Opinion Queen

I have always been a big fan of the company Emile Henry, because they make top quality clay cooking products imported directly from France!  So when they offered to send me an Emile Henry Pizza Stone to review (plus one to giveaway to a lucky reader), I was ecstatic!  Before the pizza stone even arrived, I was coming up with a million and one ways that I wanted to test it out…. from the obvious (pizza) to the less obvious (bread, phyllo appetizers, cookies, etc.).  I also began reading up about the company history of Emile Henry, which was founded in 1850 in a little town in Burgundy, France.  They are still run by the Henry family and use Burgundy clay in their kitchen products.  What makes Burgundy clay so special?  It is known for evenly cooking food, for having amazing heat retention, and for having outstanding thermal shock properties (which keeps the clay from cracking even if you have it in the freezer and move it directly into the oven).  The more I learned, the more excited I was for the pizza stone!

When my Emile Henry Pizza Stone arrived, I was immediately struck by the weight and obvious high quality.  You cannot tell from a photo, but this box is not a feather-weight.  The pizza stone comes in three gorgeous colors: Figue (an eggplant color), Olive and Black.  I received the black pizza stone, which is perfect for me because it is a neutral color that suits the rest of my kitchen cookware.

Knowing that I would not be able to wait to use my Emile Henry Pizza Stone once I got it, I had my kitchen already stocked with ingredients.  The first test would be a frozen pizza.  I know, I know… homemade pizza tastes much better, but it also takes more time, and I am not joking when I say that I could NOT wait to use it!  My family was previously not a frozen pizza family.  We prefer to have pizza delivered over frozen pizza.  Why?  Well, one big reason is that the crust just never tastes as good.  I like a slightly crunchy crust with a soft inside.  I am proud to say that we are frozen pizza fans now!  Wow, what a difference the Emile Henry Pizza Stone makes.  No more soggy crusts.  Our pizza was perfectly and evenly cooked, even without rotating the pizza once half way through the cooking process.  And I know this can only be credited to the pizza stone, because my oven is notorious for its uneven cooking abilities.

The next test for my Emile Henry Pizza Stone… bread!  Everyone in my family (and in my neighborhood for that matter) knows that I make amazing challah bread.  But like I mentioned before, my oven never cooks anything evenly, so I usually have to rotate my bread a little bit every 15-20 minutes or so.  This time, I baked my bread on the pizza stone and you can see that it browned evenly.  The same day I also baked cookies and chicken nuggets on the pizza stone, both of which came out crunchy and fabulous.  I try to not feed my family fried foods, but often times baked versions of fried foods just do not taste as good.  For example, when you bake chicken nuggets, they often come out soggy, especially if you do not flip each one over half way through.  But chicken nuggets cooked on this pizza stone come out crispy, do not need to be flipped, and are SUCH a healthy and delicious alternative to fried chicken nuggets.  I think my cookie sheet is going to be replaced with my new pizza stone, which seems to do everything that a cookie sheet does, but better!

My final test was on my sister’s favorite recipe of Cheddar Onion Focaccia Bread, which I only made twice because each time the center of the bread came out soggy.  I had a feeling that the Focaccia Bread baked on a Emile Henry Pizza Stone would be a winner.  And sure enough, it came out exactly how I wanted it – with a light brown, crunchy crust.  My pizza stone has been so busy these days that as soon as the focaccia finished, I transferred it onto a cooling rack so that I could use the pizza stone again right away (hence why the photo above shows the focaccia on a cooling rack!).

How to Enter the Emile Henry Pizza Stone Giveaway:

Where to Buy: You can buy one here: Emile Henry Pizza Stone

How to Win: You can win an Emile Henry Pizza Stone by visiting the Emile Henry Website and leaving a comment below with the item you like most on their website or a comment about your favorite use for a pizza stone!  Each of the following will give you a certain number of entries into the giveaway, so do as many of the following as you would like!  Good luck everyone!

1.  Subscribe to my updates via e-mail by clicking here: Subscribe to Opinion Queen by Email, confirm the subscription, and leave a comment below to let me know that you have subscribed to my e-mails to enter this giveaway. (2 entries)

2.  Tweet about my giveaway with a link to my site, and leave a comment below with a link to your tweet.  You can do this every day! (2 entries)

3. Make your facebook status about my giveaway with a link to my site, and leave a comment below with a link to your page.  You can do this every day! (2 entries)

4.  Add a link to OpnionQueen.com from your blog or website, and leave a comment below with a link to where you added the link. (3 entries)

5.  Follow me on twitter: TheOpinionQueen and then leave a comment below with your twitter name. (2 entries)

The winner will be selected on November 14 and contacted via e-mail.  If there is no response from the winner within 3 days, then another winner will be selected.  Only US Residents are eligible for this giveaway.

Congratulations to Jen V on winning this Giveaway!