Finding the Best Fried Pizza in Naples
If you’ve been following for a while, it’s pretty likely you love Italian culture (and pizza). Not only that, you would also be familiar with the fact that cooking and all things related to the kitchen is the glue of the family and the heart of socialization. Italian chefs are very open about their personal love of food. Vice has even said that Italians are the most passionate cooks in the entire world – it’s safe to say all of us here at Vincenzo’s Plate agree.
While this passion is shared throughout the whole family, it’s no secret that most pizza chefs are men. In Naples, you’ll see just how true that is within Italian culture. But recently, we went somewhere extra special and stopped by the pizzeria of a female chef who makes the best fried pizza in Naples. Well, it’s not just word on the street. Teresa Iorio has won international awards for her best traditional margarita pizza and fried pizza which she’s named the “female and fried”, and it is 100% the BEST I have ever tried!
Teresa Iorio: The Name Behind the Face of Le Figle di Iorio in Naples
Teresa Iorio is originally from Naples and not only did she have extra cause to celebrate being the first woman to win the world pizza making championships, but she has actually won twice which is a record! Iorio earned the craved Caputo trophy awarded to the best pizza made in traditional Neapolitan style (reported by Ansa news).
Throwback to that time of pizza history, when Iorio received her award, her words were, “I’m so happy! I’d like to dedicate this to my mother and my father who taught me the art of pizza making. Whenever I roll out a pizza base I think of my dad,” she told reporters. “I thought it was impossible. I want to share my award with pizza making women everywhere” Iorio said.
Safe to say she’s nothing less than a Neapolitan legend and a master at creating the best fried pizza not only in Naples, but in the entire world. Teresa Iorio comes from a family of pizza making women and heads up the pizzeria Le Figle di Iorio in
Naples, which is where I Vincenzo’s Plate went with: Malatidi Pizza, Vincenzo Viscusi, and Gigio Attanasio. You can watch the full experience here or continue reading for a mouth watering description of her most famed pizzas…
We vistied, hoping she would share a few of her secrets and so we can recreate some of her masterpieces on Vincenzo’s Plate at home, for you.
About Fried Pizzas
A fried pizza is bite after bite of sensational layers and very different than what you’d normally order from a pizzeria outside of Naples, let alone Italy!
After working the dough in her signature artisan way, Teresa Iorio adds provola cheese, (a very generous amount!) and then an additional piece of dough is added on top closing the cheese in, then she works it once more.
She has been familiar with every aspect of pizza making since she was 12 and watching her, you can definitely tell. She shows pure dexterity in her pizza making craft. She is a “pizzaiola” which is a pizza maker, specifically a female pizza maker.
Trying the Best Fried Pizza at Le Figle di Iorio in Naples
Fried to perfection in fresh bubbling oil, the dough billows out turning into this beautiful pillow of steam. Then sheep ricotta is added which is very light, delicate, and put on in a thin layer. She chooses sheep ricotta as in her opinion it has a very great flavor that Teresa personally loves. Then she adds mortadella in delicate, thin slices with immense pride while expressing herself, “Things should be done with passion and love – anything you do, even your job” –
Teresa.
Finally, the fried pizza is topped with fresh squeezed lemon, baked pistachios, pepper, and some fresh green basil for some colour as a garnish.
The fragrant smell is amazing, the cheese is perfectly melted on the inside. It’s no surprise she won an award. As you bite into it, every layer is not only tasted but savored as they are not blended at all giving a completely unique fried pizza
experience.
To some, this might actually replace their favorite kind of pizza when it comes to the comparison of wood fired pizzas. A bold statement? But it just might!
Finally, the hint of lemon adds something fresh that almost cleanses your palette so you’ll be ready to go back inside for the next dish.
Teresa also serves up “polpette” – her Mother’s recipe – which are little balls of parmigiano, pecorino romano cheese, garlic, parsley, minced meat and stale/day- old bread. Crunchy, tasty, and pure love stemming from tradition.
We tried to find the best fried pizza in Naples, and we believe we found it.
Teresa Iorio’s passion shows in her craft and when in Naples, her fried pizza is like a rite of passage when visiting. It is something perfectly Italian that you cannot leave without trying.
Watch myself, Malati di Pizza, Vincenzo Viscusi, and Gigio Attanasio visit her and
make her famed fried pizza on Vincenzo’s Plate here
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