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

nytimes.com

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

#81

Post by llimllib »

tptacek wrote: post #32
ChancyChance wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (and superior) Hey hey hey! waves hands in the air wildly If it doesn't come from New Haven I ain't interested. Besides, who wants to eat a saucy saltine. I like my gluten hydrated. Seriously though, pizza science has such a weird intersection with computer-types. Why don't computer-types get all fired up about lasagna, or ice cream sundaes, or stir fry? Why only things like pizza, cast iron, and espresso?

Have you ever tried a Chicago neighborhood-style pizza? Or are you just dismissing it on spec?

(I think they misinterpreted the parent comment as saying that Chicago thin crust is superior to New Haven, instead of that it's better than the more well-known-outside-of-Chicago pizza style, which is what I think the parent comment was saying.

(If they _were_ actually saying that Chicago thin crust is in fact better than New Haven thin crust, well then I don't need to try this pizza either to know that it's not. /s))

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

#82

Post by 331c8c71 »

antihero wrote: post #29
AlbertCory wrote: post #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…

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.

My impression is that in Europe we quite often tend to go for a kebab in such circumstances:)

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

#83

Post by dole »

bluedino wrote: post #35
qbasic_forever wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Detroit style doesn't get enough love. I feel like it's the perfect balance of pillowy thick but not filling you up. Laying stripes of sauce on top gives you a different flavor in every bite too.

Currently my favorite pizza style. If you live near a Jet's, you should be eating it. Their Stromboli's/boats are great too.

I’ll second Jet’s for Detroit-style, get the 8-corner or large deep dish. Tall, crispy edges. Little Caesar’s gets a pass on their Detroit-style, but Pizza Hut’s recent take was just disrespectful.

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

#84

Post by AlbertCory »

331c8c71 wrote: post #82
antihero wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My impression is that in Europe we quite often tend to go for a kebab in such circumstances:)

Except in the UK, where it's curry (AFAIK).

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

#85

Post by quags »

chitowneats wrote: post #58
antihero wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Well put. That being said, the Chicago version is still better. NYC pizza is a bad joke. As long as you're only paying $1 it's not that bad for the price. That price point and the places that offered it are going extinct unfortunately. The "slice" is dead. Imagine having to fold your "pizza" because it's just a nasty mess of sauce and cheese.

The secret of course is the best pizza in the NYC area is in Northern New Jersey.

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

#86

Post by AlbertCory »

robshrk wrote: post #47
karaterobot wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. For me, the pizza steel is also plenty good compared to the portable gas ovens. Some other tricks I use are adding diastatic malt powder to the dough, and par-baking the crust before adding the toppings, t…

The one minute par-bake also makes it so much easier and stress free to slide a fully loaded pizza onto the stone. I don’t even use cornmeal just lightly dusted whole wheat flour for the raw dough. The par-baked crust needs nothing.

Semolina's better than cornmeal, but yeah: parbaking or parchment paper sounds much better.

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

#87

Post by AlbertCory »

poloniculmov wrote: post #66
yumraj wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by pizza steel? I’m looking to get a cast iron pizza pan but would love to know there’s a better option.

Something like this[1]. It's easier to use than a pizza stone and yields better results. 1: https://bakingsteel.com/products/baking-steel

Yes. Weighs a lot, but it'll never crack like a stone will.

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

#88

Post by noneeeed »

AlbertCory wrote: post #84
331c8c71 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My impression is that in Europe we quite often tend to go for a kebab in such circumstances:)

Except in the UK, where it's curry (AFAIK).

Depends if you are going for portability. If you want something for the walk home it’s got to be a kebab really. But if it’s the middle of the evening sit down meal before getting a taxi home then it might well be a curry.

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

#89

Post by wirthjason »

antihero wrote: post #29
AlbertCory wrote: post #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…

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.

Interesting comment from an interesting username. Antihero, a somewhat strong IPA, from Revolution Brewing in Chicago is my favorite beer. I’ve definitely craved pizza after downing one too many antiheros.

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

#90

Post by manicennui »

tptacek wrote: post #32
ChancyChance wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (and superior) Hey hey hey! waves hands in the air wildly If it doesn't come from New Haven I ain't interested. Besides, who wants to eat a saucy saltine. I like my gluten hydrated. Seriously though, pizza science has such a weird intersection with computer-types. Why don't computer-types get all fired up about lasagna, or ice cream sundaes, or stir fry? Why only things like pizza, cast iron, and espresso?

Have you ever tried a Chicago neighborhood-style pizza? Or are you just dismissing it on spec?

I lived in Chicago for 15 years. Tavern-style pizza in Chicago can be good, but Piece's pizza (New Haven style) is better than most Chicago-style pizza. My go-to before I left the city was Crushed Pizzeria, which is Neapolitan-influenced. The only place I can ever remember eating decent tavern-style pizza is at dive bars. The thin crust from places like Giordano's and Rosati's is a soggy disgusting mess.
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