Meat Street
Years ago I told myself I would never do pizza for a large crowd again. Compared to grilling, making pizza has a higher degree of failure, requires a lot more concentration, and is much more labor intensive and when you combine all of that with hoards of hungry people waiting for each pie to emerge from the oven, my day becomes very stressful and much less enjoyable, which is anti-Meatwave vibes. But when I chose to name this cookout Meat Street after the classic hip hop flick Beat Street, all I could think of to fill the day were iconic New York dishes, and nothing was calling out more than pizza. Then I got to thinking—New York-style pizza tends to sit out for a while and actually isn't at its best until its reheated, so maybe I could pull off another pizza party if I could cook all the pies beforehand and just heat them up to order. As the guest list ballooned to 40 or so people, I started to second guess my decision, but I ended up pulling it off!
I had prepped my dough a few days prior, and the majority of the toppings the day before, so come Meatwave day I mainly had to assemble and bake. Things started off a little slow, but once I got a few pies in, I reached a good pace of being able to prep a new pie in the time it took one to cook, and within two hours I had gotten through fifteen pizzas total with various topping configurations.
For me though, the day was about the white pie. When I first moved to New York I quickly discovered the white slice and it became my go-to all throughout college and after. While there's almost always some variation of white pies everywhere I go, the NY version has a very distinct flavor with its low-moisture mozzarella, thick ricotta, and pecorino romano. My first bite of this slice had me ecstatic because it tasted exactly how I remembered it did from the corner shop next to my school, and that made all the pizza work I did worth it in my mind.
Once I took the pizza idea and ran with it, the rest of the menu centered around what I would often have with my slices. It wouldn't have been a true New York pizza experience without garlic knots. This was my first time making these and after some mishaps cooking the first batch, I got it down and these glistening, garlicky balls ended up being a favorite of the day.
While I love a garlic knot, more often than not, I choose wings with my pizza, and no flavor is as fitting as the standard Buffalo. Luckily I have a tried-and-true recipe that's been serving me incredibly well for nearly fifteen years now and these rich, spicy, and crunchy wings were just as satisfying as always.
I still needed one more recipe for my 2025 wing month though, so I tossed in these Japanese curry wings as something new. These were much like some dry curry wings I made awhile back, but Japanese curry powder has a distinct flavor that I thought had a slight edge over that previous recipe.
Since Buffalo wings are my number go-to for pizza, I wanted to deliver something similar for the non-meat eaters too. I've done Buffalo cauliflower many times before to good success, but that really needs to be fried and I didn't want to add a lot of extra work on game day, so I came up with a Buffalo cauliflower dip instead. I was able to put this entire thing together the day prior and just bake it before my crew arrived. With a good tangy Buffalo kick, this dip delivered the goods.
If I'm going to get a salad with my pizza, most likely it's going to be Caesar, not just because I like it, but it's pretty standard at most pizza joints. Wanting to squeeze one more recipe out of the day, I thought of adapting a Caesar to use grilled broccoli instead of romaine, and I actually liked this better than the standard bearer. That's because the broccoli has a pretty intense flavor which melded better with the equally intense Caesar dressing, creating a salad with more of a balance.
Kellyn brought her A-game once again with a contribution of two giant pizza cookies. This pepperoni "pie" was paired up with an equally impressive margarita, and they both tasted great, as always.
Of course, nothing is more important than the people I get share this all with, and here's a sampling of the many folks who showed up this day, starting with Chelsea, Kelly, Cat, Adam, and Christina.
Moving on now with Kristin, Kim, and John.
Here we have Lindsay, Chris, Lindsey, Julian, and Ryan.
And lastly, snapped as the day was winding down is Anna, Cody, Ian, and Kellyn, All-in-all it was a pretty excellent day. Even with making the pizza ahead of time, it was still more work for me than an average Meatwave, so I'm back to saying I'll never do a pizza party for this many people again, but I've said that before and it didn't stick, so who knows what the future will bring.
