Pizza being cooked (quickly!) in the Kalamazoo Artisan Fire Pizza Oven
It’s almost May. After enduring the winter-long coop-up in their kitchens, for millions of Americans at this time of year begin imagining something that isn’t quite there yet: the bewitching aroma of wood doing a controlled burn underneath a wire rack. It will soon to be topped by luscious steaks, just-held-together buttery hamburgers, spicy Italian sausages, rib lamb chops with striations of meat-fat-meat-fat, and, of course, chickens in all their grilled glory (whether the concept is plain old Southern with BBQ sauce flare-ups, or the meticulously marinated gai yang from Thailand, in all its lemongrass-inflected glory). Grilling is a kind of religion in America; some families come to “church” every night from May to September to participate in its rituals.
Nothing new here: this has been going on for decades in America…the essential element of Man Meets Fire never changing. But the backyard chef himself (or herself) has changed a lot. We are now a nation of foodies…and foodies want new toys, new ways to cook old things, not to mention new things to cook.
Rising out of the zeitgeist is a dream company from the Midwest, Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet. And what they’re up to may just put you on a collision course this summer with the best pizza you’ve ever made at home (a pizza which actually tops a lot of pizzeria pizza, too!).
The joy of a new gastronomic conquest!
Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet launched in 1906 as a high-grade producer of sheet metal—then, as now, cutting, forming, welding, finishing and assembling their own metal in a Michigan factory. As the company developed in the 20th century, they gravitated towards special purposes: sheet metal for the holding of dairy products, and for outdoor cooking devices. In the late 1990s, Kalamazoo reached a turning point with the invention of the Hybrid Fire Grill. With lots of foodie backyard chefs suddenly arguing over the respective virtues of gas grills-vs.-charcoal grills-vs.-wood grills, Kalamazoo came up with an innovative idea: why choose just one? Their batterie of outdoor equipment always offers the user the choice of fuel…with ingenious corners, trays, rolling shelves, etc. in which to place different kinds of fuels…always relying on gas as the base of the system. Even diehard anti-gas backyard chefs—the hardwood crowd—have to admit that Kalamazoo grills provide the great flavor of wood and charcoal, with the wildly more convenient starting capability of gas.
Add to this pyro-flexibility some of the sturdiest grill construction in grills today—you do learn a thing or two when in the artisanal sheet-metal business for over 100 years—and Kalamazoo is not far off in claiming that their product is “the Rolls-Royce of backyard cooking.”
Anticipating my own grilling season, I went to the commodious Kalamazoo showroom in Chicago, just six weeks ago, just as nature was beginning its warm up of both sylvan woods and silver backyards.
And that’s when I first met the Kalamazoo Artisan Fire Pizza Oven (base price: $6,895), with which I fell in immediate love.
It is designed for outdoor use only, though it can go on a countertop. The designers at Kalamazoo will help you figure out where to place it in your backyard, or sell you the perfect pedestal. It is a gas grill, but you are able to lay hardwood on the pizza oven floor. If you take the gas-only route, your preheat is mere minutes. There are two sources of heat, above and below, each one adjustable by itself; this means you could make the floor hotter for better charring on the underside, or make the overhead heat higher for greater melting and charring on top. Of course, pizza needs lots of heat, high heat, so you can finish off a pie in 2-3 minutes. The indoor oven in your kitchen never goes above 550 degrees, so it’s not suited to pizza; the Kalamazoo Artisan Fire Pizza goes as high as 800 degrees…much better!
Once your oven is installed, it’s time to get to the pizza making. I like to make a yeasty dough, and let it ferment/rise over 24 hours. You do the classic throw-around (not rolling, which makes the dough tougher), until you have a smallish circle (8-10” diameter is good). Top it with a little tomato sauce (good pizza is not loaded down), and slices or shreds of mozzarella (my preference is supermarket mozzarella because the fresh, high-quality stuff leaks water on your pizza! Save that for Insalata Caprese!) I also like to sprinkle some Pecorino Romano on top of the mozz. A chiffonade of fresh basil, or a few pinches of dried oregano leaves, drizzles of good olive oil all around…
…and you’re three minutes away from pizza happiness.
The finished product from the Kalamazoo Artisan Fire Pizza Oven
Repeat as often as necessary.
Kalamazoo has all the pizza accoutrements as well, like a lightweight but durable pizza peel! Click here for information about the Kalamazoo Artisan Fire Pizza Oven and other Kalamazoo products.
images: David Rosengarten and Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet
