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Kenji López-Alt spent 5 months studying Chicago thin-crust pizza

nytimes.com

21–30 of 247 posts

Re: Kenji López-Alt spent 5 months studying Chicago thin-crust pizza

#21

If you want to explore food science, it's hard to go wrong with the OG author, Harold McGee: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_McGee * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Food_and_Cooking The fortieth anniversary of his On Food is coming up in 2024.

I actually talked to Harold a couple times when he came to Google. He is a very, very nice person; very down-to-earth.

Re: Kenji López-Alt spent 5 months studying Chicago thin-crust pizza

#22
post #13

It upsets me this is called "Chicago" when clearly it came from further east - these "working class pizza taverns" being common across Indiana, Ohio, and PA as well. There are plenty of examples of these types of "no I started thin crust and square cut" pizza tavern places everywhere. And even worse is that I am no historian and I'm probably wrong. But my direct experience contradicts a lot of the Chicago-washing of…

There are stylistic differences on these tavern thin crust styles across the upper midwest region. When I hear "chicago thin crust" I don't expect it to be 1:1 equivalent w/ columbus style pizza, st louis style pizza, etc. I assume Kenji knows this as well, as for instance I know he's talked about st louis style in the past.

Granted the non-paywall link hasn't loaded for me yet, so for all I know he claims the entire broad-country style was invented in Chicago. In which case, yes I agree with you.

Re: Kenji López-Alt spent 5 months studying Chicago thin-crust pizza

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a story about Chicago’s much lesser known (and superior) style of pizza.

I am not even a native Chicagoan, though I lived there for many years, and I am personally offended anyone could have such a stance. I want each slice to be a meal.

Proper tavern-style pizza is cut into squares, not slices. Slices are for tourists.

Re: Kenji López-Alt spent 5 months studying Chicago thin-crust pizza

#24
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not even a native Chicagoan, though I lived there for many years, and I am personally offended anyone could have such a stance. I want each slice to be a meal.

Most Chicagoans I know do not eat deep dish often, nor do they even really like it. But...as someone else said, this isn't really the alternative. The crust is just plain wrong.

Yep. Of the several native chicago friends in my extended friend circle, all but one has a strong preference for the tavern square cut style

Re: Kenji López-Alt spent 5 months studying Chicago thin-crust pizza

#25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a story about Chicago’s much lesser known (and superior) style of pizza.

I am not even a native Chicagoan, though I lived there for many years, and I am personally offended anyone could have such a stance. I want each slice to be a meal.

You can take your lasagna and have it.

Re: Kenji López-Alt spent 5 months studying Chicago thin-crust pizza

#26
Native Chicagoan here. Not totally a snob, but getting there.

I didn't usually encounter really crispy crust growing up, but I'm not saying it's wrong. He does a lot of things here I've never tried, but now I'm going to.

I had an Ooni, and after 5 or 6 meh attempts, I sold it. I also exited the r/ooni subreddit. I'm also out of love with the Neapolitan style baked at 700F+. Come at me.

I think a pizza steel preheated in a kitchen oven at 500F gives you a perfectly good pizza, and the fact that you can slide out the oven rack and use gravity to launch the pizza off the peel makes it a total win.

  (On r/ooni, they advise turning the heat down or off when you actually launch. I'm going to try blowtorching my pizza steel to 700F, just to simulate this process. Stay tuned.)
On the intersection with computers: the early Apple people used to go for lunch at Cicero's Pizza. It's still around and Steve Wozniak still goes there.

Re: Kenji López-Alt spent 5 months studying Chicago thin-crust pizza

#27
post #13

It upsets me this is called "Chicago" when clearly it came from further east - these "working class pizza taverns" being common across Indiana, Ohio, and PA as well. There are plenty of examples of these types of "no I started thin crust and square cut" pizza tavern places everywhere. And even worse is that I am no historian and I'm probably wrong. But my direct experience contradicts a lot of the Chicago-washing of…

They’re different. Columbus pizzas aren’t as dry in the crusts. Chicago tavern cut crusty edges crumble in one’s mouth. I prefer Columbus’ style, and I think it would do well in Chicago.

Re: Kenji López-Alt spent 5 months studying Chicago thin-crust pizza

#28
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not even a native Chicagoan, though I lived there for many years, and I am personally offended anyone could have such a stance. I want each slice to be a meal.

You can take your lasagna and have it.

Exactly. It has everything I want: meat, cheese, and the bread all pre-packed for consumption.

Re: Kenji López-Alt spent 5 months studying Chicago thin-crust pizza

#29

Native Chicagoan here. Not totally a snob, but getting there. I didn't usually encounter really crispy crust growing up, but I'm not saying it's wrong. He does a lot of things here I've never tried, but now I'm going to. I had an Ooni, and after 5 or 6 meh attempts, I sold it. I also exited the r/ooni subreddit. I'm also out of love with the Neapolitan style baked at 700F+. Come at me. I think a pizza steel preheated…

The best way to make pizza better is to drink more.

I’ve eaten some fantastic artisan sourdough wonders here in London but nothing compares to being wasted as fuck and finding the one place that’s open at some ungodly hour after a heavy night of eating fuck all and getting your teeth into some greasy monster made of the worst possible ingredients.

Re: Kenji López-Alt spent 5 months studying Chicago thin-crust pizza

#30
post #11

Ditch the giardiniera and put the sausage under the cheese instead of on top, and add a splash of red wine to the sauce and you'd have something more in common in the local pizza spots. Also can't forget the corn meal to keep the crust from sticking to the pan, which is just a part of the experience when you eat it. Personally the crust looks wrong. It's not a saltine, it's slightly thicker than that. There are pizza…

"Ultra-crispy" is definitely the style at Fox's, on the southwest side, which I grew up with. And Fox's isn't famous; it's just neighborhood Chicago pizza.

Giardiniera is definitely a modern innovation, though; growing up, I'd be surprised to see anything other than green peppers on a pizza.

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