The Secret To Julia Child's 'Perfect Pizza' Is In These 2 Additions

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It can be confidently said that Julia Child is among the greatest of cooks. Child made cooking approachable, teaching fans how to turn any meal into a work of art, and impacted the culinary industry through her love of French cuisine. In that same way, she clued us into her secret for making the perfect pizza in the Season Eight of "The French Chef." Here, Child makes hers by improvising a pizza peel using a sheet of cedar wood and the floor of a brick oven via unfinished tile or fire bricks. Certainly, this is a great method to essentially recreate pizzeria-style pizza at home. It can also be agreed that, using Julia Child's fearless guidance, the home cook can elevate a homemade pizza through many other means.

To explain Child's method, most brick oven pizza makers traditionally use a peel to transfer pizza to and from its heat source. Obviously, not everyone owns one, which is where the ever-resourceful Child's tip comes in. However, softwoods like cedar aren't good substitutes for a pizza peel; when heated, they tend to produce thick, dark smoke and impart an unpleasant odor or taste due to their natural resin. Interestingly, her tip to use a drawer bottom is actually closer, since those are typically made of either hardboard or plywood. Where Julia nails it is her suggestion of quarry tile, and especially fire, or refractory bricks. So long as it's unglazed, quarry tiles are similar to pizza stones, and refractory bricks are precisely what's used in brick-oven-style pizzeria kitchens.

Admittedly, things like pizza peels are very accessible these days, meaning we don't need to worry about finding cedarwood. For instance, the LX LERMX Bamboo Pizza Peel is highly rated, affordable at $13.95, and can be conveniently delivered to anyone's door. However, that doesn't mean that Child's direction can't be employed. Those seeking out fire or refractory bricks to mimic brick ovens can use those like Protowel's Food Grade Woodstove Firebricks, as they can withstand the standard oven's high heat. Anyone following her lead with quarry tile can do so affordably at $5 per block. Just ensure that it's at least ½ inch thick and unfinished to properly heat and support the pizza. Alternatively, since Child is essentially substituting for a pizza stone, you could use one like the Unistone Heavy Duty Cordierite Pizza Pan, which can be obtained for $30.

Julia Child's legacy left us with plenty of inspiration to springboard from when making the best homemade pizza. Using her direction of using whole ingredients to guide us, we can make a simple, but flavorful, pizza sauce at home using tomatoes, and fresh — never ground — garlic and basil. Aside from adding hefty ingredients like pepperoni and more cheese, something as simple as a dash of hot honey, balsamic glaze, or crushed red peppers can elevate the flavor. To assist with texture, it can be helpful to oil and parbake the crust of certain types of pizzas if you plan to add sauces and toppings that can't be in the oven long. This will help create that crispy crust and lessen the chance of a soggy-bottomed pizza.