Invented by chef Halmat Givra of Nya Gul & Blå restaurant in Piteå, volcano pizza is a visually impressive dish with extra everything – there are pockets of cheese and ham, salami, bacon, and beef tenderloin in a wide ring. Erupting from the center are french fries and a salad with Béarnaise sauce. This recent Swedish invention is ideal for large parties – with a great number of flavors, there is something for everyone involved.
This behemoth of a meal is an invention of the Tre Kronor restaurant from the Swedish town of Skellefteå. It consists of a calzone pizza that is stuffed with hamburgers (along with bread, toppings, and dressings) and French fries. The calorie-laden dish was originally invented for people who could not decide whether to get a pizza or a hamburger after a night of heavy drinking.
Pictou County pizza is a unique variety of pizza originating from Nova Scotia, characterized by a somewhat thicker, chewy dough, a spicy brown sauce, and Halifax-made Brothers' pepperoni. The pizza is so popular that it is even shipped frozen all over Canada. Every year, there is a Pictou County pizza competition, so that the locals can find out which pizza restaurant is the best. It is recommended to pair the dish with a cold beer on the side.
Deep-fried pizza is a Scottish concoction consisting of a pizza that is deep-fried in hot oil (without being dipped in batter) instead of being baked in an oven. It can be found in numerous chips shops throughout the country, where it is fried in the same oil where fish and chips are prepared. This extremely caloric and unhealthy meal is often served with salt, vinegar, or chips in order to improve its flavors.
Pizza-ghetti is a massive, carbohydrate-heavy combination plate consisting of a personal-sized pizza cut in half, served right next to a generous pile of spaghetti smothered in a sweet, meat-based tomato sauce. Arriving at the table on a wide platter, the components are meant to be eaten in tandem, with customers frequently wrapping the long pasta strands around slices of the melted cheese before taking a bite. The pasta portion of the dish relies on a highly specific style of meat sauce unique to local snack bars, leaning much sweeter than a standard ragu. Ground beef simmers for hours with finely diced celery, onions, and green bell peppers, heavily seasoned with unexpected warming spices like cinnamon, clove, and allspice. This thick red gravy is ladled over soft, boiled spaghetti noodles. The pizza almost always follows an "all-dressed" blueprint. A thick, doughy crust is layered with sweet tomato paste, covered in rounds of cured pepperoni, scattered with sliced mushrooms and green peppers, and finally buried under a heavy blanket of low-moisture mozzarella. The origins of this dual-starch platter trace back to the mid-20th century across the province of Quebec. During this era, waves of immigrants opened small roadside restaurants, known locally as casse-croûtes, aiming to feed the local working class. To accommodate families who could not decide between ordering a pie and a bowl of pasta, these restaurateurs simply combined the two on a single plate. Over the decades, it evolved from a pragmatic menu compromise into a beloved regional staple found in nearly every casual eatery across the province. While the side-by-side presentation is typical, distinct variations merge the two components entirely. Some establishments load the cooked, sauce-covered spaghetti directly onto the raw pizza dough, covering the pasta completely with mozzarella before baking the entire structure in a high-temperature oven. This yields a dense, layered pie in which the noodles steam inside a shell of baked cheese and bread. Other kitchens swap the standard meat sauce for a creamy Alfredo or a spicy arrabbiata to coat the noodles, completely altering the flavor profile. Certain late-night spots even use sliced pizza as a makeshift taco shell, folding the hot crust around the spaghetti so you can eat the entire meal with one hand.
Cuban pizza is a pizza variety that's distinguished by the dough and the sauce. The dough is a little thicker than in other pizzas and the sauce is a little bit sweeter. This is not a fancy pizza style – it's simple, comforting, and accessible. The selection of toppings (which are baked into the pie!) usually includes ham, chorizo, pepperoni, shrimp, ground beef, lechon asado, lobster, picadillo, bell peppers, and sliced bananas, apart from the base toppings of tomato sauce and cheese, typically gouda in Cuba and a combination of gouda and mozzarella in Miami. Once prepared, it's usually folded and eaten like a sanwich, but you can also order a picada, a Cuban way of saying sliced pizza. It is believed that this pizza style originated in Havana and was perfected at Varadero Beach in Cuba, and the inventor later moved to Miami and reopened his own pizzeria called Montes de Oca. However, there are others who claim that the founder of Rey Pizza, a Cuban pizza chain, was the first one to create pizza cubana. Regardless of the inventor, both Montes de Oca and Rey Pizza are local institutions.
The infamous pizza cake came to life in April of 2014 when a Canadian-based chain Boston Pizza started a campaign called Pizza Game Changers, where the public was called in to vote on the next big thing when it comes to pizza-related products. Pizza cake won the race by miles and since its appearance had people either salivating or shaking their heads in denial. The cake in question is actually made up of multiple layers of pizza that are baked in a pot or a cake pan with tall sides. The recipes vary in the number of pizza layers, ranging from three to six, but the stuffing is always the same; tomato sauce, pepperoni, and heaps of cheese.
This unique pizza style originates from the Quad Cities region of Iowa and Illinois and is characterized by an unusual strip cut and a slightly spicy sauce. The crust has a nutty taste due to a generous amount of malt syrup, and the sauce contains chili and cayenne pepper flakes. The pork sausage used for the topping should be cooked and allowed to rest in its juices for several hours before being spread over the entire pizza. Due to its malt-enriched crust, this dish naturally pairs well with beer.
Mustazzeddu is an Italian pizza variety originating from the Sulcis region of Sardinia. The dough for this cross between focaccia and pizza is made with flour, olive oil, yeast, salt, and water. Once risen and kneaded, it is topped with a combination of tomatoes (cherry, perini, or Sardinian), onion, basil, garlic, olive oil, and salt. After it's been topped, the edges of the dough are folded up over the topping, and mustazzeddu is then baked in the oven. Before serving, it's necessary to let the mustazzeddu rest for a few minutes. According to legend, mustazzeddu was invented by nuns in times when food was scarce and the toppings called for cheap and simple ingredients.
Pizza mimosa is a variety of Italian pizza bianca or white pizza that is topped with cream, cooked ham, corn, and mozzarella cheese. Commonly referred to as panna prosciutto e mais or pizza con prosciutto e mais, the pizza is usually drizzled with olive oil and garnished with fresh basil leaves. There is also a vegetarian and gluten-free version of pizza mimosa that calls for topping the pizza with scamorza cheese or mozzarella, arugula, and olive oil. Pizza mimosa is occasionally prepared with a layer of tomato sauce underneath the creamy and cheesy toppings.
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