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This being the weekend, something in a lighter vein:
Pizza is essentially the perfect food. Well, so long as you aren't lactose intolerant or have problems with gluten. NPR spotted a study of why different cheeses diverge in looks and taste when baked. Seriously. In a paper called "Quantification of Pizza Baking Properties of Different Cheeses, and Their Correlation with Cheese Functionality," researchers found that, among other things, the reason why mozzarella is so unique of a topping has to do with the way it's prepared. The cheese bubbles and browns because of its inherent elasticity due to stretching. In contrast, cheddar isn't as ideal because it isn't very elastic, thus it doesn't bubble as well. The same apparently goes for Edam and Gruyere, too.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/30/mozzarella-pizza-cheese/
[Abstract]: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1750-3841.12540/abstract
(Score: 3, Funny) by Marand on Sunday August 31 2014, @10:40PM
Having lived all over the east coast over the years, I've noticed that even the franchise joints in NJ have better pizza than average. Compared to what the pizza is like in a lot of states (franchise or not), you could do a lot worse than an NJ Papa John's or Domino's. Seriously, there are some terrible pizza joints out there, and that's going to influence people's opinions when deciding whether to try local or not. Same is true with subs, too. The local NJ places have awesome subs, but even if you're stuck going to a Subway it's usually good by Subway's standards.
And, as good as some of the local joints are, quality still varies. Sure, I've had some incredible pizza in NYC, NJ, and even Philadelphia, but I've also had some mediocre or even terrible pizza, too. It's not always easy to find out which places are the good ones, and sometimes people just want a pizza they know will be edible, rather than risking having a shitty dinner. Then you also have to consider hours of operation, delivery policies, pricing, and custom menu items. (Domino's has those weird "sandwiches" that are pretty good, for example.) There are a lot of factors that help keep the franchises in business.
As an example of the quality variation of local pizza: some of the best and worst pizza I've had came from local places in Philadelphia. The best was this joint on the outskirts of the city line, while the worst was in one of the Philly suburbs. That suburb was weird: pizza place was owned by Indians, Chinese restaurant owned by Italians, and I don't know wtf owned the Mexican place, but they weren't hispanic of any type. All three places were terrible, too. It was like the Highlander movie in restaurant form, where everybody had the wrong accents.
(Score: 2) by Marand on Sunday August 31 2014, @10:48PM
Oh, and since it wasn't clear: in NJ I go for the local places almost every time, definitely. The primary exception is I occasionally get the urge to have that crispy thin crust that Domino's does.