KK ... I'm not putting anyone down. I was making a pre-emptive wisecrack to getting beaten up myself. I was expecting arguments about fresh tomatoes vs cans of high-quality stuff. Take it easy. I like the
"doughier-quality" I get from the eggs for regular flat or pan/stuffed pizza-crust. For a
"cracker-crust", such as for margarita or neapolitan styles, I'll use flat-breads. They're made in Chicago; @ .99¢/pkg for 6-8 lg-thin or 8-10 med-reg. Trust me here, you really can't make these any better from scratch.
FlipFlop ... The fresh basil and oregano is for a sprinkle over the top. It cooks up really nice. The sauce mix has everything in it already. The beauty is that it's a really good seasoned/textured sauce made from only opening up two(2) cans and mixing it up. I reduce the water from the tomatoes because I like a thicker sauce for pizza. I use the same 2-can mix without reduction for any other time I need an Italian tomato sauce.
Dagger ... that should answer you too. I like pizza sauce thicker than pasta sauce most of the time. If I want to go overboard with thickness I use a cup of minced sun-dried tomatoes sizzled up in some oil then blitzed through the food-pro. I make what I call
"tomatoe-jam" that way too, by adding sauteed shallots, some steak seasonings, garlic and worcestershire sauce, all going through the food-pro. It's for my meat-loaf. I won't serve regular ketchup/catsup with my meat-loaf.
jake ... The cans of tomatoes I use cost $1.09, and the sauce is $1.69. The 2-can combo easily makes 4 pizzas. My regular/standard sauce, for whatever I use it for, is ready-to-go in 5-minutes. It IS as good if not better than fresh San Marzanos.
Here's the breakdown on the tomatoes:
Ingredients:
Tomatoes, Tomato Juice, Salt, Dehydrated Garlic, Calcium Chloride and Citric Acid.
Here's the breakdown on the sauce:
Ingredients:
California Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Canola Oil, Imported Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Salt, Imported Pecorino Romano Cheese (Pasteurized Sheep's Milk, Cheese Cultures, Sea Salt, and Enzymes), Spices, Garlic and Citric Acid. Gluten free.
Allergen: Contains milk.
Nutrition Facts:
Serving Size: 0.25 cup (63 g); Servings Per Container 7; Amount Per Serving: Calories 40; Calories from Fat 10.
(% Daily Value*)
Total Fat 1g 2%, Saturated Fat 0g, Trans Fat 0g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 310mg 13%, Total Carbohydrate 6g 2%, Dietary Fiber 2g 9%, Sugars 5g, Protein 2g, Vitamin A 23%, Vitamin C 16%, Calcium 1%, Iron 5%
kuan ...
Geno's East IS for tourists. The
best "Chicago" pizza is from non-commercialized-franchised neighborhood places.
Geno's East is almost always the #1 joint on the list of places closed for
"Health-Code" reasons in the entire city.
Geno's, Uno's, Due's, Nancy's, Edwardo's, Lou Malnatti's et al don't by any means suck ... they're just not the same as neighborhood places.