One of the highlights from the Smart Kitchen Summit week was we got to take a tour of the Modernist Cuisine kitchen with Head Chef Francisco Migoya.
While there were lots of amazing things to see in the high tech kitchen behind Modernist Bread and the forthcoming Modernist Pizza, including the spice rack that would be the envy of any chef and a look at how they make the ultrasonic French fry, but I really enjoyed watching as Migoya made a Neapolitan pizza for us.
While work on the new pizza opus has largely wrapped up and is expected to publish in 2021, most of what’s in the book is still largely a secret. Naturally, we were pretty psyched to be behind the scenes and watch where the sausage (pizza) is made.
A few things stood out as Chef Migoya made a Modernist pizza:
Gas is better than wood-fired. According to Migoya, a gas stove is actually better than wood-fired when it comes to cooking pizza. That’s because gas-fired ovens allow for more consistent temperature, are a much more reliable and even heat source, and are cleaner.
Cooks in 90 Seconds. A pizza takes anywhere from 6-8 minutes to cook a pie in a normal pizza oven, but since Migoya cooks his pizza at 850 degrees Fahrenheit, it only takes about 90 seconds. As he finishes cooking, Migoya shows us how the “doming” technique adds more color to the pizza.
Secret Dough. According to Migoya, they’ve created one of the best doughs ever for their new book, and they use it with the Neapolitan pizza. While Chef won’t tell us what is in the secret recipe, he explains as delicious, easy to work with, and is very “production-friendly.”
So while you’ll have to wait for Modernist Pizza to learn the secret dough recipe, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy watching Chef Migoya in action as he cooks up a tasty-looking pizza.
Enjoy!
