Burgers, Dogs, & Pizza, Oh My!

Posts Tagged ‘Digiorno’

Quite often, when I buy frozen pizzas, I feel like Charlie Brown’s experience with Lucy holding the football. Yet I don’t learn. (P.S., I have had relationships like that, too! LOL)

There are two or three frozen pizzas I rate as exceptional on every level, but unfortunately, as one might suspect, none of these are in the ‘mass market’ offerings.

DiGiorno (Delissio in Canada) was created in the mid 90s by Kraft.

Apparently bored of the segment, they sold off their pizza brands to the international robber barons of water, Nestle. (DiGiorno, Jack’s, Tombstone and California Pizza Kitchen).  Kraft picked up $3.2 billion. Nestle got the #`1 frozen pizza brand.

“It’s not delivery, it’s DiGiorno” goes their commercials.  Good thing it’s not delivery, I would have asked for my money back.

The “Bacon Me Crazy” stuffed crust pie (crust rim is stuffed with cheese and ‘bacon’) falls into the higher price range of thin crust frozen pizzas, at about $8.  Taking it out of the box, frozen, it looks more like the one dollar variety pies from Totinos.  At least to me.

The box informs me this pizza is made at USDA establishment number 1682 A, which is a contract manufacturer called “Nation Pizza,” in Schaumburg, IL. They manufacture frozen foods of all ilks. I’ve driven by the plant many times. (Pictured below, as well).

Following the baking instructions precisely, the crust remained rather doughy, and the minuscule diced toppings might not have even been there. They didn’t really provide any flavor or tactile experience to the pie. The sauce leans towards the sweet side. The “smoke flavoring” is very present.

Whether or not the rim is actually ‘stuffed’ is open for debate.

I had two squares, and then did something I NEVER do. Tossed the rest. Perhaps the raccoons will like it. I sure didn’t.

Lots of ingredients:  Enriched Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Part-Skim
Mozzarella Cheese with Modified Food Starch (Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese [Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes], Modified Food Starch,
Methylcellulose), Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese (Part-Skim Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Enzymes), Applewood Smoked Cooked Bacon (Bacon [Cured with Water, Salt, Sugar, Sodium Phosphates, Sodium Ascorbate, Sodium Nitrate], Smoke Flavoring), Tomato Paste, Genoa Salami (Pork, Beef, Salt, Dextrose, Spice, Lactic Acid Starter Culture, Wine, Flavoring, Sodium Ascorbate, Sodium Nitrite, Citric Acid), 2% or Less of:
Vegetable Oil (Soybean Oil and/or Corn Oil), Yeast, Bread Crumbs (Bleached Wheat Flour, Yeast, Sugar, Salt), Vegetable Oil Shortening
(Palm Oil, Natural Flavor, Beta Carotene [Color]), Sugar, Salt, Seasoning Blend (Salt, Spice, Dried Garlic).

Nation Pizza photos from their website.  Product photos are my own.

Prior to baking

Close up – slice – “stuffed” part is bottom right

Exterior Nation Pizza

Nation Pizza Sauce Squirter

Nation Pizza – Fixing the toppings before packaging

DiGiorno Bacon Me Crazy Pizza Review

It may not be delivery, it’s “Digiorno,” but for me, another “d” word motivates me to buy this brand: “desperation.”

Translation? I’m in the mood for a frozen pie and happen to be someplace where this is the only thing available. In the case of last night, at a 7-Eleven, where the self-rising pepperoni was priced at $6.99.

Opening the box, right away I don’t like it, there’s a weird “chemical” smell from the box, which isn’t from the vacuum sealed pizza, but rather ingredients or ink in the cardboard? In any regards, it’s unappealing to me.

Pie-wise, I’m not a fan of thicker crusts. I prefer more cheese and toppings make up the calorie count, rather than bread.

Digiorno is owned by Nestle, along with Jack’s, Tombstone, and some other brands, it was part of a 2010 $3.7 billion acquisition from Kraft, who needed to raise money for other acquisitions. Regardless of what I personally think, apparently Digiorno is the number one frozen brand in the U.S. There’s a reason, I’m sure and it’s not to do with ‘value pricing,” though I did see a woman earlier in the day at a grocery picking up a half dozen, as they were on sale for less than $4 a pop.

It’s a very “non offensive,” pizza, mild toppings, mild sauce, fairly adequate cheese, and it’s probably very filling for a family meal, due to the calories in the bread.

In all fairness, before this pizza hits by pie hole, it has been seriously altered at home, with more toppings, spices, and herbs. So it’s not a very unbiased ‘review.’

The pies are made at a massive factory in Little Chute, Wisconsin, at USDA establishment M5754. Little Chute is parked along the Fox River adjacent to the Appleton-Neenah area. (pix below).

The pies have a whole raft of ingredients, including the dreaded mechanically separated chicken, something I try and avoid.

INGREDIENTS: ENRICHED WHEAT FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), WATER, LOW-MOISTURE PART-SKIM MOZZARELLA CHEESE (PART-SKIM MILK, CHEESE CULTURE, SALT, ENZYMES), PEPPERONI MADE WITH PORK, CHICKEN AND BEEF (PORK, MECHANICALLY SEPARATED CHICKEN, BEEF, SALT, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF SPICES, DEXTROSE, PORK STOCK, LACTIC ACID STARTER CULTURE, OLEORESIN OF PAPRIKA, FLAVORING, SODIUM NITRITE, SODIUM ASCORBATE, PAPRIKA, NATURAL SMOKE FLAVOR, BHA, BHT, CITRIC ACID), TOMATO PASTE, SUGAR, 2% OR LESS OF WHEAT GLUTEN, VEGETABLE OIL (SOYBEAN OIL AND/OR CORN OIL), DEGERMINATED WHITE CORN MEAL,YEAST, SALT, DEGERMINATED YELLOW CORN MEAL, SEASONING BLEND (SALT, SPICE, DRIED GARLIC), BAKING POWDER (BAKING SODA, SODIUM ALUMINUM PHOSPHATE), DATEM, SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, ASCORBIC ACID (DOUGH CONDITIONER)

CONTAINS: MILK, WHEAT.

Before baking

Side view slice

Wisconsin Factory

Digiorno Self Rising Pizza Review

“It’s Not Delivery, It’s DiGiorno”  state the commercials for this Nestle product.  Hmmm.  I’ve had lots of delivered pizzas that became fleeting, one-time events in my life, and if DiGiorno wants to be placed into that category, I’m happy to oblige them.

I purchased the “bacon, sausage, and pepperoni” topped version of this pie, and the packaging has a couple of new ‘brag points’ printed on it:  “Now with 33% more meat,” and “With the Great Taste of Garlic.”   I say “YAY!” for the garlic, but question “33% more meat” (than what?)

I’ve reviewed a DiGiorno product before (Flatbread Pizza) and liked it.   This one?  Not so much.

What’s wrong with it?  Well, in a word, nothing.  It’s a product produced to be as inoffensive to the public as possible, and therefore, in my opinion, that company mandate makes the food as bland and without uniqueness as possible.

Crust – this is a medium thickness crust, somewhat “Boboli” in nature, but when first removed from the oven, doesn’t give a hint of any type of crispness.  It stiffens up as it cools, but never fully achieves the “crisp crust” quality I like in pizza.  In the photo above, you’ll notice the hot slice has some “New York hang” (arrow) resulting in what I call “slide”, one of the least desirable qualities in pizza.  I define “slide” as the process that makes a slice’s toppings slide off the crust into the box, or onto the floor or your clothing.

The toppings are completely without any kind of character, and the heretofore mentioned “with the great taste of garlic” wasn’t noticeable to my palate.

Cheese-stuffed crust?  Well, you can SEE it, but you can’t really taste it or sense the texture of melted cheese in biting it.  The cheese with the crust congeals fairly quickly with cooling, and doesn’t really add anything to the tactile or taste sensation when consuming this pie.

As I frequently write, the posts on this site are only a reflection of my personal tastes, and obviously, Nestle sells a lot of this product, so it must appeal to the masses.

So I’ll pass on trying this one again.

For unique flavors and textures, I’m still fixated on the imported frozen pizzas one can find at Trader Joe’s.  Some of the best product on the market.

I’ve been in a lot of food factories, and met a number of food ‘scientists.’  I can’t help but wonder what the original conceiver/creator of the DiGiorno pizza thinks of the product in its present form.