What is Margherita Pizza?
The Traditional Marherita Pizza
There isn't anything quite like finding a pizza place that has good, real, and delicious margherita
pizza. One
that someone made fresh, each ingredient made with love and care, and brought out steaming, wafting
the aroma of
herbaceous pizza sauce, creamy, gooey mozzarella, and that sweet and peppery smell of fresh basil.
The key behind
the margherita pizzas are the care and diligence taken to prepare and pick out the ingredients,
there are only
three. The best places are never the fanciest, it is always going to be a small and hidden spot with
the warm,
trustworthy feeling of walking into an old friend's house for dinner and sitting down like you have
done many times
before this.
Where Does Margherita Pizza Come From?
This classic pizza comes straight from one of the most enriched culinary culture, Naples
Italy! The legend goes, the
margherita pizza was created by an Italian chef named Raffaele Esposito to symbolize the
union of Italy, with the
three toppings - basil, mozzarella, and tomato - representing the green, white, and red of
the Italian flag.
Rafaelle Esposito was the owner of a tavern in Naples called Pizzeria di Pietro e basta cosi
(Translation:
'Pietro's Pizzeria and that's enough'), he invented this wonderful dish in 1889, and
according to some sources it
was the first ever pizza to use mozzarella cheese. This pizza is steeped in history and
tradition, and without it,
the pizza of the modern era would not be the same.
What Makes A Traditional Margherita Pizza?
To know a traditional margherita pizza is quite simple, all it takes is a quick inspection to
find the following
ingredients. First, we need to start with a good, handmade pizza dough. This doesn’t have to
be fancy at all, just a
simple base to not muddle with the quality and fresh toppings to come. Next in line would be
the sauce, a quality
sauce is made with sweet tomatoes with some salt, basil, and hint of garlic, building atop
the dough we started
with. Next is what defines the margherita pizza, just three main ingredients. Fresh, balled
mozzarella cheese will
be the dairy of choice, followed up by some fresh basil, and finally the most overlooked
ingredient is high quality
olive oil.
When all these ingredients come together in a ripping hot pizza oven on a required pizza
stone to get the marvelous
pizza cooked evenly and bringing together the marriage of a sweet, salty, acidic, and
savoury delicacy.
Why is it called the Margherita Pizza
The name of the Margherita pizza comes from humble beginnings in Italy. The original chef, Raffaele
Esposito invented
this dish in honor of the Queen of Italy at the time, named Queen Margherita of Savoy. At the time
of the invention,
Italy wasn't exactly how we know it today, there were a number of separate states, and thanks to
Queen Margherita,
these states were joined to become the Kingdom of Italy, and after the capture of Rome, it's
consolidation was
complete, and this marvelous pizza was born not long thereafter.
