How many types of cheese do you typically put on your pizza? I usually end up with about three, but that’s small potatoes in comparison with this beast: According to the Guardian Australia, the cheesiest pizza in the world has a whopping 99 different cheese piled on top of one crust. Ninety-nine. All I can say is that must be one strong little crust — how it hasn’t collapsed in on itself from the sheer weight of all that cheesy goodness is anyone’s guess.
The overwhelmingly cheesy pie was dreamed up by Johnny di Francesco, who runs the Melbourne pizzeria 400 Gradi, and apparently took seven trials before recipe perfection was achieved. Di Francesco began by melting together 94 cheeses, including everything from gorgonzola to Swiss, into what he calls a “super cheese”; he spread the super cheese directly on top of the crust before scattering the remaining five cheeses, including buffalo mozzarella, ricotta, and goat, across the top.
And amazingly? It actually sounds fantastic. NDTV’s Cooks blog wrote, “Di Francesco has created a balanced and surprisingly nuanced pizza. It sounds like a supersized hot mess, the kind of novelty cuisine you might see on a menu at a suburban pizza and ribs joint, but it is anything but.” Meanwhile, the AU Review’s Chris Singh described it as “deliciously fluffy on the first bite, giving way to a soft, flavorful mixture of cheeses that isn’t as strong as one would expect, but rather light and creamy.” Apparently you’ll also encounter “small pockets of different flavors” as you munch down on this baffling yet impressive pie.
It may not look like much, but it seems there’s an awful lot of flavor packed into it:
As you may have guessed, though, the 99-cheese pizza doesn’t just exist for the sake of pizza enthusiasts everywhere; it’s also an advertising gimmick. I refrained from seeing the 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie out of respect for my childhood, but Grub Street notes that the idea of the 99-cheese pizza made an appearance in it, with Donatello deeming such a thing to be “a culinary impossibility”:
And according to the AU Review, di Francesco’s creation is intended to promote the movie’s DVD/Blu Ray release. Said di Francesco, “I’m extremely excited to be involved in this project. I grew up watching the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so bringing to life the TMNT 99-cheese pizza to celebrate the Blu Ray/DVD launch is a real honor.” But hey, as far as promos go, it could be worse, right? Especially since everyone seems to be raving about it.
Does anyone else find themselves suddenly abandoning their previous dinner plans in favor of pizza? Because I sure am. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be over here, debating the merits of pepperoni verses buffalo chicken with myself….
Image: djwtwo/Flickr
