Does Sasha Vezenkov Like Candy Corn? Pineapple On Pizza?

Capt. Factorial

ceterum censeo delendum esse Argentum
Staff member
#3
ok now do pineapple on pizza.
I mean, obviously excessively maligned. Not necessarily worth much in a combo, where it can stand a bit out of place, and downright bizarre as a topping alone. But paired with a salty, fatty pork product - chunk bacon being my favorite - it really packs a punch. Mind you, not the classic Hawaiian paired with what I grew up calling "Canadian bacon" and now seems more likely to be called "ham", as that lacks both the salt and fat levels to really get the best out of the pineapple. Bacon, pepperoni, salami, sausage, with bacon being the best of these.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#4
I mean, obviously excessively maligned. Not necessarily worth much in a combo, where it can stand a bit out of place, and downright bizarre as a topping alone. But paired with a salty, fatty pork product - chunk bacon being my favorite - it really packs a punch. Mind you, not the classic Hawaiian paired with what I grew up calling "Canadian bacon" and now seems more likely to be called "ham", as that lacks both the salt and fat levels to really get the best out of the pineapple. Bacon, pepperoni, salami, sausage, with bacon being the best of these.
I am a pepperoni and pineapple guy myself. I will eat the Hawaiian if the pepperoni pizza disappears from the group party order, but I don't understand why pineapple and pep didn't become the default.

Also I don't understand why when pepperoni pizzas get devoured at parties why people keep ordering 2 pep pizzas in say an 8 pizza order. WTF.
 

iowamcnabb

Hall of Famer
#5
I would generally consider myself a pizza purist but I’ve never had a problem with Pineapple on pizza. It can work quite well actually and my go to pizza at a local place (before I opened my pizzeria) was a cheese with garlic and pineapple. Pungency from the Garlic paired with the sweetness and slight bitterness of pineapple paired well with an aged mozzarella.
 
#11
I would generally consider myself a pizza purist but I’ve never had a problem with Pineapple on pizza. It can work quite well actually and my go to pizza at a local place (before I opened my pizzeria) was a cheese with garlic and pineapple. Pungency from the Garlic paired with the sweetness and slight bitterness of pineapple paired well with an aged mozzarella.
I am a pepperoni and pineapple guy myself. I will eat the Hawaiian if the pepperoni pizza disappears from the group party order, but I don't understand why pineapple and pep didn't become the default.

Also I don't understand why when pepperoni pizzas get devoured at parties why people keep ordering 2 pep pizzas in say an 8 pizza order. WTF.
I mean, obviously excessively maligned. Not necessarily worth much in a combo, where it can stand a bit out of place, and downright bizarre as a topping alone. But paired with a salty, fatty pork product - chunk bacon being my favorite - it really packs a punch. Mind you, not the classic Hawaiian paired with what I grew up calling "Canadian bacon" and now seems more likely to be called "ham", as that lacks both the salt and fat levels to really get the best out of the pineapple. Bacon, pepperoni, salami, sausage, with bacon being the best of these.
With these proclamations you are wantonly and recklessly careening the world into WWIII. I'll include a warning directly from the Italian Ambassador below.


It's ok to pair fruit with meats, the traditional old world pairing of pork is with plum. Pineapple and pork is the tropical interpretation of this. However you risk international conflict when you try to put pineapple on pizza and merge foods against the Will of the People.

Trust me, the last thing we Italians want to do is put global embargos on Sauce, Parmigiano, Chianti, Olive Oil or any other Essential Materials needed for World Peace through Gastronomical Satisfaction. Italy is keenly aware of the role it plays in cooling global tensions in this way.

It starts with pineapple on pizza, it ends with Mussolini.
 
#12
With these proclamations you are wantonly and recklessly careening the world into WWIII
.
it’s a risk I’m willing to take.

ill add this: most people who don’t like pineapple on pizza fall into 3 camps

1) don’t like pineapple
2) have never had pineapple on pizza
3) don’t like sweet elements mixed with savory

I can respect the third camp even if I don’t agree.

my bigger pet peeves for pizza are

1) overloaded pies. Midwesterners in particular like as many toppings on the pizza as possible and too much cheese
2) ranch dippers. Sometimes a creamy element uplifts a dish but I don’t consider pizza crusts to be one of them.
 
#14
it’s a risk I’m willing to take.

ill add this: most people who don’t like pineapple on pizza fall into 3 camps

1) don’t like pineapple
2) have never had pineapple on pizza
3) don’t like sweet elements mixed with savory

I can respect the third camp even if I don’t agree.

my bigger pet peeves for pizza are

1) overloaded pies. Midwesterners in particular like as many toppings on the pizza as possible and too much cheese
2) ranch dippers. Sometimes a creamy element uplifts a dish but I don’t consider pizza crusts to be one of them.
I have a long standing policy against "themed foods". This is when you take a traditional classic, don't even have to use an Italian example here, like a cheeseburger, even a bacon cheeseburger. All good. Wonderful in fact. Pickles, onions, lettuce, tomato, mustard, ketchup. Heck even put some mayo on there. All legal. What will be outlawed and strictly enforced when my heirs re-conquer the world will be the "BBQ burger" and the "Southwest Burger". It will be a literal crime to desecrate the gastronomical heritage of many a good people for the sake of sounding quirky on a menu. Absolute travesty. Life in prison.

At such a time, the world will once again know the secure feeling of the great "Roman Peace".
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#15
I don't care for most sauces. I can work with mayo, otherwise the only one I care for is BBQ sauce.
 
#16
I have a long standing policy against "themed foods". This is when you take a traditional classic, don't even have to use an Italian example here, like a cheeseburger, even a bacon cheeseburger. All good. Wonderful in fact. Pickles, onions, lettuce, tomato, mustard, ketchup. Heck even put some mayo on there. All legal. What will be outlawed and strictly enforced when my heirs re-conquer the world will be the "BBQ burger" and the "Southwest Burger". It will be a literal crime to desecrate the gastronomical heritage of many a good people for the sake of sounding quirky on a menu. Absolute travesty. Life in prison.

At such a time, the world will once again know the secure feeling of the great "Roman Peace".
Is there a lasagna burger exemption?
https://ohsweetbasil.com/lasagna-burger-recipe/
 

Capt. Factorial

ceterum censeo delendum esse Argentum
Staff member
#21
What will be outlawed and strictly enforced when my heirs re-conquer the world will be the "BBQ burger" ... It will be a literal crime to desecrate the gastronomical heritage of many a good people for the sake of sounding quirky on a menu.
I think one would have to be completely oblivious to at least the last 30 years of U.S. gastronomy to think that putting BBQ sauce (and maybe an onion ring) on a bacon cheeseburger is "quirky". The BBQ/Western burger is one of the default burgers at this point.
 
#22
I have a long standing policy against "themed foods". This is when you take a traditional classic, don't even have to use an Italian example here, like a cheeseburger, even a bacon cheeseburger. All good. Wonderful in fact. Pickles, onions, lettuce, tomato, mustard, ketchup. Heck even put some mayo on there. All legal. What will be outlawed and strictly enforced when my heirs re-conquer the world will be the "BBQ burger" and the "Southwest Burger". It will be a literal crime to desecrate the gastronomical heritage of many a good people for the sake of sounding quirky on a menu. Absolute travesty. Life in prison.

At such a time, the world will once again know the secure feeling of the great "Roman Peace".
im not a themed food guy myself but I don’t consider pineapple a “theme” I think it has been mislabeled so because of “Hawaiian” pizza which if it was actually Hawaiian would have spam on it and not ham.

when your heirs re-conquer civilization they should keep simplicity and quality as their core doctrine but still allow for non-traditionalism.

“Ye hath declare, just as the Sicilians raisin thy meatballs, thy lowly peasant shall not be banished for fruiting thy pizza”
 
#25
I have a hot take.

Eat what you like. Don't let people shame you.

Unless you eat actual garbage.
I generally agree but that’s also how we end up with a bunch of crap eateries. Restaurants feel pressured into serving “what people want” leading to larger menus with lower quality items, more waste and more highly processed items they don’t make themselves. Obviously that doesn’t apply to cooking food at home
 
#27
I generally agree but that’s also how we end up with a bunch of crap eateries. Restaurants feel pressured into serving “what people want” leading to larger menus with lower quality items, more waste and more highly processed items they don’t make themselves. Obviously that doesn’t apply to cooking food at home
Oh, so like, that is included in actual garbage in my mind. ;)
 
#28
I think one would have to be completely oblivious to at least the last 30 years of U.S. gastronomy to think that putting BBQ sauce (and maybe an onion ring) on a bacon cheeseburger is "quirky". The BBQ/Western burger is one of the default burgers at this point.
And it's been an affront to decent, burger-loving people for each of those thirty years. A 30-year ongoing gastronomical crime is still a crime.
 
#30
That looks like a gussied up sloppy Joe to me.

I love pineapple and I'm not a pizza purist (pear and gorgonzola with arugula is one of my go tos) but pineapple on pizza has just never worked for me.

Now pineapple with some al Pastor pork? Yes.
Oh yes. This was actually created by Lebanese immigrants to Mexico in the 1930s - Notice the al pastor pork is cooked like schwarma.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_pastor