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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

#151

Post by AlbertCory »

kenjilopezalt wrote: post #78
joshu wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

pizza ovens rely on a chain of different skills that all must be done well or the pizza comes out poorly. correctly making the dough, correctly topping it, getting it to slide off the peel correctly, putting it in the right place in the oven, rotating it correctly, and probably several things i'm missing. it leads to an enormous amount of frustration; i haven't gotten something i would consider "good" even once yet.

This thin crust recipe is time consuming but actually solves a lot of those problems. Rolling witb a pin and letting it dry out overnight actually makes it really easy to slide off the peel.

The owner of Cicero's actually told me they use a rolling pin.

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

#152

Post by bsder »

adamc wrote: post #125

I'm from the Chicago area. Thin crust? He's a heretic.

Hardly.

I'll put the thin crust of Home Run Inn up against any Chicago deep dish soup any day ... :)

I'm being intentionally provocative, but people really underestimate how many things need to work together to get GOOD pizza, even if you get the ingredients right--that's why I love articles like this from J. Kenji López-Alt.

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

#153

Post by t-3 »

AlbertCory wrote: post #148
malermeister wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Yeah, kebabs really aren't a Thing here, for the most part. Nor is poutine, or "curry." You can find all of those, but they're not on every corner. What's drunk food in China, I wonder. Anyone?

Depends on where you're at - in Metro Detroit you can usually find shawarma, Indian, Pakistani, or Thai curry, pizza, taquerias, and a Coney Island within a mile of any random place, and poutine is just a drive across the bridge.

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

#154

Post by silverlake »

codemac wrote: 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…

My father was addicted to Totino’s frozen pizza. Originally from Minneapolis in 1950, it was a thin crispy cracker-crust pizza sold widely thru the Midwest. I don’t where it started but it has since spread widely.

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

#156

Post by tptacek »

adamc wrote: post #125

I'm from the Chicago area. Thin crust? He's a heretic.

I grew up in Beverly and didn't have deep dish pizza once until I moved out of my parents house. The style of pizza Kenji is writing about here is "Chicago pizza" for me.

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

#157

Post by pinkmuffinere »

omnimus wrote: post #120
dave_sullivan wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Burritos are too healthy and too filling.

Burritos are.... healthy??? Those must be some sad burritos

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

#158

Post by chitowneats »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #137
chitowneats wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where, in your opinion, can I get the ideal New York slice?

> where…can I get the ideal New York slice? Scott’s pizza tour [1]! (No affiliation.) Coal-fired slices are rare, now. I tend to like a charred, crisp crust and simple toppings that can be bitten through. This is a city that cares about its pizza. We don’t run impostors out of town. But the pizza is great, and there is no single ideal. Buy it, fold it, and enjoy. (Grimaldi’s and Joe’s. Di Fara and Lucali rub me like…

These are all Neopolitan style. I've had Grimaldi's and Lucali and enjoyed them.

I asked about a New York slice, which is a style of pizza that people rave on and on about, and has been cargo-culted across the U.S., but one I've never been particularly impressed with. Especially when compared to Chicago tavern style or deep dish.

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

#159

Post by justusthane »

omnimus wrote: post #120
dave_sullivan wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Burritos are too healthy and too filling.

If you’re eating healthy burritos you’re doing it wrong

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

#160

Post by analog31 »

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.

The best way is to sit at the dining table with a glass of cheap wine, watching pizza being made in the kitchen, as I happen to be doing at this very moment.
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