WEBVTT

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Right now, on
"Adam Eats The 80s,"

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I'm on the hunt for the top
lost foods of the decade.

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We remake a magical cookie
not seen for decades

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from one of the world's
biggest cookie makers...

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I'm literally drooling.

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I'm sorry. I'm making
crumbs on your floor.

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And recreate a candy legend that

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hasn't existed in
a quarter century.

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You made a Bonker.

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That's exactly what
they looked like.

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But first, it's high society,
baby. It's upper crust.

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I uncover one of Pizza
Hut's most mythic pizzas.

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Has not been made
for over 30 years,

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and a odd ball 80s drink

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from one of America's
premiere motorcycle makers?

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So, get ready.

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I'm gonna strap on my "Back
To The Future" shades.

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We are going to get some
deeply delicious dishes

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which are no longer
available, except for today.

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I'm on the hunt to relive

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an extraordinary decade
for food, the 1980s.

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It's an era of iconic
hits and misses.

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Join me, Adam
Richmond, as we get

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a long, lost taste of the
icons and the forgotten...

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Oh, talk about smell!

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Because food is my time machine,

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and I've been waiting
my whole life...

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I'm literally drooling.

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For one more bite.

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As times have changed,
so many things

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commonly seen every day in
the 80s are no longer around,

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like ashtrays on car
doors and beepers,

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and when it comes
to the food we love,

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when it's gone, it's gone,

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or at least, that's what most
people thought until now.

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I'm on a mission to rediscover

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some of the greatest
lost foods of the 1980s,

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to find out the stories
of why they went away,

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and I'm starting at the
biggest, and arguably,

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most beloved pizza chain
of that or any decade.

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Pizza Hut started in
1958 in Wichita, Kansas,

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and by 1986, they opened
their 5,000th location.

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This is actually it right
here in Dallas, Texas.

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In the 1980s, Pizza Hut
was atop the pizza pyramid,

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earning over $2 billion in sales

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in the middle of the decade,

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but there was a
new market that was

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taking shape
and Pizza Hut wanted a slice.

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The Chicago Tribune reported
that white collar workers

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saw their numbers rise by

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more than 5-and-a-half million,

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an increase of 24%
during the 1980s.

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So, Pizza Hut set
out to find more ways

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to appeal to the
new lunchtime crowds

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with new menu additions,
the first of which

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you might still recognize.

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That's right. It's their
80s innovation, pan pizza,

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and the infamous lost
dishes that soon followed.

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So, to learn all
about the pan pizza,

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as well as Pizza
Hut 80s creations

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that we don't have around today,

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I'm gonna meet with the
man who's seen it all.

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This is Bill Walsh.
He is the franchisee.

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So, how long have you
been with Pizza Hut?

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I started in 1966 and I
got paid 50 cents an hour

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and all the beer I could drink.

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That's a great job.

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I thought I had died
and gone to Heaven.

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What was it
like in the early days?

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It was wild.

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They were opening a store a day.

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We really didn't have any
problem, except for New York.

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New York?

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Yeah, they opened up 10
Pizza Huts on Long Island,

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and they all failed because

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it was not a New
York style pizza,

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and that's where pan pizza
came along years later.

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Is that still the
most popular pizza?

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It is the most popular pizza.

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Before we get into the
long-lost Pizza Hut item

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that people have been
craving for decades,

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we need to first take a pit stop

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at the story of pan pizza.

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They were thicker than
New York-style pizza,

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and had ingredients added
in a different order

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than deep-dish pizza, with
the sauce first, then cheese.

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Pizza Hut added pan pizzas
to their menu in 1980,

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nine years before any
of their competitors,

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but it was 1983
when they introduced

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their game changer,
the personal pan pizza.

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Its commercials
promised it would

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be ready in just five minutes

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in an effort to lure
in the lunch crowd.

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New personal
pan pizza at Pizza Hut,

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ready in five minutes
or your next one's free.

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We guarantee it.

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And it worked.

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It's been reported that
the personal pan pizza

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bumped up their lunchtime
business by 70%.

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So, I'm gonna strap on
my Marty McFly

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"Back To The Future" shades,

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and we are going to get an
authentic, personal pan pizza.

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Let's do it.

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There's that crunch of the
cheese and the toppings

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and then that pillowy
tear, like so good.

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That browning on the
crust is what gives you

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a lot of the flavor and
texture that you've mentioned.

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It fries in the pan as it
moves through the oven,

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and that's what gives
it the great feel

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on the bottom of the crust.

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The personal pan
pizza was a hit

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with the 80s lunch crowd,

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but it wasn't the
only way Pizza Hut

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won over midday diners.

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They had another
dish that advertised

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the same brisk,
five-minute prep time.

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They serve it in
five minutes, guaranteed.

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Calizza Italian
turnover at Pizza Hut.

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Look at that, the calizza.

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Has not been made since 1992.

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Because of that
buttery exterior,

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how it almost fries
the dough in that pan,

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the dough is as much
a part of the flavor

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as it is the filling inside.

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The calizza is so
good, it baffles me

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why it's not around anymore.

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Well, its demise was ultimately

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due to the challenge of
cooking something so thick

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in time to be ready
in five minutes.

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Though the calizza may
be lost to history,

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today at least, it's brought
some joy to this 80s kid,

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and clearly it brought some
joy all those years ago.

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Eight little girls were named
calizza the year it debuted,

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the only year that name
ever came on the radar.

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If this is what the
calizza tastes like,

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I have to try the priazzo.

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The 80s saw the invasion
of pizza into pop culture.

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The shape of Pac Man
was reportedly based

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on that of a pizza
with a slice missing.

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So, you better believe Pizza Hut

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was part of that movement.

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It's just so impressive
to become something

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that's not only this mega-brand,

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but it's also in pop culture,

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prominently featured
in the 1989 movie,

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"Back To The Future II."

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You actually see
Marty McFly's wife

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take essentially a
dehydrated Pizza Hut pizza,

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looks just like
this in the movie.

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She puts it into a re-hydrator,

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and a fresh hot pizza comes
out looking like this.

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That was a big deal for us.

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The people on the
set, they had never

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eaten better during a film.

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So many 80s food favorites
are lost to our memories,

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never to be seen again,

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but there are always a few

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that make that
miraculous comeback.

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A couple of drinks
in that category

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are Hi-C's iconic Ecto-Cooler,

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which made very limited returns

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to promote new Ghostbuster
movies in 2016 and 2021,

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and a Pepsi made
the original way,

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before high fructose corn syrup

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replaced sugar in 1984 was
called Pepsi Throwback,

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but the throwback I'm
most interested in

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is from Pizza Hut, and it's
been gone since the 90s

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and has never returned
to the Hut until today.

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So, why not suit up
in something special

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just for the occasion?

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We are going to
sample the priazzo,

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which was unlike any pizza
anyone had ever seen,

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so much so that Pizza Hut
actually called it a pie

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rather than a pizza,

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with a $15 million ad campaign,

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including a commercial
shot in Italy.

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Its two layers of
dough could be stuffed

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with nearly every pizza
topping you can think of

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and a pound of
cheese, all of which

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are about to come together

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to make this double-Decker
priazzo pizza

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before my very eyes for the
first time since the 80s.

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Okay, we already have
the dough prepared,

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and we have put it
in the pan pizza pan,

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so we can get that
nice deep cavity

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to put all the toppings in.

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The next thing we're gonna
do is put the sauce in.

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We're gonna put cheese in,

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and then, to layer
on the toppings.

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The pepperoni is at the base.

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The Italian sausage,
this is kinda

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more reminiscent of like
a breakfast sausage,

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so more pepper,
black pepper notes.

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So, we have a
seasoned beef topping,

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and then after that, some bacon.

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I mean, who doesn't love a
little smoky bacon flavor?

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Now, I'm gonna bring
over the top crust,

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and then after this, we go back

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to sauce and cheese on top.

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Now, these took
40 minutes to make.

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Correct.

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Off to the oven with you.

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Compared to your average pizza,

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which can cook in minutes,

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the priazzo took a
long time to finish,

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and it was no wonder.

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The average thickness
of normal pizzas

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can range from a
quarter to half an inch,

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while the priazzo
towered over that

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at one-and-a-quarter inches.

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Here it is.

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Amazing, and
this is a priazzo.

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This is it.

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So, we have some butter
sauce to put on the edges,

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and then, my
favorite, fairy dust.

00:09:47.550 --> 00:09:50.303
It's Parmesan
cheese and oregano.

00:09:51.137 --> 00:09:53.889
This is a taste that you
just can't get anymore,

00:09:53.973 --> 00:09:55.975
the priazzo, not
seen, not served,

00:09:56.017 --> 00:09:58.519
not eaten in over three decades,

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two layers of dough,
two layers of sauce,

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two layers of cheese,
more meat toppings

00:10:03.524 --> 00:10:05.359
than you could possibly imagine,

00:10:05.568 --> 00:10:07.903
tucked beneath this
beautiful cheesy,

00:10:07.903 --> 00:10:11.699
fairy-dusted, buttery
exterior, wow.

00:10:15.578 --> 00:10:18.247
This is ridonkulous.

00:10:18.414 --> 00:10:19.707
I thought with all
the meats, like,

00:10:19.749 --> 00:10:20.916
it might be overwhelming.

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It' not. It's just
enough of each of them.

00:10:23.544 --> 00:10:25.755
I am blown away.

00:10:25.880 --> 00:10:29.925
Ridiculously delicious,
incredibly well crafted,

00:10:30.051 --> 00:10:34.430
mammoth, magnificent pizza
lasagne pie/quiche hybrid

00:10:34.430 --> 00:10:35.598
that you can't get anymore

00:10:35.765 --> 00:10:37.183
unless you're Adam
eating the 80s

00:10:37.224 --> 00:10:38.351
here on History Channel.

00:10:40.227 --> 00:10:42.563
Pizza Hut was all about
innovation in the 80s

00:10:42.772 --> 00:10:45.900
in an effort to own the
$21 billion pizza market,

00:10:46.108 --> 00:10:47.735
and while not all of
their ideas worked,

00:10:47.860 --> 00:10:50.237
they proved that
the 80s were a time

00:10:50.363 --> 00:10:53.199
where no idea was
too crazy to try,

00:10:54.492 --> 00:10:57.828
A lot of people associate
the 1980s with fads

00:10:57.912 --> 00:11:00.289
that could spread like wildfire.

00:11:00.498 --> 00:11:02.667
One of those that
seemed to be everywhere

00:11:02.750 --> 00:11:06.253
early in the 80s
was wine coolers,

00:11:06.379 --> 00:11:08.172
but what happened to 'em?

00:11:08.297 --> 00:11:10.925
In 1981, Ernest and Julio Gallo,

00:11:11.008 --> 00:11:13.010
one of the country's
largest wineries,

00:11:13.094 --> 00:11:15.513
began converting cheap
wine into wine coolers,

00:11:15.638 --> 00:11:18.307
which were essentially
a carbonated white wine

00:11:18.516 --> 00:11:20.976
mixed with artificial
fruit juices.

00:11:21.102 --> 00:11:25.106
Bartles & Jaymes, Seagrams,
and California Coolers

00:11:25.147 --> 00:11:27.608
were also well known
players in the market.

00:11:27.650 --> 00:11:31.153
Commercials depicted
them as sophisticated

00:11:31.278 --> 00:11:34.281
with Bruce Willis singing
blues songs on a summer porch

00:11:34.407 --> 00:11:36.992
and trying to woo Sharon Stone.

00:11:37.118 --> 00:11:38.869
Wine coolers were
often considered

00:11:38.994 --> 00:11:40.329
a hit with the ladies,

00:11:40.538 --> 00:11:41.997
but one brand
thought if they could

00:11:42.123 --> 00:11:45.084
crack the male market,
they've hit the mother lode.

00:11:46.419 --> 00:11:49.130
Up until the 80s, Harley
Davidson had struggled

00:11:49.213 --> 00:11:52.383
with increased competition
from Japanese-made motorcycles

00:11:52.550 --> 00:11:54.218
and nearly went bankrupt.

00:11:54.343 --> 00:11:57.888
They then jumped on the
80s trend of licensing

00:11:57.888 --> 00:12:00.224
and the Harley trademark
was suddenly everywhere,

00:12:00.224 --> 00:12:02.143
even places you might
not have expected it,

00:12:03.227 --> 00:12:04.895
like a wine cooler.

00:12:05.062 --> 00:12:06.647
It didn't last long though.

00:12:10.234 --> 00:12:14.822
In 1991, the wine cooler
market came crashing down.

00:12:16.574 --> 00:12:19.493
The federal government
quintupled the excise tax,

00:12:19.577 --> 00:12:21.912
basically just taxes
on various goods,

00:12:21.912 --> 00:12:25.833
so what had been $17 in
taxes for a hundred gallons

00:12:25.916 --> 00:12:28.252
went to over a hundred dollars.

00:12:28.377 --> 00:12:29.587
The crippling tax hike killed

00:12:29.670 --> 00:12:31.046
the wine cooler profit margin,

00:12:31.255 --> 00:12:34.133
and so the product
disappeared almost overnight,

00:12:35.551 --> 00:12:37.553
but Harley Davidson wine coolers
weren't the only thing

00:12:37.595 --> 00:12:39.555
that didn't survive the decade.

00:12:39.680 --> 00:12:42.725
Also a classic candy.
It was known almost as well

00:12:42.933 --> 00:12:45.394
for its commercials
as for its taste.

00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:47.229
And it was called Bonkers.

00:12:49.231 --> 00:12:51.192
These two-layer
taffy-like candies

00:12:51.233 --> 00:12:53.444
burst onto the
scene in the mid-80s

00:12:53.569 --> 00:12:56.864
with an infamous series
of high-energy commercials

00:12:56.947 --> 00:12:58.616
that had kids
everywhere looking out

00:12:58.741 --> 00:13:00.075
for giant falling fruit.

00:13:01.619 --> 00:13:04.705
They were Nabisco's
answer to Star burst,

00:13:04.747 --> 00:13:06.707
but after advertising
budget cuts

00:13:06.749 --> 00:13:09.627
forced those iconic
commercials off the air,

00:13:09.710 --> 00:13:12.087
Bonkers were slowly forgotten.

00:13:14.131 --> 00:13:15.966
So, I'm gonna meet
with Beth Kimmerle

00:13:16.050 --> 00:13:17.802
and her colleague, Tammy Noel

00:13:17.927 --> 00:13:21.096
at the University of Wisconsin
Food Science Department

00:13:21.222 --> 00:13:22.306
to hopefully harness their

00:13:22.473 --> 00:13:24.308
considerable
culinary superpowers

00:13:24.433 --> 00:13:25.643
to see if they can bring back

00:13:25.810 --> 00:13:27.603
one of my all-time
favorite candies

00:13:27.812 --> 00:13:29.605
that I haven't had
since I was a kid.

00:13:29.814 --> 00:13:31.732
I remember they would
say on the commercial,

00:13:31.816 --> 00:13:33.818
"Some people think it's a gum."

00:13:33.818 --> 00:13:35.736
But, it wasn't.

00:13:37.154 --> 00:13:38.823
This was sort of
a mashup, right?

00:13:38.948 --> 00:13:41.325
It was a taffy with a
little bit o' chew to it.

00:13:41.325 --> 00:13:43.160
Now, the one thing
that I also recall.

00:13:43.160 --> 00:13:46.163
If you looked at a
cross-section of a Bonker,

00:13:46.163 --> 00:13:49.333
there was an outer flavor
and an inner flavor.

00:13:49.458 --> 00:13:51.168
There was a center that had

00:13:51.252 --> 00:13:53.128
a little bit more citric acid

00:13:53.337 --> 00:13:55.798
that really gave it
a little wild punch.

00:13:57.591 --> 00:14:01.262
Resurrecting an authentic
Bonker won't be easy.

00:14:01.303 --> 00:14:04.014
We'll have to create
two separate taffies,

00:14:04.181 --> 00:14:05.474
each with its own density

00:14:05.683 --> 00:14:07.977
and just the right
balance of flavors

00:14:08.102 --> 00:14:11.689
to unleash that wild burst
of fruitiness in the center.

00:14:12.690 --> 00:14:13.691
Whoops!

00:14:14.608 --> 00:14:16.360
How'd we do that,
released steam.

00:14:16.360 --> 00:14:17.570
I gotta go
change my underwear.

00:14:21.532 --> 00:14:23.701
Once the taffy
begins to take shape,

00:14:23.784 --> 00:14:25.661
it's moved to
sheet pans to cool.

00:14:26.954 --> 00:14:28.664
Now it's time for the flavoring.

00:14:28.789 --> 00:14:30.499
I've requested my all-time

00:14:30.708 --> 00:14:33.210
favorite Bonker
flavor, watermelon,

00:14:33.294 --> 00:14:35.963
green for the outside
layer, red for the inside

00:14:36.046 --> 00:14:38.132
with another hit of citric acid

00:14:38.215 --> 00:14:40.175
to perfect that sour taste.

00:14:45.556 --> 00:14:47.224
Now, all we have to do is

00:14:47.224 --> 00:14:50.936
combine our red and green
taffy into one sticky candy.

00:14:52.229 --> 00:14:53.480
Look what's happened.

00:14:53.606 --> 00:14:55.357
Holy,
you made a Bonker.

00:14:55.566 --> 00:14:57.234
That's exactly what
they looked like.

00:14:57.318 --> 00:14:58.819
That's what
they looked like.

00:15:02.990 --> 00:15:06.410
I'm at the University
of Wisconsin candy lab,

00:15:06.577 --> 00:15:08.913
where we've just completed
a faithful re-creation

00:15:08.996 --> 00:15:11.749
of the 80s classic
candy, Bonkers,

00:15:11.874 --> 00:15:13.042
but now, we've gotta find out

00:15:13.250 --> 00:15:15.878
if we re-created the
right taste as well.

00:15:16.837 --> 00:15:19.465
It's the true
Bonkers experience.

00:15:21.175 --> 00:15:23.761
I just never thought I
would taste this again.

00:15:23.886 --> 00:15:27.264
It's sweet, but that citric
acid cuts against it,

00:15:27.264 --> 00:15:30.434
super perfumy, like
super fragrant.

00:15:30.517 --> 00:15:32.603
It reminds me of a
family road trip.

00:15:32.645 --> 00:15:34.188
We were trying to hide the fact

00:15:34.229 --> 00:15:35.731
that we were opening the candy

00:15:35.940 --> 00:15:39.401
and the smell was
so, so profound

00:15:39.526 --> 00:15:41.946
that our parents in the
front seat were like,

00:15:42.029 --> 00:15:43.072
- "Who's opening candy?
- Busted!

00:15:43.113 --> 00:15:44.531
Who's opening candy?"

00:15:44.657 --> 00:15:47.284
Bonkers is one of
many lost 80s foods

00:15:47.284 --> 00:15:49.244
that could use a second act,

00:15:49.453 --> 00:15:51.705
and since Beth was able
to bring them back,

00:15:51.747 --> 00:15:53.248
I'm going to go out on a limb

00:15:53.457 --> 00:15:55.292
and see if she can
recreate another

00:15:55.417 --> 00:15:57.795
of the 80s lost food legends.

00:15:57.795 --> 00:15:59.630
They were a mind-blowing fusion

00:15:59.797 --> 00:16:03.050
of delicious crumbly
shortbread on the outside

00:16:03.092 --> 00:16:07.304
with a magical middle of gooey
chocolatey goodness inside.

00:16:07.429 --> 00:16:08.931
They disappeared without a trace

00:16:09.139 --> 00:16:12.309
or even an official
explanation by the 90s.

00:16:12.476 --> 00:16:15.729
They may be long gone,
but they're not forgotten.

00:16:16.647 --> 00:16:21.694
So, is it possible to faithfully
recreate the magic middle?

00:16:22.820 --> 00:16:24.113
I'm gonna go out
there and say yes.

00:16:24.154 --> 00:16:25.280
Alright, we're
gonna find out

00:16:25.406 --> 00:16:27.658
how a bunch of elves
add a fudgy middle

00:16:27.825 --> 00:16:29.284
to a shortbread cookie.

00:16:29.493 --> 00:16:31.078
Here's your dough.

00:16:31.161 --> 00:16:32.663
Roll it into a little dome.

00:16:32.746 --> 00:16:33.664
Like a flat on
the bottom and...

00:16:33.706 --> 00:16:34.331
- Yes.
- Rolling it out, right.

00:16:34.456 --> 00:16:36.125
Nice, nice.

00:16:36.250 --> 00:16:39.670
What made magic
middles so, well magical

00:16:39.712 --> 00:16:41.296
was their gooey interior.

00:16:41.505 --> 00:16:43.465
Unlike most other
cookies where the dough

00:16:43.674 --> 00:16:45.926
contained the flavor,
Magic Middles were

00:16:45.968 --> 00:16:49.930
two distinct ingredients and
textures layered together.

00:16:50.472 --> 00:16:52.516
And it's only 20 minutes until

00:16:52.599 --> 00:16:54.852
I finally get that
crispy ooey gooey

00:16:55.019 --> 00:16:57.604
Magic Middle deliciousness
for the first time

00:16:57.730 --> 00:16:59.481
since I got a weekly allowance.

00:17:00.607 --> 00:17:02.151
Oh my God!

00:17:06.030 --> 00:17:09.533
Oh God. I'm literally drooling.

00:17:09.700 --> 00:17:11.243
I'm sorry. I'm making
crumbs on your floor.

00:17:11.326 --> 00:17:15.539
It's rich, it's about texture

00:17:15.539 --> 00:17:17.166
and there's like a
decadence of going

00:17:17.374 --> 00:17:20.377
buttery crumbly cookie
and some melted chocolate.

00:17:21.211 --> 00:17:23.047
These recreations of
Magic Middles

00:17:23.130 --> 00:17:25.382
are about as close as
you can get,

00:17:25.382 --> 00:17:28.886
but suprisingly, not hard
to make at all.

00:17:28.969 --> 00:17:30.679
Something tells me I
have some home

00:17:30.888 --> 00:17:32.514
baking in my future.

00:17:32.639 --> 00:17:34.349
It's so good.

00:17:38.854 --> 00:17:41.565
In the 1990s,
rumor has it

00:17:41.565 --> 00:17:44.401
Keebler pulled the plug on
Magic Middles

00:17:44.568 --> 00:17:46.653
to repurpose their assembly
line to produce

00:17:46.695 --> 00:17:49.406
other more
profitable cookies.

00:17:49.406 --> 00:17:52.576
But today I got as close
as anyone can

00:17:52.743 --> 00:17:54.536
to recapturing the magic.

00:17:56.413 --> 00:17:58.665
Getting another taste
of two treats

00:17:58.791 --> 00:18:00.250
I thought were lost forever

00:18:00.334 --> 00:18:02.586
was like stepping back
in a time machine

00:18:02.711 --> 00:18:03.921
to the good old days.

00:18:04.088 --> 00:18:06.924
When the best cookies were made
by magical elves

00:18:07.049 --> 00:18:10.219
and giant fruit flavors
literally fell from the sky.

00:18:10.427 --> 00:18:13.555
We may never again be
able to chew on a Bonker

00:18:13.764 --> 00:18:16.266
while we wait for a
priazzo in a big red booth,

00:18:16.391 --> 00:18:17.851
anxious to get home to finish

00:18:17.893 --> 00:18:19.520
that package of Magic Middles,

00:18:19.561 --> 00:18:22.397
but today, I got about about
as close as anyone can get

00:18:22.606 --> 00:18:25.609
to recapturing a little bit
of those bygone glory days,

00:18:25.692 --> 00:18:28.070
and boy, were they
ever delicious.