If you live in the United States, the most well-known style of pizza, and one that everyone wants to taste, is Chicago’s deep-dish pizza. Located nowhere in the world other than Chicago, its deep-dish pizzas (along with stuffed pizzas) are the main highlight of the food in Chicago. Anyone who goes to Chicago and does not try the deep-dish pizzas, well, all I have to say is, you’re missing out big-time. And now that I’m getting hungry. I can almost smell the pizza cooking…
What is deep-dish pizza, you may ask? Well, instead of using the typical “thin crust” and “thick crust” varieties of pizzas that we usually envision when we think of pizza, Chicago took pizza-making a step further. Using a deep pan, they began filling it with dough, cheese, meat, and tomatoes creeping up the sides, and based on my experience, when you bite into a deep-dish pizza, you often don’t notice what is inside the crust, except for noticing that the pizza has much more flavour than usual, as well as an unusually thick crust. While actual crust itself, the first layer of dough, is actually thin to medium, the volume comes from the sheer amount of toppings added onto the pizza as well as the thick outside crust designed to hold in these toppings.
Unlike regular pizza, deep-dish pizza is cooked in what is typically a pan used for a pie of cake to allow it to pile up without falling over or collapsing. Like mentioned before, on the outside of the pizza, the crust if folded up heavily to hold in all the toppings. Because of the thickness of the pizza, it takes a longer baking time, which could burn the cheese, so the toppings are placed in a different way, with tomato sauce first, then mozzarella cheese, then another incredibly thin layer of tomato sauce to prevent the cheese from being burnt. For pizzas with multiple toppings like vegetables or meats, the cheese is added first, then tomato sauce, then the toppings, then another layer of tomato sauce to prevent the toppings from burning. To give the crust its characteristically yellowish colour, the crust may include corn meal, semolina, or food colouring in addition to the typical wheat flour used in pizza crusts. Because the pan is coated with oil to give the crust a “fried” texture and to prevent the pizza from sticking to the pan, when the pizzas are delivered for carryout, they are typically uncut to prevent the oils from soaking into the pizza, as that would ruin it.
Tim Samuelson, Chicago’s official cultural historian, began looking into where deep-dish pizza came from and who came up with it. However, he could not find a definite answer as to where it originally came from. Some say that Ike Sewell, the founder of Pizzeria Uno, invented it in 1943, while others say that Uno’s first chef, Rudy Malnati, was its inventor. Nevertheless, no matter its inventor, anyone who has been to Chicago and tasted this amazing pizza will agree that it is one of the best pizzas they have ever tasted (and I can still smell pizza; my mind is playing tricks on me!)
Some of the best places to eat deep-dish pizzas in Chicago are:
Connie’s Pizza (where I have personally eaten – and loved it!)
Pizzeria Uno
Bartoli’s Pizzeria
Lou Malnati’s
The Art of Pizza
Like I said, if you ever have the chance to go to Chicago, their deep-dish pizzas are something you do not want to miss! In addition to being one of the most famous Chicago- style pizzas, deep-dish pizzas are not found anywhere else in the world and are warm, delicious, and cheesy. Lastly, I am truly sorry if I made you all hungry. Sorry.
Sources:
Gebert, Mike. "The 9 Best Deep Dish Pizza Places in Chicago, Ranked."Thrillist. Thrillist Media Group, 27 Apr. 2015. Web. 04 Mar. 2016.
"Who Invented Deep Dish?" Chicago Tribune. Chicago Tribune, 18 Feb. 2009. Web. 04 Mar. 2016.
Wikipedia. "Chicago-style Pizza." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Jan. 2016. Web. 04 Mar. 2016.
Zaino, Caitlin. "The Deep Rooted History of Chicago's Deep-dish Pizza."BBC. British Broadcasting Company, 25 Oct. 2013. Web. 04 Mar. 201
