Neapolitan pizza-makers don’t even call this “sauce.” It’s just “tomato” on their menus, in their speech, their literature. And it’s easy to see why. There’s nothing more to this recipe than crushed tomatoes and salt.<\/p>\n
This “sauce” works equally well for traditional Neapolitan pizza* and for so-called New York\u2013Neapolitan (aka Neapolitan-American aka “New York elite”) pizza. What the heck is that!? The latter are all names that different factions of pizza nerds use to describe New York’s venerable coal-oven pizzerias\u2014Patsy’s East Harlem, Totonno’s, John’s of Bleecker, Grimaldi’s, Juliana’s, etc.<\/p>\n
All those aforementioned places (well, except Patsy’s, kinda**) use fresh mozzarella on their pizza. For a twist, I love using this sauce with a low-moisture mozzarella blend, whose slightly saltier, slightly tangier flavor provides a nice contrast to a bright, fresh-tasting sauce.<\/p>\n
* I don’t even try to make Neapolitan at home. You really need a wood-fired oven for it.<\/p>\n
** Patsy’s East Harlem is unique in that it’s the only coal-oven pizzeria I know of that offers guests the choice of fresh mozzarella or “regular” mozzarella. (“Regular” being, you know, the regular stuff you find in grocery stores.) I prefer Patsy’s with regular mozz. Other people prefer it with fresh, but they’re wrong.<\/p>\n