"toppings" news and stories

After pointing you to Wendy's new Design A Burger contest, I figured I'd point you to this site, since many of you eat pizza and not burgers.

It's the Random Pizza Generator, and it automatically chooses your crust, the types of cheese and all of your toppings for you. It's sort of like that idea Kramer had on Seinfeld, only you won't burn your fingers. The webmaster doesn't suggest you actually make the pizza you get, but if you do, take a picture of it and he'll post it.

The one I got was Smoked Gouda, Provolone, Cauliflowers, Salsa, Wurstel, and Spam. For the record, I am never making that.

Even though I don't live anywhere near Illinois, the pizza restaurants here offer three styles: regular, thin crust, or "Chicago Style". They are referring, of course, to Chicago Deep Dish. When made properly, one slice is equivalent to three slices of regular. The crust is deep on the edges, and the toppings are literally piled on. Just talking about it makes me want to order in a pie right now.

If you are making it at home, don't use a regular flat pizza pan as it is virtually impossible to build up the edges of the crust without some reinforcement. Personally, I use a 14-inch cake pan which has always worked well for me. Cook the crust part way first to ensure that it will be cooked through once the toppings have been added. Sauce is added, then layered with toppings of your choice and smothered in cheese - lots of cheese. Bake until golden brown and serve. I recommend having a knife and fork handy, or at the very least, a handful of napkins!

We might not be into participating ourselves, but we to hear about eating competitions, whether they're professional or not. In fact, while the pros are great, it's even more interesting to get an outside perspective from a non-pro who decides to take on a supersized eating task just for the challenge of it. In this case, Bear Silber and some of his friends decided to face off in a local eating competition: the Belly Buster Challenge. The event was held at a restaurant called Pizza and Pipes in Santa Clara, California and involves a single person eating a 20″ cheese pizza with 2 toppings in under one hour. The pizzeria has a few established rules that contestants are expected to abide by and the winner gets the glory, along with some free pizza, a picture on the wall of fame and a free t-shirt.

Bear's friends went with classically topped Pepperoni and Mushroom pizzas, while he strategically opted to have different toppings on each quarter of the pizza (one quarter pepperoni and olive, one quarter Canadian bacon and pineapple, one quarter pesto and tomato and one quarter sausage and mushroom). His friends ended up joining the Wall of Shame, but Bear managed to polish off the pie at only 37 minutes, becoming the first person ever to conquer the Belly Buster Challenge.

Do we have a future competitive eater on our hands here?

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Normally, one might expect to turn to the Farmer's Almanac, one of the longest continuously published books you can find, for predictions on the weather and advice about when to plant your crops. Perhaps because fewer people have crops that need planting these days, the newest edition of the Almanac has a lot more than just the crop report. It has your pizza personality.

Based on data from research done by the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, where they really love their pizza, you too can determine personality from pizza toppings:

• One meat topping - Irritable, argumentative, procrastinators who "conveniently 'forget' work and home obligations" frequently
• Several Meat toppings - Dramatic extroverts, who are impeccably groomed and crave attention
• One vegetable - Empathetic, understanding, well-adjusted, easy-going and "who make ideal parents"
• Several vegetables - Trustworthy, loyal, dependable, humble introverts
• Non-traditional toppings (not just meat or veg) - Aggressive, achievement-oriented, natural leaders
• Extra cheese - Just about everyone likes extra cheese

If you choose a different tipping every time, does that mean you have multiple personalities?

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A few weeks ago, we took a peek at some of the world's largest pizzas, and while this pizza might not qualify for that list, it definitely deserves a title of its own. It is one of the most bizarre pizzas that I have ever seen: the Aussie Hangover Cure. It should have been called the McCheeseburger Pizza. The pizza not only has four McDonald's cheeseburgers topping it, but an entire order of large french fries, both under and on top of the burgers, as well as bacon, cheese and tomato sauce. I won't hazard a guess as to the calorie content, but it's safe to say that it is a lot. And as for it acting as a hangover cure? It strikes me as something you might eat the night before you wake up with a hangover, not something you'd crave in the morning.

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