kind of look like Michael Jackson?

Anyway, apply this concept to pizza, with a well-made real pizza as the ideal—the "healthy person," if you will—and I think things like the Amy's pizza that Will Gordon wrote about last Thursday (the inspiration for this post) or Freschetta or DiGiorno or even Dr. Oetker (which I have enjoyed in the past) fall into the Uncanny Valley of Pizza.

Update: The "ideal pizza" pictured IS A REAL-DEAL PIZZA made at a mom-and-pop pizza shop. Thought I should point that out based on a comment below, which seems to interpret it as a frozen pizza.

It's not that these pizzas wig me out, it's just that they're not the real deal. They're so close to being good but not quite there. Give me the over-the-top obvious artificiality of the cheap-ass frozen pizzas any day.

And often these fancy-pants frozen pies are getting almost as expensive as a real deal pizza. (Will himself and several people in the comments of his post balked at the $11 price tag of the Annie's pizza.) At a certain point, I'm either going to shell out for the deluxe gondola lift over the Uncanny Valley of Pizza or I'm going to sit safely at its edge with my Pizza Rolls, my Jeno's, or my Home Run Inn.

Somewhat Related Video

Switching gears, when I tweeted about the concept of the Uncanny Valley of Pizza the other night, @buzz reminded me of this SNL skit:

So, yeah. I somehow still managed to write more than I meant to by way of bringing you that silly infographic above. Hasta la pizza, folks.

About the author: Adam Kuban is the founder of Slice, where he has been blogging about pizza since 2003. You should follow him on Twitter: @akuban.

Some readers may recall that a few years ago I wrote a post here on the virtues of the little-known barrel wood-fired oven. In particular, how it compares to the more common dome ovens, especially when used infrequently rather than being fired daily. At the time, I bemoaned the inefficiency of my otherwise well-loved cob oven, and pointed to barrel ovens as a viable alternative for those in search of a low-cost, DIY, home bread or pizza oven. And I directed readers to Eva and Max Edleson of Firespeaking, the Oregon-based oven builders who have done more than anyone else to bring barrel ovens to the United States. (The design originates from Argentina and Chile.)

Photo courtesy of Aaron Maret. [Photograph: amaret on Flickr]

The basic idea is this: domed masonry ovens—whether humble beehives like my little cob oven, or the massive ceramic ovens used in professional pizzerias and bread bakeries—are great when you use them continuously, or at least on a daily basis, because they don't require too much fuel to maintain temperatures. But since they mainly use stored heat to operate, they need loads of fuel to get up to temperature, which makes them stupidly inefficient when they are allowed to cool down completely between uses, as they often are in home settings.

Barrel ovens, on the other hand, are continuously-fired, meaning that for the most part you fire the oven only while you are cooking in it. Aside from a short warm-up period (15 to 30 minutes), you only burn as much fuel as is needed to cook the food itself. This makes barrel ovens more or less identical in operation to your average electric or gas kitchen oven: turn it on (i.e., build a fire), let it warm up, cook, and then turn it off until next time. In other words, perfect for occasional, on-demand use.

Since I wrote that post, Max and Eva have published a book on how to build and use barrel ovens, called Build Your Own Barrel Oven. Having read it, I'm all the more enthusiastic about these ovens, and can recommend the book to anyone considering building one, or even anyone interested in wood-fired oven design and cooking in general.

Photo courtesy of Aaron Maret. [Photograph: amaret on Flickr]

This book is clearly modeled on Build Your Own Earth Oven, by Kiko Denzer (unsurprisingly, since Denzer has published Build Your Own Barrel Oven under his own imprint). With copious color photographs and hand-drawn illustrations, Build Your Own Barrel Oven provides a clear, step-by-step understanding of how to go about building a barrel oven, as well as what the project could require in terms of space, materials, and time commitment. The authors present several different sets of options for materials, from sourcing the barrel and other parts entirely out of recycled or free components (including constructing the barrel and firebox doors yourself), to purchasing a kit from them and the remaining parts commercially, or some combination of the two.

Beyond the step-by-step instructions, the book includes a section on how to fire and to cook with your oven once it is finished, along with a handful of the authors' own barrel oven-tested recipes. There are also sections covering frequently asked questions and troubleshooting, followed by a series of personal accounts from people who have built and used barrel ovens themselves. The latter I found very helpful, since it provided useful perspective on what it entails to build a barrel oven, as well as a sense of the many possible ways that people put them to use.

In all, Build Your Own Barrel Oven is just the incentive you need if you were at all on the fence about building a barrel oven yourself. And I speak from experience, in this case: a barrel oven kit is being built for me right now, and should be delivered in time for me to build it as soon as the weather allows this spring!

PS. After I wrote that first post, a number of commenters understandably expressed reservations about how well a barrel oven would perform when used to bake pizzas, given that it had metal shelves rather than a ceramic or brick cooking surface, and that it cooked with indirect fire, rather than a 'live' one, as is the case in most other wood-burning pizza ovens. The answer is simple: once you add a ceramic baking stone or quarry tiles to the shelves, a barrel oven should give results at least as good as can be achieved in any home oven, and, since the barrel oven can be fired to much higher temperatures than the 500 or 550 degree limit of a typical range oven, likely far better.

Of course, the first experiment I'm going to do once mine is up and running is test how well the Baking Steel performs in it.

About the author: Andrew Janjigian day-jobs it as an Associate Editor at Cook's Illustrated Magazine. When he's not dismantling recipes for hire, he's likely baking bread or throwing pies into his WFO. He twits regularly as @wordloaf, and blogs much less regularly at blog.dikaryon.org.

Pie Nearby is an app for the iPhone that launched earlier this month. Its goal is to help you find slices and pies near you, provided you're in New York City. It's $1.99 in the App Store. I've been putting it through its paces since downloading it last week. I like what I see so far. I'd recommend it—with some caveats.

The app covers New York City only with a strong focus on Manhattan and Brooklyn but only sparse coverage of Queens (5 pizzerias in the database) and Staten Island (4 pizzerias). There's no Bronx presence whatsoever. I get that. It's not great, but I get it. After all, Slice itself has traditionally been weak in Bronx coverage. But it would have been nice if the app's reviewer, Carlo M. Caponi, would have launched with at least a handful of Bronx spots.

Apart from the paucity of outer-borough intel, I like this app. It's pretty slick, creditable, easy to use, and is fast, with no crashes or hang-ups that I've noticed in the four days I've played with it.

The pizza-eating is the work of one man, Mr. Caponi, whom the about/bio page paints as a pretty passionate pizza guy. The app seems to have grown out of Mr. Caponi's tabulation of NYC pizzerias, a master ranking he's been compiling since moving here from Ohio. As such, Pie Nearby seems more like a labor of love than a lame "get-rich via app" scheme. I can dig that. After all, that's how Slice started. I can relate.

The app is basically a compilation of capsule reviews searchable by GPS geolocation or filterable by borough, neighborhood, tier, and/or price. The search interface is simple enough:

As a Queens resident, I naturally filtered down to my home borough, only to find the following five pizzerias listed (and Tagliare doesn't really count, since you have to be flying in or out of LaGuardia's Terminal D to eat there):

Ah! Rizzo's is one of my locals. Let's see what Mr. Caponi has to say about it:

I'd mostly agree with that, though I don't know if it ranks as high on my own Queens pizza list. But he gets the description right. And the venue screen has everything you could expect: map/address, ranking, phone, website.

The app assigns pizzerias to different tiers (there are 5 tiers, Tier 1 being best, of course) and it also ranks them against every pizzeria in the database. Here is a peek at the rankings when no filters are applied:

If you're familiar enough with NYC pizza to square those with your own pizza worldview, you can decide whether to pay the $1.99 for the app. I think it's close enough to mine that I trust what Mr. Caponi has to say about some of the places I haven't been to. And if you don't necessarily agree with his ranking, it's always useful as a reminder of pizzerias nearby. (When I fired it up on Friday, it reminded me that Sacco's was only a couple blocks away and thereby nudged me to pay a long-overdue revisit.)

And if you're a complete noob to NYC pizza, it's a great app to guide you.

The Extras screen has pizza lingo, which reminds me of Slice's long-forgotten Glossarypages with a little bit of our Pizza Styles guide thrown in:

And in the Lingo section Mr. Caponi's Tiers are explained:

As I said, I'm impressed with Pie Nearby, though I do wish it had more content in the boroughs other than Manhattan. Jeff Orlick's very fine Real Pizza of New York app beats it in that respect and is also highly creditable. I assume Mr. Caponi will be adding to his guide as he eats his way through the city. To my mind, it's worth the price. Download it here »

Note to Android users: We've got a question in with Pie Nearby on whether there's a version coming to your phones. We'll update this post if and when we get word.

About the author: Adam Kuban is the founder of Slice, where he has been blogging about pizza since 2003. You should follow him on Twitter: @akuban.

[Photos: Adam Kuban]

I've got to thank Kenji for this idea. He suggested a garlic-knot monkey bread as a Home Slice topic, saying it might be good to do before the big game on Sunday.

The byword here is EASY. This is almost a twist-and-dump thing. You could make your own dough for this (here's a suitable recipe), but I just used store-bought pizza dough from the freezer section. You'll need 2 pounds. (Most store-bought pizza doughs I've seen come in 1-pound portions, often 2 to a package.)

Divide 1 pound of dough (above) into 1-ounce chunks. The eighth-cut dough here represents about 2 ounces each. I shot this before I divided the sections further. My point with this picture is that I'm not even using a scale. Who cares. Just eyeball this shizz. Some knots are bigger than others.

Pour a healthy glug of olive oil (about 4 tablespoons) into an angel-food or bundt cake pan. Spread it on all the surfaces with your hands. Now roll out the dough blobs into ropes. If you have olive oil on your hands, all the better. It helps as you tie the ropes into knots.

Just do an overhand knot. No need to get too crazy. As you tie off the knots, roll them in the oil in the pan to coat them all over. This prevents some measure of sticking during rising and baking. And that's good, because you want the knotted chunks to pull apart easily later.

When you've got 16 knots in the pan, throw about 2 large cloves of grated garlic on there, making sure to spread it around evenly. Now repeat with the other pound of dough, again topping with a couple cloves' worth of grated garlic.

Now cover the cake pan with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap, and let it rise in a warm place for at least 2 hours. (I put mine in the oven with the light turned on.)

It should double in bulk. Preheat oven to 425°F, remove towel or plastic wrap, and brush top gently with a little more olive oil. Sprinkle on some finely grated Parmesan, if you'd like. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

I like to serve this with a sauce that Slice'r dmcavanagh hipped me to: a 28-ounce can of crushed Italian-style tomatoes mixed with 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, some garlic seasoning or freshly grated garlic, and a teaspoon of salt. Mix it all together and plop it in a serving bowl and voilà!

UPDATE - USE 2-OUNCE KNOTS: I've since tried this with 2-ounce knots. So you'd only need to divide the 1-pound dough balls in eighths (like the picture shows). These larger, supersize knots have much better peel-apart characteristics.

About the author: Adam Kuban is the founder of Slice, where he has been blogging about pizza since 2003. You should follow him on Twitter: @akuban.

[Image: Pizza Hut Singapore]

Despite pizza's coin-like form and its 8 auspiciously numbered pieces, it is typically overlooked as a mainstay at Chinese New Year's feasts. Thanks to Pizza Hut Singapore, however, pizza now has a place at the table.

Prosperity is the theme of this new specialty pie. According to the Pizza Hut menu the Fortune Pizza "comes with a flavorful sauce made of golden pumpkin paste and taro bits to symbolize gold and a gold year ahead. Topped with pineapples for prosperity, as well as dices BBQ chicken and mushrooms, it's taste of fortune everyone will love."

[Image: Via morsels.com]

I like this close up shot that shows the double cheese filled crusts and really gives the cornflake crust its photographic due.

[Via: Food Beast]

About the author: Meredith Smith is the Slice editor. You can follow her on Twitter: @mertsmith.

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Top This: Nutella, Berry, and Ricotta Stuffed Pizza (à la Keste)

Want to impress your pizza-loving lady this Valentine's Day? For this installment of Top This, Kesté pizzaiolo Roberto Caporuscio shows us how to make a pizza stuffed with nutella, berries, and ricotta.

The recipe was conceived by Roberto, but it was pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini of the Jean-Georges restaurant group who took this chocolatey dessert pizza to the next level.

It all started when Johnny and Roberto were messing around in the Kesté kitchen one evening (as chef friends often do). Johnny sprinkled fresh lemon juice and a pinch of sea salt over the berries and ricotta right before Roberto finished the pizza with a Nutella drizzle. The resulting pie was a clear hit: unapologetically decadent, but lightened by the creamy ricotta and citrus.

Click through the slideshow to find out how to make Roberto and Johnny's irrestistible dessert pizza at home.

What You'll Need (for one pizza)

• 1 dough portion (Watch this video to learn how to make Neapolitan-style dough)
• Nutella (If available, use Nutella imported from Italy)
• Fresh blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries
• Ricotta (If you live in NYC, Alleva Dairy makes stellar ricotta)
• 1 lemon, halved
• Sea salt
• Confectioner's sugar

Kesté Pizza & Vino

271 Bleecker Street, New York NY 10014 (map)
212-243-1500 kestepizzeria.com

About the author: Originally from Los Angeles, Erin Mosbaugh writes Je Blague, where she captures her food adventures in NYC and beyond. Erin also writes for Robb Report New York City, First We Feast, and Food & Wine Magazine.

Super Bowl Sunday belongs to pizza. Oh sure, give the wings a nod, but every statistic proves that the Super Bowl is synonymous with pizza. However, game day pizza parties present challenges to your typical pizza party routine, where pizza is the focus. Namely, you need to be able to actually watch that damn game! You can't very well do that when you're manning the oven. You could go the easy route and order pizza, but Super Bowl Sunday is the busiest pizza delivery day of the year! Do you really want to be a victim of subpar, lukewarm, sloppily made delivery pizza? Here's a way to put on your pizza making game face and stay in the football-watching action!

Pre-Game Pizza Snacks

[Photograph: Adam Kuban]

Kick it off with some pizza-inspired snacks! While you're making up the dough for the pies, you could also whip up some extra for Garlic Knots or Monkey Bread (regular or the garlic knot variety). Of course, store bought dough is a time saver and makes a good stand-in for these recipes. Homemade Pizza Rolls are a classic addition and are a perfect pre-pizza finger food. And don't forget the dhorst Secret Dipping Sauce!

• Deep Fried Garlic Knots
• Pizza Monkey Bread
• Garlic Knot Monkey Bread
• Secret Dipping Sauce
• Homemade Pizza Rolls

Pizza Touchdown

[Photograph: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]

The best pizzas to serve at parties are those that eliminate the need for stretching, rolling, kneading, and transferring from peel to stone. Luckily we've got a couple of recipes in our arsenal that fit the bill. All of the recipes here are no-knead, so you can essentially mix and dump these into a baking sheet or skillet and minimally stretch them into place. While most allow for an overnight ferment to develop flavor, the Basic Square Pan Pizza relies on more oil for flavor and can be done from scratch to finish in a matter of hours. Making the other doughs the day before (or even a couple of days before) can really help cut back on the game day scramble. Mix it up by making 2 or more styles for your guests to choose from.

• Basic Square Pan Pizza
• World's Easiest Round Pan Pizza
• Sheet Tray Tomato Pie
• Sicilian with a Twist

Sauce Huddle

[Photograph: Squire Fox

You can easily bring variety to your pies, and streamline the process, by making a few different sauces. Here are a few options to choose from.

• New York Style Pizza Sauce
• Quick No Cook Tomato Sauce
• Barbecue Pizza Sauce
• Bechamel (white sauce)
• Onion Cream Sauce

Party End Zone

If you are planning on having guests involved in choosing toppings, a topping bar let's everyone get creative. (For topping ideas, check out this post.) Or keep it simple by selecting the toppings ahead of time, but offer a couple of post-bake toppers that guests can add, such as fresh herbs, chili oil, grated Parmesan, honey, or spicy dried peppers.

Finally, don't forget the dessert! Try this Nutella, ricotta, and berry pizza recipe from Keste.

If its gotta be delivery, check out our Delivery Pepperoni Pizza taste test or Pizza Showdown: The Best Delivery Pizza from a few years back.

About the author: Meredith Smith is the Slice editor. You can follow her on Twitter: @mertsmith.

VIEW SLIDESHOW: How To Dress Up Your Frozen Pizza Right

[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]

What's that? You're too darn busy to make your own pizza? Even if it's The World's Easiest No-Knead No-Stretch Pan Pizza? Or the perfect-for-a-large-crowd, almost-100%-hands-off Party-Sized Square Pie?

Alright fine, I get it. It's the day before game day. The keg delivery is late. You still haven't ironed your jersey or sorted your beer huggies.* Your brand new plasma with the oh-so-deep blacks that are so black it's like, how much more black can it be*** is still sitting in a box, waiting for you to figure out how to anchor it to the wall before the cable can be installed. Not to mention the cat is sitting in the slow cooker and the dog just ate all the Cheetos.

*This is the now-official Serious Eats-approved nomenclature for the beer holders commonly referred to as cozies, koozies, or coldie-holdies**

**A least, these are the common terms as far as Wikipedia is concerned

***The answer is none. None more black

I said I get it! There's a time and a place for frozen pizza, and perhaps that time is Sunday and that place is your living room.

Here's the good news: If you play your toppings right, even a frozen pizza can be elevated into a craveworthy game-time snack. Heck, your guests might be so knocked out by the flavor punch that they'll totally forget that what's in their mouth came from the icebox. Seriously!

Check out seven of our topping suggestions in the slideshow, jump straight to a slide with a link below, or read on for some more ideas!

• Buffalo Chicken Pizza, made with shredded grilled chicken breast, hot sauce, and blue cheese.
• The Triple P-zza comes with pepperoni, pimentos, and (jala)'peños.
• Pastramizza: pastrami meets pizza, along with Swiss cheese and pickles.
• Tater Tot-izza fuses two of our favorite frozen-aisle snacks. Crisp tater tots and bacon along with onions, pickled jalapeños, and hot sauce.
• Brusch-izza uses mini bagel bites as the base for your favorite bruschetta toppings.
• Puttanizza tastes just like a Roman brothel, with anchovies, garlic, olives, and tomatoes.
• Chorizizza with crisp slices of chorizo, hot serrano peppers, sliced onions, and salsa verde.

None of these ideas appeal to you? Don't worry, there's a whole wealth of options out there. If it works on real pizza, it'll work on frozen pizza. To get you started, how about:

Cheese

If adding your own extra cheese to a frozen pizza, it's best to add it about half way through the cooking time. Once you start seeing the frozen cheese start to melt, you're good to go. Here are a few ideas.

• Grated aged mozzarella (see our taste test here)
• Fresh buffalo mozzarella, torn into chunks
• Coarsely grated parmesan or romano (also great added at the end!)
• Caciocavallo
• Grated provolone or cheddar
• Fresh ricotta (see our taste test here)
• Fresh chèvre
• Feta
• Blue cheese!
• Smoked mozzarella or gouda

Cured Meats

I'm a firm believer that the best meats to put on a pizza are cured meats, as they offer the requisite flavor punch to complement a pie without weighing it down. If you like things like chicken or barbecue on your pizza, go wild!

• Pepperoni, preferably thick-sliced by hand (check out our stick pepperoni and our sliced pepperoni taste tests)
• Spicy soppressata
• Raw sausage (preferably homemade)
• Thin-sliced lardo (I like to apply this directly to the dough with just a bare dusting of grated cheese on top)
• Bacon (this will work best if you par-cook it until just shy of crisp)
• Ham
• Chorizo
• Anchovies

Vegetables

Watery vegetables should be applied thinly sliced and sparingly, or should be par-cooked to avoid sogging out your pie. Alternatively, thin-sliced crisp vegetables like onions and peppers can be added at the end.

• Sliced onions
• Artichoke hearts
• Mushrooms (cooked or fresh, thinly sliced)
• Cherry tomatoes, split
• Eggplant slices, par-cooked (you can do this in the microwave!)
• Sliced peppers or roasted peppers
• Olives
• Capers
• Potatoes, parcooked and sliced
• Spinach
• Shaved asparagus
• Shaved zucchini or squash
• Figs, split in half

Spices and Pickles

• Chili flakes
• Coriander or fennel seed
• Pistachios, pine nuts, almonds, or walnuts
• Pickled banana or jalapeño peppers
• Chili oil

Post-Bake Toppers

These are things that you want to add to the pie after it's baked to keep their fresh flavor and texture.

• Thin-sliced prosciutto or serrano
• Fresh herbs like basil or oregano (can also be applied before baking)
• Salad greens like arugula
• Freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Grated parmesan or romano
• Thin-sliced scallions
• Extra virgin olive oil or other strongly flavored oils
• Honey

About the author: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is the Chief Creative Officer of Serious Eats where he likes to explore the science of home cooking in his weekly column The Food Lab. You can follow him at @thefoodlab on Twitter, or at The Food Lab on Facebook.

[Photo: Robyn Lee]

In Slice's nearly ten-year history, it has been edited by only three super-talented people: its founding editor, Adam Kuban; Maggie Hoffman, now killing it as our Drinks editor; and the current editor, Boston's own Meredith Smith. With these three esteemed editors in mind, we started searching for Meredith's successor (don't worry, Slice'rs, both Adam and Meredith are going to stay involved). And we found her in our own proverbial back yard. Niki Achitoff-Gray interned for us before joining Saveur as an Editorial Assistant. She did an extraordinary job writing posts and taking photos, both as an intern and a freelancer. She also happens to love pizza as much as she does Serious Eats, so it only made sense to offer her the job, and the nom-de-pizza Lady Slice (sounds kind of royal, doesn't it?).

So Slice'rs, please give a warm welcome to Niki. We're thrilled to have her here at Serious Eats World HQ, and we think the Slice community will feel the same way as soon as they get to know her.

Of course, it's a bittersweet moment for us here at Serious Eats as we say goodbye to Meredith Smith. She's been a brilliant editor these last three years and we asked her to give some parting words. Here's what she has to say:

Dear Slice,

Today marks the end of my reign as the Slice editor. But, as Ed mentioned, I will definitely still be around doing pizza coverage from Boston and lots more of other Boston-focused posts for Serious Eats. However, I wanted to take this opportunity to say how fortunate I feel to have held the post as editor and to thank the Slice community for being the most instructive collective of welcoming, enthusiastic, and inspiring pizza lovers out there. Under your tutelage I have learned more than I knew possible about the many facets of pizza, from regional styles to pizza-making methods, history, trends, and so much more.

It's hard to imagine a day that's not filled with Slice. It's been a great ride, and I look forward to doing more things pizza-related that I've pushed to the side in the interest of editorial responsibilities. One of those things is to start to put all the pizza-making tips and techniques I've learned form My Pie Monday to good use!

I also want to take this opportunity to thank Adam for making Slice possible and for making himself available to guide me along the way. His were big shoes to fill and I can only hope that I didn't disappoint. Thanks also to Ed and the Serious Eats editors for their constant enthusiasm, inspiration, and support. I look forward to checking out the updates that Niki adds to the site as the new editor and wish her all the best. Slice it up, Niki!

Party on, Slice!

Yours,
Meredith

Editor's note: Earlier today, Serious Eats Overlord Ed Levine welcomed our new editor of Slice. You've probably seen her NYC Oyster Happy Hour Guide or read about her Meatopia-induced bliss. We think it's high time y'all get to know her a little better, so let's give a big, pizza-obsessed hello to Niki Achitoff-Gray.

Name: Niki Achitoff-Gray
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Occupation: Spankin' new editor of Slice (a.k.a. Lady Slice!)
Websites:seriouseats.com/nikiag

So, what type of pizza do you prefer?

I'll preface this by saying that you'll be hard-pressed to find a well-executed pizza of any variety that I won't gleefully devour. But I'm definitely a thin, crispity crust girl at heart. I spent my college years in Connecticut, where I turned into a pretty rabid apizza fanatic. My school was about a 40 minute drive from New Haven (25 if your craving has a mind of its own, and that mind applies extra force to the gas pedal), and I carried out a lengthy love affair with Frank Pepe's white clam pies. A great Neapolitan pie also definitely hits the spot. But at the end of the day, I'm a born and raised Manhattanite. I grew up—and will forever remain—spoiled and enthralled by the classic New York slices that, for so many of us, define this city.

The Pizza Cognition Theory states that "the first slice of pizza a child sees and tastes ... becomes, for him, pizza." Do you remember your first slice? Where was it from, is the place still around, and if so, does it hold up? On that note, has your taste in pizza evolved over time?

I have a pretty strong conviction that if someone snatched away my first pizza encounter, a horrifying butterfly effect moment would ensue and instead of editing Slice, I'd find myself in a squalid flophouse addicted to some other far less nourishing drug. But I honestly can't recall my first slice. I guess I'll take that as a sign that my parents raised me right: immersed in consistently decent pizza from the moment I grew enough teeth to chew it.

I do know that my family spent a whole lot of time at a branch of John's Pizzeria, just a couple of blocks from our apartment on the Upper West Side. I remember standing slack-jawed, face pressed against the glass guard surrounding the counter, watching the pizzaoli at work. When the restaurant closed in the early 2000s, I was heartbroken. I was still in middle school, so my recollection of the pizza quality is on the foggy side. If it was anything like the original John's of Bleeker, then suffice it to say that I was one lucky kid.

What's your favorite topping or topping combination?

I'm very excitable when it comes to toppings and, when left to my own devices, I have a tendency to forget my ultimate goal of a great pizza and instead turn its surface into a blasphemous casseroley salad. So I usually have to take a few deep breaths and count to 10 before I place an order (or, in this case, answer your question). Okay.

I love artichoke on pizza, especially alongside prosciutto. Anything that crisps up nicely is a win—Brussels sprouts or basil, in particular. Super-soft roasted garlic and anchovies make me exceedingly happy. And when I'm picking up a non-descript NY corner slice, I have a childhood-induced soft spot for a combo of mushrooms and olives. At the end of the day, though, I'm often happiest when I forgo toppings altogether and embrace the plain.

Where do you go for pizza in your area?

I'm lucky enough to live a few blocks from Roberta's, which leaves little incentive to eat anywhere else in my neck of the woods. With one exception. When I don't feel like dealing with a long wait or a noisy crowd, I head over to Verde Coal Oven Pizza. The owners are almost always bustling around the dining room, delivering some major old-school Italian charm. They churn out super solid pies and it doesn't hurt that their oven has a heartwarming origin story - installed in the early 1900s, it sat walled up and forgotten for decades. Oh, also, it's BYOB. So, duh.

Do you make pizza at home? If so, how? What recipes do you use?

Nope! Unless you count melting cheese and toppings on store-bought flatbread. I'm completely intimidated by the process of turning a ball of dough into a kickass crust. I'm really envious of the amazing My Pie Monday contributors who execute such stunning pies each week. Hopefully one day I'll be able to join their ranks. I did begin a part-time culinary program a few months ago, so if all goes according to plan, I'll have a radically different answer for you by this time next year.

What's one thing should NEVER go on a pizza?

Um. Did I mention I'm excitable when it comes to toppings? I'm sure there's a good answer to this, but unless it's a sugary breakfast cereal, I'll probably try it. In fact, if enough of you tell me that "Pizza Challenge" should be a column, I will allow you, dear readers, to induce me to eat weird topping combos once a month. I propose that we begin with chicken liver, a personal favorite that I have yet to enjoy on a pizza.

Most unusual pizza you've ever eaten?

Man. This question is giving me a serious complex. I'm obsessed with eating "weird" food (live seafood, anyone? How about some human cheese?), but I have yet to encounter a truly bizarre pie. Pizza Challenge? Yes??

What's the farthest you've traveled for pizza?

I wish I had some epic pizza journeys up my sleeve, but I can't say that I've traveled more than an hour expressly for pizza. To be fair, though, I never learned how to drive,* which handicaps the capacity for pizza roving pretty severely. As the newly appointed Lady Slice, I'm definitely excited to pressure my parents/boyfriend/strangers into shuttling me around. Because, you know, eating pizza IS MY JOB.

The probably doesn't count, but now I'm feeling inadequate. Back in 2007, I spent a couple of months living in Senegal. The food there was great, but consistently...on the mushy side. I needed pizza. No question. I found myself ranging farther and farther through Dakar, trying to find something that came even remotely close to a NY Slice. In retrospect, the mission was complete madness. But I think I traversed most the city on foot fueled by little more than a pizza mirage.

* In response to the inevitable Slice'r who will question my reference to pressing gas pedals in my answer to question 1, I will simply say that my cravings were powerful enough to vicariously inflict said acceleration upon the driver.

Anything you'd like to get off your chest?

Until my late teens, I left behind crust on all slices (and sandwiches), no matter how well-executed. Also, when my pizza craving kicks in after a few beers, I have an embarrassing habit of quoting Zoombinis. What is Zoombinis, you ask? Only the best educational software of the 90's. But I'll let you decide:

Zoombinis - Make Me a Pizza!

Now: Who would *you* like to see interviewed next?

I desperately want to talk to the team responsible for this masterpiece:

Apocalypse Pizza Video

My favorite interviews are with our dedicated Slice'rs, but I wouldn't mind throwing some pros into the mix every now and then. I'd really love to get an official Paulie "Gee" Gianonne Pizza Obsessives up in here. But you'll learn soon enough who I'd like on the site...hows about you folks?

What do your family and/or friends think of your pizza madness?

They're pretty thrilled that it's translated into a paying job. Especially one they can mooch off of as much as they please.

[Photo: Pizza Hut]

I'm sure you'll be shocked to learn that pizza tends to do pretty well on Super Bowl Sunday. And nobody seems to capitalize on the patronage of pizza-crazed football fans quite like Pizza Hut.HuffPo reports that the chain expects sales of roughly 2 million pies this coming Sunday. And sure enough, the hut's been taking orders for the big game since earlier this week, replete with a relaunch of their limited edition Big Dinner Box (featured above, in all its carbalicious glory).

To "top" things off (har har), Pizza Hut has also announced a mystery product—these guys give what limited scoop there is to be had—that's due to be revealed in the form of a nationwide give-away at the sound of Sunday's first...hut. To smear some icing all over this savory cake and then drive it all the way home, this year's fan-generated Super Bowl commercial, released on Tuesday, gives the overlapping nomenclature a bit of a nod (that is, if nodding involved banging your head against a wall over and over and over again). Check it out:

Pizza Hut 2013 Big Game Commercial - HUT HUT HUT

VIEW SLIDESHOW: My Pie Monday: Rum-Soaked Cherries and Lemon Zest, Foolproof Pan Pizza Extravaganza, and More!

And a hearty My Pie Monday to you, too! This week's 13 submissions have my stomach positively howling. Now you lucky bastards get to have a go.

Kenji's Foolproof Pan Pizza inspired some gorgeous pies from the likes of Kenposurf, Jamesws, GretchinF, and newcomer Alannaface. KevinMcG also joins team MPM, unveiling a vibrant Tikka Masala Pizza topped with mozzarella, chicken, and cilantro. Tscarborough goes all out with four different pies, including one featuring rum-soaked cherries and lemon zest over fresh mozzarella, finished with truffle oil. Woah. Garlic-marinated fresh mozzarella makes an appearance on a stunning pizza by way of jimmyg. Meanwhile, Norma experiments with three different types of pepperoni and Derricktung throws a pizza party, complete with a restaurant-worthy blackboard menu. bartonkt showcases a no-knead plain pie and Bloo works hard at perfecting pan pizza. Rounding out the group is BGEPizza, who takes a weather-induced hiatus from the egg with a kitchen oven Neapolitan-style pepperoni pie, and a Mellow Mushroom-inspired Portobello and Feta pizza from Florida9.

If you're making pizza this week, be sure to send us a shot for next week's My Pie Monday! Just take one snapshot of your homemade pizza, briefly describe your cooking method (and honor that pizza with a name!), and follow these instructions to get it to Slice HQ by 8pm EST on Thursday night. Be sure to let us know your Slice/Serious Eats screen name!

Want to see more awesome homemade pizza photos from previous weeks? Follow me »

About the author:Niki Achitoff-Gray is the editor of Slice and a part-time student at the Institute of Culinary Education. She's pretty big into pizza. Also, she likes offal. A lot.

The Rosa from Pizzeria Bianco is on there, because, well, duh. [Photo: Robyn Lee]

Today at Grub Street (New York Magazine), Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite drop a huge list of "101 Awesome American Pies (and Slices)" compiled by all the editors at Grub Street. Unsurprisingly, Slice'rs will find many of these pies familiar. Unlike many lists, they've gone beyond new-wave pizzerias and the old-guard slice shops to "surprisingly above-par frozen pizza" and what they term "weirdo outré pies," à laDon Antonio's racchetta.

Given the fact that Robin and Rob obviously had to stretch to get to 101 pies, I am still struck by the notable absences (in no particular order): Philly's Tacconelli's, West Haven, Ct.'s Zuppardi's clam pie (this is truly a mind-blowing omission), just about any pie from Modern in New Haven; Varasano's in Atlanta; Maria's Pizza in Milwaukee; Santillo's in Elizabeth, NJ; Dough Pizzeria Napoletana in San Antonio, Texas; Serious Pie and Delancey in Seattle; Picco in Boston; Brick Pizzeria in New Bedford, MA; Pizzeria Picco in Larkspur, CA and its sister restaurant in SF, Zero Zero; Emilia's in Berkeley; Pizzeria Basta in Boulder, CO; Il Pizzaiolo near Pittsburgh; Ken's Artisan Pizza in Portland, Oregon; Bella Mia Coal-Fired Pizza in Cary, NC; Al Forno's grilled pizza in Providence, RI (another unforgivable omission, given they had a separate category for cheffy pizza); Mia's Pizzas in Bethesda, MD; Stop 50 in Michiana Shores, IN; Supino in Detroit; Rubirosa in Manhattan and the pizzeria in Staten Island that spawned it, Joe and Pat's. And while I have only had the excellent bread and seen the pizza, not tasted it myself, there's a strong chance that Ancora in New Orleans should be on that list, too. We're talking 25 places here, basically 25% of the list. I know these lists are compiled to generate controversy, but this one seems particularly sloppily assembled, with no serious discerning pizza lover overseeing its compilation.

Peep the whole list here. What are your thoughts on Grub's list? And what do you think they out?

[Photographs: Niki Achitoff-Gray]

Only this time the pizzaolo wasn't only trying to reclaim his reputation from the Ciolli family, to whom he sold his original Grimaldi's location and naming rights, and who, when Patsy reclaimed his Front Street location this year, had the temerity to open right next door. He was also trying to guarantee his entrance into the pantheon of great pizzaioli everywhere—the 'Keepers of the Flame,' as I called them in Slice of Heaven.

This is not just pizza lore worthy of headlines in the food press; this is the stuff worthy of the full Hollywood treatment. Blood money, pizza, longstanding grudges, manipulative lawsuits, and, most importantly, issues of honor and reputation.

Juliana's is simply furnished, its walls devoid of typical pizzeria memorabilia. Sinatra is, of course, the music of choice. It was mostly empty at 1:00 on a Friday afternoon, and among the absent were Patsy and Carol.

We ordered three pies. A white pizza with ricotta, mozzarella, and garlic; a half meatball, half plain; and my litmus test pie from my Slice of Heaven days: half sausage, half mushroom.

The white pie arrived first, and it was probably the best of the three. There was enough lift on the light, not-as-bready-as-I-remember crust, and the piece I tore from the edge had a lovely hole structure. Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, the just-chewy-enough bread had the sure-fire signs of pizza greatness. The air bubbles were plentiful, if not particularly big, and the underside was darkened with plenty of black spots. The mozzarella was fine; the ricotta was creamy. The bits of still-raw garlic, on the other hand, were a discordant note.

The meatball pie's crust was significantly less elevated and the meatballs were dense, dry, and undersalted. I've become fond of meatball pies, but not this one. The biggest problem was the gumminess of the inner crust, which was undercooked and overwhelmed by toppings. The outside crust was good; then again, that's the easiest part to get right. At least the sauce of crushed, steamed tomatoes was made from excellent imported Italian tomatoes.

The half sausage, half mushroom was a fine pie. The sausage, from Iavarone Bros., was nicely chunked and had plenty of fennel seeds. The mushrooms turned out to be a pleasantly surprising combination of cremini and shiitake, and the crust had the crunchy-tender duality that I crave in all great pizza.

As we were leaving, Carol Grimaldi walked in and gave me a hug. I asked after her husband. She said he'd been sick for the last couple of weeks and hadn't been in much, except when a customer phoned in an order for twenty pies on the sole condition that Patsy make them himself. Now that's my idea of a brilliant take-out order.

All in all, what I found at Juliana's was pretty damn good pizza. Not transcendent, the way that Patsy Grimaldi's pizza was when he first started out and was personally manning the ovens, but probably worth a journey. It's definitely pizza that dwarfs the competition next door, so if his first goal was to show the world that Juliana's could produce better pizza than the Ciolli family, he's more than succeeded.

But in order for him to stake his rightful claim to 'Keeper of the Flame' status, the pizza has to be better. That means that Patsy has to be at Juliana's day in and day out. Sadly, in three visits that Serious Eats writers paid to Juliana's in the last month, all on different dates and times of day, there was not one Patsy Grimaldi sighting. Even if Patsy isn't going to be manning the oven full-time—he is, after all, in his eighties—he needs to supervise his staff and give the thumbs-up to every pie coming out of that oven. I've seen the man in action, and Patsy Grimaldi is a phenomenal one-person pizza quality control department. I've seen him dress down more than a few aspiring pizzaioli.

In the end, I'm thrilled to have Patsy Grimaldi back in the game. He brings passion, knowledge, and skill to the pizza culture, and God knows we need as much of that as possible. But to really be back in the game, serving his pizza—which is just about as good as this style of pizza gets—he needs to be in-house every day. Otherwise, he'll have kicked his nemesis's butt without achieving his grander goal of cementing his legacy among the world's truly great pizza makers.

I will go back when he's there (maybe there should be a Patsy Cam so we know when that is) because I know how much he cares about pizza. Because at one time, there was no better pizza maker or pizza inspector than Patsy Grimaldi. I long and live to taste that pizza, his pizza, because it was as good as New York-Neapolitan pizza gets.

World Pizza Championships, 2011 [Photograph: WFAA.com]

Whether you call it spinning, tossing, twirling, or nothing at all, you probably have an opinion about this contentiously self-proclaimed sport. I'm not talking about a gentle toss to give that dough a good stretch; I'm referring to the hardcore acrobatic spinning of throw dough, almost always accompanied by a pretty...special...soundtrack. Case in point:

Nazionale Italiana Acrobati Pizzaioli

From Drinks

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Ask A Sommelier: What's the Best Wine for Pizza?

How do you make pizza—a near-perfect food—even better? By drinking the right wine with it. If you think of wine as a sauce for your food, you'll want to make sure it's a sauce that works with the dish: complementing the earthy flavors of mushrooms and sausage, or contrasting the richness of the cheese, standing up to the bright acidity of tomato sauce and countering the spice of pepperoni. A tasty bottle of wine—and it doesn't have to be a pricey one—can bring your pizza experience into an elevated realm of deliciousness.

But which wines will work? Reds, whites, bubbles...we gathered pizza-pairing tips from 11 top sommeliers from around the country. Check out their drinking advice in the slideshow above »

About the Author: Maggie Hoffman is the editor of Serious Eats: Drinks. She lives in San Francisco. You can follow her on Twitter @maggiejane.

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