THIS IS A REPUBLISH OF THIS ARTICLE FROM MAY 2022. SOMEHOW IT DISAPPEARED FROM MY PUBLISHED ARTICLES.
A few posts ago, when I introduced our grill top oven for Florida, I mentioned that we’d purchased a pizza oven for our NY home. It is a scratch & dent Ooni Koda 12 from Amazon.
Ooni has a cult-ish following in that it promises very hot baking temps (they say +900F) and a domed top to simulate a wood fired Neapolitan pizza oven but at a reasonable cost and footprint.
Dooney?! What’s a Dooney?
During her lifetime, among other things, my mother was:
- Unusually thrifty: I can still hear her as she’s talking to my father after visiting Carlisle’s…”but Tony, it was on sale AND I HAD A COUPON!”
- An opportunist: way before eBay….you could hear her say, “Hello, Swap Shop, I have available such and such…and that’s V as in Victor…and 964-8614, again 964-8614….”
- And held a myriad of jobs
- Hot Point phone desk in the 50’s
- Royal Plastics Sales (a precursor to Tupperware) in the 60’s. She won a trip to Rhode Island for top sales which was the talk of most of her short life
- Secretary at a junior high school in the early 70’s
- Secretary for the Teamster’s Local Union Hall late 70’s
The Teamster job was her last, and one that provides lasting memories.
Not the least of which is the fact that our dog, Padango, would slip out of his collar and stroll the 3 blocks, across busy streets no less, walk through the open union hall door past Dooney, and plop down to visit my ma INSIDE her office! How Padango knew that ma was there is unbelievable!
Everyone in Ashtabula Harbor knew Padango, and so did several female dogs that spawned off-spring from Padango! Padango is worth at least one blog post in the future!
In any event, ma’s boss was Anthony S. (aka Dooney). If I recall, Dooney got his name from his mother. She was an off-the-boat southern Italian and couldn’t say the TH sound in AnTHony just as many other southern Italian immigrants and their offspring.
For example, my father would say “dis and dat” instead of “this and that”. So, Mrs. S. apparently pronounced AnTHony…An-Doo-Nee, and thus, my ma’s boss got the name Dooney as a kid in Youngstown. And, if you dink dis is fake…see this!
I can make several conjectures about Dooney (like blown up houses, etc…), but suffice it to say, I drove a truck for the Teamsters starting when I was 18, and was held in high regard for my work (and maybe connections) at both bottling companies that I drove for in the last 70s to early 80s on school breaks in summer and at Christmas and Easter.
The bottlers, one by the name of Napoli (!!!), wanted me to stay to drive, and Dooney was interested in if I’d be a “Union Man”. My Uncle Mike was a Teamster’s Union Shop Steward (I enjoy the term “enforce” in the Steward’s Manual – see link), and my adoptive grandfather was also involved in the union (dock workers/Stevedores, I believe – see link). Per my brother, our father would call him a “padrone“…take away whatever connotation that you want.
But ma would have nothing with me and the “family business”! She’d storm, “you’re going to finish college!” (And presumably move back to Ashtabula and do…what?) My reply always was, “But why ma? I can make good money with the union.” I’m glad she won! Despite the fact that my ma was a non-stop talker, in this regard whatever she knew was taken to the her grave, and I’ll never know.
But, each time I’ve used the Ooni, it’s made me think of Dooney!
Ooni – 1st Bake
If we learned anything from my trip to Napoli, I’m obsessed with pizza ovens, their esthetic, engineering design, fuel source, and the interaction of each on a pizza.
And, despite my delight in our southern grill top oven, it has lower bake temps. This results in a lower char with it’s flavor less pronounced. Also, the grill top results in less puffy crust. The grill top pizza is more like a NY Style as opposed to a smoky char and puffy Neapolitan crust for which I longed.
In any event, just before leaving for Italy, we had a 2nd Easter as mentioned in the previous post. It was my first attempt at using the Ooni. I made 6 pizzas of about 10-12 inches.
Ooni, set up on the deck even before furniture!
600F and It was friggin cold outside
1st Bake – A look inside!
On that 1st pizza bake, I was definitely not used to or ready for such a hot oven temp and fast bakes (1.5 minutes!!!). Typically, in the oven 550F (5 -6 minute bake) or grill top (3 – 4 minute bake) I have time to prepare the next pizza while baking another.
That was not the case with the Ooni. Without even starting prep on my 2nd pizza, and after just one minute, the 1st bake was burnt on the edge closest to the flame.
1st Bake = burnt edge
2nd Bake = GREAT!
By the 5th and 6th (final) pizza of this bake series, I had it dialed in! I took my time and didn’t form the next until the previous was done and out of the oven. The last couple are likely my best pizza that I ever made. LOOK AT THAT PUFF, CHAR, AND PUFF!
LOOK AT THAT CHAR!
LOOK AT THAT PUFF!
CALL ME IMPRESSED! The last couple were truly great pizzas! The dough/crust was aged nicely for 2 days and had a little sour bite from proper, slow fermentation. As a mentioned, the char and puff were the best that I’ve experienced on pizzas that I made as a result of the oven and my learning curve. The sauce was simple canned, whole San Marzano, oregano, sugar, and Aunt Theresa’s secret ingredient, and was stunningly sweet and tangy. And the cheese, nice dry, full fat moozedell (FROM WALMART!!!!) was perfect for this type of pizza.
CAN’T WAIT TO DO THIS AGAIN!
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