As much as a pizza exhilarates our neurons, electrifies our taste buds, and makes our mouths water, it leads to numerous debates like in Italy, they dispute over which province owns the best pizza style.
Some people love to put pineapple on their pizzas around the world. Despite many discussions, there is no argument that dough, cheese, sauce, and all other toppings make a dynamo combination of pizza that is accepted worldwide.
Pizza with cheese, pepperoni, and sausages used to be the classic, but this popular food item has advanced over the years. Detailed, crafty pizza options have won people’s hearts, although simpler pizzas have emerged as a general favorite.
Nowadays, the term ‘gourmet’ is seen everywhere since this word spontaneously makes any individual think something is more elegant or exclusive.
Gourmet Pizza Meaning
The word ‘gourmet’ originated as a French term in the early 19th century that usually described a wine taster with a distinguished palette.
Gourmet indicates visually aesthetic food that maintains a higher quality. Ingredients that are sparse or difficult to cultivate can make a food gourmet.
Gourmet food is professionally prepared with gourmet ingredients that are unique and difficult to find. This food takes longer to prepare than ordinary dishes due to the intricacy of techniques and the additional effort to ensure the overall quality.
The word pizza was first introduced around 997 AD, while traditional Italian pizza has evolved significantly since then.
The typical chain restaurants worldwide offer a simple menu of toppings in pizzas, including pepperoni, Margherita, sausage, and meat, because the ingredients are bought for cheapness rather than quality.
What Is Gourmet Pizza
On the flip side, some of the same ingredients are included in gourmet pizza, such as dough, cheese, and pizza sauce. Still, gourmet pizza adds mozzarella, spinach, Spanish onions, and roasted potatoes.
The vegetables, spices, and exclusive herbs are hand-picked that naturally complement each other. As each pizza has to maintain its uniqueness, there might be its special sauce.
For example, you may prepare one sauce from juicy tomatoes grown in Italy and blend it with cayenne to make a sweet and spicy sauce.
The topping selection of gourmet is more profound as unique ingredients like Italian sausage, Sicilian anchovies, and provolone.
Gourmet Pizza vs Regular Pizza
The main difference between a regular pizza and a gourmet pizza is that the ingredients used are top-quality and can change the taste of a pizza completely.
A gourmet pizza does not need to add artificial flavors to enhance the taste. It tries to integrate traditional Italian techniques providing authentic taste.
The unique sauces are put on freshly hand-kneaded dough rolled in flour instead of being kept in a freezer for months. The dough is made of an inimitable blend of flour, sugar, yeast, and oil. These components give a refined taste that combines the special sauce.
Several gourmet pizzas are made of layers of spices on top of the dough. At the same time, another layer of spices is integrated into the cheese. Every pizza is made with flavors and tastes through every bite.
What Makes Something Gourmet
The way of cooking high-end fresh ingredients describes the volumes of gourmet pizza. If someone manages all the exclusive components but can not cook perfectly, the pizza will not be perfect.
1. Flavor
These sensations and flavors are further emphasized by baking them on brick-oven stoves and wood fires that add a smoky taste to pizzas. Doughs are given proper time to bake evenly. When the sauces heat to a certain point, the spices and herbs blend with a unique taste on each bite.
That’s why experts suggest people conduct thorough research on preparing superior-quality ingredients before using them.
The first outcome might not be worthy of being the gourmet pizza; however, with time, one can achieve the finesse and skill that will take the pizza to the gourmet level. Even one can make fantastic gourmet food on the first try if he has expertise.
2. Presentation
Presentation is another major factor, as the pizza is for gourmet food. Although cooking needs expertise, it is just half the fight, whereas one must know how to make a gourmet pizza visually aesthetic.
The plate, platter, and color scheme are essential factors that play a crucial role in the presentation of gourmet pizza.
3. Price
A gourmet pizza is high and mighty due to the essential accuracy required to prepare it. A chef is an artist who prepares the food and decorates it with full attention. Food with standard quality and unique design may fetch a stratospheric price.
Hence, gourmet pizza superintends higher pricing. They produced the most expensive gourmet pizza in Salerno, Italy, named Louis XIII, trading for around $12,000.
Additionally, gourmet pizzas represent diversified cultures rather than only classic American or Italy. Gourmet pizzas are substantially more cultured and all-embracing. Mediterranean, Grecian Alfredo, and the Greek way are some of the different gourmet pizzas with unquestionable flare meant to fill in all sorts of taste buds.
4. Toppings
Since the gourmet pizza has no limitation of toppings, it provides pizza lovers with a magnificent experience and a healthier and more delicious version than the ordinary standard cheese and pepperoni pizza.
Coming to something exotic, one can think of seafood, although it’s one of the trickiest toppings. Making a clam pie is not a cakewalk if you use fresh clams instead of chopped canned clans. Shrimp is easy to deal with as a topping.
If someone is ready to try seafood as a topping, he might face issues such as spoilage, cross-contamination, and costs.
Gourmet Pizza Restaurants
Nowadays, new restaurants establish a separate dedicated menu that only contains different gourmet pizzas to distinguish the idea from the other pizza offerings.
On top of that, the idea grabs the attraction of foodies to the party with the gourmet price tag. Restaurants can charge higher prices as the ingredients used in it are exclusive. However, separating this section requires more planning.
Otherwise, everything will not go according to plan. This approach is a bit risky because a bunch of toppings might get wasted.
When someone enters a gourmet pizza restaurant, he can expect to get some rare features that familiar places don’t offer. One can get typical side dishes like wings or bread, although these are not the healthiest options.
However, gourmet pizza restaurants provide tasty sides like brick-fired bread, Caprese, and spinach salads that are tastiest but are not crusted with grease. Apart from these, gourmet pizza establishments provide delicious beverages and different hand-made drinks.
They are also experts in selling flavorsome desserts, namely cannolis, brownies, cheesecakes, and ice cream. Those who prefer dessert before dinner can order cinnamon bread.
Conclusion
The meaning of gourmet pizza can only be categorized by those who love to consume it. As the word gourmet seems prestigious, the pizza must maintain the standards to call it gourmet. The fresh, top-class gourmet pizzas should be of the highest quality without compromising on the ingredients.
Restaurants with a separate section for gourmet should never try to cut corners and be barely sufficient in size because the word “gourmet” capitalize customers’ expectations.
