Regular wood customer of mine who buys only black locust for his fireplace insert also used it in his pizza oven. I thought BL was a bad for cooking with in terms of flavor? I saw the oven today that took him two years to build and gorgeous job. I mentioned i could sell him better wood for use in it rather than BL. What would be ideal more or less for flavor?
I'm not sure how much flavor is affected by the wood in a pizza oven, vs smoking. But white oak, cherry, pecan and hickory are good for smoking. Hickory can be stronger smoke and can overpower. I'll be interested to see what others chime in with in terms of flavor and burn qualities of species for a pizza oven....
FWIW, I gave my buddy a couple sticks of BL for his pizza oven. He said it really raised the temp. I think any hard wood is OK. But more typical to use oak or ash or cherry or….
I'm guessing it's more about outright heat output. Coal fired pizza was the best I've ever had so there's that. Can you imagine "smoking" w/ coal?
Ah, good point about the coal fired..... Admittedly though, hearing "coal fired pizza" has always kinda made something in my mind go "huh?"....
Makes you think doesn't it. First thing to come to mind for me is , coal = smokin like a steam engine and a soot covered pizza. There are some coal fired pizza here in New Haven that are said to some of the best on the planet. Really good stuff!
Hands down best pizza I've ever had. John's Pizzeria in Times Square NYC. I heard all the hype and had to try it out, did not disappoint. I've had lots of wood fired too. If you ever get the chance, try it (coal fired in general, not just John's).
Pizza oven needs to be rippin hot...when a fire is that hot there isn't much smoke and that's why you don't get smoky smell/flavor on pizza...and why coal fired works so well.
There is a local place that goes around to all the rib burnoffs that uses a portable coal fired pit...I personally don't love the flavor...some do though.
It’s not just said to be the best, it is the best. That’s in my opinion which don’t mean jack but still, New Haven pizza is incredible. The clam pie from pepes is top 5 best things I’ve ever eaten. In Brooklyn you have Di Fara which is my favorite in NYC. And yeah, you get little to no smoke flavor transfer to the pizza in a wood/coal oven. Like lukem said there’s barely any smoke and the pie is in there for only about 1-3 minutes tops.
I had a coal fired pizza from a place that disassembled / moved / reassembled an old brick oven from Italy. The family moved over and brought their oven (that had been in the family forever) with them. It was really good.
fishingpol used to have an outdoor pizza oven that produced some awesome looking pizzas and other things. He hasn't been on much since he moved and doesn't have an outdoor oven anymore. You might be able to go back through the old threads and find his cooking threads. He usually showed the whole process from lighting the fire to the awesome delicious looking results. edit: I don't seem to be able to call up his name on the FHC website edit: It helps if you spell the name right!
fishingpol has a pizza oven that travels. Go to page 5 of this gtg thread and you'll see the efforts and results NE g2g has begun!
