The Experimental Pizzas of South Korea

It's the special. The fajita. Is that like a tempura around the crust? No, it's hash brown. It is cool to think about, like, in New York, there are some rules that I have to play by at my place, but here in Korea, it seems like you're free to do hash browns on your pizza, you know? I've had my pizzeria in Brooklyn for the last seven years. When I got a call from Mr. Pizza, one of the largest pizza chains in Korea, inviting me to Seoul to collaborate with them on a limited run New York style pie, it was pretty surreal. While pizza may not be the first food that pops into your mind when you think of Korean cuisine, there is a very distinctive style here that incorporates some of the qualities of traditional pizza, but takes on a whole new form influenced by local taste and ingredients. Asia might only account for a little over 8% of the global pizza market, but it has the largest international growth rate when it comes to pizza sales. The main reason I'm here is because of Chef Kim. We both went to Culinary Institute of America together, and now he works for Mr. Pizza, helping them develop new flavors and styles. I can't believe that I'm in Seoul right now. And that, to have opportunity to come out here and work with Mr. Pizza. Maybe you're gonna, you're gonna learn something out of here. You're gonna turn it, tweak it up a little bit. It's crazy because, like, you know, we've been to New Haven, and Chicago, and New York, and all these different cities. And each city has its own style, but Seoul has its own style. Of course. It's not copying anybody. It's like. In person, I love New York style, thin crust, you know, kind of stuff. But here, they're not used to. People only want like a deep, deep Chicago style. What do you think? What's your favorite? I like the the edge around it, the sweet potato around. I think only in Korea you can taste that kind of stuff. Thank you. Here you go, it's a shrimp bowl. Try it, try it. It reminds me very much of like, pizza chains on the west coast. A little sweeter than classic pizza. Definitely a little sweeter. It's really tasty, you know? This is the, the special. The fajita. Is that like a tempura around the crust? No, it's hash brown. It is cool to think about, like, in New York, there are some rules that I have to play by at my place. But here in Korea, it seems like you're free to do hash browns on your pizza, you know? A lot of people want to try something new. So, our indie team is trying to do something different from regular pizza. This is Mr. Pizza Research and Development. And I got to meet some of the staff here, working on some of the new products. There it is. The collaboration pizza that we made for Mr. Pizza is very much a New York style pizza. An acidic sauce, it's salty, mozzarella cheese on top, bell peppers, and sausage. Yeah, this is the first time that I'm seeing it made on their side. What do you think? Do you like the pizza? Yeah? You're not just saying that, right? What is that, the arugula pesto? I wasn't a huge fan of the arugula pesto, because in my opinion, it's not something that I would do. I wouldn't use it on my pizza. You don't go into a slice shop and get, like, an arugula pesto. What about basil? My notes on it is that this doesn't taste like a New York pizza right now. The peppers and the meat is what really needs to come through. If we could layer the sausage more on top, I think that would be better. So it starts to caramelize on top a little bit, and all that fat will kind of come into the sauce, and it'll even make the crust a little more crunchy. I think the ranch works better, even though it's not classic. To me, it's still something that people would eat in New York, you know? Let's give it a try that way. I like to see all that caramelization, and it looks more like a New York pizza. Right? You guys want to give it a try? It's a lot better. Here in Korea, there's like a certain palette that they go for. And we're trying to bring some of those New York flavors over here. But I think we have to do it sort of incrementally. Yeah, we're just compromising. We're doing what cooks do, you know? We're figuring out the best of what I like, and what works for them. And hopefully we can meet like somewhere in the middle. I like pizza that is like rustic looking, you know? It wasn't exactly calculated. To me, that's like the essence of pizza. The mozzarella? It's actually pretty good. It, it melts really nicely. I think it's good. I'm happy with it. I really like the heat on it. I like the crunchiness of the peppers. And that the pepperoni, reminds me of home. Did you, did you get that? He's happy. He's happy with what we have. Everybody say mozzarella cheese. Yeah.