Pizza al taglio (pizza by the slice) is typically Italian and you can find plenty of places all around Italy. It can be a great snack but we usually buy it for dinner when we want to eat something special, when we have friends coming over or simply because we’re tired and don’t want to cook. It’s not a fast food type even if lately some fast food pizza appeared here too, however they have nothing to do with the real Pizza al Taglio.

Pizza al taglio is still home made, the place I always go to still uses the rolling pin to flatten and shape the dough. Pizza al taglio is prepared in big squared iron pan, it’s much thicker than the pizza you find in the pizzeria. The secret they told me for a good pizza is to bake the whole pizza at the same time. I explain better, some places cook the dough first and then when you go to buy the pizza they add the topping and cook it again. The result is not bad, but the one I buy is much better. The dough is really soft but well cooked and it tastes different. Continue reading →

I love to cook Italian for friends and family but cooking Italian abroad can be a complicated experience. It’s not always that easy to find the Italian products you need, and if you don’t find them you can totally change the final result. Products Made in Italy have a unique flavor, texture and aroma that are impossible to replicate, you can not export our sun, soil, water, passion and the experience that make our products known and appreciated world wide.

I still remember my first experience cooking Italian abroad. I was in China at that time attending an intensive Chinese language course. We, I was with two Italian friends, were asked to prepare an Italian dish and we chose to cook pasta. We took the train and after a 4 hours trip we were in Beijing to buy the ingredients; pasta, canned tomatoes and olive oil (the extra virgin one wasn’t available) to prepare our dish, at that time was impossible to find Parmigiano Reggiano. We prepared a simple tomato sauce, sauteed onions then canned tomatoes and to give an extra touch to the sauce we spiced the sauce up with a little bit of red hot pepper. Continue reading →