Most of us assume restaurant-quality food comes down to expensive ingredients or a chef’s secret technique. Like some imported tomatoes or an insane wood-fired oven we’ll never have in our backyard. Dan Richer would tell you it’s none of those things.
The chef behind Razza (the only pizzeria to ever earn three stars from The New York Times) has spent decades paying attention to details most people overlook. We’re talking fermenting with pH readings, meticulously taste-testing tomatoes, and even studying bread baking.
His motto when it comes to the perfect pie is to stay curious. And that curiosity turns out to be the real ingredient behind unforgettable food—and it’s something every home cook can borrow. On All on the Table with host Katie Lee Biegel, Richer explained just how he does it.
How Dan Richer Makes Restaurant-Quality Pizza Every TimeThe best cooks ask ‘why?’ before ‘what’
As Richer learned more about pizza, he kept hearing the same rules: use San Marzano tomatoes, buy 00 flour, do it the way it’s always been done. But he wanted to understand what actually made those ingredients special. “I was always so curious of why, like why?” he says. “Why do I have to do that? Tell me, like, factually, science-based, why these are the best.”
That curiosity eventually became an obsession. “I’ve been to so many tomato canneries and farms, and I talked to the top people in the tomato industry, picking their brain constantly, trying to understand that one element of pizza,” he says. “And I do that for every element of pizza.”
Rather than chasing trends or following tradition for tradition’s sake, he let evidence—and his own taste buds—guide the process. “So I let my taste buds guide the way, for sure.”
The smallest details make the biggest difference
Richer doesn’t believe there’s such a thing as an insignificant ingredient. Even something as simple as a tomato can completely change a pizza depending on its sweetness, acidity, texture, and how it works with everything else on the pie. “We’ll line up 13 different tomatoes, and we do a double-blind taste test, and we literally evaluate each one of those characteristics,” he says.
He carries that same level of care throughout his kitchen. Instead of making one large batch of tomato sauce for every pizza, Razza keeps multiple varieties on hand because each one brings something different to the table. Even a classic Margherita isn’t just one recipe. Switching from house-made mozzarella to cheese from a small Pennsylvania producer creates an entirely different pizza, proving that one small change can transform the final bite.
Technique will always beat fancy ingredients
You might think Michelin-star restaurant-quality pizza comes from expensive imported ingredients, but Richer says it’s all in the technique. After all, pizza only has a handful of components, which means every step matters. “Pizza is a very simple food, but because it’s so simple, there’s nothing to hide behind. You have to execute every step of the process,” he says.
That starts with the dough. Richer says one of the biggest mistakes home cooks make is rushing fermentation or letting it go too long. He’s also a firm believer in giving your oven plenty of time to preheat and baking on a pizza steel or stone to build enough heat for a crisp, well-browned crust. Those might seem like small adjustments, but together they have a huge impact on the final pizza.
You’ll never master cooking—and that’s the fun part
After spending more than two decades studying pizza components under a microscope, Richer still doesn’t think he’s reached the finish line. “I don’t feel like I have a mastery of it by any means,” he reveals.
Instead, he sees cooking as something that’s always evolving: “I think there’s always more to learn, there’s more to explore, and there’s so much more that I want to explore.”
And that’s probably one of the biggest reasons why he’s remained at the top of his craft. He’s motivated by the next discovery, the next experiment, and the chance to make tomorrow’s pizza just a little better than today’s.
“I love seeing the progression of something starting, you know, as all beginners start out terrible, and then slowly or quickly getting better and getting better, and the more you learn, the more you study, the more you practice the craft, you get better at it,” Richer says.
So whether you’re making pizza, learning a new skill, or simply trying to become a better home cook, always stay curious.
To hear the full conversation with Dan Richer, listen to All on the Table wherever you get your podcasts.
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