Spiedie Pizza

Broome County, NY meets Italy in a fusion to make the Spiedie Pizza!

The simple Spiedie sandwich is meat, bread, and sauce – and (no surprise) this translates amazingly well to make an equally simple but delicious pizza!

Who doesn’t love a good family story about their food creation?

I visited my Dad in Upstate New York last month and I was introduced to the Spiedie sandwich. I loved it! And of course, I could only think of what this would be like as a pizza.

Well, once I was home, my Aunt Hala sent me a huge kit of Spiedie ingredients from Lupo’s! She’s so sweet! And after recreating some sandwiches for my husband, it was time for us to make a Spiedie Pizza!

Spiedie: The Name and the Fame

The term “Spiedie” comes from the Italian word “spiedo,” meaning spit or spiedini, referring to cubes of meat cooked on a skewer. These Italian roots are a hint at the Spiedie sandwich’s heritage, with this New York-meets-Italian favorite. Originally made from lamb (which is what we’ll show you in our Spiedie pizza), nowadays, Spiedies are more commonly prepared using chicken, pork, or beef. And if you buy the same Spiedie kit – you’ll get them all! The sandwiches can be found at restaurants and street vendors, but you can also buy the ingredients at local grocery stores, or (as my aunt did) buy a full kit and get it shipped anywhere in the US!

What is a Spiedie Sandwich (and what is a Spiedie Sandwich Pizza?)

A traditional Spiedie sandwich is “simply” marinated meat cubes (often on a skewer) that are grilled and served on a long Italian bread roll with a drizzle of Spiedie sauce.

That’s it. No veggies. No condiments. Just meat and bread.

No surprise that we can transform this into a lovely Spiedie sandwich pizza, right?

The (Disputed) History of the Spiedie

It appears that the Spiedie was introduced to Broome County, New York, by Italian immigrants in the early 1900’s. However, according to Wikipedia, there’s a bit of a rivalry between Binghamton and Endicott as to which city is the actual home of this sandwich!

I liked the article from What’s Cooking America, which seems to suggest that while the sandwich may have been invented in Binghamton, Augustine Iacovelli popularized the Spiedie by introducing them in his restaurant in Endicott, New York in 1939, where he called them “Augies”. Wikipedia also suggests a third contender in Peter Sharak, who introduced them in 1947 at his Sharkey’s Bar and Grill in Binghamton – and, despite being 8 years later than Iacovelli, Sharkey’s apparently takes credit for inventing the sandwich in their advertisements.

Our kit comes from the restaurant Lupo’s, which has been around since 1951 and takes credit for creating the marinade (if not the sandwich).

The truth? Who knows? I only know the Spiedie sandwich pizza was going to be my next stop!

Spiedie Marinade & Sauce

Part of the magic of this sandwich is that the meat is flavored not just with a sauce or a marinade, but both. Since the sandwich often has no condiments, both really help elevate the meat so that the sandwich has enough complexity to enjoy with nothing else.

The marinade (again, perhaps invented at Lupo’s) is important in order to both add flavor but also to tenderize the meat. If you are using bigger cubes of meat, the marinade is even more important to allow the flavor to seep through. Bigger cubes also means you can skewer the meat and cook it on the grill.

Some Spiedie experts use the same marinade recipe as the sauce, just applied after the meat is in the roll. Others use a different sauce altogether. Our Spiedie kit came with both.

Iacovelli named his sauce “Zuzu” which is apparently made with wine vinegar, water, lemon juice, garlic, and mint.

From Spiedie Sandwich to Spiedie Pizza

Our kit from Lupo’s came with their Classic Italian Marinade and their Sub Sauce. While both are delicious, the sub sauce is a little thin to use as an actual pizza sauce, so we’re going to use this to baste the meat while it cooks and use the marinade both to marinade the meat and as the pizza sauce base.

The meat in the pack was cut a little small to skewer and grill, so we cooked it in the cast iron. Between the marinade of the meat and the basting of it in the cast iron, we managed to get a LOT of flavor in there!

Note: do not to cook the meat all the way since it will cook a second time on the pizza! Depending on the temperature you’ll cook the pizza (i.e. outdoor oven or indoor and crust type), you will want to warm it through at lower heat (outdoor oven where the intense heat will sear the outside) or to get just a good sear on the outside (indoor oven with a longer cooking time).

Ingredients You’ll Need for Spiedie Pizza

Meat. Bread (ahem, pizza dough). Marinade. Sauce.

Do I Have to Order These Ingredients? Can I Just go to the Supermarket?

You absolutely can go to your local grocery store to get everything you need to make Spiedie pizza at home.

Meat: The core ingredient is meat and you can use chicken, pork, lamb, or beef. Typically, you would use a cut of meat that can be cubed before cooking. I would suggest chicken breast, port tenderloin or boneless chop, lamb leg or shoulder, and most cuts of beef will cube well. Since you’re marinading the meat, you don’t have to go with the most expensive cut…but since this dish is basically just meat and bread, you’ll taste the meat more than in other dishes, so a higher quality cut is probably the way to go.

Marinade: while every restaurant is going to have their own recipe for their magic marinade, I’m going to share with you a recipe based on emulating Lupo’s:

• 1/3 cup corn oil (feel free to substitute olive oil if you prefer)
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (coarse fresh ground preferred)
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic (can substitute garlic powder)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika

Yup, that’s it. Feel free to add additional “Italian” seasonings to taste though.

Spiedie Sauce: again, not all Spiedie sandwiches have a sauce that’s different from the marinade. But Lupo’s has one that’s slightly different. In essence, Lupo’s Sub Sauce is slightly thinner and uses red wine vinegar instead of cider vinegar and adds a touch of sugar.

• 2 tbsp corn oil (feel free to substitute olive oil if you prefer)
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon sugar

(if you plan to serve extra on the side for dipping, you may need to increase the recipe depending on how much you serve with the pizza).

Note: Given how similar the sauces are, feel free to just use the marinade for both basting and as the pizza sauce also! Just make sure to make a larger portion so that you have enough including a little extra for dipping after.

Pizza Dough: While there’s nothing wrong with buying an off-the-shelf pizza dough for this pizza, I’d encourage you to try making your own! We have a number of delicious pizza dough recipes you can try! If it’s your first time, go with our Easy Peasy Pizza Dough.

Want to have New York battle? Try Tony Gemignani’s Master Dough recipe which makes for an amazing New York Style pizza!

If you’re an expert and want to try something unique, try making a Biga Pizza Dough!

How to Make Spiedie Pizza

If you are making your marinade and sauce, simply mix the ingredients for each together and use as described below.

1. Marinate the Meat:
   • In a bowl, combine the marinade with the meat.
   • Marinate for at least 4 hours (preferably overnight) in the refrigerator.
2. Prepare the Dough:
   • Preheat your oven to to the correct temperature for your dough.
   • If your dough is refrigerated, take it out of the fridge for at least 1 hour before you form the dough.
3. Cook the Meat:
   • If your meat is big enough to skewer, you can cook it on a grill.
   • If your meat is in smaller pieces (as ours was from Lupo’s), cook the meat in a cast iron skillet.
   • If you will be cooking the pizza at high temperature (>700° F, as you would for a Neapolitan style in an outdoor oven), you’ll want to cook the meat at low temperature to cook it through to ~130° F.
   • If you will be cooking the pizza in an indoor pizza oven (<550° F in an indoor oven), add 2 tablespoons of Spiedie sauce to the cast iron pan and heat it hot before putting the meat in so that the meat will sear on the outside but not cook all the way through.
   • In either case, baste the meat with your Spiedie sauce a couple of times while cooking.
   • When the meat is sufficiently done (but not fully cooked) remove from the cast iron pan (so that it doesn’t keep cooking) and set aside to cool.
   • Before putting on the pizza, you will likely want to cut the meat into smaller pieces.
4. Assemble the Pizza:
   • Stretch out your pizza dough on a floured work surface to be 12″ in diameter.
   • Transfer the dough to your pizza peel or pizza pan, as per your dough recipe.
   • Spread 2 tablespoons of Spiedie marinade (not the sauce) evenly over the stretched dough.
   • Distribute the Spiedie meat over the dough.
5. Bake the Pizza:
   • Place the pizza in your oven and cook per the instructions for your dough. The meat will finish cooking in the time it takes your pizza to cook.
6. Slice and Serve:
   • Let the pizza cool for a 3 minutes, then cut into slices and serve hot.
   • Don’t hesitate to add a little sub sauce on the side for dipping the crust!

Time to Enjoy that Spiedie Pizza!

For Broome County, NY (be them from Binghamton or Endicott), the Spiedie sandwich is part of their local identity and tradition (I mean they have a festival for it!). I am very appreciative of my Aunt sharing this with me at home and I was thrilled to be able to put our own Satisfying Slice twist on it by making a Spiedie Pizza and sharing it with you!

October 20, 2024