Tasty Booze Feature - Cracking Eggs Of Wisdom

We’ve decided to start a new feature here on Tasty Booze where we crack a few eggs of wisdom on everything that is man. Each week we will pick a topic and dish out some advice to help our common man. The topic could be anything from dating to cooking to drinking, you get the idea.

This week I am going to kick things off with a little cooking action and combine two things that dudes love, grilling and pizza. Time to expand beyond the standard grill fare and branch out a little bit. Everyone loves a little “make your own pizza” action and everybody will be impressed when you use your outdoor firebox to cook up the tasty pizzas. You’re going to need three basic things to pull this off:

1) Dough
2) Your favorite pizza toppings
3) Beer

You’ve got options in the dough department and I am not talking about a bullshit Boboli. First you can get the Pillsbury Pizza Crust that comes in a can like crescent rolls which will give you two rectangular pizza crusts. Second you can drop $0.99 at Trader Joe’s and pick up one of their pizza dough balls that come in a couple of different flavors and lastly you can always stop by your local pizzeria and ask them for a ball of dough. If you are going the dough ball route from either the pizzeria or Trader Joe’s you are going to need one dough ball per pizza. If you use the Trader Joe dough it will need to rise for 20 minutes so enjoy a cold beer while you wait.

First thing first, grab a beer. Then get a piece of tinfoil about the size of a standard cookie sheet and coat it with non-stick cooking spray. If you are going the Pillsbury route slap your crusts on the foil and head to the grill. If you went the dough ball route you are going to need to form that dough into the pizza shape that you like. Since most grills are generally rectangular in shape I would recommend going with something that resembles a rectangle. Remember the thinner the crust the better it’s going to cook so really stretch that dough ball out.

Once you get out to the grill (which should be warmed up with the flame set at about medium) coat the exposed side of the dough with more non-stick spray and then slap it on the grill. Once the dough hits the grill you can peel off the tin foil and chuck it. At this point if you are using the Pillsbury crust it’s only going to take about 2 minutes so don’t stray to far. If you are using the dough ball you’ve probably got about 5 to 7 minutes so I would encourage you to grab a beer. Once the bottom of the dough has picked up some grill marks and has a nice brown color you are going to want to invert it onto some kind of cutting board that is coated with non-stick spray. Make sure you also coat the top side of the dough with non-stick spray before you attempt this stunt. This can be tricky so what I do is lift up one edge of the crust and then set the cutting board on top of the crust. With my hand under the end of the crust and one hand on the cutting board I quickly flip it over before I burn the shit out of the back of my hand.

Now that the first half is done it’s time for some toppings. If I am doing two pizzas I usually like to do one with a pesto sauce and one with the standard red but I will leave that up to you. Once you’ve got your topping set crack another beer and head out to the grill. Slide the pizza off the cutting board (see non-stick spray is your friend) and close the lid. Once again times are going to vary a little. If you went with the Pillsbury you are probably only looking at about 3 to 5 minutes. Make sure to keep an eye on the bottom of the crust. If you only wait until all the cheese is melted the bottom of your pizza might look like asphalt. For the dough ball you have probably got at least 10 minutes to enjoy your beer but once again make sure you check on the bottom of the crust every few minutes.

Once the cheese has melted and the crust is brown you are done. Let the pizza sit for a couple of minutes and then cut it up. This is an easy fairly cheap recipe that has the range to impress the ladies while also impressing the guys when they come over for the big game. Based on your dough choices you should easily power down 3 to 4 brews while cooking up this tasty pizza.