The popularity of pizza has been underlined by the opening of a ‘unique’ pizza cookery school at Worthing College, exclusively authorised by the Regione Campania, the most important district council in the home of Neapolitan pizza, Naples, to train pizza chefs.
Students can now explore the art of Neapolitan pizza making at the college. Learning this skill is something that some of our Valoriani wood-fired pizza oven owners have also done, although they have trained with the guardians of the Neapolitan pizza tradition – the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana – at its training school in Naples.
Pizza chef training with Valoriani ovens
That training, some within top Naples pizzerias, combined with the fact that these trainees have bought a Valoriani wood-fired pizza oven – an artisan-made oven which meets the AVPN’s extremely high standards – has enabled them to become AVPN-certified. They can justifiably say they serve “real Neapolitan pizza”. Without AVPN accreditation, you just can’t do that.
Acclaimed gas-fired commercial pizza oven
Interestingly, it’s not just our Valoriani wood-fired pizza ovens to which the AVPN gives the thumbs up. Valoriani boasts the first gas-fired pizza oven to be approved by this dedicated organisation – the Igloo Verace Gas. Gaining that approval took years and was only achieved after many blind taste trials. This oven has been adopted by a growing audience in the UK and in its beautiful mosaic finished Neapolitan style is currently being rolled out across Marks & Spencer hot food takeaway outlets, where you will find them serving up their wood fired and stone baked pizzas from these sensational ovens..
The AVPN do not offer accreditation lightly and Neapolitan pizza tradition has been built around wood-fired ovens, so to have the AVPN determine that a gas oven can produce pizzas which emulate the taste, texture and appearance of Neapolitan pizza is quite some feat.
Valoriani UK pizza chef training school
Of course, we too, here at Valoriani UK, also have a pizza making training school – well, actually, a training centre in which chefs, restaurant owners, and private wood-fired pizza oven buyers too, can come and learn from our team in Preston. This allows pizza chefs and restaurant owners to grasp every aspect of creating dishes in an artisan-made Valoriani wood-fired pizza oven, learning how to get the most out of these top-quality wood-burning ovens.
We should also add that it’s not all about pizza. Our artisan ovens are capable of cooking virtually anything a conventional oven can cook and the skill is in learning how to manage the heat and cook different foods at different temperatures. That could be bread, desserts, roast meat and vegetables, casseroles and stews, fish dishes, toppings for canapés or even grilled foods, if you use one of our Tuscan Grills. We’re really not purists who will turn our noses up, if you rustle up bacon in your oven, for your morning butty.
Slow-cooked wood-fired dishes
Our ovens also have superb heat retention capabilities, so some chefs capitalise on that and cook foods slowly overnight, using just the residual heat that rests in the oven after service. They arrive at the restaurant or eatery the next morning, to find perfect slow-cooked delights.
It’s fantastic to see Worthing College inspiring pizza chefs, particularly as there is such a dearth of trained pizza chefs at present – just one of the professions for which roles need to be filled within the UK hospitality sector. Of course, if you want to buy an oven for your restaurant, café or pub, we can help you or your staff become a budding pizzaiolo too.
Just call us on 01772 250000 or email info@orchardovens.co.uk to enquire.