Chicago-style pizza is
pizza prepared according to several different styles developed in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, widely referred to simply as deep dish pizza due to its cooking style. The pan in which it is baked gives the pizza its characteristically high edge which provides ample space for large amounts of
cheese and a chunky
tomato sauce
Tomato sauce (also known as ''salsa roja'' in Spanish or ''salsa di pomodoro'' in Italian) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish, rather than as a condiment. Tomato sauces are c ...
. Chicago-style pizza may be prepared in deep-dish style and as a stuffed pizza.
Deep-dish
According to Tim Samuelson, Chicago's official cultural historian, there is not enough documentation to determine with certainty who invented Chicago-style deep-dish pizza. It is often reported that Chicago-style deep-dish pizza was invented at
Pizzeria Uno in Chicago, in 1943,
[Who Cooked That Up?]
by Uno's founder
Ike Sewell
Issac Sewell (September 9, 1903 – August 20, 1990) was an American athlete, businessman, entrepreneur, and founder of the Uno Chicago Grill restaurant chain that originated in Chicago, Illinois, as well as founder of the Pizzeria Uno and Pi ...
. However, a 1956 article from the ''
Chicago Daily News
The ''Chicago Daily News'' was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.
History
The ''Daily News'' was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Doughert ...
'' asserts that Uno's original pizza chef Rudy Malnati developed the recipe, and Michele Mohr from the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' reports that the menu at
Rosati's Authentic Chicago Pizza has included deep-dish since it opened in 1926, according to the descendants of Saverio Rosati.
File:Chicago-style pizza.jpg, A deep-dish pizza from California
File:Chicago-style-pizza-03.jpg, Deep-dish pizza from Lou Malnati's
Lou Malnati's Pizzeria is an American Chicago-style pizza restaurant chain headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois. It was founded by the son of Rudy Malnati, who was instrumental in developing the recipe for Chicago-style pizza, and it has become ...
Stuffed pizza
![Chicago-style-pizza-01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Chicago-style-pizza-01.jpg)
By the mid-1970s, two Chicago chains,
Nancy's Pizza, founded by Rocco Palese, and
Giordano's Pizzeria, operated by brothers Efren and Joseph Boglio, began experimenting with deep-dish pizza and created the stuffed pizza. Palese based his creation on his mother's recipe for ''scarcedda'', an Italian
Easter
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
pie from his hometown of
Potenza, more commonly known in Italy as
pizza rustica Lucana.
Thin-crust pizza
![Chicago thin crust pizza](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Chicago_thin_crust_pizza.jpg)
There is also a style of thin-crust pizza found in Chicago and throughout the rest of the
Midwest. The crust is thin and firm enough to have a noticeable crunch, unlike a
New York-style pizza
New Yorkâstyle pizza is pizza made with a characteristically large hand-tossed thin crust, often sold in wide Pizza by the slice, slices Take-out, to go. The crust is thick and crisp only along its edge, yet soft, thin, and pliable enough be ...
. While in New York bakers who had immigrated from Italy made pizzas using the traditional method of tossing the dough by hand, the tavern owners who first developed Chicago's thin-crust pizza instead rolled their dough or used mechanical sheeters. This led to thinner crusts than those present in hand-tossed pizzas.
This pizza is cut into squares, also known as "tavern-style" or "party cut", as opposed to wedges. The name "tavern-style" comes from the pizzas originally being served in taverns, often as an enticement to drink alcohol. This origin in taverns is also linked to the pizza's shape, as the square shape of the slices made it possible for taverns that did not have plates to instead set them on napkins.
According to
GrubHub
Grubhub Inc. is an American online and mobile prepared food ordering and delivery platform. The company is based in Chicago, Illinois.
Founded in 2004, it is a subsidiary of the Dutch company Just Eat Takeaway since 2021. Grubhub has been crit ...
data and Chicago Pizza Tours, thin-crust outsells the more widely known deep-dish style among locals. Technomics food industry researcher Darren Tristano has questioned GrubHub's conclusion on the basis of the delivery service's user demographics, and
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
noted that the data would not include information on several deep-dish chains that are not on GrubHub.
Toppings
The typical toppings commonly found on pizzas in most of North America (i.e. sausage, pepperoni, onions, mushrooms, etc) are also standards in Chicago area pizzerias; however, a survey in 2013 indicated that while the most popular pizza topping in the rest of most of the United States, is
pepperoni
Pepperoni is an American variety of spicy salami made from cured pork and beef seasoned with paprika or other chili pepper.
Prior to cooking, pepperoni is characteristically soft, slightly smoky, and bright red. Thinly sliced pepperoni is one ...
, in Chicago, the most popular topping is
Italian sausage
In North America, Italian sausage (''salsiccia'' in Italian) most often refers to a style of pork sausage. The sausage is often noted for being seasoned with fennel as the primary seasoning. In Italy, however, a wide variety of sausages are made ...
.
See also
*
Pan pizza
Pan pizza is a pizza baked in a deep dish pan or sheet pan. Italian tomato pie, Sicilian pizza, Chicago-style pizza and Detroit-style pizza may be considered forms of pan pizza. Pan pizza also refers to the thick style popularized by Pizza H ...
References
Further reading
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chicago-Style Pizza
Cuisine of Chicago
Cuisine of the Midwestern United States
Food and drink introduced in 1943
Pizza in the United States
Pizza styles
Stuffed dishes