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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

#101

Post by OJFord »

pcl wrote: post #67
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…

A couple years ago, when I was on a pizza kick, the thing that worked best for me was to start cooking the dough on the stovetop on a very hot cast iron skillet. I would cook it long enough for the dough to start to change color and bubble a bit (45-60 seconds), and then make sure it was releasing from the pan. Then, I would sprinkle on oil, tomato sauce and toppings and move it from the skillet to the preheated ston…

I do similar but not particularly purposefully - I always top the dough with it already on my (pre-heated) cast iron 'stone'. (Otherwise trying to transfer it is a disaster that I've been known to pretend was an intentional calzone - I don't have a peel.)

I do so as quickly as I can, but of course it starts to cook the dough as I do; I've never seen that as a bad thing. If there's any holes where it stretched too thin, it holds it still allowing you to fix them too.

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

#102

Post by dreamcompiler »

jrexilius wrote: post #65
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…

Native Chicagoan here as well. When I was growing up we called this "party" style pizza, while deep dish was just called pizza. After living in Austin for last 8 years, I still desperately miss good deep dish pizza, but thin crust is easy to find outside of Chicago...

What's your opinion of Conan's? That used to be the deep dish pizza place in Austin but I haven't eaten there in many years.

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

#103

Post by OJFord »

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

Jesus, $120? Does it knead, stretch, and top the dough itself too?

Seriously, is it really supposedly that much better than my £15 cast iron 'stone'? (I put a lovely seasoning on it initially, but didn't look after it very well and it's all cracked and flaking off, so I need to start again really I think - I suppose it does save that maintenance work... but still, I could just buy a new one and start again several times for $120!)

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

#104

Post by chitowneats »

kenjilopezalt wrote: post #77
chitowneats wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It’s ironic because those $1 slice places that popped up in the mid 2000s are what actually destroyed decent NY slices which couldn’t compete because transplants and students would rather pay $1 for garbage than $1.50-$2.50 for a true classic NY slice. Very few of them remain now. Instead there’s this divide with crappy $1 joints (that are now a little more expensive) and good $4-5 slice joints that had to differenti…

I appreciate the context you're adding here. I lived in NYC for the better part of a decade. I feel I got a good sampling of the pizza scene. This was in the 2010s though so I can't speak to how it was before that.

I still haven't found anything that beats a Lou's pan pizza.

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

#105

Post by OJFord »

necubi wrote: post #34
tayo42 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never seen this intersection of computers and pizza before. There's stir fry enthusiasts though. Or at least wok users. You need wok hei and super hot burners, electric won't cut it etc... I've also seen some intense breakdowns of pad Thai, like it wasn't a recent invention for tourism

In fact, Kenji just released a book about Wok cooking!

Has Uncle Roger reviewed it?

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

#107

Post by OJFord »

p0pcult wrote: post #73
fbdab103 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Right, but it's not pizza.

I think GP means pizza. The 'bread' really confused me (I even commented on it) until I realised (and deleted) - that's not how I make my lasagnes!

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

#108

Post by dave_sullivan »

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:)

Kebabs are alright but the Europeans need to find out about burritos, they don't even know.

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

#109

Post by malermeister »

dave_sullivan wrote: post #108
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:)

Kebabs are alright but the Europeans need to find out about burritos, they don't even know.

I've lived in California for almost ten years, had many a drunk burrito and missed kebabs every time :(

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

#110

Post by wooly_bully »

MegaDeKay wrote: post #74
throw0101b wrote: post #9

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.

Can't argue that Harold is the OG. It would be nice if he'd release a new edition of On Food and Cooking though. But as I understand it, it still holds up really well after all this time. Alton Brown is certainly another name I'd add to the mix. Good Eats was brilliant, and his I'm Only Here For The Food / More Food books are really good.

I just am about halfway thru. Absolutely stands up, doesnt even feel dated almost 20 years after the revised edition.
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