Let me tell you about the most important ingredient on our pizza.
It is not the flour. It is not the cheese. It is the tomato.
A Roman pizza has only a few things on it. And when you have so little to hide behind, every single ingredient matters. There is no heavy sauce to cover up a dull tomato. There is just the tomato, clean and clear, in every bite.
That is why we use San Marzano tomatoes. Let me explain why they matter so much for our authentic Italian pizza.
What Is a San Marzano Tomato?
San Marzano is a particular kind of plum tomato from southern Italy.
It is long and slender, more pointed than the round tomato you know from the salad, with thick flesh and few seeds. It is not grown to be eaten raw. It is grown to become sauce, and this is exactly where it is unmatched.
The very best carry the DOP mark, a protected designation of origin that guarantees they were grown in one specific place, to rules that have held for generations. Ours are sun-ripened San Marzano, carefully chosen from small producers in Italy, just like the rest of our ingredients.
The Soil by Vesuvius
To understand the tomato, you have to understand where it grows.
San Marzano comes from the plains south of Naples, in the shadow of the volcano Vesuvius. The soil here is volcanic, dark and rich in minerals, laid down over thousands of years of eruptions. It is the same soil that gives the region’s wines their character, and it gives the tomatoes something no other field can.
The sun, the mild climate and the volcanic soil create a tomato with a depth you will not find anywhere else. You can taste the place. It is terroir, the same word wine people use, and it applies just as much to a tomato as to a glass of red.
What Makes Them So Special
Three things set San Marzano apart from an ordinary tomato.
First, the sweetness. They are naturally sweet, with a round, full flavour that needs no sugar or any other fix.
Then the low acidity. Where many tomatoes leave a sharp, sour edge, San Marzano is soft and balanced. It tastes of ripe tomato, not of acid.
And finally the flesh. Thick and firm, with little water and few seeds. It becomes a sauce that is concentrated and clean, never thin or watery.
Together it gives you a tomato that tastes more of tomato than anything else you have tried.
Why We Use Them
Our sauce is almost embarrassingly simple. Crushed San Marzano tomatoes, a little salt, good olive oil, maybe a leaf of fresh basil. That is it.
We do not cook it for hours. We do not fill it with spices. A good tomato does not need rescuing. It needs to be left alone.
It is the same thinking behind our whole pizza. A few perfect ingredients, treated with respect. It is not only about the tomato, it is also about the base, and you can read more about what makes our Roman pizza unique.
And it is the same love we have for the other Italian ingredients we care about, like guanciale and pecorino. Each one has to be able to stand on its own.
The Taste on the Plate
The next time you take a bite of a Margherita or an Amatriciana with us, stop for a moment.
Taste the tomato. The sweetness, the soft acidity, the deep, sun-ripened flavour. It is not an accident. It is a choice we made, because we grew up with this taste and refuse to compromise on it.
It is one of the reasons we dare to call it the best pizza in Copenhagen. Not because we do anything complicated, but because we choose the right ingredients and let them be themselves.
Come and Taste the Difference
You can read about a good tomato for as long as you like. But you have to taste it to truly understand it.
Come by MaMeMi in Vesterbro, and let an authentic Roman pizza with San Marzano tomatoes speak for itself. If you want to see what else we have going on, you can always see our full menu.
Book a table, or walk in and taste for yourself.
Francesco
MaMeMi is an authentic Roman style pizzeria and natural wine bar in Vesterbro, Copenhagen. Roman pizza made with a secret blend of five organic flours and 48 hour fermentation. Over 1,000 natural Italian wines curated by our sommelier Danilo. Weekend lunch every Saturday and Sunday from 12:00. Open Wednesday to Sunday. Mysundegade 28, two minutes from Enghave Plads metro.
