Bringing family and friends together around the hearth for 20 years!

Mugnaini is America’s leader in Wood Fired Pizza Ovens. We are dedicated to the preservation of the Old World Traditions of cooking and entertaining with an authentic Italian pizza oven. We have been sharing this heartfelt style of open hearth cooking with American families for 20 years now. Our focus goes beyond just supplying you with a pizza oven; our commitment is to ensure you know how to use your wood fired oven to the fullest and are equipped to do so. Our core values of authenticity, integrity and true performance are the basis of everything we do at Mugnaini. I invite you to allow us to personally assist you with any part of your pizza oven project – we have the answers!
Toll free: 888.887.7206

Andrea Mugnaini

Fire power: Watsonville company designs wood fired ovens - and teaches customers to use them!

By Kathryn McKenzie Nichols, reprinted from The Monterey Herald Jan 20, 2010

On a cold winter's day, there are few places nicer to be than in the test kitchen of Mugnaini Imports, the Watsonville-based company that makes wood-fired ovens.

Warm and fragrant with delicious aromas, the kitchen is where restaurant chefs come to train and where classes are held for regular folks who love to cook. Learning to use a wood-fired oven isn't hard, but involves a whole different set of skills than most of us possess.

"Commercial chefs use this kitchen like a laboratory," said company president Andrea Mugnaini, and on this particular day, Executive Chef Tony Baker from Monterey's Montrio Bistro is experimenting with dishes such as toad-in-the hole and roasted artichokes with brie. Montrio recently had one of the Mugnaini ovens installed, so Baker is testing recipes and having fun with the new appliance.

Most of us associate wood-fired ovens with making pizza, but as Mugnaini points out, they can be used for a great many things — roasting meats, baking bread, for soups and stews, and even making desserts.

Although people are now rediscovering wood-fired cooking, it's a technique as old as time. Europeans have cooked in these ovens for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, although in times past the ovens were large, built primarily outdoors, and shared by an entire village for the daily tasks of bread-baking and roasting. But after modern indoor ovens came into vogue in the mid-20th century, these ovens were on the verge of becoming antiques.

And that's where Andrea Mugnaini came in.

In the mid-1980s, Mugnaini (pronounced moon-YA-ini) traveled to Tuscany and reconnected with family there. While in Italy, she tried her hand at cooking in wood-fired ovens, and fell in love with them. The moist, high-heat environment created inside the ovens worked to the benefit of many dishes.

Mugnaini was determined to have one for her home, but couldn't find one that was quite right, until she discovered the Valoriani oven made by a family-owned company in the Tuscan town of Reggello. These ovens (in Italian, forno a legna) were made for outdoor use and retained heat more efficiently than traditional types because of the refractory clay and the firebrick used in the oven's cooking floor.

And that led to another idea: bringing the ovens to America.

"Everyone told me I was out of my mind," said Mugnaini, whose company will celebrate its 20th anniversary next month with an free event in Watsonville that will include raffle prizes, selections from her upcoming cookbook, and wood-fired pizza. "Even the Valorianis discouraged me."

But she wheedled 10 ovens from them, brought them to the United States, got all the necessary permits and OKs, and eventually got exclusive North American rights to distribute the Valoriani oven.

Amazingly, Americans responded almost immediately to the oven. And Mugnaini has been busy ever since.

Mugnaini's inspiration led to a rebirth of this culinary style. On the verge of dying out in Europe, it is now alive and growing once more as people worldwide rediscover the joys of this unique style of cooking. Although Mugnaini isn't the only company supplying such ovens these days, Andrea Mugnaini said the quality of her wares is superior to her competitors. The company's residential ovens start at $2,750 and go up to $9,500 (the largest factory-assembled model, the Prima 120, checks in at $10,950).

The Muganini company has installed ovens at restaurants throughout the United States, including Alice Waters' Chez Panisse and the Sunset magazine outdoor test kitchen, and both indoors and outdoors at a wide variety of homes.

Chef Baker of Montrio said he likes the versatility of the wood-fired oven, and the fact that it will allow him to add some new items to the menu that he couldn't offer before. It also offers quick and tasty roasting of items such as the aforementioned artichoke dish, which is pre-cooked but finished in the oven.

These days, Mugnaini said, her company imports the refractory clay and firebrick ovens from Italy and builds "surrounds" for them at their facility near Watsonville Airport. There are styles for homes and styles for restaurants; there are even mobile wood-fired ovens in trailers for use by caterers.

From there, the ovens are shipped far and wide, throughout the United States as well as Canada and Mexico.

But that's not the end of the relationship with the customer — in fact, it's just the beginning.

What Mugnaini discovered early on was that education was needed in order for Americans to get the most out of their ovens. And so customer service, as well as ongoing classes, became an integral part of the company.

"I really get to know my clients," said Mugnaini. "It's not just like selling an appliance. We develop a nice relationship with our clients."

You can also take classes even if you don't own an oven — there are some offered to the public on a regular basis, with a complete schedule available at the company's Web site, www.mugnaini.com.

Andrea Mugnaini teaches many of the classes, which are offered in Watsonville, as well as at her cooking facility in Healdsburg, and weeklong sessions in Tuscany. Private and commercial classes are also available.

"It wasn't originally my intent to teach, but it's become my favorite thing to do," she said.

Coming up in Healdsburg will be a three-day class on Cooking Wild Game Jan. 28-30, and a three-hour class on the basics of wood-fired cooking in Watsonville on Feb. 12.

What throws most cooks where these appliances are concerned is building a proper fire and keeping tabs on it — Mugnaini calls it "the basic core of all our programs."

The fire is built on one side of the oven floor and the heat transfers to the entire oven; dishes are cooked or baked alongside the fire. Students learn how to recognize visual cues, such as the height and color of the fire, in determining oven temperature. (Those who buy Mugnaini ovens also receive handheld infared temperature gauges, but Mugnaini insists that her students know how to tell temps the old-fashioned way.)

"It doesn't work like a barbecue or a grill — it's a whole different dynamic," said Mugnaini.

But what these ovens do is create a sense of family and warmth in the home that an ordinary range can't match.

"It's a very sensuous, very human way of cooking," she said. "It enters your life. There's something about the open hearth lifestyle. People will stand and socialize in front of one — you don't see people doing that in front of a gas oven. It brings people together."

If you go ·What: 20th anniversary celebration of Mugnaini Wood-Fired Ovens ·When: Feb. 20, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. ·Where: 11 Hangar Way, Watsonville ·Cost: Free ·RSVP/information: 761-1767 or www.mugnaini.com

New: Restaurants Featuring
Mugnaini Ovens

It is with great pride that we offer this list of restaurants with Mugnaini commercial wood fired ovens. These Chefs have partnered with us out of a passion for their art and an uncompromising approach to providing the best dining experience possible. We encourage you to support your local restaurant and seek out some of the others in your travels.

Join the Fun on February 20th!

MUGNAINI WOOD FIRED OVENS
20th Anniversary Celebration

Saturday February 20th: 10am to 3 pm

Over the past two decades Mugnaini has grown into a multi-faceted company and now employs a full compliment of staff covering a wide variety of skills. As a way of saying thank you for all these years of support we are throwing a party and you are invited!

Come meet the entire Mugnaini staff!

We have the cooking school staff from Healdsburg coming down to serve wonderful wood fired pizza and freshly cooked samples from Andrea’s new cookbook! Even Elle the wonder dog will be here to meet and greet just like at the school!

VPN Pizza demonstrations all day featuring Giusto's new 'oo' organic flour!

There will be an all day clinic on VPN pizza with Michael Fairholme of Wood Fired Consulting. Michael will be baking traditional Neapolitan pizzas in our Commercial Model 120 oven using Giusto's new 'oo' flour. Trained in Naples by the legendary Enzo, Michael travels the country training pizzaioli how to craft La Vera Pizza Napolitana. This will be a great opportunity to see a pizza stretched and baked right in front of you and you get to taste the results!

Mobile Pizza Oven Catering Workshop

Rico will be hosting this mobile oven catering clinic in the parking lot with his trend setting Felice Forno rig. Come and meet the man and the oven that cranked out over 600 pizzas during the Concorso Italiano this year at Laguna Seca.

Complimentary contractor services on site - bring your questions and your plans!

No oven yet? Don’t miss this opportunity to see all of our ovens in action and on display. Reese, our in-house Licensed General Contractor will be there to show you how you too can work a wood fired pizza oven into your home. He might wear a tool belt but don’t let that fool you – Reese attended the California Culinary Academy so he can cook too!

The Forno al Fresco challenge: build the finest pizza oven in 2 hours or less!

Want to see what makes the World’s Finest Oven work so well? Adrian and Juan, who may have built your oven, will be assembling a complete Forno al Fresco Medio 110 on site in 2 hours or less! This is a great opportunity to pick up some tips of the trade and see what makes the difference between an oven that may last a couple of years rather than a generation.

Who does not love GELATO?

Our friend Massimo will have his gelato cart in full operation. Massimo's Gelato will transport you back to Italy.

Raffle prizes too!

And if that is not enough, there will be raffle prizes hourly with the grand prize a Culinary Get-Away for two to the Mugnaini Wood Fired Cooking School in Healdsburg. This is a 3 day cooking school adventure in Sonoma Wine Country.

Register on line for the raffle and receive our monthly newsletter!

RSVPs via email are appreciated and we would love to send you monthly recipes and news about our programs. If you can't attend but would like to enter your name for our raffle, please submit this form: On-Line Registration Form A valid email address and your contact information is required. On line raffle closes Friday Feb. 19 at 4:00pm. Raffles will take place throughout the day on Saturday Feb. 20th.

Please read this disclaimer before submitting the form:

By submitting your e-mail address you agree to receive at least one monthly newsletter from Mugnaini. Any emails sent to you will contain information to unsubscribe and you may opt-out of future emails. Protecting your privacy is important to us. Your email address and personal information are confidential and will not be sold or rented.

The Art of Wood Fired Cooking

New Classes and Andrea's New Cookbook!

Andrea’s long awaited cookbook will be released the first week of April! Just like our cooking classes this book is filled with instruction on how to properly fire a wood fired pizza oven, pizza oven management for 5 distinct cooking environments and is filled with recipes. This beautifully photographed book features complete menus from appetizers to desserts. Andrea pays homage to classic Italian recipes like Osso Bucco and Chick-under a brick plus stretches your imagination with the range of cooking you can do in a wood fired oven. Destined to be a classic, The Art of Wood Fired Cooking is also the basis for all of our cooking classes. Come join us for an experience that offers a lifetime of benefits.
Class Schedule >>