Aspettando Identità... Luca Pezzetta’s two new pizzas are fantastic

Aspettando Identità Golose, waiting for Identità Golose was the dinner event organised in Rome a couple of weeks ago, a sort of preview before the Congress was postponed [and Italy was locked down]. A nice event, desired by one of the main partners of the congress, Birra del Borgo. We report about it here because it took place at L'Osteria di Birra del Borgo – an osteria where pizza plays an important role – and because its protagonist was Luca Pezzetta, "Best chef pizzaiolo" for the Guida Identità Golose 2020. On this occasion he presented a delicious menu made of six tastings of pizza and meant for a selected group of food reporters. Among the pizzas, two were created especially for the congress: it was a sort of dress rehearsal. And a very successful one at that.

Some might say we’re biased. Too bad, who cares. Because we can ensure you that our tasting was of the highest quality, as one can expect from the talented Pezzetta. And among the three pizzas we liked the most, there were the two debuting ones. Remarkable.

So here are the new-borns. The first is called Birra solida: it’s a pizza cooked in the baking tin with barley must with ricotta and citrus fruits and dried beef smoked with hop. The pizza-chef basically started from the ingredients used to make beer (starting from the natural fermentation of the barley, in the dough) and made slices that were fully in line with the style of Identità, that is to say creative, refined, complex. Not an easy pizza, but a very elegant one: bitter (hop), sweet, citrusy, milky, irony, salty (the brine of the beef), umami, sour (from the beer draff). Really special, not for everyone.

The other tasting was more inclusive, but didn’t lack in nobleness and elegance. In fact, it was even more complete because taste and style were in a perfect match. The pizza is called Minestra di broccoli e arzilla, it recalls a typical Roman dish (arzilla is the local name for thornback ray, cooked in a fish stock), «it was always in the menu, in my granddad’s restaurant. Besides, this is the best season for Roman broccoli...». The dough is both intense and ethereal, the slice is truly delicious, with a nice play on textures. «I served it last because it’s more complex, in my opinion», said Pezzetta. True: and you could have more and more…

The other pizzas we tasted:

Risotto, tartufo bianchetto e spinaci was the first pizza served. The dough has 50% made with rice, and seasoned with spinach and butter from Alveti & Camusi and bianchetto truffle. «It’s a sort of entrée», Pezzetta explains. Delicate, elegant.

La giudia incontra la romana: a celebration of Rome, the topping is made with artichokes cooked in the Roman style and fried artichokes alla giudia. The dough is cooked in the pan, Pezzetta calls it the "antifocaccia", «it’s a bit of a mascotte to us», made with mother yeast and toasted seeds inside.

Tonno e cipolla: after Birra solida another round dough in the Neapolitan style, topped with onions from Tropea baked with the pizza, plus buffalo milk mozzarella, carpaccio of tuna marinated in oil, salt and pepper for a few hours and some powdered fermented onion to add acidity.

Il siciliano e l'aringa: round dough, in the Neapolitan style, seasoned with grilled broccoli with aromatic herbs (thyme, mint...) that add aroma during the baking, and then fior di latte, cream of toasted almonds, toasted almonds and smoked herrings.

Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso