A pizza puff is a deep-fried dough pocket filled with cheese, tomato sauce, and other

pizza Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, on ...

ingredients such as sausage or pepperoni. Indigenous to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, pizza puffs can be found at many casual dining restaurants there. Pizza puffs are similar to panzerotti. They are also somewhat like

calzone A calzone (, , ; "stocking" or "trouser") is an Italian oven-baked folded pizza, often described as a turnover, made with leavened dough. It originated in Naples in the 18th century. A typical calzone is made from salted bread dough, baked in a ...

s, but calzones are baked instead of fried, and do not always include tomato sauce. Some Italian restaurants and casual dining establishments make their own pizza puffs from scratch. These pizza puffs feature a pizza dough wrapper, and tend to be somewhat larger than the pre-made ones.

Commercial varieties

Some hot dog stands in the Chicago area serve mass-produced pizza puffs that they purchase from the Iltaco company. The frozen pizza puffs are deep-fried before serving. The dough wrapper of these pizza puffs is similar to a flour tortilla. Iltaco was founded in 1927 and was originally called the Illinois

Tamale A tamale, in Spanish tamal, is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of masa, a dough made from nixtamalized corn, which is steamed in a corn husk or banana leaf. The wrapping can either be discarded prior to eating or used as a plate. Tam ...

Company ("Il-Ta-Co"). It has been suggested that Iltaco invented the pizza puff. Iltaco pizza puffs are also sold in the frozen food section of some local area grocery stores. Arco Frozen Foods is another company that mass-produced pizza puffs, and introduced a retail pizza puff circa 1968.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite web , first=Nick , last=Kindelsperger , date=December 7, 2017 , url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/dining/ct-food-chicago-pizza-puff-history-regards-to-edith-20171128-story.html , title=Where Did the Pizza Puff Come From? Can It Even Be Considered a Chicago Classic? , website=Chicago Tribune , access-date=March 18, 2018 {{cite web , date=July 2, 2015 , url=http://affotd.com/2015/07/02/pizza-puff-your-new-favorite-fried-pizza-product , title=Pizza Puff: Your New Favorite Fried Pizza Product , website=American Fun Fact of the Day , access-date=March 18, 2018 {{cite news , first=Dennis , last=Lee , date=May 16, 2022 , url=https://thetakeout.com/what-is-the-pizza-puff-invented-in-chicago-1848931782 , title=The Origins of the Pizza Puff, Chicago's Quiet Local Legend , work=The Takeout , access-date=May 18, 2022 {{cite web , first=Adam , last=Kuban , date=December 15, 2010 , url=http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/12/what-is-a-pizza-puff.html , title=What Is a Pizza Puff? , website=Serious Eats , access-date=May 18, 2022 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110224183645/http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/12/what-is-a-pizza-puff.html , archive-date=February 24, 2011 {{cite web , first=Garin , last=Pirnia , date=January 26, 2016 , url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/61623/15-foods-invented-or-perfected-chicago-besides-deep-dish-pizza , title=15 Foods Invented in Chicago Besides Deep Dish Pizza , website=Mental Floss , access-date=March 18, 2018 {{cite web , date=July 16, 2015 , url=http://burgersdogspizza.com/2015/07/iltaco-pizza-puff-review/ , title= Iltaco Pizza Puff Review , website=Burgers, Dogs, & Pizza, Oh My! , access-date=March 18, 2018 {{cite web , first=Daniel , last=Zemans , date=August 12, 2009 , url=https://chicago.seriouseats.com/2009/08/albanos-pizzeria-cicero-il-biggest-and-best-pizza-puff-in-chicago.html , title=Albano's Pizzeria in Cicero: The Biggest and Best Pizza Puff in Chicago , website=Serious Eats , access-date=May 18, 2022 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113223604/https://chicago.seriouseats.com/2009/08/albanos-pizzeria-cicero-il-biggest-and-best-pizza-puff-in-chicago.html , archive-date=January 13, 2012 {{cite web , author=Chicago's Best , date=May 19, 2014 , url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOqXMZBoH9U , archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/HOqXMZBoH9U, archive-date=2021-12-13 , url-status=live, title=Chicago's Best Pizza Puff: Grassano's , publisher=WGN TV , access-date=March 18, 2018{{cbignore {{cite web , author=Chicago's Best , date=August 14, 2017 , url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGPjFTrpBDA , archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/TGPjFTrpBDA, archive-date=2021-12-13 , url-status=live, title=Chicago's Best Pizza Puff: Terry's Place , publisher=WGN TV , access-date=March 18, 2018{{cbignore {{cite book , last=Bizzarri , first=A. , title=Iconic Chicago Dishes, Drinks and Desserts , publisher=Arcadia Publishing Incorporated , series=American Palate , year=2016 , isbn=978-1-62585-810-8 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fpKcDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA101 , access-date=March 20, 2018 , pages=101–102 {{cite book , title=Quick Frozen Foods , publisher=E.W. Williams Publications , issue=v. 30 , year=1968 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XHHVAAAAMAAJ , access-date=March 20, 2018 Cuisine of Chicago Deep fried foods Pizza

Commercial varieties

See also

References