Italian tomato pie is an Italian-American and Italian-Canadian

baked good Baking is a method of preparing food that uses dry heat, typically in an oven, but can also be done in hot ashes, or on hot stones. The most common baked item is bread but many other types of foods can be baked. Heat is gradually transferr ...

consisting of a thick, porous, focaccia-like dough covered with

tomato sauce Tomato sauce (also known as ''salsa roja'' in Spanish or ''salsa di pomodoro'' in Italian) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish, rather than as a condiment. Tomato sauces are c ...

. It may be sprinkled with

romano cheese Romano cheese is a term used in the United States and Canada for a class of hard, salty cheese suitable primarily for grating similar to Pecorino Romano, from which the name is derived. In spite of the name, it should not be confused with genuine ...

oregano Oregano (, ; ''Origanum vulgare'') is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae. It was native to the Mediterranean region, but widely naturalised elsewhere in the temperate Northern Hemisphere. Oregano is a woody perennial pla ...

. It is not usually served straight from the oven, but allowed to cool and then consumed at room temperature or reheated. Like

Sicilian pizza Sicilian pizza is pizza prepared in a manner that originated in Sicily, Italy. Sicilian pizza is also known as ''sfincione'' (; scn, sfinciuni ) or focaccia with toppings. This type of pizza became a popular dish in western Sicily by the mid-1 ...

, tomato pie is baked in a large rectangular pan and usually served in square slices, although in

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

it is cut into rectangular strips like

pizza al taglio Pizza al taglio or pizza al trancio (Italian for pizza by the slice — literally "by the cut") is a variety of pizza baked in large rectangular trays, and generally sold in rectangular or square slices by weight, with prices marked per kil ...

. Tomato pie descends from and resembles the Italian ''

sfincione Sicilian pizza is pizza prepared in a manner that originated in Sicily, Italy. Sicilian pizza is also known as ''sfincione'' (; scn, sfinciuni ) or focaccia with toppings. This type of pizza became a popular dish in western Sicily by the mid-19 ...

'', although it is not the same dish; for instance, sfincione may have toppings, is usually served hot, and has a crust more like brioche than focaccia. A 1903 article in the '' New-York Tribune'' on the food of Italian-Americans described an early version of tomato pie. Tomato pie has been sold by Iannelli's Bakery in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

since 1910. In

Utica, New York Utica () is a Administrative divisions of New York, city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The List of cities in New York, tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 ...

, the family that would later found O'Scugnizzo's Pizzeria in 1914 sold tomato pies from their basement for several years prior, starting in 1910.

Regional names

* Utica: tomato pie * Philadelphia: church pie, gravy pie (as in " Italian gravy", i.e. tomato sauce) * Rhode Island: bakery pizza, party pizza, pizza strips, red bread, strip pizza, red strips *

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

: tomato pizza, cold pizza, pizza bread *

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

: Roma pizza (after the name of a bakery), bread pizza, slab pizza

Gallery

File:Sfincione palermitano 2.jpg, Typical palermitan ''sfincione'' File:New Hartford NY Hannaford - Tomato Pie.jpg, Tomato pie for sale in a grocery store near Utica File:Box o' strips.jpg, Rhode Island pizza strips

References

{{Tomatoes Italian-American cuisine Italian-American culture in New York (state) Italian-American culture in Philadelphia Italian-American culture in Rhode Island Italian-Canadian culture Pizza styles Tomato dishes

Regional names

Gallery

See also

References