Fresh out the oven and into the fire... Enter the Daiya

Get low and behold! You have just stumbled upon another Intolerant update. First gaze upon this mouth candy:

Daiya in the house for the first time right here.

Chicken and Diaya above

However, we have not abandoned Follow Your Heart .

The level of choice in Vegan Cheezez is at an all time high... But this is no time for weed jokes, as experimentation on the perfect blend of cheeses continues in the Pizza Laboratory aka my stomach.

I have a lot more ideas cooking up in my head and there are some cool updates that are in the works around here. I promise more Intolerance at the end of the year and into 2010. Until then, let me hit you with another installment of:

Pizza Sauce review #2

This time it's Mids Pizza Sauce:

INGREDIENTS: Water, Tomato Paste, Sugar, Salt, Olive Oil, Onions, Garlic, Citric Acid, Spices and Oregano.

Where to start? I'll start on the shelf at the supermarket. Mids is located with the fancy (read expensive) pizza and pasta sauces at the super market. I am instantly intrigued by the almost $4 price tag. Its a bold move, asking the consumer to invest in a more expensive sauce. If they don't like it, or notice any differences to the cheaper varieties, they won't be buying again. Not a problem with Mids. As I popped the lid and stirred the tomato concoction I instantly noticed it was theTHICKEST pizza sauce I have ever bought. Easily half tomato paste, but balanced with enough tart spices to keep it from being too sweat. In fact it might have been a little too tart. It was a really dark red and very thick. Mids comes in a smaller pint size bottle (also available in Quarts), which is kind of weird cause it has more than enough sauce for one pie, but not enough for two. I would recommend this sauce for someone who likes their sauce more tart than sweet. I would also say Mids is a standout compared to most canned sauces, but the price is a bit steep.

Intolerant rating of 7.25/10 .

Issa Eggplant Pizza

So last night I was torn between two theoretical pies: do I use eggplant for a topping, or do I use baked ziti? Now, certain persons out there would say 'Fuck it. Use both.' In time, my friend. In time. I went with the eggplant, using pre-breaded Dominex Eggplant Cutlets. As per usual, I used Follow Your Heart Mozzarella, and this time around I got lazy and used the Giant brand pizza sauce. Still a solid sauce. I pre-heated the oven to 475, rolled out the dough, sauced it, cheesed it, then put the frozen cutlets on top, sauced them lightly, cheesed them lightly, threw that bad boy in d'oven for 25 minutes and bang, shit was on point. It was an excellent, excellent pie, coming out a lot better than I thought it would. The eggplant was perfect, the cheese was melted just right, the crust was done just right...you get the point. Intolerant rating=8 out of 10, and only because I don't like tooting my own horn. I definitely recommend trying this on your own, cause eggplant is where it's at. Stay hungry.

Upside Down Pizza

So, those of you familiar with pizza in Easton will probably think of several fine institutions in the area growing up that contributed to our love of pizza. Forks Township will probably think of Sal's, or maybe one of the pizzerias on Cattell Street on College Hill. Palmer Township has Steve's Pizza, and their Sicilian sans cheese is pretty rad. Southside dwellers will doubtlessly think of my personal childhood favorite, Pino's in the old Laneco shopping center, which I maintain makes the best pizza in the world. Before going vegan, I remember planning that my last non-vegan food item would be a whole large pie from Pino's. Not to shit on the other places in Easton, but Pino's is insane. Across the river in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, there's a pizza place that makes pretty awesome pie as well. Nicholosi's has been around since my dad was a kid, and it shows that they've got experience. However, none of these places were the inspiration for the subject of this post. That inspiration comes from a joint in downtown Easton, Colonial Pizza. Probably the priciest pizza in town per square inch, what sets them apart is the fact that they put the cheese on first, and then the sauce on top. My grandfather told me there was another place in Easton years ago that used to make za like this, so maybe Colonial stole the idea from them. Either way, Colonial makes awesome pie, and this post is a tribute to them.
I started with normal pizza dough, rolled thin, stretched across a warm (not hot) pizza stone, and applied a dash each of the following: parsley, garlic, and crushed rosemary leaves. I'm probably imagining things, but I think the direct application of herbs to the crust adds a pleasant touch of flavor.

Then, I added a whole block of shredded Follow Your Heart Mozzarella spread over the crust. Nothing fancy there. Just make sure the cheese is evenly distributed, because if it's in clumps it won't melt properly and you'll end up with lumps of uncooked cheese. No one likes that. No one.

Next, the sauce. It's a sauce I made myself earlier in the day, and before I applied it I let it cool down some. I spooned it on and spread it out over the cheese, making sure that the pie was evenly covered. Make sure you get sauce over the whole pie, because it tends to dry out in the oven easily.

I cooked it on a stone at 475 for 20 minutes, and let it cool for another 10 before cutting it. Overall, I'd give it a 3 out of 5. The sauce was good. Surprisingly good, I might add. The cheese melted fine under the sauce, so that was a plus. However, the crust was a) too thick for a pie like this; because of all the cheese I added and all the sauce, a thinner crust would have been better I think, and b) because I cooked it on a stone, the crust was way too crisp on the bottom. I suspect I cooked it too long for a pizza stone, so I'll adjust for next time.

shouts to region of ice fanzine.

some 'za from a while back.

Sometimes, when Giancarlo and I make pizza, we take lots of pictures of said pizza. Why? Because some would say our pizza is too good to be true, and we want empirical documentation of it. Alas, we occasionally forget to put said pictures up, and they linger, forgotten, in the backwoods of our computers. So this post is dedicated to pizza we've made and haven't put pictures of up.