Guys working yesterday sliced the cheese from block on our meat slicer and put ]that on the pizza rather than shreading. Said it was a real time saver. Any issues with this? Anybody ever try this?[/b]
How is the portion control with slices? Can you get a consistant portion for each size of pie?
Is there a real labor savings? I would think the time to slice compared to shredding would eat up any labor savings at the make table.
I would be interested in your answers to this because the same thought has crossed my mind just this week.
I tried it and didn’t like it. I didn’t like the look it gave the pie. Having said that the biggest place in our city uses slices instead of shredding. He says it’s a big time saver and because you are using the slicer all slices are the same. That doesn’t make sense to me, because if you weigh your cheese, I don’t see the difference.
You will end up using far more cheese if you apply sliced than shredded or diced. Stick with shredded/diced. DOn’t find out the hard way about cost of the sliced cheese on your pies.
How do you put square slices of cheese on a circle pizza?
get a square pizza!!! all joking aside, when I worked at the hut, we would go to our local deli and buy a half pound or pound of provel cheese, it came sliced as they couldn’t shred it for us. we would make pizzas using the square slices. you just have to arrange the slices for good coverage. I wouldn’t recommend it for every pie that comes out of the oven though.
with that thought, diced cheese seems to work pretty good. it is easier to spread in my opinion and the coverage is just as good if not better than shredded.
Now I have the urge to roadtrip to St. Louis for a pizza…
I’m told that in Indianapolis, sliced cheese is the “way it’s done” at most of the mom-and-pops. The G.M. for my supplier keeps trying to show them how much they could save with diced/shredded, but they always say they like the exacting portion control. He then points out that they could over portion every pie and still come out way ahead, they cover their ears and go “la, la, la” and he walks away in frustration.
Maybe Rockstar could shed some more light on the whole sliced-cheese Indy-love thing?
the best way to ensure portion control with diced or shredded cheese is by weighing it for each pie, I realize how time consuming that is. but what you can do is get cups. different sized cups for each size pie. figure out how much to put in each cup based on weight draw a fill line with a perm marker. but if you use cups, you gotta watch for abuse. if you do anything but fill the cup with your hand, you won’t get accurate portions. if you scoop the cheese in, if you shake the cup it will compact the cheese and allow for the cooks to put more in.
You know I’m from Indianapolis too and I don’t see the “sliced” thing alot. I see far more shredded, there might be a few places around town that do it that way but I have always seen the shredded done.
I find that the sliced cheese doesn’t melt as “pretty” as the shredded. I mean shredded goes everywhere and gets in all those nooks and crannies before there is even any melting done. I use sliced Mozz for sandwiches and French Bread Pizzas because it does make less waste on these since they can fall over and drop the cheese. I think the shredded just makes a nicer looking pie
I can’t believe slicing cheese is faster than grinding?
What do you use to grind your cheese with.
The palazzolo machine we use is very fast and efficient. I slice our cheese for our sandwiches and it takes forever to slice it compared to grinding. As far as portion control, we use a Avery Berkel scale and have great luck with it and it is very fast and easy to use.
Good Luck,
Tony