The prep was done when I arrived: 2 stock pots, 3 utility tubs, a knife, a thermal dispenser to keep the hot water at temperature, perforated baking sheet, food grade paper towels and Playtex  rubber gloves–the water is HOT. In one pot, agallon of water was heated to 100 degrees. In the other, 3 gallons water plus 1 cup sea salt was heated to 180 degrees, creating a brine solution.

I put on the gloves and faced a utlity tub, filled with the curds cut into 1/2″ cubes. The 100-degree water had been poured over the curds. I stirred them around with a wooden spoon. Mariah set up an assembly line: the utlity pan with the curds in the hot water, an empty utility pan, the thermal dispenser with the hot water, and another filled with icy slurry.

Working in batches, I took a big glop of warm curds, put them in the empty tub and covered them with hot brine solution.

Then I started kneading, moving the mass of curds back and forth in the tub until they knittd together in a single mass, stretching it until it becomes  smooth mass. Sometimes we added more of the brine to raise the temperature back up.

You don’t want to over-stretch the curds–that will make the cheese tough.

Finally, I pinched off about 7-12 ounces, and rounded it into ball, squeezing it between my hands so it has a smooth and glossy surface. Then into the icy slurry to cool for at least half an hour. Then repeat until you’ve used all the curds.

Then eat it.

Jump on the food-truck wagon, and take your pick from over 30 food trucks from all over Utah County at a Food Truck Round-Up, held every Monday in Spanish Fork, Tuesday in Pleasant Grove, Wednesday and Friday in Orem and Thursday in Provo.

Imagine a truck-to-truck line-up weaving around crowds of people from all walks of life: young families gathered around circular wooden tables, a few members of the Sheriff’s Department taking a dinner break, college students, elderly couples, teenagers.

Probably the most well known truck, the Provo Round-Up started up last winter and boomed in popularity as the weather warmed and more people came out.

The number of trucks has grown, too. More well-known trucks, such as Sweet Burrito and Waffle Love, started the trend. Now you might find Mouse Trap Grill (artisan grilled cheese), Pound It Kebabs (European street food) or The Matterhorn (French toast).

What’s on the menu? Typically, pizza, BBQ and Mexican food.

Usually food trucks are a grab-and-go type of thing, but these round-ups allow diners to picnic against a building wall or at a nearby park. Since the round-ups are a gathering of sorts, start-up companies take advantage of the opportunity to give out candy and an ad or two. Street musicians play for money, balloon art might be seen and there is a logo competition being held on Provo Round-Up’s Facebook page.

When they’re not at the round-ups, you can find your favorite food trucks’ locations by following them on your choice of social media. Food trucks often park at special events, road races, carnivals or really just anywhere with lots of people and few dining options.

Round-Up dinners go from 5–9 p.m. in the following locations:

Monday: 616 Main Street, Spanish Fork

Tuesday: 330 S Main Street, Pleasant Grove

Wednesday: 125 W Center Street, Orem

Thursday: 560 S 100 W, Provo

Friday: 980 W 800 N, Orem

And a few lunch (11 a.m. – 2 p.m.) locations:

Tuesday: 292 Mt. Way Drive, Lehi

Wednesday: 384 S 400 W, Lindon

Photo by Adam Finkle

Confession: Back in 1993, Salt Lake magazine ran an article about pizza.

Editors ordered pizza delivered from five places, including—hard to admit it—Pizza Hut. We counted the minutes between order and delivery. Then we counted the number of pepperoni slices on our pizza.

That’s how we judged pizza then. Domino’s won.

No more.

Now, ads and windshield flyers should tell you all you need to know about pizza chains. So we’re not even going there. This article rates pizza as it is now. We are dividing the pizzas by style—lifestyle and cooking style. (Sometimes when you want pizza is as relevant as what pizza you want.)

Basically, there was, is, now and ever shall be only three parts to a pizza: The toppings. The crust. And the fire. And all three have improved drastically sinceSalt Lake magazine rated pizza for that issue 21 years ago. You wouldn’t even know this is the same pizzaville.

Here’s a list of the best pies on the Wasatch Front.

And before you start the email onslaught: This is not an inclusive list of pizza. It’s my list. But of course, we want to know what you think. Go to saltlakemagazine.com and flame away.

Toppings 

Quality and variety of toppings are what most people notice about a pizza (unless it’s a college style pie, then quantity is what counts.) Hand-pulled mozzarella, house made ricotta, artisanal meats, including pepperoni and other cured meats from Creminelli or another artisanal salumi maker, and true San Marzano tomatoes set the standards for the new pizza.

The Dough 

No one argues that to make good pizza dough, you have to start with high-gluten flour (12 percent is supposed to be ideal.) But after that, it’s a free for all. Pizza Napoletana is made with a soft dough and takes about one minute to cook in a wood-burning oven. New Yorkers claim that the city’s water is why their pizza is inimitable. Baker Ryan Patrick Moore from at From Scratch says that the dough needs to be extensible, not elastic, and that means a long fermentation–or rising–time.

The Fiery Inferno

A gas oven and some slate can only go so far—it’s a fact that the best pizza is made in a brick oven burning fruitwood at temperatures unachievable in a home oven. The increased use of wood ovens is one of the factors that has made Utah pizza so much better in the last few years. One sign of a proper woodfired pizza: big, charred bubbles.

So, without further ado, here are the pizzas:

Strict Neapolitan Style

The rules for true Pizza Napoletana are set down, virtually in stone, by the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana. Google it. Basically, this style is foldable–soft by American standards, so it’s usually eaten with knife and fork. It must be cooked in an incredibly hot wood-burning oven.

In Salt Lake, only Settebello adheres to these rules, cooking their pies made with imported 00 flour at 900 to 1,000 degrees in an imported Italian oven. 260 S. 200 West, SLC, 801-322-3556

Artisanal

We can credit–‑of course–‑Californians with breaking all known pizza conventions. Ed LaDou started serving pizzas topped with goat cheese and truffles at Prego. Wolfgang Puck put smoked salmon and caviar on pizza at Spago in the ‘80s era of conspicuous consumption. Alice Waters opened a pizza place next to Chez Panisse; soon, every city had a joint specializing in upscale pizza topped with spinach and duck sausage. (Ladou went on to help open CPK, whence came BBQ chicken pizza. Never a good idea, even in California.)

Pizzeria Limone, a local mini-chain, bases everything on its secret crust recipe, baked in a gas-fired brick oven and finished with some tricky toppings involving lemons and blackberries. But mozzarella is aged, not fresh. Besides the original Cottonwood location, Pizzeria Limone has successfully replicated in Salt Lake City, Sandy and, soon, South Jordan. 1380 Fort Union Blvd., Cottonwood Heights.

From Scratch takes artisanal a step further by milling its own flour onsite. Because of their buy-local philosophy, the wheat from Central Milling is a mix, not 100 percent, so the pizza is baked at a lower temperature–450 to 500 degrees–in their wood oven. 62 E. Gallivan Ave., SLC, 801-538-5090

Vinto’s two locations also serve an American artisanal pie baked in a wood burning oven. Like 712, the dough is bit sturdier than Neapolitan pizza and baked at a slightly lower temperature, around 600 degrees. 418 E. 200 South, SLC, 801-539-9999; 900 Main St., Park City, 435-615-9990  

Pizzeria 712, the first restaurant in the Heirloom Restaurant Group, still serves the best pizza in Utah, because of the true chef’s attention brought to bear on the humble pie: locally-grown and made ingredients baked in an Italian-made wood burning oven at 712 degrees. Get it? The simple margherita is the apex of Utah pizza. 320 S. State St. #185, Orem, 801-623-6712

Restaurant Style 

Lots of restaurants serve pizza; here, I’m only talking about places where the pizza is a definitive part of the menu. Best by a long shot is Sea Salt.

Slackwater Pizza & Pub is more pub than a pizzeria, but the pizza is extraordinarily wild for a pub. Try the California Sunrise—it actually involves Green Goddess dressing. 1895 Washington Blvd, Ogden, 801-399-0637

Lugano has a limited pizza menu, but deserves inclusion here because of its version of pizza bianca, with roasted cauliflower and shiitake mushrooms.3364 S. 2300 East, SLC, 801-412-9994

Sea Salt’s pizza are full-on Neapolitan style in spirit–made in a wood burning oven, using San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella (including di bufala), grana padano…meticulously made and topped judiciously with local produce.1709 E. 1300 South, SLC, 801-349-1480

East Coast Style

They say the first pizza establishment in the United States was opened in 1905 in New York’s Little Italy. It was cooked in coal-burning brick ovens, and the cheese was put on the dough before the sauce.

Several places in Utah claim to sell New York-style pizza, but Maxwell’s comes the closest with their 20-inch, thin pies. 357 S. Main St., SLC, 801-328-0304; 1456 Newpark Blvd., Park City, 435-647-0304

Este is a New York hipster pizza; you can tell because their best-selling pie is a veggie with spinach and they also make some pies with vegan cheese. 156 E. 200 South, SLC, 801-363-2366; 2148 S. 900 East, SLC, 801-485-3699

College Style 

In one study, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported 13 percent of the U.S. population consumes pizza on any given day–with young people representing biggest piece of the pie. Don’t even think about wood, or fresh mozzarella or local ingredients: The key to college-style pizza is sheer bulk—mountains of toppings, including lots of meat and cheese—we presume to counteract the beer.

The Pie is Utah’s quintessential college pizza joint. Obviously. And the Pie’s Combo, topped with ham, pepperoni, salami, ground beef and two kinds of sausage, is a best-seller. The original location is a U of U institution, but now there are locations all around Northern Utah. 1320 E. 200 South, SLC, 801-582-0195 

Roasted Sun, a perennial favorite located conveniently not far from the club strip on State, uses an old-school gas deck oven with big pieces of slate. 2010 S. State St., SLC, 801-483-2120

SLABpizza in Provo–BYU’s college pizza of choice–offers the required collegiate mass in a new way. A slab is one quarter of a 20-inch pizza–you order toppings for each slab. 671 E. 800 North, Provo, 801-377-3883

Midnight Pizza

Sometimes you don’t just want pizza, you have to have pizza. Elsewhere, late-night pizza is a whole genre. The pickings are slimmer in Utah, but there is the Pie Hole, where you can get a midnight slice, and when all else fails, Big Daddy’s even has an ordering app for your smartphone. You don’t even have to think to order this pizza.

Pie Hole

344 S. State St, SLC, 801-359-4653

Big Daddy’s

470 S. 700 East, SLC, 801-746-7499

Back>>>Read other stories in our July/August 2014 issue.

I tend to think of pork as an autumnal animal, especially if it’s roasted. I think of pork and apples and fall pig killings, although my main source for these impressions is a close reading of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books as a child.

Remember how Laura and Mary tossed around the old pig bladder?

Basically, my favorite children’s books focused on food. Or at least that’s the part I remember. After I read The Secret Garden, I couldn’t wait for my first taste of clotted Devon cream.

But forget roast pork and cabbage or roast pork and applesauce and consider island pork—not just Hawaiian, but Cuban and Puerto Rican, like,  for example, the Cubanesque sandwich I had for lunch a while back at Caffe Niche. Roast pork, sliced thin and piled on a bun with caramelized onions and cole slaw made a great warm-weather meal.

And my sister-the-chef sent me this recipe today, for a pork roast that will be as good cold as when it’s fresh out of the oven.

Puerto Rican Roast Pork
Serves 10-12

Marinade:

12 cloves garlic, peeled
¼ cup fresh thyme
½ cup olive oil
1 Tbsp. black peppercorns
2 Tbsp. kosher salt
2 cups sour orange juice OR 1 ⅓ cups orange juice and ⅔ cup lime juice
4-5 lbs. pork sirloin tip or boneless pork shoulder

Mix all ingredients except the meat in a food processor. Mix until almost smooth.

Put the marinade and meat into a large Zip Lock bag and marinate for 6-10 hours in the refrigerator.

One hour before cooking, remove the meat from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature. Pre-heat the oven to 450⁰.

Wipe most of the marinade off the pork (leaving some of the puree on is OK) and place in a heavy roasting pan. Cook in the oven for 15 minutes until lightly brown.

Lower the heat to 250⁰, add a little water to the pan and cover with aluminum foil. Cook for 2-3 hours until the meat is tender throughout.

Remove the meat from the pan, keep it warm on the side and reduce the pan juices slightly. Strain and taste. If the sauce is not too salty, serve with the meat. If it is a little too salty, wash and slice a potato. Add a few slices of the raw potato to the pan and cook for another 5-10 minutes. Discard the potato slices. They should have absorbed quite a bit of the salt, so taste the sauce again before serving and adjust the seasoning.

Slice the meat across the grain and serve with black beans and rice.

And serve it the next day as a sandwich. My current fave sandwich bread is the ciabbata rolls from Harmons–crusty enough to be flavorful, soft enough to bite through.