Coal-fired pizza

Coal-fired pizza is a pizza style in the United States. New York-style pizza and New Haven-style pizza are often cooked in coal-fired pizza ovens. A coal-fired oven can reach 900 °F (482 °C) and cook a pie in two to three or five minutes.[1][2]

The coal-fired pizza oven at Lombardi's Pizza in Manhattan

Pizzerias outside of the Northeastern United States that feature coal-fired ovens are uncommon enough to be noted in travel guides: for instance, Black Sheep Pizza with the first coal-fired oven in Minneapolis,[3] or URBN in San Diego.[4] As of 2007, coal-fired ovens were quite uncommon in the Western United States with only five west of the Mississippi: four in an Arizona chain and one more in Las Vegas.[5]

Coal Fire Oven has now opened up in Windsor, Ontario, Canada as the only oven in Eastern Canada. It is renowned for their coal fire pizza and wings - The Chelsea Coal Fire Pizza. They are now doing coal fire frozen pizzas too.

The growing popularity of coal-fired pizza in the 2010s was identified as a major market for anthracite coal suppliers, most of whom are in Pennsylvania's Coal Region, who generally see a declining market due to alternate industrial and home heating fuel sources.[6]

Health concerns

Concerns have been raised about particulates, sulfur dioxide and CO₂ emissions from coal-fired pizza ovens.[7]

Gallery

• 
  New Haven-style pizza cooked in a coal-fired oven at Sally's Apizza

References

1. "Interest in coal-fired ovens heats up", Pizza Marketplace, Networld Media, May 4, 2009
2. Anya LITVAK, "Pennsylvania's tiny anthracite coal industry finds a specialty: pizza oven fuel", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
3. Cornell, Tricia (2016). Moon Minneapolis & St. Paul. Moon Publications. Avalon Publishing. p. 91. ISBN 978-1-63121-273-4.
4. Fodor's California 2015. Fodor's. 2014. p. 151. ISBN 978-0-8041-4298-4.
5. Adam KUBAN (November 2007), Coal-Oven Pizzerias Nationwide, Serious Eats
6. Mario Parker and Leslie Patton (September 22, 2015), "Coal's Carving Itself a Bigger Slice of America's Pizza Market", Bloomberg BusinessCS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
7. Umbra Frisk (November 24, 2014), "Should I feel guilty about eating coal-fired pizza?", Grist

Further reading

• Shott, Chris (October 5, 2015), "Why Is Everybody Freaking Out About Coal-Fired Pizza? The century-old tradition has become increasingly fashionable outside of its usual environs", Food Republic