Cooking Pizza with Guardian Service Cookware

Homemade pizza is easy, economical and nutritious (hallmarks of the Guardian Service Cookware marketing mantra, "good health, pleasure and profit"). Although, as I mention in our original post on pizza, the creators and makers of Guardian Service Ware couldn't have imagined the 15" service tray being used for "pizza," a modern staple, which was only gaining popular appeal in America in the mid-fifties, by which time the company had ceased production.

We've cooked many pizzas on our Guardian Service tray (the round, flat, service tray works ideally for thin to medium crust pizzas and the "hammer" finish creates little pockets of air that aid in the crisping of the crust). But Mark Bitmann's recent post on pizza dough inspired us to further employ the Guardian Service griddle as a pizza stone. Placed upside–down on the center rack of the oven, the thick aluminum plate retains additional heat, creating an extra crispy crust.

And then this week, members of a Guardian Service fan group posted that they use the octagonal griddle itself to cook the pizza, which sounds ideal for a deep-dish pizza pie. (We'll experiment and report back with an update).

Pictured: Walnut pesto, caramelized onion and sausage pizza with mozzarella, on a whole wheat and cornmeal crust (see pizza dough recipe and instructions).

Join the conversation on the Guardian Service Facebook page.

Sustainable Food in 2011

This weekend's NY Times launched 2011 with a series on sustainable living which included two great pieces on America's evolving diet.

The first is a jeremiad by Mark Bitmann about cooking simply at home (and a satisfying response to a September article which suggested preparing vegetables was too arduous and specialized for junk-food-addicted Americans). While he doesn't talk about waterless cooking techniques, Bitmann does sing the praises of increased nutrition and economy that attend home cooking:

"By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind, creating more healthful, less expensive and better-tasting food that requires less energy, water and land per calorie and reduces our carbon footprint. Not a bad result for us — or the planet."

James Gorman's piece describes a new foodie movement, invasivores: radical eaters inventing palatable ways to cook invasive species. If anyone catches some wild carp, we'd love to grill it up on the Guardian Service Griddle...

A Happy New Year to our readers and wishes for Good Health, Pleasure and Profit for all in 2011!

PS Guardian Service Santa was able to hunt down a Guardian Service Pressure–Oven with which we'll experiment in the coming months. I'm poring over the original pressure cooker guide, but it's uncharted territory... let's hope we're not scraping pot roast shrapnel off the ceiling. Wish us luck!