"Secerts from inside the Pizzaria" Book-Do you have it?

[Fullback66]

I saw the book and DVD on the bottom of the forum. I was wondering if anyone owns this book and thinks it was a good buy?

Please let me know.
fb66

http://www.pizzeria-secrets.com/?gclid=CO_-teb235ACFQKHPAodhHzkYw

[Pete-zza]

fb66,

The reactions of members on this item have been mixed, as noted here: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,4363.msg36475.html#msg36475.

Peter

[sourdough girl]

fb66,
Before I found this forum, I had started my quest for a Tommy's Pizza (NE PA, 50's-60's) clone recipe to replicate the pizza of my childhood in Exeter, PA.  I bought (actually downloaded) the book and video.  Bev Collins is a very friendly, helpful person (we are still in touch once in a while) and the book has some useful info for the newbie.  If you spend any time on this forum, you will find her "secrets" and then some!!  Since she has spent time emailing me with responses to my questions and she is making a living selling her secrets (plus I am an artist myself and understand copyrights and proprietary information), I do not feel right blurting out those "secrets" on this public platform.  Suffice to say that if you spend some time studying this forum as well as the PMQ Think Tank, you will not need her DVD and book.

That said, I repeat that she is a friendly and helpful person who is HERSELF a resource, but only if you purchase her material.  She spent MANY years in R&D for a MAJOR chain, so she is a wealth of info.  Also, when I purchased her products (it was several years ago) she included a link to a webstite that was a repository of clone recipes of MANY major chains.  I think it was called "Top Secret Famous Recipes" or something like that... and that was interesting, too.  Some of the recipes were really good.

So, for $30, you DO get some good information, all in one place and easy to read.  And a video.  You will find all that information here, with the ever-watchful, ever-helpful Pete-zza to guide you...  but it can be overwhelming for the newbie because there is SO much information!     I view her book as one more reference in my library of cookbooks.  I've purchased books by Evelyne Slomon, Dominick DeAngelis... why not Bev Collins?  If you look at it as a reference book and not a book of "SECRETS", it's a reasonable investment.

~sd

[Fullback66]

pete,
Some people get very upset about the book.  No matter who you listen to or what you read you can always learn something. Be it good or bad. Hopefully you surround yourself with positive information and not garbage.
 
I have not read the book. I have not even looked at everything in this web site. As I said before I am learning as I go. I like to pull information from everywhere. I try not to spend allot of money doing it though. Maybe that is what some people think about the book. Why spend the money when all the information is on this website.

fb66

sd, thanks for your helpful information.

[Pete-zza]

fb66,

Having been around this forum a long time and having fielded a lot of questions from budding pizza makers, I think that it is a good idea for a beginning pizza maker to start with a book on the subject rather than relying on the forum simply because it is free. The advantage of a book—pretty much any book—is that it is organized--with a beginning, a middle, and an end. By contrast, this forum is a collection of discussions on disparate subjects entered in chronological order and organized only through a system of indexing. Trying to learn about pizza making from the forum is like reading a book starting with the index rather than the table of contents. You will inevitably be overwhelmed and confused by the volume and complexity of information (it’s like drinking water from a firehose). When I first came to the forum, it was possible to read all of the posts and learn the basics of pizza making by doing so, which I did. That is still possible today, but you would have to have a lot of free time on your hands to do it. Most are unable or unwilling to make that commitment.

So, if you are truly interested in becoming a serious pizza maker, I suggest that you start out with a book on the subject of pizza. I don’t really think it matters which book you choose. There are several mentioned at the front end of the forum at http://www.pizzamaking.com/pizza_books.html. A lot of these books can be found used at very reasonable prices at amazon.com and elsewhere. I found a used copy of Evelyne Slomon’s book (now out of print) at amazon.com for less than the price of a Starbuck’s double mocha latte. What you want to get is a basic grounding in the subject, with a beginning, a middle and an end. Once you have that framework, the forum is a good way to fill in the blanks because you know enough to be able to effectively and intelligently ask questions and use the indexing system and other tools on the forum. It is also the most economical and efficient use of everyone's time.

Peter

[Fullback66]

Very good advice. Maybe I will do some research to find a used book.
fb66