A few weeks ago I found myself at my haunt, Eataly Chicago, eating and talking pizza with Simone Iavarone, the head Pizzaiolo at Rossopomodoro inside Eataly. While we were talking, Simone mentioned Rossopomodoro was thinking about adding the Cosacca pizza to the menu. I heard of this pizza before and seen a couple pictures, but really had no idea what Cosacca meant or why this pizza was special enough to have a name. So I went home, did some research, and it turns out there is a great amount of history behind this pizza - about 174 years worth. Hear all about it and watch me and Simone discuss, make, and eat a traditional pizza Cosacca in the video below.

So there you have it. The tight relationship between the Cossacks (Cosacca) and Neapolitans led to a nice little gift exchange where Naples received two bronze horses, and the Russian Emperor, Nicholas the First, got a named pizza with tomato, pecorino (typ), basil, and some EV olive oil in return. Who do you think got the better end of the deal?

Simple pizzas like this usually don't make it on a menu which means their story also fades. Luckily, Simone and Eataly recently dedicated a whole section of their menu to "Pizza Tradizionale" including the Cosacca. Stop in to say hi to Simone and get a little bit of history with your pizza.

I hope you all enjoyed the video because I hope to make many more! Please leave a comment or send a message with any feedback, thoughts, questions, or ideas for the next one.

PS - no post is complete without a BOOTYSHOT. You can thank the Russian emperor for this one:

Some sources:

Scatti di Gusto

My Social Recipe

Tretyakov Gallery