Pizza Today - September 2016 - 40

cilantro, ginger root, nutmeg, allspice,
cinnamon, brown sugar, oregano, onion
and garlic powder, thyme, chili powder.
Introducing new flavors in your
menu mix is always a risky endeavor.

To take your new Caribbean flavors to
market for your customers to get
excited about, you'll need to
manipulate the already existing
toppings sitting in your make line. My
favorite way to simplify the
manipulation of flavors is to add
powders, sauces, pastes and brine to
vegetables and meats commonly found
in my menu mix. Here are a few:
* tamarind, onion, pineapple juice
and lime.
* jalapeño, garlic, mandarin oranges
and ginger.
* onion, curry powder, green pepper
and lime.
* corn, coconut milk, cumin seed and
cilantro.

Jamaican Jerk Sauce
Nothing is more quintessentially Caribbean
than jerk chicken. It starts with the jerk sauce,
which has many variables. I love to make a
less sweet sauce from scratch like the one
below rather than buying jerk sauce off the
shelf, which can tend to be more sweet. I also
make the sauce less hot than with scotch
bonnet peppers to appeal to a wider customer
base.
Yield: approximately 1¼ cups
1 tablespoon chopped fresh (or dried)
thyme
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger root
1 teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon honey
½ cup scallions
½ cup jalapeño or hotter like scotch
bonnet pepper
½ cup white distilled vinegar
¼ cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar (optional)
Mix all ingredients in a blender or with a
stick blender and let sit in a refrigerator for
three hours for flavors to meld.
4 0 / P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6

Jamaican Jerk Chicken Pizza
This pizza transforms the sauce above into
a blast of Caribbean flavors. As you can see,
I've kept my food costs low by using only five
ounces of cheese to substitute more pineapple
for a sweet and sour chicken pie. I also use fully
cooked boneless chicken wings that have a
coating on the outside - this soaks up the
jerk sauce very nicely. Don't forget the cilantro
and lime - these really make this pie sing!
Sauce
¾ cup of the jerk sauce (above)
4 tablespoons coconut milk
Mix both together and hold.
Toppings
Cut 7 boneless wings horizontally in half
to produce chicken "coins". Place the
cut wings in a bowl and toss with the
jerk-coconut marinade above.
5 ounces aged mozzarella or mozzarella/
provolone mix
¼ cup or ½ ounce sliced red onion
¼ cup or ½ ounces sliced green pepper
1 ounce diced jalapeño
7 ounces pineapple tidbits
Small handful of cilantro, roughly
chopped
1 half lime, cut horizontally then very
thinly to create paper-thin, half-moon
slices
Using your proprietary 14-inch dough,
top with ½ cup jerk sauce. This will be very
thin as compared to tomato sauce but it
will bake in nicely.
Place 5 ounces cheese on the sauce.
Then the onion and green pepper, jalapeño
and pineapple.
Place the marinated chicken on the
pizza then bake the pizza in a 475 F oven or
higher to cook to a golden brown.
When the pizza is cooked, toss the cilantro on the pizza and place one half-moon
lime slices around the pizza.

Puerto Rican Pork Pizza
with Mandarin Orange
I love this pizza because the sofrito gives it
a depth of flavor. As the cheese melts, it takes
the pork juices and sofrito in its wake and the

sweet, citrusy mandarins form the perfect foil
for both. My staff loves to put crumpled tortilla
chips on this pie (when I'm not looking, of
course).
6 to 8 ounces cheese blend
6 ounces sofrito (recipe below)
5 to 7 ounces ham
5 ounces bacon tidbits
6 to 8 ounces mandarin orange (seedless
tangerines are fine also)
Using your proprietary 14-inch dough,
top with 6 to 8 ounces of your proprietary
cheese blend.
Dollop 5 to 6 ounces of the sofrito
around the cheese.
Place 5 ounces ham slices and 5 ounces
of bacon tidbits around the pizza.
Place 6 to 8 ounces of canned mandarin
oranges around the pizza.
Cook in an oven at 475 to 500 F until
golden brown. Garnish with cilantro.

Puerto Rican Sofrito
2 tablespoons Annatto oil (if available; if
not, use extra virgin olive oil)
2 green bell peppers, chopped fine
3 Roma tomatoes, chopped fine
1 onion, chopped fine
3 garlic cloves, chopped fine
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 cup rough chopped cilantro
1 cup parsley
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 tablespoon green olives, chopped fine
1 tablespoon white vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat the oil up in a high heat sauté pan
and add the garlic and onion. Sauté for
5 minutes then add the rest of the ingredients. Turn heat to medium and cook for
30 minutes. Turn the heat off and let sit, still
stirring. After cooling, hold in refrigerator for
flavors to meld. n
JOHN GUTEKANST owns

Avalanche Pizza
in Athens, Ohio and has a pizza blog called
Pizza Goon. He is an award-winning
pizzaiolo, baker, teacher, speaker and
author.
http://www.PIZZATODAY.COM
Pizza Today - September 2016

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