NJ Boardwalk Pizza

[PizzaEater101]

PizzaEater101,

Great to hear your wife and you thought your pizza was good.  I like how you were inventive in using what ingredients you had.  I never heard of anyone using bacon grease in pizza dough, but maybe I just haven’t seen a post of someone using bacon grease in pizza dough.   

I enjoyed hearing about your pseudo Boardwalk Pizza. Your pizza making adventure sounded like the Wild, Wild West.  I really didn’t come up with the idea of using a ketchup bottle to use for applying the sauce. 

It would be interesting to hear what kind of boardwalk pizza you have in your area.  You never know, there might be some great pies there. 

If you want me to find the links on this thread what the boardwalk in Wildwood looks like, let me know and I will find the links.

Norma

Norma I'd love to see the links you have for the Boardwalk in New Jersey.  Hey I love the song "Under The Boardwalk" by the Drifters, I take it that song is about the Boardwalk you mention.

[Essen1]

Essen, I'm in the greater Los Angeles area.  Not LA proper but the suburbs.  It's safe and clean where I am but I say the wild west because for the most part it's pretty crazy here and not much has changed since the days of the old west here in LA.  No, I'm not 125 years old to have lived back then and now but I can imagine it's just crazy in a different but similar way now than it was then.  I don't praise bad behavior but this is the wild west still.

I think in the old days Long Beach had a Boardwalk where the old amusement park is and has been restored.  Venice Beach had one and still does in a way but I don't think it's an authentic one. Same with Santa Monica  I should see if they have some pizza there.  I think I saw some never tried. 

The pics of Santa Cruz makes me think that the movie The Lost Boys with Keifer Sutherland was filmed there.  Looks like it though.

PE101,

I saw that Long Beach Boardwalk in its current state. Should be preserved because Cali doesn't have much of that kind of heritage.

I'm in the SF Bay Area, Marin County. Had a girlfriend from Lakewood for about three years so I know a little bit about the location. Smog killed me, though. I couldn't live there, sorry. No disrespect intended.

But yes, Santa Cruz it was. I didn't know that.

http://www.fast-rewind.com/locations_lostboys.htm

[PizzaEater101]

PE101,

I saw that Long Beach Boardwalk in its current state. Should be preserved because Cali doesn't have much of that kind of heritage.

I'm in the SF Bay Area, Marin County. Had a girlfriend from Lakewood for about three years so I know a little bit about the location. Smog killed me, though. I couldn't live there, sorry. No disrespect intended.

But yes, Santa Cruz it was. I didn't know that.

http://www.fast-rewind.com/locations_lostboys.htm

No disrespect taken my good man.  Even though I live here this is a trash bin but I love it.  I'm so LA.  It's like this, there are good and bad parts here.  I live in the good part and go to the good parts and seldom go to the bad areas but overall this is not so nice.  Go to Miami, now that is nice.  But in recent years the smog has not been as bad as it used to be.  Not sure why just is not as bad.  It's fairly breathable though now. 

I have not been to the LB Boardwalk but I have seen it from a distance.  Maybe distance of half a mile but I never actually go there.  Years ago when filming the Six Million Dollar Man they found a mummified person that turned out to be from the old west.  Some how he ended up there closed in some boarded off room.  They thought it was a dummy for the Boardwalk of yesteryear until an arm came off and they noticed he was real and human and did research and he was from the old west. 

Isn't Santa Cruz a big time skateboarding and surfing town?  Maybe with you in No Cal you can make No Cal a big time pizza local!

Thanks for the link.  So I was right that was the Boardwalk of Santa Cruz.  I was right!

[norma427]

Norma I'd love to see the links you have for the Boardwalk in New Jersey.  Hey I love the song "Under The Boardwalk" by the Drifters, I take it that song is about the Boardwalk you mention.

PizzaEater101,

Here is how the song “Under the Boardwalk” came about.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_the_Boardwalk   When I was a teenager back in the 60's that was considered a raunchy song, because most thought the song said, "We'll be making love", under the Boardwalk.  Times have sure changed in what kind of songs there are today. I also love the song, “Under the Boardwalk”.  It was a favorite song of my father’s and now is even a favorite song of my granddaughters.  My father and mother took me to Wildwood many times when I was small.  I have great memories of Wildwood.  Each year when they would add a more wicked amusement rides, my father and I would try out that ride and also have so much fun in the ocean at Wildwood.  This is a song written about Wildwood and sung by Bobby Rydell. 

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUUmdTOZUck" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUUmdTOZUck</a>

  Some of my Wildwood Days were “wild”, especially during my teen years.    Dancing to the “Twist” and seeing all those up and coming performers at dances in Wildwood, will always live in my memories.  That is one reason I think Mack’s pizza is so special to me, even after all these years.
 
The Wildwood boardwalk is about 2 miles long.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boardwalk#Wildwood.2C_New_Jersey

This is where I replied with two links about Wildwood’s boardwalk. Reply 203 http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,9068.msg97693.html#msg97693 In Reply 226 I posted on what a trip to Wildwood was like with pictures in the following posts.  http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,9068.msg97919.html#msg97919

If you are interested, I did a forum search on using bacon grease in a dough.  This is what I found.  Reply 72 by ZekeTheCat http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,2061.msg71347.html#msg71347 Another post by ZekeTheCat at Reply 7 http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,3092.msg26373.html#msg26373 and a post by Jackitup at Reply 10  http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,6383.msg55029.html#msg55029

Norma

[PizzaEater101]

Norma, thank you for the links.  I am listening to the Bobby Rydell song right now.  It's great.  I never heard it before so it's good you sent me the link. I know his other songs but didn't know this one.

Man I had no idea that "Under The Boardwalk" was considered dirty in the old days.  I was born in 1967 so I never heard the song until I was about 15 or 16 in the early '80s but I did love it instantly.  To me when I heard it and still hear it, it does not sound dirty.  "Making Love" I always thought they meant a guy and girl going out and being in love and holding hands and kissing.  I figured in the days of yesteryear making love the term was not meant as something dirty but just meant what it was called, "making love" in other words in love.  Nowadays music is very bad.  Not all but a lot of music is very dirty in nature and it's too bad because it was never like that.  Even in the early '80s current music of the time was not that dirty, now and then yeah but nowadays it's so bad.

[PizzaEater101]

Thanks for the links Norma.  I just read the info on the song "Under The Boardwalk" and the one on the Boardwalk as well.  It was very interesting.

I checked your post on the Boardwalk and your photos.  If I ever make it backeast I will make sure I go to the Boardwalk and try some Mack's.  I should put up some photos of our very own Santa Monica Pier.  Not a boardwalk but kinda reminds me of it.

Thanks for the link on the bacon grease thing. I will read it.  I have not yet but gonna now.  I'm curious about how people feel about bacon grease in their dough and how they turned out.

Man I wanna make another Boardwalk pie but this time I get the ketchup bottle because it would sure help.

[PizzaEater101]

Oh here is a link to a song and video called "I Love LA" by Randy Newman. He's well known for the song "Short People" but this song made everyone forget about "Short People" and think of "I Love LA".  This is the best we can do in So Cal in terms of these kind of boardwalk places.  Venice Beach is shown here.  Believe me VB is a mess.  Bums and scummy people and weird people all over the place but I go there sometimes but not often.  This song was released I believe 1984.  It appears that members of Toto are in this video too.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le5aIqn_MfE" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le5aIqn_MfE</a>

[PizzaEater101]

It's me again with another posting!  I made another pie.  I made a pseudo Mack's again. 

This time I did use a squeeze bottle and the whole thing was better than last time.  I didn't do the sauce layout as well as some of the others here but it was pretty good.  For cheese I used about 10% Muenster, 45% Fontina, and 45% white mild cheddar.  It turned out good.  As usual a 12 inch pizza pie.  I will post photos soon.

[PizzaEater101]

Here are some pics.  Sadly when I wanted to take pics I found out the real digi cam's batteries were drained and didn't have any replacements so I took with cell camera.  Quality of photos not so great, maybe blurry but you get an idea of how my pseudo Mack's pizza turns out.

[norma427]

PizzaEater101

If you go back on Reply 71 http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,9068.msg96338.html#msg96338   you can see that on the link for Slice, on Shout-Outs, they have Mack’s and Mack and Mancos listed in the 25 vote-getters in his spreadsheets from Adam Kuban.

Good to hear you ketcup squeeze bottle worked well.  I had used a cake pastry bag in my first attempts at the Mack’s pizza.  It was Peter that gave me the idea to use a squeeze bottle at Reply 101 http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,9068.msg96820.html#msg96820

Since I am older, I grew up in the days of no TV, until I was about 5 years old and then all it was  about Howdy Doody to me.  That is why my childhood was so different than children today. The first movie I saw that made me think, was “A Summer Place” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Summer_Place_(film)#Plot  When I went to Wildwood, when I was a teen the teens the were more different than from my small town, where I grew up.  Most of them were from Philly.  That is why most peers of mine thought “Under the Boardwalk”, was questionable in the lyrics at that time.  I liked your “I Love LA” song.  I never heard that before.  I have never been to California. 

Good to hear you made another pseudo Mack's pizza again.  The photos of you pseudo Mack’s pizza look good to me.    Thanks for posting them and going along with us on this thread.    Which formula did you use for your pseudo Mack’s pizza?

Norma

[PizzaEater101]

Norma, California is okay, you didn't miss much by not coming here.  You really need to go to Florida if you have not yet.  Now that's the place to go.  Very nice.
 
The formula I got was from this thread and it might have been yours or maybe Pete's.  I think it was yours.  Well I used the percentages and used the extended calculator to figure it out for a 12 inch pizza x 2.

Flour 100%
Water 55%
IDY .35%
Salt (Kosher) 2%
Oil (I used the bacon grease) 6%
Sugar 2%
Total 165.35%

Norma thanks for the compliment on my pizza.  It did taste good!  Now a Leahmann NY Pizza I have to make. 

[PizzaEater101]

Norma, I just checked out that link and saw Mack on it.  Pretty impressive to be on the top 25 list. 

Hey wait, I see Norma's Homemade Pizza made it to the top 25 too!

[PizzaEater101]

Do any of you toss and spin the dough in the air?  I did this time and it worked out pretty good.  I'm getting better at it nowadays.  This Mack dough went well through the air and spun around quit well.  I don't know if it's the low hydration or something that caused a consistency in the dough that allowed me to spin well or I did a good job just on my own.  When I do an NY Pizza that will be the test if I can do it again.

[norma427]

PizzaEater101,

Thank for posting what formula you used.  LOL, my pizzas won’t ever made the top 25 list. I did toss and spin the dough on this thread in a video.  I am not good at tossing the dough like the Piemen at Mack’s are.  It amazes me how well they can toss the dough.  Good to hear you were able to “toss & spin the dough.”  A lower hydration dough is easier to toss in my opinion.  Keep up the good work in continuing your experiments.  Best of luck in the Lehmann dough pizza. 

Norma.

[trentonpie77]

got around to trying the acme brand longhorn mild white cheddar as has been suggested here. to me, it's not the answer. the taste is ok, but the texture when using this cheese by itself is off. somehow it's just too soft and thin after cooking.. it also lacks that classic mack and manco's 'bite.' to be clear -- my points of reference are mack and manco's ocean city, and macks on oregon ave. (not macks of wildwood.) my best results come from a mix of white cheddar and part skim mozz.       

[norma427]

got around to trying the acme brand longhorn mild white cheddar as has been suggested here. to me, it's not the answer. the taste is ok, but the texture when using this cheese by itself is off. somehow it's just too soft and thin after cooking.. it also lacks that classic mack and manco's 'bite.' to be clear -- my points of reference are mack and manco's ocean city, and macks on oregon ave. (not macks of wildwood.) my best results come from a mix of white cheddar and part skim mozz.       

trentonpie77,

Thanks for posting you did try the Acme brand of mild longhorn white cheddar and what you thought of the results in the taste.  I haven't tried a mix of any white cheddars and part-skim mozzarellas.  I don't know if we will ever find out what brand of white cheddar Mack's or Mack and Manco"s uses.  Your are right there is some kind of bite to the taste of the pie from the cheese.

Norma

[fireman117]

Hi All,

Having a great time with this thread, and can't wait to see the outcome. This pizza looks great.
In response to post 142 about the cheddar.

You see Formost coop signs in front of many dairy farms here in WI.  I believe they are a rather large outfit. Not sure how easy it is to get product from them.

Wisconsin  IS the dairy state with many other excellent cheese businesses.
You might want to check these guys out:

http://www.wegastardairy.com/

They make an excellent whole milk Mozzarella (which is available direct only), and, the other cheeses that are available through the local grocers like Pick n Save or Woodmanns Market are really good, Plus, their prices are reasonable.

They are super nice on the phone and will ship you whatever you order same day. I've had excellent experiences with them and I'll bet they can supply you with the cheddar you're looking for.  As I said their Mozzarella is excellent!

Give them a try!

Eric

[norma427]

fireman117,

Glad to hear your are having a great time in this thread.   

I do buy cheese from Foremost Farms from my distributor, but my distributor doesn’t carry any Foremost Farms cheese that tastes like Mack’s cheese.  I also tried the State Brand of cheddar with no success.  The flavors of both brands of cheese are good, but not like Mack’s.

Thanks for the link and posting about how to buy cheese from them.

I don’t know, but think only after we know exactly what kind of cheese Mack’s uses, then we might be able to purchase some to try on a Mack’s clone.

Norma

[ERASMO]

I will be back in the dumpster this summer!!!!!!

[norma427]

I will be back in the dumpster this summer!!!!!!

ERASMO,

Great to hear what you are going to be doing this coming summer.    If I have time, I might join you! 

Norma