History Of Chicago Style Pizza
The Chicago-style "deep-dish" pizza that many people love was invented at Pizzeria Uno, in Chicago, in 1943, 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 famous recipe.
The pizza's foundation is simple. It uses a
thick layer of dough (made with olive oil and cornmeal) that is formed to a
deep round pan and pulled up the sides. The pizza crust is then parbaked before
the toppings are added to give it greater spring.
Parbaking is a cooking technique in which a
bread or dough product is partially baked and then rapidly frozen or cooled.
The raw dough is baked as if normal, but halted at about 80% of the normal
cooking time, when it is rapidly cooled and frozen. The partial cooking kills
the yeast in the bread mixture, and sets the internal structure of the proteins
and starches (the spongy texture of the bread), so that it is now essentially
cooked inside, but not so far as to have generated "crust" or other
externally desirable qualities that are difficult to preserve once fully
cooked.
The crust is then covered with cheese
(generally sliced mozzarella) and covered with meats and/or vegetables such as
Italian sausage, onions, and bell peppers. A sauce consisting of crushed or
pureed tomatoes is then added. Usually this is topped with a grated cheese
blend to add additional flavor. On the usual pizza, about a pound of cheese is
added. Because of the amount of ingredients in this style of pizza, it is
usually eaten with a knife and fork. It's quite messy to eat with your fingers.
In addition to Uno, additional 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.), and 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).
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. Chicago style
deep-dish 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. Palese based his creation on his
mother's recipe for scarciedda, an Italian Easter pie from his hometown of
Potenza. 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 of the process, the thin
dough top has a rounded, domed appearance. Pizza makers often puncture a small
hole in the top of the "pizza lid" to allow air and steam to escape
while cooking. This allows the pizza sauce to permeate through the pie. Pizza
sauce is added to the top crust layer and the pizza is then baked.
Chicago pan pizza in Chicago is similar to
the traditional deep-dish style pizza served in other areas of the country, and
baked in a similar deep-sided pan, but its crust is quite thick -- a cross
between the buttery crisp crust and focaccia. 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.
In addition to Chicago-style deep-dish
pizza, there is also a thin-crust pizza unique to Chicago, sometimes referred
to as "flat pizza". The crust is thin and firm, usually with a
crunchy texture, 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. This type of sauce is usually seasoned with
herbs or and highly spiced. Typically there are no visible chunks of tomato in
the crust. A layer of toppings is added, and finally a layer of mozzarella
cheese.
Chicago style pizza has a rich and famous
heritage and admirers from all over the world. If you're a pizza lover and
you've never tried this type of pizza, be sure to give it a try, I'm absolutely
convinced that you will love it!
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