Square pizza, cut into eighths

I had always thought that if you got pizza slices in wedges only if you ordered a circular pizza.

I had always thought that if you got a square (or rectangular) pizza, it was cut into squares.

Until this afternoon.

On a visit to Delaware, Ohio (north of Columbus on US 23; not to be confused with The Diamond State), while visiting some relatives a new chain that moved into Delaware, Cottage Inn Pizza, was suggested. (It is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, just like Domino's. It is also on the Web at http://www.cottageinn.com) So, naturally, I went along, always wanting to try new brands.

Lo and behold, while the pizza is square, it is cut into eighths, radially from the middle like a circular one! I have never seen this before! Has anyone else seen square pizza cut this way?

I haven't, but I sort of like the idea. Every piece has some of the outer edge of the crust - with the larger square or rectangle pizzas when you cut them in square pieces there are always a few pieces in the middle with no crust edge, and I like the outer crust.

quote:

Lo and behold, while the pizza is square, it is cut into eighths, radially from the middle like a circular one!

Okay, I'm trying to picture this. So the pizza is cut into eight identical isosceles right triangles, and each slice has a crust edge along one of the shorter sides? Seems like it would make for some lopsided eating.

For a moment I thought you were going to say you had a square pizza cut into eight equal squares. Now that would have been really interesting.

As far as round pizza cut into squares -- Why??

Is this bringing to mind for anyone else Willy Wonks and his "square candies that look round"?

quote:

Originally posted by spaniel
As far as round pizza cut into squares -- Why??

Isn't this the standard for that style of pizza with the ultra-thin, almost crackery kind of crust that -- at least here in Boston -- is most associated with Greek pizzerias?

Life can certainly be strange and wonderful.

Don't mind me--I'm feeling philosophical. It's the notion of cutting a round pizza into squares that does it.

quote:

Originally posted by pdxyyz

We alway got round pizzas cut into squares in Stamford Ct.

We may be getting off topic here, but I've seen that style quite often, including both Donato's and Cassano's here in Ohio.

quote:

Originally posted by spaniel
Okay, I'm trying to picture this. So the pizza is cut into eight identical isosceles right triangles ...

You are correct!

quote:

Originally posted by spaniel
... and each slice has a crust edge along one of the shorter sides? Seems like it would make for some lopsided eating.

I'm lost here, Spaniel. Could you please explain what is meant by "the shorter sides"? The pizza, square, has four sides, and each slice has half the length of a side of the "square" and an eighth of the total diameter.

Maybe I'm missing something. I meant that since each triangle has three sides, two shorter and of equal length and one longer, the outer edge of each slice would be one of the shorter sides. So if you pick up a slice by the crust side, it doesn't have the nice symmetry of a triangular piece cut from a circular pie. But I'm picturing it being cut like this:

|..|../|
|.\.|./.|
|..\|/..|
|../|\..|
|./.|.\.|
|/..|..\|

pretending that's actually a square...

Excuse me if I was being pedantic -- I really am curious to learn about different slicing styles, because I had just assumed that square or rectangular pizzas would always be served in square or rectangular slices, and that circular pizza would be cut radially into triangles, never having seen it done any other way.

My illustration isn't displaying the way it looks in the preview. I will try to figure out how to fix it.

Oh never mind! Maybe after I learn a little more HTML.

quote:

Originally posted by spaniel

Maybe I'm missing something. I meant that since each triangle has three sides, two shorter and of equal length and one longer, the outer edge of each slice would be one of the shorter sides. So if you pick up a slice by the crust side, it doesn't have the nice symmetry of a triangular piece cut from a circular pie. But I'm picturing it being cut like this:
_________
|\ | /|
| \ | / |
|__\ | /__|
| / | \ |
| / | \ |
|/___|___\|

pretending that's actually a square...

That's exactly how it's done, Spaniel. Just cut the original square into four smaller squares, then cut those four squares diagonally, going through the middle of the pizza.

quote:

Originally posted by spaniel

... I had just assumed that square or rectangular pizzas would always be served in square or rectangular slices, and that circular pizza would be cut radially into triangles, never having seen it done any other way.

So did I on the square and rectangular pizza. I had always assumed they were cut into squares--or rectangles.

Cutting a circular pizza into squares is not uncommon, as several chains, like the ones I listed previously, do it that way.

Must be something to it. I worked at a Godfather's Pizza while in college and we had a fair amount of people ask us to cut the round pizza in squares. Maybe to fool their kids into thinking they were eating more than they actually were?

One more ignorant question. When you get a circular pizza cut into squares, how do you decide who gets the leftover curvy pieces with all the crust? Do some people covet them and fight for them as the best parts, while others shun them? If it were me, I would try to hog all the crusty pieces - the crust is my favorite part of the pizza.

Assuming you're sharing the pizza, that is. If it's pizza for one, no problem!

quote:

Originally posted by Wallyum

Must be something to it. I worked at a Godfather's Pizza while in college and we had a fair amount of people ask us to cut the round pizza in squares. Maybe to fool their kids into thinking they were eating more than they actually were?

Help me out here. Am I right in remembering that the Godfather Combo (which later got upgraded to the Super Combo) was the greatest chain pizza of all time? Because there's still at least one Godafther's that I know of, in Albuquerque, and the pizza's barely as good as a Pizza Hut anymore.

Godfather's was unique, but they've changed a lot in the twenty years since I left, and not for the better based on my infrequent visits. The Combo was a good pizza, but we got a lot more compliments on the Taco pizza. (Especially if we used the sauce that had "gone over", which was a nice way to say fermented.) We had regular customers that begged us to use the bad taco sauce because it gave the pizza more of a kick.

Just to add to the confusion, Campesies (sp) in Dallas makes rectangular pizzas that they cut into smaller rectangles so that every piece gets an outside edge.

All of our Domino's cut the thin and crispy pizzas into squares, the hand tossed and pan pizzas into triangular slices

How would one cut a triangular pizza?

quote:

Originally posted by rumbelly

How would one cut a triangular pizza?

In half, then quarters then eighths.......was that a trick question?

When I was growing up, we didn't have a pizza pan but had plenty of bread pans, so our pizza was always made in the bread pan-so it was a rectangular shape and was cut into sqares. I was probably in my teens whenever I had my first round pizza. We never bought the frozen kind back then-probably the only kind they had was Chef Boy ardee.