Pizza Pie

Above is a recipe for ‘pizza pie’ scanned from a leaflet that would have been packaged with a ‘girdle’ (i.e. a griddle) sold in the UK something like 50-60 years ago. The griddle had been given to my mother back in the late ’60s or early ’70s. She passed the leaflet on to me after I’d started cooking with a bakestone, on the off-chance the recipes might be of some use. The one recipe I tried (for Cheese Scones) wasn’t a great success, so I haven’t attempted any of the others, some of which in any case are none too appetising.

On the front of the leaflet: “Gateware Cast Aluminium Girdles … Guaranteed for 10 Years … Make delicious Scones, Potato Cakes, Oatcakes the Traditional Way”. On the back: “The largest range of Cast Aluminum Cooking Utensils in the World … Gateware Products Limited … Contractors to: The Government, Shipping Lines, Local Authorities, Hospitals, Education Authorities”.

Clearly this pre-dated the general encroachment of pizza into British culture: it’s as if the writer of the recipe had heard about it without ever actually having eaten any. My first experiences of the stuff were scarcely any more authentic: the first generation of frozen pizzas to make it to our household in the early-to-mid ’80s were small, bready things topped with grated cheddar along with something vaguely tomatoey. By the time of my first visit to a Pizza Express in London ca. ‘87 (which, compared to what I’d been used to, felt like the epitome of sophistication!), I’d gained a much better appreciation of what pizza could be.