81-year-old Patsy Grimaldi may be the last person making pizza today who trained under someone who trained at Lombardi's—the first pizzeria in American history. Dan sits down with Patsy and his wife Carol to discuss slice folding technique, the art and science of using a coal oven, what she taught him about pizza, and the scourge of pineapple pizza, along with several other trends Patsy deems "ridiculous." Carol explains that Patsy knows where in the coal oven to place the pizza based on the color of the coals at any moment, a pretty amazing thing to consider. Dan also pitches the Grimaldi's his concept for folding pizza inside out, to put the cheese right on your tongue. Their reaction is worth hearing. Plus, Dan responds to emails and phone calls from listeners.
Read more about the history of New York pizza and the feud between Patsy Grimaldi and the current owner of Grimaldi's in Jane Black's piece in New York Magazine.
This episode originally aired on July 28, 2013 and again on April 22, 2014, and was produced by Dan Pashman. The Sporkful team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Giulia Leo, Kameel Stanley, and Jared O'Connell. This update was produced by Gianna Palmer.
Every other Friday, we reach into our deep freezer and reheat an episode to serve up to you. We're calling these our Reheats. If you have a show you want reheated, send us an email or voice memo at hello@sporkful.com, and include your name, your location, which episode, and why.
Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.
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