When two American icons meet, there is much joy.

There is also much prep work.

America might be the land of cheese burgers and apple pie, but if we were honest, we'd admit that our true culinary love is pizza. There's just something about tomato sauce, baked dough and cheese that makes us happy.

So it was only a matter of time before I got around to writing about grilled pizza. That time came a couple weeks ago in the form of an e-mail that said: "Hey, when are you going to write about pizza on the grill?"

The e-mail was from Jason Storch, the guy behind this little Web site. Admittedly, I'd been considering a grilled pizza post for a while. My friend Eldora makes great pizzas on the grill, many of which I've devoured greedily. But the idea of whipping up dough bothered me. I'm not a very good baker. It's too precise, too unforgiving. I like a little room for adjustment should I work myself into a corner.

You screw up something on the grill or the stove and you can probably fix it. You screw something up in the oven and you're starting over.

Well, I'm here to say that my fear of baking was unfounded, at least as it applies to pizza dough. Relying on a grilled pizza dough recipe Steven Raichlen included in his BARBECUE! Bible cookbook (which I doubled), I was able to produce six reasonably good pies. And with a little more practice, I'll be the Papa Effing John of the grill.

There are three things to know about grilling pizzas: few things are more bad ass than pulling hot pies off a Weber, never use more than three toppings, and prepare everything ahead of time. Everything. The actual act of grilling pizzas is very fast and very easy. It took me all of about five minutes per pie. Preparing to grill a few pizzas, however, took me two days.

I will say that grilling pizza can be as easy or as complicated as you like. If you're like me and seem to enjoy doing everything the hard way, you'll make the pizza dough, you'll make the sauce, you'll plan on making "unique" pizzas, you'll make three different "unique" pizzas, etc. etc. If you're sane, you'll make the dough and buy some jarred pizza sauce, pepperoni and decent cheese. The route you take is up to you.

And let's face it, when you pull a couple hot pies off the grill, no one will care about your homemade sauce or the thought you put into the toppings. Why should they, you just produced an American icon from a grill that's usually relegated to cooking chicken breasts?

You, my friend, have just done something bordering on magical.

To celebrate my accomplishment, I cracked open a couple Gordon beers from Oscar Blues. Gordon is a big, bad double IPA. It's hoppy, boozy and in a can. For anyone who hasn't joined the canned beer movement, now's the time (Hell, even Esquire and the Post are on board). The enemy of beer is light. It converts some of the hop chemicals into 3-methylbut-2-ene-1-thiol, which creates that skunky flavor that ruins beer. That's why so many beers come in dark brown bottles. Although brown glass isn't terrible at filtering light, aluminum is better. And those old fears that the aluminum affects the flavor of the beer can be put to rest. Modern cans, such as the ones used by Oscar Blues, include a liner that protects the beverage from its container. 

Oscar Blues was one of the first craft brewers to use only cans in their production, but other brewers are beginning to follow.

Grilled pizza three ways
(Makes four servings)

For the pizza dough
Rather than plagiarize the great grill master, I will simply say that a Google search of "Steven Raichlen grilling pizza" will produce his dough recipe and a video demonstration by the man himself. That said, if you don't own a copy of his BARBECUE! Bible and consider yourself a grilling enthusiast, you are missing out on a valuable resource of techniques and recipes.

For the sauce
1 16 oz. can of San Marzano tomatoes, crushed
1 tbs. of basil, dried or fresh chopped finely
1 tbs. of oregano, dried or fresh chopped finely
1 tbs. of thyme, dried or fresh chopped finely
2 tsp. of sugar
6 heads of garlic, minced very finely
Salt and cracked black pepper to taste

For the Sopressata pizza
1/4 lb. of thinly sliced Sopressata
6 oz. of sharp cheddar cheese (I used aged English cheddar, but buy what you like), shredded

For the breakfast pizza
2 strips of bacon, diced
1 egg
2 tsp. of chives, diced
6 oz. of gruyere cheese (or Swiss), shredded

For the lamb and goat cheese pizza
1/2 lb. of ground lamb
6 oz. of goat's cheese, divided into four disks
2 tsp. of mint, dried or fresh chopped finely
2 tsp. of thyme
2 tsp. of salt
2 tsp. of cracked black pepper
1 yellow bell pepper, roasted and sliced very thin

Prepare the sauce the day before. Although it can be whipped up in a few minutes, a couple hours on the stove deepens the flavor. Combine the ingredients, bring to a boil, taste, and add salt and pepper. Cover and cook at low heat for an hour. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Cover and cook for another hour. Taste again. If you're happy with the flavor, let the sauce simmer for another 30 minutes with the lid partially off so some of the steam can escape, allowing the sauce to thicken. Stir, taste one final time and if the sauce is still a bit soupy, simmer on low heat for another 15 minutes. Once the sauce is done, stick it in the refrigerator until you need it.

If you're planning to make the Sopressata pie, the only thing you need to do is shred the cheese, get the Sopressata out of its package, and warm up the pizza sauce on the stove or in a microwave.

When you're ready to grill, drizzle some olive oil onto a baking sheet and spread the pizza dough out on it, making sure to coat both sides of the dough. When the dough is spread out (it'll look a little like a Rorschach test) and the toppings are next to the grill, toss the pie on to the hottest part of the grill. After a minute, check to see that the bottom is baking by feeling (with a spatula) for firmness and looking for grill marks. At about a minute and a half, you should be able to flip it over. Add the cheese (adding it to the hot dough ensures that it melts) and close the lid. After about a minute, check the underside for doneness and slide the pizza to a cooler part of the grill. Add the sauce and the Sopressata, and close the lid for another 2 minutes. Remove the lid, remove the pizza.

If you're making the breakfast pizza, you need to shred the cheese, fry the diced bacon and crack the egg into an egg cup or bowl ahead of time. As with the Sopressata pizza, make sure you reheat the sauce before you begin.

When you're ready to grill, drizzle some olive oil onto a baking sheet and spread the pizza dough out on it, making sure to coat both sides of the dough. When the dough is spread out and the toppings are next to the grill, toss the pie on to the hottest part of the grill. After a minute, check to see that the bottom is baking by feeling (with a spatula) for firmness and looking for grill marks. At about a minute and a half, you should be able to flip it over. Add the cheese (adding it to the hot dough ensures that it melts) and close the lid. After about a minute, check the underside for doneness and slide the pizza to a cooler part of the grill. Add the sauce and bacon, and close the lid for another minute. Using a spoon create a small well in the middle of the pizza for the egg yolk to rest in, and if you own a brulee torch get it out. With the torch at the ready in one hand and the egg cup in the other, carefully lay the egg into the well. As the white begins to run for the edges, hit them with the torch, they'll cook immediately (if you don't own a torch, I wish you luck). Close the lid and allow the pizza to cook for another three minutes or until the egg white is cooked. Remove the lid, remove the pizza.

And if you're planning to make the lamb and goat cheese pizza, do as I say not as I do. For this post, I decided to make a few startlingly big lamb meat balls. They're impressive to look at and they remind me of the first meatball pizza I had years ago, which had nothing more than cheese, sauce and a gigantic meatball in the center. Well, I'm here to tell you that the giant meatball works better on paper than in practice. So enjoy the picture, but brown your lamb meat off in a pan or make several bite-size meatballs.

To get started, brown the lamb with the mint, thyme, salt and pepper, or combine those ingredients and form them into tiny meatballs (really folks, trust me). If you're making meatballs, preheat your over to 350 degrees. Brown a couple sides of the meatballs and then stick the pan into the oven for 15 minutes. For the bell pepper, toss it on a gas grill whole for 15 minutes, or until a char forms on the skin. Remove from the heat and place in a bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. After 10 minutes, the heat from the pepper will have steamed it enough that you can easily remove most of the charred skin. Now, cut the pepper into long, thin slices. (If you don't have a gas grill, cut the pepper into long, thin slices and sauté over medium heat for about 10 minutes.)

When you're ready to grill, drizzle some olive oil onto a baking sheet and spread the pizza dough out on it, making sure to coat both sides of the dough. When the dough is spread out and the toppings are next to the grill, toss the pie on to the hottest part of the grill. After a minute, check to see that the bottom is baking by feeling (with a spatula) for firmness and looking for grill marks. At about a minute and a half, you should be able to flip it over. Add the sauce and close the lid. After about a minute, check the underside for doneness and slide the pizza to a cooler part of the grill. Add the goat cheese and lamb, and close the lid for another 2 minutes. Remove the lid, remove the pizza.