PARISIAN FAVORITES: Pizza

In 1969, a food critic wrote: "This heart-stopping lump of dough which the most penniless of Neapolitan fisherman has trouble swallowing, fashion has made into a treat for genteel Parisians." This simple food has only grown more popular over time.
 
When did Parisians first discover it? In 1911, Sansorto's already sold it but it went unnoticed. The same critic cites a pizzeria that opened on the rue Pierre Charon in 1953 as making it popular then. In 1955, French papers were already commenting on its popularity.

Long before this however, in 1881, Urbain-Dubois had told his French readers how to make the dish. When Urbain-Dubois offered a recipe for pizza to his French readers in 1881, pizza was barely known outside Italy, if even outside Naples. So it is particularly nice to already have a recipe for it.

Note this version is close to early accounts of pizza as a flatbread topped with fish, but also includes tomato halves, a (probably unconscious) nod to what the dish would become. Oh, and for those who hate anchovies on their pizza - it's authentic, dude!

Neapolitan pizza.

Pizza is a favorite dish among Neapolitans. It is mostly served at supper; but to be truly appreciated, it must be eaten straight from the oven. This is why true pizza lovers go to the pizza makers (pizzaioli) themselves to eat it. They then enjoy not only the pleasure of eating it piping hot, but also the experience of watching it being prepared, which is not without interest.

Take 5 to 600 grams of bread dough, a little lighter than usual, but well risen; place it on a floured table, roll it out into a round shape, beating it with your hands; slightly raise the edges of the dough; drizzle the surface with a little oil, and garnish it with either small fresh anchovies, tomato halves, salted anchovy fillets, or mozzarella (a soft sheep's milk cheese). These different ingredients are often combined. Sprinkle the pizza with salt and pepper, then finely chopped garlic, mixed with parsley and powdered savory; then drizzle with oil.

Then, using a flat peel, lift the pizza and push it into a bare oven, heated as for baking bread, but above all clean. The pizzaioli bake in an open oven, keeping the flames burning on the side: 20 minutes is sufficient. When removing the pizza from the oven, drizzle it with oil and slide it onto a platter.