It’s been along-held dream of mine to export New York pizza to other parts of the States. Having lived in the Empire State, and taken good pizza for granted, for most of my life, I was shocked (SHOCKED!) to experience the terrible quality of it on other parts of the country. It’s one thing for your average pizza joint to not be up to New York standards- a chef’s got to work with what he’s got- but here in DC people actually order from Pizza Hut. Dominos! The humanity! We should be sending those pizzas over to starving children in Africa, not ordering them because we want them!

Anyway, my feeling is that if the quality of pizza were improved across the Nation, Americans would realize their terrible mistake and demand retribution for years of unacknowledged torture at the hands of Papa John. So why not export New York? Apparently because you’ll need more than just recipes:

“Water,” [Mario] Batali says. “Water is huge. It’s probably one of California’s biggest problems with pizza.” Water binds the dough’s few ingredients. Nearly every chemical reaction that produces flavor occurs in water, says Chris Loss, a food scientist with the Culinary Institute of America. “So, naturally, the minerals and chemicals in it will affect every aspect of the way something tastes.”

Personally, I’m skeptical. Surely it’s at least as much a matter of other ingredients- the cheeses and the sauce? Mario Batali is a huge blowhard, but I suppose he DOES know his foods.

I suppose I’ll have to start on that water pipeline if I’m going to get anywhere with this.