Death by Pizza [Photograph: Yahoo UK]
There's a new pie on the scene in the UK, and it's kind of terrifying. As reported by Yahoo UK News, it's aptly titled "Death by Pizza", and is the mad, sadistic invention of James Broderick, owner of Little Italy Pizza Company in Sleaford, Lincs. Measuring 12 million scovilles, it's so hot that the pizzaioli need to prepare it wearing face masks. The 12-inch pie looks relatively harmless—the usual pie base, sauce and cheese, toppings—but the threat is hidden in the 4 oz. of Trinidadian Moruga Scorpion Chillies sandwiched in every pie. Known to cause heart attacks, they were declared the hottest on the planet last February by New Mexico State University's Chile Pepper Institute.
The sauce is theoretically stronger than anti-riot grenades and military grade tear gas, and has made at least one customer's tongue bleed. Why would you EVER want to eat this? Well, if (after signing a disclaimer against the risk of "injury or even death") you eat it 30 minutes with no more than a pint of liquid...you win 20 pounds. A measly 20 pounds??? That does NOT sound worth it to me, but apparently 12 people have already tried (and failed) the challenge since the pie was launched this month. Mr. Broderick is still waiting for official "World's Hottest Pizza" recognition (Guinness gave it last year to Paul Brayshow of Paul's Pizza, for a pie measuring five million scovilles), but they've sent the pizza off to university experts for testing.
Birpizza [Photograph: The Daily Meal]
Over on the Daily Meal, they've got a slideshow of whackadoodle foreign fast food creations, and unsurprisingly, a lot of them are pizza-oriented. There's Pizza Hut Sri Lanka's "Birizza", a madcap combination of biryaani and pizza where the popular South Asian rice dish is wrapped in pizza dough and offered with either chicken or paneer cheese. Over at Pizza Hut UK, there's the "Cheeseburger Pizza", which you may already be familiar with, while down in Puerto Rico there's the "Crazy Cheesy Bacon Crust Pizza" (a pizza, ringed in tiny pizzas, topped with bacon). Back to Asia and we have Pizza Hut Singapore's "Double Decker Pizza", which is literally a tiny pizza on top of a bigger pizza, and India's "So Cheezy" pie—which actually has nothing on the recent Hong Kong "Cheesy 7 Sensation" pie.
Wagyu Pizza [Photograph: The Daily Meal]
An Australian Domino's pie rounds out the Pizza Hut heavy lineup with its $50 "Wagyu Beef Pizza", which was actually a combo of two pies. First, there was the Wagyu 3 Ways (topped with wagyu rib meat, wagyu bresaola, sliced wagyu sausage, smoked rasher bacon, ground beef, and tomato bell pepper sauce), and then the Wagyu Truffle (topped with wagyu rib meat, truffle-infused hollandaise sauce, camembert, cherry tomatoes, and red onion).
Clearly when it comes to pizza, we're all a little crazy.
About the author:Kate Andersen is a Contributing Editor for Slice.