Wednesday, May 1, 2013

DiGiorno Still Can't Beat Out a Real Pizzeria.



 
DiGiorno Pizzeria Style Pizza  

DiGiorno once again is trying to convince the consumer that making a frozen pizza is better than getting one made fresh at a pizzeria, or by your own hand. Their new Pizzeria style crust is preservative free; score two points!   The sauce is plentiful and flavorful, but someone had a heavy hand with the oregano, so zesty should be added onto the front panel description.  It certainly made my tongue sing and dance.  The four cheese style is cheesy; it melts well and is spread out fairly evenly, so you get a nice mouthful with each bite.

..  The new style of crust is supposed to be the major selling point of this pizza; "Crispy outside, soft and airy inside".  The baking temperature is 375F and that made me wonder why, since most varieties of frozen pizza use temperatures between 400F to 450F.  Looking at the pizza you can see why, the crust has been prebaked before the addition of sauce and cheese; then frozen for packaging and resale.  Once baked, the crust looks slightly browner and you can see the airiness when you cut the slices.  However, with a truly authentic crispy crust, each bite should come off easily in the mouth, but the DiGiorno is chewy and you have to pull a bit with your teeth to get each individual bite.  It's not a good mouth feel.

Perhaps the Nestle company located in Illinois, which owns the DiGiorno name, should spend some time in real New York City pizzerias and learn what the word "authentic" really means.  Until then....practice, practice, practice DiGiorno, you're not there yet.

Mary Cokenour