NJ Boardwalk Pizza

[norma427]

A frozen dough ball was used to make the Mack's clone pizza, yesterday.  I froze the dough ball last week.

Norma

[norma427]

The first two pictures are of a cold slice of the Mack’s clone, top and bottom.

I reheated the slice of the Mack’s clone pizza we made yesterday. The oven was heated for one hour. The slice was reheated on the baking stone to try and simulate reheating a slice at Mack’s.  The cheese did remelt nicely as can be seen on the pictures below.  The slice was still gooey and greasy.

The rim on this slice reminds me of about how flat a rim is on the Mack’s pizza.

My daughter tasted a piece of the reheated slice and although she can’t remember what Mack’s pizza tastes like, she commented on how she thought this Mack’s clone did taste like Papa Dino’s Pizza.  Papa Dino’s is a place around our area that used to make very good pizza.  I had always wondered how they also made their pizza with the unique taste.  If I get to the shore, then she will also be able to let me know if she also thinks this pizza tastes like Mack’s.

Norma

[norma427]

rest of pictures

Norma

[Kemosa]

Norma,

Your pies look awesome & just like those of M & M.  I do hope you post your final recipe (flour, sauce, cheese) once  you feel you have it as close as you can get it.  My niece who lives in S. Jersey loves Mack/Manco and I would love to be able to make a pie for her that's close to theirs.  Nice job, and thanks for your effort in showing us the way. 

Are you thinking of offering at the farmer's market in addition to your regular pie?  Maybe call it shore pizza !

[norma427]

Norma,

Your pies look awesome & just like those of M & M.  I do hope you post your final recipe (flour, sauce, cheese) once  you feel you have it as close as you can get it.  My niece who lives in S. Jersey loves Mack/Manco and I would love to be able to make a pie for her that's close to theirs.  Nice job, and thanks for your effort in showing us the way. 

Are you thinking of offering at the farmer's market in addition to your regular pie?  Maybe call it shore pizza !

Kemosa,

Thanks for saying the pies look awesome and just like Mack and Mancos.  I will post the final recipe for everything, once we can decide if this is as close as we can get the taste to Mack’s or Mack and Mancos.  After the pie is tested more at market, then hopefully it can be created at home, also.  Since Peter is also going along to experiment with this pie, his methods to mix, ingredients, weighs of sauce and cheese to apply and baking the pie at home will really be helpful.

I would also like other people that want to create this kind of pie at home to be able to taste something like their pies.  I think right now the biggest problem will be the kind of white cheddar cheese that someone can buy at their own grocery store.  I have access to different brands of cheese that many members can’t get or that are hard to purchase. I want to try and get some white cheddar from Foremost Farms.  I looked at their website and by what I can see, they only have one kind of white cheddar of the 1950-127.  I did call them today and they transferred me to someone, but all I got was a voice mail.  I will continue to work on this.  Maybe somehow I can compare the cheddar from Foremost Farms to the State Brand I just tried, in terms of fat and taste. Then it will go along the lines of something I can find at the grocery store that tastes about the same.  So far in my opinion, the sharp white cheddar from State Brand had the taste I remember, even though it was sharp white cheddar.

At this point, I don’t know if I will offer it at market or not.  When Steve and I had it sitting on the counter yesterday a couple of people ask about it.  When we told them it was an experimental pie, made with all cheddar, they didn’t even want to try it.  If someone had told me before that Mack’s or Mack and Mancos was made with all cheddar, I wouldn’t have believed them.

Hopefully we will get this right at some point,

Norma

[norma427]

This is what I hope will be my journey soon.

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

Norma

[norma427]

I talked to a sales rep at Foremost Farms this morning about their white cheddar cheese, that I thought they carried.  What I found out was they only carry 40 lb. blocks of the white cheddar cheese and there is only one kind. They don’t carry 5lb. loaves, like they do for the low moisture part-skim mozzarella, I now use in my blend.  I told the sales rep what I was trying to recreate and she suggested a blend of 70/30 mozzarella, provolone they do carry.  I know this isn’t going to work out, but she is going to send me a 5 lb. bag of this cheese to try.  Since I have talked with Foremost Farms, I don’t know if this kind of white cheddar is what Mack’s is using or if they might purchase it in 40 lb. blocks.

I wonder how I can find out what kind of distributors for cheeses there are near Wildwood, NJ. I know my distributor carries many kind of products relating to making pizza, so I am sure there are also other distributors near Wildwood, that also supply the pizza businesses at the shore their products, also. I could call them and say I might be opening a pizza business near there and try to find out what kind of cheese Mack’s might be using.  I might be able to tell them I want to use an all white cheddar and see what they carry.  Any ideas?

Norma

[Pete-zza]

Norma,

Some time ago, while I was looking for distributors in a particular state, I came across a PMQ feature at http://www.pmq.com/distributors/. That might be a good place for you to start. You may have to do a little research to see which distributors are nearest to Mack's. There is also a Vendor Directory at http://www.thepizzapages.com/pp/ and also at the Pizza Today website at http://www.pizzatoday.com/VendorDirectory/tabid/88/Default.aspx although I don't know how useful they will be for your purposes.

A point to keep in mind is that small businesses, which I think would include Mack's and Mack and Manko Pizza also, typically order all or most of their needs from a single supplier. So it is quite possible that they buy their flour from the same place they buy their cheese and sauce. If you can identify their supplier, you might get the names for flour, cheese, etc.

The only other way I can think of to get the supplier information you are looking for without information from someone who works for Mack's or M&M is to park yourself across the street from Mack's and wait for delivery trucks to show up and start unloading. That is something that budding pizza operators wishing to open up their own pizzerias sometimes do to gain intelligence on their future competitors.

Peter

[norma427]

Peter,

Thanks for all the useful information.  I will work on what I can find out about the suppliers.  Your idea is good about being there when they get their deliveries.  Don’t know if I can do that one, but maybe someone that is at the shore more often than I can be could find out that information and even then see what the name is on the delivery truck.

Norma

[ERASMO]

This is one I see alot down there:

http://www.seashorefood.com/

[norma427]

This is one I see alot down there:

http://www.seashorefood.com/

ERASMO,

Thanks for the great tip.    I will start with them and pose as a potential client.

Norma

[Pete-zza]

Norma,

I checked out the Seashore catalog at http://www.seashorefood.com/Catalog2009.pdf, and tomato/pizza sauce products are at page 14, flour products (including a high-gluten flour) are at page 18, and cheeses (including white cheddar) are at page 25.

Peter

[norma427]

Norma,

I checked out the Seashore catalog at http://www.seashorefood.com/Catalog2009.pdf, and tomato/pizza sauce products are at page 14, flour products (including a high-gluten flour) are at page 18, and cheeses (including white cheddar) are at page 25.

Peter

Peter,

Thanks and I will call them.

Norma

[Pete-zza]

Norma,

If it will help, when I call suppliers to get information my usual practice is to tell them that I am assisting a "friend" who is thinking of opening a pizzeria or offering a particular pizza product, which might include a product that is similar to someone else's product. That way, I don't put myself in a position of having to make any commitments, and they are less likely to be pushy about trying to land me as an account or to buy something from them. I tell them up front that any decisions will be made by my "friend" and that I am only an information gatherer. That gives me plenty of cover.

Peter

[norma427]

Peter,

I didn’t read your post before I called, but it went okay.  If someone else wants to call, they can.
I called seashore food and talked to a lady about their products. I told her I had a pizza shop and was thinking about opening one at Wildwood. I first ask if they carried the Gangi Heavy with basil.  The lady I talked to said they didn’t carry that product, but after talking to her for awhile said that most of the pizza places at the shore used the Don Pepino sauce in one way or another.  Strike one on that one.  Next I talked to the lady about their kinds of white cheddar and said I am now making pizza with white cheddar. I then didn’t talk about mild, medium or sharp cheddar, I just asked about what kinds of white cheddars they were using at the shore. She said they carried LBSCHR sharp white cheddar and WISCON sharp white cheddar.  I then asked her if one of these two cheeses are what other pizza places use at the shore and she said yes.  I told her I was using the State Brand and she said they didn’t carry that. I told the lady I was using KASL flour. I also talked about the All Trumps and she said that is what the pizza places use at the shore.

It makes me wonder since they don’t carry the Gangi and since both Mack’s and Mack and Mancos probably use the same supplier if someone like Sysco Foods might service them or if they might just get the Gangi separately. 

Also I will have to see if there can be more information found on these brands of sharp cheddar.  I am not familiar with these brands.

Norma

[ERASMO]

I called foremost farm cheese which makes the cheese that Scott R referred to and this is the reply they sent me:

Thank you for your inquiry about Foremost Farms cheese!  You stated you are looking for white cheddar from Foremost Farms.  We produce a 40# block of white cheddar and sell to several northeast US pizzerias. 

 

"The closest place to buy our white cheddar is CW Dunnet & Co.  They are a distributor in Philadelphia. 

Their address is 3200 S. Lawrence St., Philadelphia, PA  19148.  Phone:  215-271-1000.  They are also known as Lkm Foods. "


Also,

I deal with Savona Stavola and they carry a Wisconsin white cheddar in a 40lb block.  I am going to see if they can tell me what brand it is.
 

[ERASMO]

Here is the link for the Foremost Cheddar.
http://www.foremostfarms.com/Commercial/Cheese/1950-127-Brand.php

[norma427]

ERASMO,

That is the same thing the person told me this morning at Foremost Farms, that the white cheddar is only sold in 40 lb. blocks.  There is no way I am going to purchase that much of cheese to try..LOL

Let us know about the Savona Stavola and just how you can purchase that kind of white cheddar.  A 40 lb. block is a lot of cheese.


Norma

[ERASMO]

Just spoke to CW Dunnett.  They do not carry the 1950-127 cheddar.  I emailed the Foremost rep for another supplier.

[Ev]

This is Norma's dough from the market that we used to make the Macks pie. It's over a week old at this point. This is also the same cheese(10 oz.) and sauce(7.4 oz.)we used. This is baked in my home oven at 550 for 8 minutes. I should have gotten the sauce a bit closer to the edge, I think. That might have kept the edge a little flatter like I've been told it's supposed to be.
 As for the flavor, it's delicious, but It's not the same as it was on Tuesday at the market. Huh, I wonder why.