Why I Oughta...

Recently, we put the oven into service for a small party where I baked eight pizzas.  I've had challenges getting the oven up to temperature with the first firing of the season, so this time I fired it up for three hours the day before the party.  Then, I pre-heated the oven with wood for five hours.  That got the fire roaring and the temps way up:  950 on the dome, 900 on the floor, 750 to 800 on the walls of the dome.   Here are a few photos - showing the fire starting and eventually "Clearing the dome" of the black soot.  Also, I pre-cooked some sausage in a cast iron pan during the pre-heat and that worked really well.   I'm learning how the oven works and how much 'feel' is required to get the pizzas to come out edible.  Also, I'm learning that the insulation that I used is WORKING.  (hooray...)

I mentioned in my post about our visit to Louis' Lunch - the home of the hamburger sandwich - that we also hit up another foodie-important stop while we were in New Haven.  That was Frank Pepe's Pizzeria Napoletana.  Or "Pepe's" as the locals call it.  There is a style in New Haven and there are a series of places that you can choose from.  According to Eater, this is serious business . There is pizza, and then there is apizza. New Haven-style pizza is the latter; a hotter, crispier, and dirtier descendant of Neapolitan style pie. What ribs are to Kansas City, cheesesteak to Philadelphia, and crabcakes to Baltimore, pizza is to New Haven. Why New Haven?  Again, Eater : At the turn of the twentieth century, New Haven became a popular town for Italian families who settled in the United States during the country's diaspora. Neighborhoods such as Wooster Square became home to many displaced southern Italian families primed with palates that appreciated ...