Stromboli Vs. Calzone
 

What is the difference between a stromboli and a calzone? And don't tell me to Google it, either, because I DID and there's really nothing. Actually, the Cellar comes up second RE: IotD about Japanese Pizza or some such, but I still don't know what is the bloody diff? Does one have sauce inside and one not?

I've had calzone. I haven't had stromboli. But looking at pictures from Google I'd say that calzone is inside-out pizza. Stromboli is inside out sandwich.

I always understood Stromboli to be mainly meat & sauce and Calzone to be mainly cheese.

But I had Calzone in Venice that were very meaty, so maybe I got them the wrong way round? Perhaps it depends on the region. Or perhaps there was originally a difference that has eroded so that now they are generic terms. For example the contents of a traditional Cornish Pasty bears no relationship to what you find inside most of the ones you buy in shops.

I have only been to one restaraunt that had both on the menu. I just looked up their on-line menu to get their description:

Stromboli: a Margherita pizza [which here is a pizza with tomato sauce and selected cheeses] turnover
Calzone: a Stromboli with ricotta cheese


You can get fillings for both. So a Calzone, at least in this place, is cheesier.

[quote=Sundae Girl]But I had Calzone in Venice [quote]

You didn't go to Venice to interview Mark Darcy, did you? :)

Well, I'm going for the calzone, then. I do like a bit of :cheese: don't you, Gromit?

I think you are confusing me for someone with an odd accent :)

BTW further Googling has revealed most people fold their Calzone & roll their Stromboli. Its also made me hungry.

Calzones are usually smaller. Sauce is served on the side for dipping. Ricotta cheese (pronounced riGOHT) is in a calzone, but not in a stromboli. Either calzones or strombolis can have meats and veggies. Strombolis are best thought of as folded over pizzas, with all the gooey goodness baked inside the crust.

Calzones are under $10. Strombolis are $12.95 for a small, $15 for a large. The large will feed a family of 6. Two very hungry people can finish a small.

Very occasionally you will come across someplace that makes individual stromboli. Such places are usually run by Greeks, not Italians. They have flavors like Gyro in addition to Cheese Steak and Italian.

Places that make good pizza may make substandard stromboli.

IMO, calzones are folded pizza with some mozzarella, mostly ricotta, and optionally can have ham. Strombolis normally have several kinds of meat and cheese in an alternating fashion so that when they cook, it all comes together.

Bolis (abbr.) can include other meats and veggies as the place sees fit. They can also be made with a flatter crust and rolled rather than folded. The outside of the boli may include spices.

What? It's not pronounced rih-cot-ta?

Great. Now I have to look back and try to recall how many times I've made a cultural fool of myself.

If you don't have any 1st or 2nd Generation Italians in Alaska, no one will notice.

I thought it was ri-cot-ta, too. See how enlightening the Cellar is? :)

ri-gho-tha - Oh and that is the difference - A calzone has ricotta, a stromboli doesn't.

You all might be interested to know that this thread is one of our most-googled.

Really? That is great!

Right now, I'd eat ten of either of them.

Grrrr...are there apple/banana/salad/nicotine/caffeine strombolis?

i feel very googled. and honored.

Plus, see, NO ONE knows the damned difference. It's all a lie perpetrated on the American people by the Italians. Hey, Tony, pass the gabagool, eh?

wassamattefoyou huh? I just told you wat isit.

When I was going to Rutgers Univ. back in the 80s, there was a great stromboli place there called Stuff Your Face. I would go there 3-4 times a week. And it turns out, the guy making them was Mario Batali!

:-)

I knew a guy who wasn't sure what the difference was between a Stromboli and an apostrophe.

I worked off and on for a pizza place locally for years (they sold it eventually). The owners were Italian brothers from the sicilian region. I've never had a better pizza, before or since.

They did not make strombolis, but had great calzones (cal-zho-nayz). As they explained to me, a calzone was a pizza with the toppings inside instead of on top + ricotta. Sometimes, people would order a calzone with a half a dozen or more toppings in it, and that sucker would look like it was gonna explode. But omg so yumm.

Now I'm hungry and no one makes calzones like that anywhere...:sniff:

:eek: The other 5 will have to fight for pieces of crust. :lol2:

Stromboli Vs. Calzone

I'm pretty sure that was the court case that established the transitivity of spaghetti as it relates to pasta sauce consumption, or something.

Who pronounces the terminal "e" in calzone? I've never heard that.

I think "cal-zho-nayz" is plural.

Ricotta
 

ri-goh-tha is the standard pronunciation for this word. ri-goht is the pronunciation used in the Abruzzi (region) dialect. We Abruzzese typically do not pronounce a word-ending vowel.


Fred Santogrossi

Spelling is ruining the Italian language. ;)

Thanks Fred, and welcome.

Hang on - calzone is cal-zon-eh, right?

Anyway, one of the local Italian owned takeaways has had a revamp and is offering it. Very excited.

When Mum & Dad come back from house-sitting I intend to order us all one as a treat. Why wait? I can't afford it before they go, and I don't want to eat one alone. We've all had them in Italy and I don't want mine picked apart verbally before I get to pick it apart :)

I was always under the impression that in Italian the final vowel of the word is pronounced. My Italian instruc was obviously not Abruzzese.

This thread is disappointing. Based on the title I was hoping for a cage match to the death.

I learned the vowel-less pronuciations from our italian friends but didn't know that was regional. I think the Sopranos skip the last vowel too... I remember thinking "what the hell is gabbagool?" (cappicola) Stunad...

Spinach calzone Vs Cheesesteak boli

GO!

Italian Vowels
 

Italians pronounce ALL vowels.

Strombolli VS Cal-zone
 

I was watching man vs food on travel and Adam Richmond offered a very simple explanation for the difference between the two. A Stromboli has sauce inside and a cal-zone has sauce on the side. I am sure different restaurants offer variations but this is supposed to be the one determining factor.

i've worked at a New York Pizzeria for over three years for a man straight from Palermo. And his family traditionally made stromboli in rolls, with at least mozz and ham. While their calzones were traditionally mozz and riccotta. both, however, came with the sauce on the side but could be put inside per request. but that was menu-ized. ask a true italian...

thanks! welcome to the cellar!

Jesus is right and Adam Richmond is wrong!

oh.

So is the debate still raging or do we take jesus' word for it?

It's Man Vs Jesus, and this time.................... Jesus won.

The way I understood the term is that Stromboli has the tomato sauce inside, while Calzone does not. With Calzone the sauce is served on the side.

The explanation I was given was that Stromboli is named after a famous volcano, and the tomato sauce resembles lava coming out of a volcano when you bite into a Stromboli.

I have no idea whether this is widely accepted or not.