Watching Mario Batali shovel a pizza topped with chopped tomatoes, wet chunks of fresh mozzarella and grilled artichokes into his crackling outdoor pizza oven, it is easy to imagine you are in a hill town outside Bologna, perhaps even in Borgo Capanne, where Mr. Batali apprenticed for three years at a trattoria. The surrounding spruce trees and the wind off the lake only add to the air of authenticity, as does the wood smoke that plumes out from the top of the brick oven and the smell of baking bread.
But, dude, get this: He's in Michigan. I know, right?
Mr. Batali’s outdoor pizza oven was installed their second summer in the house (it was shipped from Italy) and soon after, an outdoor kitchen was added, complete with a Big Green Egg, a large oval ceramic smoker in which Mr. Batali makes, among other dishes, paella. “Since I can’t cook it over a fire of vine clippings like they do in Spain, I bought this,” he said.
Yet the pizza oven is the main food focus of Mr. Batali’s Michigan life. “I will make 30 pizzas in one night if we have friends over,” he said, stretching and throwing dough into a second pizza with green olives and three peppers — one Peppadew and two guindillas. Though the children prefer plain pizzas, they once made one with barbecued sparerib meat, and Michael Moore, who was in town recently for the Traverse City Film Festival, came over for a sausage pizza.
On a side note, if you've been considering aping Mario and getting an outdoor wood-burning pizza oven but can't swing having it imported from Italy—or if you can't fathom building one yourself—I just read about a portable wood-burning oven that's small and sits on a roll-about iron stand. The Beehive oven, imported from Portugal by a company out of California, runs $1,495, is 33 inches in diameter (exterior) and 25 inches tall. I checked into shipping, and it will vary depending on where you live, but the cheapest option for shipping to my ZIP code in Brooklyn was $636. I'm considering a purchase ...
Photograph of Mario Batali's pizza oven from New York Times; photograph of Beehive oven from Al Fresco Imports
Adam, I've got a book as well and lacking the masonry skills sucks.
That Sunset link is the best i've seen...somewhere between that pile of bricks that floats around the internet and the massive undertaking that is fornobravo. I may have to give it a try.
Yeah. That link that dksbook provided is great. Using the half barrel as a form to build around gives me all sorts of ideas. I may have to look around for something that could serve as a form for a much smaller oven -- something along the lines of the Beehive. I'm sure the Beehive is much better than doing it DIY, since the people building it probably have years of experience, but who knows.
Brian: I did get your "nagging" email, which is why I *finally* got around to posting the Mario link, thanks. Forgot to add the pizza recipe link. I'll go back into the post and add it. Neglected to to give you a tip'o'the hat. Will do so.
Thanks for commenting! Your comment has been accepted and will appear in a moment.
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it pleasant. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
Print
From last week's New York Times Travel section—Mario Batali and family kickin' it Michigan style. Naturally, the pizza-oven bits caught my eye. (That's Batali's imported wood-burner at right.)
On a side note, if you've been considering aping Mario and getting an outdoor wood-burning pizza oven but can't swing having it imported from Italy—or if you can't fathom building one yourself—I just read about a portable wood-burning oven that's small and sits on a roll-about iron stand. The Beehive oven, imported from Portugal by a company out of California, runs $1,495, is 33 inches in diameter (exterior) and 25 inches tall. I checked into shipping, and it will vary depending on where you live, but the cheapest option for shipping to my ZIP code in Brooklyn was $636. I'm considering a purchase ...
12 Comments:
Make it yourself:
http://www.sunset.com/sunset/garden/article/0,20633,690891,00.html
dksbook at 5:50PM on 08/20/07
Thanks for the link, dksbook! I've considered making one myself.
Therefore, the Beehive looks perfect, but if I move and I end up moving to an apartment with no backyard access, I'd have wasted two grand, basically.
I have a book at home about building your own brick oven. I'll see if it has any small, affordable, realistic plans for someone in my situation.
Adam Kuban at 5:56PM on 08/20/07
Adam, I've got a book as well and lacking the masonry skills sucks.
That Sunset link is the best i've seen...somewhere between that pile of bricks that floats around the internet and the massive undertaking that is fornobravo. I may have to give it a try.
Prairie at 6:46PM on 08/20/07
Yeah. That link that dksbook provided is great. Using the half barrel as a form to build around gives me all sorts of ideas. I may have to look around for something that could serve as a form for a much smaller oven -- something along the lines of the Beehive. I'm sure the Beehive is much better than doing it DIY, since the people building it probably have years of experience, but who knows.
Adam Kuban at 8:52PM on 08/20/07
Adam --- I thought for sure you were going to post a link to Mario's pizza recipe as well. Didn't you get my nagging email? Here's the article on NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/16/travel/escapes/17pizza.html?ex=1188014400&en=2fb5a549f7d45beb&ei=5070&emc=eta1
BrianPrestonCampbell at 9:11PM on 08/20/07
After it is built, invite all of us SE fans over for a slice of pizza!
JEP at 9:16PM on 08/20/07
Brian: I did get your "nagging" email, which is why I *finally* got around to posting the Mario link, thanks. Forgot to add the pizza recipe link. I'll go back into the post and add it. Neglected to to give you a tip'o'the hat. Will do so.
Adam Kuban at 9:48PM on 08/20/07
JEP: I'll have to decide if my hole of an apartment is suitable for anyone to see ... :(
Adam Kuban at 9:49PM on 08/20/07
That would be some underwhelming dough.
Yikes.
Prairie at 10:02PM on 08/20/07
That DIY project looks quite cool, but what would the total cost be vs. purchasing something easier?
Smylie at 11:21AM on 08/21/07
Have you seen Kiko Denzer's book? I've made ovens from it before. It's fast, cheap and easy and burns for hours-- in a good way.
chouxchef at 2:44PM on 08/21/07
What I would give to play Iron Chef in Mario's living room while he makes pizzas for me in the backyard...
how is his wife so tiny?!
rebeccadiamond at 2:57PM on 08/21/07