Methods of Pizza Roll Preparation: Part 1

Since the invention of the Pizza Roll in 1968 by Jeno Paulucci pizza rolls have been at the forefront of the American dinner table. Food fads come and go but pizza rolls have withstood the test of time and remain true to their form.

The pizza roll is in it's ideal state after being prepared with a traditional convection oven. This methodology is unmatched in terms of the crispness of the pizza roll's crust. Recent advancements in food scienceistry have made it conceivably possible to have that same unique crisp crust fresh from the microwave. I am writing specifically of the Revolutionary Grilling Tray that is included in every Lean Cuisine Panini meal. I preserved 2 of these trays for experimentation in the testlab.

Pizza Roll Preparation:
Thirteen pizza rolls (test group) were carefully sandwiched between 2 revolutionary grilling trays and slightly elevated on a small platform. They were heated on medium heat in the microwave oven for nearly 3 minutes which is the time required by the panini bread (from the panini meal) to toast. I chose medium heat to compensate for the relatively short heating time required by the pizza rolls. In this case I believed time would be a greater factor in the overall crispiness than microwave power. A control group of 2 pizza rolls was heated under normal conditions afterwards.

Test Results:

There were immediate noticeable differences in the visual characteristics of the control and test groups. The test group did not turn out golden brown and crispy as all had hoped. There were darkened greasy areas on the underside of the pizza rolls. These greasy areas were not as visible on the control group. There was virtually no difference in the crispiness of the crusts between the 2 groups.

As of this experiment the revolutionary grilling tray, while it makes a great panini, is no substitute for a convection oven. It is possible that the low cooking power resulted in an ill effect on the crisping trays and that higher cooking power may be necessary. It is also possible that the revolutionary grilling trays are not designed for re-use. I believe this method of preparation will have to be retested in the near future.

The Toaster Oven:
During a late night brainstorming session the following weekend at Johnner.com's house I was introduced to a new variety of Chicken Enchilada pizza rolls. While I consider myself a traditionalist I figured I would give these 'pizza rolls' a day in court as this was also a good opportunity to see how well a toaster oven performed in contrast with a good old oven oven.

The pizza rolls came out moderately crisp. I can't say they were as crisp as they would be from a regular oven as I didn't have much of the necessary testlab equipment nearby. My gut tells me that if you are going to take the time to prepare them outside of the microwave realm, go ahead and throw them in the oven oven. I can also surmise that I did in fact enjoy these 'pizza rolls' but again, it's hard to confirm this without my equipment. They were full of melty cheese with just a little bit of some chicken and passed themselves off pretty well as an enchilada.

What does it all mean?
Pizza Rolls always make for a good lunchtime or even dinnertime. While the cooking powers of a standard convection oven are far superior to that of the microwave and even a cut above the toaster oven, you'll have no problem enjoying them using either of these methods of preparation. I believe the potential of the revolutionary grilling tray has not yet been fully harnessed and we will continue to see advancements made in this field of food science. There is also the potential of a retest with the RGT and Pizza Rolls in the near future. I'm fresh out of pizza rolls for now.

Special Thanks to Johnner.com for the toaster oven enchilada rolls and Scott & Michelle.com who have presented an exemplary example of how pizza rolls should be prepared.