The perfect pizza

A few days ago, we walked into Building A of SM Megamall, after a horribly irritating traffic jam on EDSA (can somebody do something about this daily mortification?) and found ourselves trying to make the perfect pizza.

How perfect can this Italian original be? Chefs Ryan and Pauline, assisted by the staff of Yellow Cab Pizza, showed us how to do it. The pizza company was celebrating their 10th anniversary and thus hosted a group to participate in the pizza-making process. The end result – perfect pizzas!

Dough and cheese are the basic ingredients. There are two types of cheese – natural and processed. The former are the ones in large chunks to be cut or sliced, like gourmet cheeses including parmigiano and ementhal. The latter are those we find on racks, like boxed edam cheese. The Spanish quezo de bola is also natural. It is much stronger than other cheeses and covered with wax, thus lasts longer. Needless to say, the dough is made of premium flour.

The Yellow Cab Pizza company started with an outlet in Makati in 2001 and has expanded to various cities in the country. They made their name with their original New York pizza, which to us is the simplest of all variants, but not with less flavor. The production of one pizza takes about 15 minutes, so don’t be impatient when you want a freshly baked pizza. The dough is no longer kneaded by hand but through a machine that puts out the right thickness and size. It is then spread thinly with olive oil, which we noticed was mixed with third-pressed pomace. A thin layer of tomato sauce then covers the dough and it is ready for the toppings.

A teaspoon of garlic and powdered oregano is added to the toppings. For perfect uniformity, each topping is weighed and counted. The trick one must learn to produce a well-covered pizza is to spread the cheese generously on the pastry, making sure that even the sides are covered. This is because the cheese contracts away from the edges after it goes through the oven. One useful trick learned.

Yellow Cab’s partner in this venture is Fonterra Brands Philippines which distributes Anchor products, cheeses and cream in the country. One should note that their culinary cream has the rare quality of not splitting in the process of cooking.

Yellow Cab offers a lot more than pizza. Their menu includes pasta, calzone, and even chips.

Readers’ feedback. We acknowledge the email from Rem, a Pangasinense who clarified what their sweet is all about. Firstly, we had it wrong when we called it tupic, it is tubig, which he says is the only roasted kakanin hereabouts. It is made of malagkit (glutinous rice), gata (coconut cream), sugar and buko wrapped in banana leaves. It is different from bukayo which is purely grated mature coconut.

Another email friend is Dindo from Taal, Batangas, who is actively involved in the promotion of tourism in his province. He told us that the fisherfolk there suffered a great loss because of the fishkill recently, when the price of tilapia went as low as P20 a kilo. Apparently the problem has been abated and he reports they are now selling the fish at P90 a kilo, which was the normal price before the fishkill. We are happy that they have seemingly recovered.

Tilapia is one of our family’s favorites. It is perfect fried crisp and served with tomato-onion dip with vinegar and sugar and it is delicious made into sarsiado.

A brother serves the fish on a bed of pechay, sprinkles it with salt and pepper, and pours thick coconut cream over it. This cooks quickly and is very flavorful.

Here’s a recipe for pinangat na isda. You need four salay-salay. Hasa-hasa would also be perfect for this. Clean the fish, place in a casserole and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add the juice of two calamansi.

Cook over low fire for a few minutes. When the fish is done, add about two teaspoons of oil. If you are not too health conscious, use pork lard. Super!

Have a good Sunday!

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