Chef Jamie Oliver Swears by Putting This Controversial Topping on His Pizza
If you thought pineapple was the most controversial pizza topping out there, British chef Jamie Oliver is here to up the ante. His recommendation? He loves creating what he calls “grape pizza” — and you can guess what that calls for.
Oliver ruffled feathers earlier this year when he first floated this idea during a cooking video for Keep Cooking Family Favorites. After creating a basic dough, he added sausage, red onion, pine nuts, mozzarella, and red grapes to create what he says is the perfect combination of savory and sweet.
“Once you try it, the sweetness, the saltiness, the whole kind of thing, is beautiful,” he said in the video as he put together the pizza. His big pro tip with adding grapes: slice them up and only sprinkle a few on your pie so that you get their sweetness without having them accidentally overpower all of the other flavors. Oliver also cut his pizza with kitchen scissors at the end, but we can only handle one food-related debate at a time. We’ll leave that one for another day.
Of course, social media was all over the place with this latest take on fruit on pizza. “The only grapes that should go with pizza are in red wine,” one person wrote. Another user, however, made the argument that people have grapes, meat, and cheese on bread all the time on charcuterie boards, so what makes this that much different?
As for me, a self-proclaimed pizza fanatic, I decided to try out a quick modified version of Oliver’s recipe using a sausage pizza I already had on hand and added grapes, mozzarella, and olive oil to it. I’ve got to say, while my roommate looked on in disgust, Jamie Oliver is definitely onto something. I see what he means about the sweetness and the savoriness coming together in a single dish, and I’d totally eat it in the future. Then again, I love pineapple on my pies, so maybe I’m not the best judge of pizza-related character!
Oliver has since made more grape pizza videos, including this one, featuring honey and grapes. Who’s in?
