CHICAGO-STYLE PIZZA

'Chicago-style pizza' is a specific variety of pizza. Pizza is traditionally considered to be a type of hearth cake such as focaccia. The Chicago-style pizza shares more in common with a casserole, such as lasagna. True Chicago-style pizza, a unique deep dish variety, features a buttery crust, cheese and chunky tomato sauce. There is some confusion between deep-dish, "stuffed" and "pan" pizzas, but it is for the deep-dish style that Chicago is most famous.

Contents

Deep-dish Pizza

Stuffed Pizza

Pan Pizza

Thin-crust Pizza

Toppings

References

See also

External links

Deep-dish Pizza

The Chicago-style "deep-dish" pizza was invented at Pizzeria Uno in Chicago in 1943,^[1] reportedly by Uno's founder Ike Sewell, a former University of Texas football star. However, a 1956 article from the ''Chicago Daily News'' asserts that Uno's original pizza chef Rudy Malnati developed the recipe ^[2].
The pizza begins with a simple, thin layer of dough (made with olive oil and often dusted with cornmeal) that is laid into a deep round pan and pulled up the sides, then parbaked before the toppings are added to give it greater spring. The crust is lined with meats and/or vegetables such as Italian sausage (a Chicago staple), onions, and bell peppers, either under or mixed with mozzarella cheese. On the usual pizza, about a pound of cheese is used. Then a layer of seasoned crushed tomatoes goes on top and the pizza is baked to completion.
Deep-dish pizza is usually eaten with a knife and fork, since its thick gooeyness makes a slice of pizza larger than eight or ten inches messy to eat with the fingers.
Besides Uno, famous deep-dish restaurants include Uno's companion restaurant Due, which was opened just down the block by Sewell in 1955. However, a year before in 1954 , The Original Gino's Pizza located on Rush street opened its doors, and 12 years later in 1966 Gino's East opened. Other deep dish restaurants include Edwardo's, Connie's, Giordano's, Carmen's, Pizano's (which is owned by Rudy Malnati's son, Rudy Jr.), Lou Malnati's (which was begun by another of Rudy Malnati's sons and is now run by his grandsons and has 26 Chicago area locations), and Polano's Pizzeria (located in Crown Point, IN).
Chicago deep-dish pizza is famous throughout the world. Accordingly, many Chicago deep-dish pizza restaurants will ship their pizzas, partially baked, within the continental U.S.

Stuffed Pizza

In the mid-1970s, two Chicago chains, Nancy's, founded by Rocco Palese, and Giordano's began experimenting with deep dish pizza and created the stuffed pizza.^[3] Palese based his creation on his mother's recipe for scarciedda, an Italian Easter pie from his hometown of Potenza.^[4]. A ''Chicago Magazine'' article featuring Giordano's stuffed pizza popularized the dish. Other pizzerias that make stuffed pizzas include Bacino's, Edwardo's and Carmen's. Most also make thin crust pizzas.
Stuffed pizzas are often even taller than deep-dish pizzas, but otherwise, it can be hard to see the difference until you cut into it. A stuffed pizza generally has much higher topping density than any other type of pizza. As with deep-dish pizza, a thin layer of dough forms a bowl in a high-sided pan and the toppings and cheese are added. Then, an additional layer of dough goes on top and is pressed to the sides of the bottom crust.
At this stage, the thin dough top has a rounded, domed appearance. (Pizza makers often tear a small hole in the top of the "lid" to allow air and steam to escape while cooking, so that the pizza does not explode and to allow the sauce to permeate the pie.) Pizza sauce is ladled over the top crust and the pizza is baked.

Pan Pizza

Pan pizza in Chicago is similar to the deep-dish style, and baked in a similar deep-sided pan, but its crust is quite thick -- a cross between the buttery crisp crust and foccacia. Toppings and cheese frequently go on the top of a pan pizza, rather than under the sauce as is traditionally the case with deep-dish and stuffed pizza. The placement of the cheese and toppings on top make the pan pizza variety similar to a thin-crust pizza with a thicker and larger crust.

Thin-crust Pizza

In addition to Chicago-style deep-dish pizza, there is also a thin-crust pizza unique to Chicago, sometimes referred to as "flat" pizza.^[5] The crust is thin and firm enough to have a noticeable crunch, unlike a New York-style pizza, yet thick enough to be soft and doughy on the top.
The crust is topped with a liberal quantity of Italian style tomato sauce, which is usually quite herbal or highly spiced, and typically contains no visible chunks of tomato. Next, a layer of toppings is added, and finally a layer of mozzarella cheese.
Traditionally, this pizza is cut into squares, also known as "party cut," as opposed to a "pie cut" into wedges. The consistency of the crust and the quality and quantity of the tomato sauce and cheese are what separate this style from East Coast-, Roman- and St. Louis-style pizzas, and it makes the pizza from neighborhood pizzerias immediately distinguishable from that offered by national chains such as Papa John's or Pizza Hut.
This style of pizza is now spreading due to the expansion of Aurelio's Pizza, a Chicago chain, into Florida, Colorado and a few other states. Additionally, Sweet Home Chicago Pizzeria now sells the authentic Chicago-style thin-crust pizza in the Salt Lake City, Utah, market, as well as Rush Street Neighborhood Grill in Kingsport, Tennessee.

Toppings

Hearty, coarse Italian sausage is the number-one pizza topping in Chicago. Some restaurants lay on the sausage so thickly that it covers the whole surface of the pizza, like a giant sausage disk. Other common pizza toppings in Chicago include pepperoni, spinach, onion, green peppers, black olives, and mushrooms.
It is uncommon to see any sort of California-style pizza toppings on a Chicago-style pizza.

References

1. Who Cooked That Up?
2. Pizano's History Page
3. Everybody Loves Pizza, , Penny, Pollack, Emmis Books, ,
4. Nancy's Pizza
5. Dining Chicago

See also

★ Apizza, or New Haven-style pizza

★ California-style pizza

★ Calzone

★ Chicago-style hot dog

★ Detroit-style pizza

★ New York-style pizza

★ Pizza

★ St. Louis-style pizza

External links

★ Chicago Style Pizza Recipe

★ Gino's East Pizza Recipe

★ Gino's East Pizza Crust Discussion

★ Pizza Today Article: Dish It Out