Seems we have a lot of pizza people here. So what makes a good pizza? Sauce? Crust? Fresh ingredients? Great cheese?
I know the easy answer is all of the above but what sticks out for you on pizza you don’t make yourself? For me a lousy sauce ruins a pizza. If the sauce is bad nothing else matters.
Your opinions?
Ingredients!
In Stillwater we have Quickfire Pizza and you really can not go wrong there. The ingredients are fresh and simple. The red sauce is very simple and not packed with crap. They source local specialties like Smalley’s Pulled pork. Spices from a local shop where everything is pure with no additives.
Fresh high quality mozzarella. Not the crap from the bag pre shredded with non caking agent added. That would be the #1 in my book.
It’s the combination of “All of the above”
Pizza is 1 of the only 2 things I miss about growing up in Racine, WI. I was spoiled rotten with great pizzas and a variety of places to go to…and the prices were dirt cheap compared to everywhere else I go.
Crust – thin, crispy, and flaky…. needs to be baked on real stone bed oven. Never cared for the big dough ball glob of crap.
Sauce – Most of the places I enjoy either make their own, or use a commercial bulk and spice it to their own formula. Probably the #1 thing that separates most places in general flavor.
Fresh ingredients – Those “pre-prepared” bags suck. With all the crap added to keep things so-called fresh, they destroy the real flavor. Miss seeing the ladies at Tetaro’s chopping up all the olives, onions, grating fresh blocks of cheese…..Mouth was watering before the pie was even made
Shrimp! Thin crust shrimp is awesome! (bet you thought I was going to say Spam eh?)
Between most places not carrying shrimp and the FW hating the smell along with a shrimp or two ending up “on her side”, I seldom have it.
Shrimp? On pizza? I’ve not heard of that before!
For me it’s the cheese. If the cheese is poor quality and gets that greased-over rubbery feeling – I’d be more inclined to eat the pizza box instead.
It’s great Sharon! The little ones that are about the size of a dime.
Another one that we like at Pizza Hut (seldom on the menu) is bbq beef pizza.
Check’em out when you want to break the monotony. 
It’s so many things that have to come together to make a good pie. From the crust, to the freshness and quality of the toppings, to the oven temp… it all plays in. In order to do it right, IMHO, you need a brick lined oven that is at least 500’… Pizza should take about 10 minutes to bake correctly. 
Based on feeling like I just crossed the Sahara after eating pizza my guess is SALT is the key ingredient.
2X The shrimp
years ago we had Shakey’s Pizza restaurants in my home town, I still think that was the best pizza I ever had. What made it for me was the crust and the sauce. Hand tossed crust, they used corn meal instead of flour when they rolled it out mixed with some other seasoning and the sauce was just right for my palate.
Based on feeling like I just crossed the Sahara after eating pizza my guess is SALT is the key ingredient.
Sweet Jesus, you aren’t joking! WTF is with almost all pizza these days? It’s like the final step is to top the pizza liberally with a pound and a half of salt. I eat a pizza and feel like my tongue has just been dragged down a dirt road in July.
Anything coming out of the store to be baked at home is now bought exclusively based on the damn sodium number.
Grouse
Shrimp! Thin crust shrimp is awesome! (bet you thought I was going to say Spam eh?)
Between most places not carrying shrimp and the FW hating the smell along with a shrimp or two ending up “on her side”, I seldom have it.
https://www.in-depthoutdoors.com/community/forums/topic/pizza/#post-1605998
I told you we have many things in common years ago. Shrimp oh, ya!
What makes it good? It is the flavor combinations!
Just like in my post above, it is in the flavors!!
Corned beef and sauerkraut on a thin pumpernickel crust.
Canadian bacon sauerkraut pineapple thin crust as well.
I’ll tell you what makes it good for me personally. As one of those people who eats one thing on his plate at a time, I am forced to eat everything at once. It’s a nice change of pace.
Its so bad that I’ll eat the whites of my eggs, careful not to poke the yolk sack. Then the hashbrowns. Then I cut off the end of a yolk and squeegee out the yolk with my fork. I’ll then eat the yolk sack and when done, mop up the yolk with my toast.
Note, I cannot resist eating bacon throughout the process.
I’m finding humor that in the beer thread, so many guys are professing their allegiance to beers that I consider swill, yet when it comes to pizza, there are a lot of high standards held by IDOers. 
For me to say that a pizza is bad takes a lot. Some are obviously better than others, but I enjoy most pizza!
Shrimp is the best on Pizza! I have both kida hooked on em, but the wife not so much.
For me to say that a pizza is bad takes a lot. Some are obviously better than others, but I enjoy most pizza!
Agreed! Maybe there is some inverse theory here?
For me to say that a pizza is bad takes a lot. Some are obviously better than others, but I enjoy most pizza!
Agreed. The only bad pizza is burnt. In the metro I really like Red’s Savoy. Or in the St. Cloud area it’s tough to beat the House of Pizza or Marnanteli’s (I may be biased as I worked there in HS and I believe Ralph worked there back in the day also?).
Odd toppings I like include Saurkraut and Sausage, Pepperoni Jalapeno’s and Cream Cheese, Pepperoni and Banana Peppers. But again just about anything will do, and the more toppings the merrier imo.
Marnanteli’s (I may be biased as I worked there in HS and I believe Ralph worked there back in the day also?).
I did not. I haven’t had ‘teli’s in years!
I haven’t had ‘teli’s in years!
I introduced my wife last summer, and we now either stop there or Val’s for burgers every time we head north. Good as ever!
take your favorite pizza put in a cast iron skillet. Soak your favorite wood chips in water. Fire up the Weber kettle get it to about 400 degrees. add chips pizza for about 20 minutes. Enjoy
Go to Chicago and eat some Lou Malnatis deep dish, well done with butter crust. You will then know the answer to your question.
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