Born and raised NY/NJ guy who has pretty much had pizza on Friday whenever possible.
Never tried Chicago style deep dish despite a passing trip or 2 through the area. Recently got caught up in this damn GoldBelly food delivery cult so I now have a selection of Lou Malnati’s pizza’s scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Will I be horrified or pleasantly surprised? Meh?
it's cooked in the oven for 40 minutes in the same pan it ships in (after you wipe the condensation out and spray a little cooking spray) and it comes out great, but like I said - it's a casserole
Not my favorite, but people swear by it. it's definitely a distinctive flavor. Pepe's makes the best clam pie.
I had it directly from Lou Malnatis when I was in Aurora a couple of years ago. Absolutely amazing. Definitely not much resemblance to traditional pizza but holy crap was it good. And I could barely finish one piece lol
Multiple types of ovens and differing temps to accommodate different regional pizza styles! I find it incredibly creative and attractive food wise. Not sure if you’re familiar with what he categorizes as “New Haven” pizza but I would pretty much eat the shit out of this entire menu. And yes even the St. Louis stuff.
https://tonyspizzanapoletana.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/TPN_Dinner_Menu_05092022_220424.pdf
Multiple types of ovens and differing temps to accommodate different regional pizza styles! I find it incredibly creative and attractive food wise. Not sure if you’re familiar with what he categorizes as “New Haven” pizza but I would pretty much eat the shit out of this entire menu. And yes even the St. Louis stuff.
https://tonyspizzanapoletana.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/TPN_Dinner_Menu_05092022_220424.pdf
I'll check it out - my wife's great aunt one Christmas when we were dating was making conversation and asked me my favorite food so I said pizza and she busted my balls about it like only a 90-year old woman can, lol. it's true, pizza is my favorite food and I make no apologies about it.
Really? I had to go out to Panduit research facility in Tinley Park (I said Aurora before but I remembered it was Tinley Park), and one of the days there the guys that hosted us were raving about how they set us up pizza for lunch one day from Lou Malnati's. I wasn't sure what to expect, but when we got it, it literally looked like giant apple Pie. You cut these big wedges from the pie. It really was as good as they made it out lol. Delicious. But I could barely finish one slice, and I didn't eat for the rest of the day... lol. Not sure what it's like shipped/frozen but that was my experience with it.
Call it what you want. It's fucking delicious.
Can we have a pinned thread with the rules for identifying pizza, and acceptable uses for condiments?
Still nothing in comparison to a good NYC street slice. The sharp tartness and slight sweetness of a thin marinara, combined with the mellow creaminess and slight saltiness of a good soft mutz on top of a thin yeasty soft dough crusted into a crispy crunchy slightly charred and smokey breading.
Three ingredients. Restraint is the acme of deliciousness.
This. Not to be a snob, but it's a circular, doughy lasagna. It's good, but I have no idea how they call it pizza. It's like someone who had never eaten pizza described it to an extra terrestrial and they did their best.
Overwhelmingly disappointing. It was TONS of cheese between two laters of bread with some sauce. That is not pizza IMO.
Chicago deep-dish is pretty easy to make.
1 cup all-purpose flour
6-7 Tablespoons water
3 Tablespoons oil. Many places use a lighter blended oil (Olive + Canola etc)
3/4 teaspoon yeast (instant/active/dry)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt (Kosher if you can)
Mix for 1 minute, then knead for no more than 2.
Let rise for about 6 hours or so, covered in a proofing container or counter with cloth over.
Punch down, then cover and let the gluten relax for 10-15 minutes or so.
Then either roll it out or press into a pan. I used a greased cast-iron skillet.
Add cheese, toppings, sauce. bake a 450 for around 30 minutes--you'll have to experiment with time and rack placement
For the sauce, get some good quality whole peeled tomatoes and crush them by hand (drain the juice). Add garlic, oregano, basil, etc. I add sugar to mine.
Fresh-grated mozz and lots of it. I make a blend of 2 parts part-skim/low moisture to 1 part whole milk.
If adding stuff like sausage, I put that down immediately on top of the dough, raw. It'll cook and NO, it won't make the crust greasy.
Then add the cheese and sauce it on top. Dust some parm/romano on top
Enjoy :-)
Is it what I'd call pizza? Not really. Is it all pizza ingredients put together in a completely different proportions? Yep. So it tastes good. But it truly is more like a pizza pot pie than anything else.
We went to Giordanos and I watched a video how they prepare the pie.
1) thin crust layer in bottom.
2) On top of that, like 3/4 inch of "toppings" (cheese, meat, veg).
3) On top of that, another layer of dough - holes made to release steam
4) Sauce on top of that.
Baked at 465 degrees for 45 minutes - it's like a loaf.
New Haven pizza is traditional pizza, thin crust and baked for like 6 -8 minutes at 800 degree coal fired oven.
They're not even really the same thing. You might as well compare pizza to a calzone.
That said, it's delicious and we brought back 3 frozen Giordanos pizzas on the plane.
Second.
lol I am glad I looked through all the comments first as I was going to try and be funny and say this.
Wasn't my time I guess.