Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza

This one is truly a treat.  For those of you native to the Midwest, hopefully you have been to a good deep dish pizzeria in Chicago at least once in your lives.  Many places outside Chicago will claim their pizzas are deep dish, or even go so far as to call them “Chicago-Style”, but then they’re little more than a Pizza Hut pan pizza.

There is a HUGE difference.  I was recently explaining it to a woman at my office.  Well, when I used to office downtown I ate probably 3 times each week at Charlie’s Pizzeria.  Sadly that restaurant was destroyed in the floods of 2008 and never reopened.  But I was lucky enough to become good friends with the owner.  She was back in town this week and was kind enough to send a Chicago-style pizza home with me to bake in our home oven so The Mrs. could sample what I’ve been raving about for years.

And to set the record straight: my friend’s restaurant was family owned for 3 generations.  Her grandfather originally won the recipe off a cook from Lou Malnati’s in Chicago in a hand of poker.  I know that sounds made up; but it isn’t!  She has personally also visited the kitchens of Gino’s East, Giordano’s, and Pizzeria Uno to learn their secrets.  So when she calls it “Chicago-Style” … it really is.

There was an episode of No Reservations where Anthony Bourdain was attempting to settle the age old NY vs. Chicago styles of pizza.  He ultimately said, “Whatever that is, it isn’t pizza.  But it is delicious.”

Chicago-style pizza really is a pizza pie.  It uses a super deep dish pan and layers the toppings so that my end result weighed around 5 pounds.  The crust is buttery and flaky and really does almost resemble a pie dough.

You start by layering the cheese slices on the bottom.  I asked why you would do this, and she told me it’s because you bake the pie for so long at such a hot temperature, that it would burn the cheese otherwise.  That’s why the sauce is on top.

Then you can pile on any number of your favorite pizza toppings, top it with a delicious sweet sauce containing crushed & stewed tomatoes, and sprinkle some Parmesean cheese on top. 

You can bake this in your home oven at 450-degrees for 30 minutes.  Then prepare to be blown away.  Two slices will fill you up, and three sends you over the edge.  It’s that filling.

I can’t take any credit for this dish at all.  But I can at least take credit for having the good sense to make Shadia my friend all those years ago.  And I’m glad for that.