Quality Ingredients Make Quality Pizza
With the creation of Minsky’s Gourmet pizza, a standard for quality pizza was set. To Minsky’s, Gourmet meant only using exceptional ingredients, even if that meant spending a little more to ensure top quality. Everyone knows a pizza is only as good as the ingredients it’s made from – a principle that Minsky’s founder, Gregg Johnson, has stood by since day one.
“Since 1976, we’ve always chosen to use the highest quality ingredients. We could cut corners, but then it wouldn’t be Minsky’s.”
– Gregg Johnson
To what lengths does Minsky’s go in order to create Kansas City’s best pizza? For starters, every Minsky’s pizza location hand-prepares fresh pizza dough every four hours. Minsky’s dough is never frozen and contains no preservatives. Natural sea salt and olive oil are applied to the crust, followed by Minsky’s signature house-made red sauce – crafted from citric acid-free Escalon tomatoes. For toppings, Minsky’s uses only the best fresh-cut vegetables and meats. And the crowning piece – fresh Mozzarella cheese. In fact, few would say that cheese isn’t the most important part of a pizza, which is why Minsky’s has always used 100% Wisconsin Mozzarella since the earliest days.
So, what makes Wisconsin Mozzarella cheese the best?
It Starts With… Cows
Superior cheese begins in the dairy capital of the world, Wisconsin, making it the best place to start when searching for the best mozzarella. In the beautiful northern Wisconsin countryside, just east of Green Bay, sits one of America’s largest, privately-owned family dairy farms, Pagel’s Ponderosa Dairy in Kewaunee, WI. At Pagel’s, over 5,500 dairy cows are cared for 24/7 by over 100 diligent employees, all of whom are trained in animal care and handling.
Minsky’s founder Gregg Johnson and the Minsky’s food management team traveled to Pagel’s Ponderosa to see where the milk that becomes Minsky’s 100% Wisconsin Mozzarella comes from. The Minsky’s team took an extensive tour of the facility so they could thoroughly understand what makes this cheese so special.
Their guide, Isabella Haen, took the team to an observation point over the milking parlor. From there, the Minsky’s team was able to see the innovative rotary milking system at Pagel’s Ponderosa. The dairy cows walk onto the carousel-like wheel – with no extra nudging – and then exit when they are finished milking and are then fed – it’s an easy and stress-free routine.
Gregg Johnson meeting one of the cows at Pagel’s Ponderosa.
Next, Isabella brought the group from Minsky’s to the maternity barn, where expecting cow mothers and newborn calves are cared for. The barn is temperature-controlled and filled with fresh hay each day to keep the cows happy and healthy. Outside of the maternity ward, other barns at the dairy provide over 500,000 square feet for the cows to live and sleep comfortably.
The Minsky’s team also learned what the dairy feeds their cows: which is a total-mixed-ration diet, including a balanced mixture of grains, alfalfa, and proteins, adjusted based on the cow’s age. Calves receive vitamin-enriched pasteurized milk until they are old enough to switch over to the TMR diet.
The attention and respect that Pagel’s Ponderosa puts into raising and caring for their dairy cows is rewarded with the highest quality milk. According to Pagel’s Ponderosa Dairy:
“To achieve high-quality cheese, you must begin with high-quality milk. That’s why Pagel’s Ponderosa Dairy works to always maintain the highest standards when it comes to the treatment of our cows and the milking process from start to finish. The happier the cows, the better the milk.”
Experts in the Art of Cheesemaking
Wisconsin cheesemakers have been refining and fine-tuning their techniques for over 180 years. It’s no surprise that the state is ranked as one of the world’s top cheese-producing regions in the world. In fact, Wisconsin cheesemakers alone produce over 1 billion pounds of mozzarella a year!
Each week, Pagel’s Ponderosa sends seven to eight giant tanker trucks full of its premium milk to Saputo Cheese USA, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It’s at Saputo where the milk is transformed into the 100% Wisconsin Mozzarella cheese for Minsky’s Gourmet pizzas.
Refrigerated trucks deliver the 100% Wisconsin Mozzarella from Milwaukee to Kansas City, where it is divided between Minsky’s 17 Kansas City and Lawrence locations. The blocks of cheese are then shredded in-house, keeping it fresh and flavorful until it is piled high on your favorite Minsky’s Gourmet pizza and served up piping hot at your favorite Minsky’s location – or delivered directly to your front door.
Brent Wittrock and Gregg Johnson standing next to the dairy’s giant tanker trucks.
High-Quality Ingredients = World Class Pizza
The Minsky’s Pizza team works hard behind the scenes to bring together the highest quality ingredients to create Gourmet pizzas that truly are special. And maybe now it’s less of a wonder why Minsky’s Pizza is named the Best Pizza in Kansas City year after year!
The next time you’re about to settle in and enjoy one of Minsky’s Gourmet pizzas, remember the wonderful dairy in Wisconsin that helps make it all possible by contributing the best quality milk that becomes Minsky’s 100% Wisconsin Mozzarella cheese toppings!
