The Chicago Deep Dish Pizza, or simply “Deep Dish” as it is commonly known, has confused pizza purists for decades.
Is that a pizza? Is that, as comedian Jon Stewart once quipped, “a (expletive-laden) casserole”? Perhaps it’s more of a pie than a pizza? Or is it something else entirely?
Whatever it is, deep dish has been a Chicago institution since its invention in the 1940s, and the crispy, cheesy and sometimes meaty concoction is served to millions of people across the city each year.
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“The pizza tradition is deep-rooted in Chicago, and Lou Malnati’s deep-dish pizza is an original,” Marc Malnati, owner of Chicago-style pizza chain Lou Malnati’s, said in an email to Fox News Digital.
Lou Malnati’s is one of the few restaurants that claim to have invented deep-dish pizza. It is said to have been invented in 1943 at Pizzeria Uno in Chicago, where Lou Malnati worked as a pizza maker, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Lou Malanti’s has been selling deep-dish pizza for more than half a century, its owner Marc Malnati told Fox News Digital. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
“Known for its buttery crust that pulls to the edge of the pan to hold the fresh ingredients, it’s hearty enough to satisfy Chicagoans and make it desirable for all who try it,” said Marc Malnati. “For over 53 years, Lou Malnati’s has been serving this deep dish delicacy.”
Unlike the thin-crust pizza more common on the East Coast, deep-dish pizza turns this concept on its head.
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“The order of ingredients on a Chicago-style pizza is ‘reverse’ to a thin-crust pizza,” Lou Malnati’s website said.
After the crust is arranged around the sides of a deep baking dish, slices of mozzarella cheese are placed on top of the dough, the website says.
Deep-dish pizza is assembled “inverted” compared to its thin-crust counterparts elsewhere. The sauce goes on top of the cheese and toppings – which are in the middle. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Afterwards, all side dishes, such as meat or vegetables, are placed on the cheese, it is said.
Sauce is then added on top, the website says.
Lou Malnati’s uses “a fresh tomato sauce made from whole pieces of pear and plum tomatoes.”
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The whole thing is then “rounded off with a pinch of cheese and spices”.
Since the deep dish was first developed, the dish has been expanded upon (pun intended) by other innovative chefs in the Chicago area.
“Although the origins of Chicago-style deep dish pizza date back to the early 1940s, Giordano’s has taken this concept to the next level by focusing on ‘stuffed’ deep dish pizza since 1974,” Yorgo Koutsogiorgas, president and CEO of Giordano’s, said in an email to Fox News Digital.
Deep-dish pizza is a classic of Chicago cuisine. Giordano’s “stuffed” deep dish adds another layer of dough to the pizza. (Giordano’s)
The “stuffed” version served by Giordano’s features an additional layer of batter and is an “even thicker” version of the already sumptuous original deep-dish pan, the website says.
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“To prevent the thick mixture from dripping into the pizza oven and to facilitate cooking, a layer of dough was placed on top of the pizza, with a hole in the middle to allow steam to escape,” says Giordano’s website.
A “stuffed” deep dish is an “even thicker” version of the Chicago-style pizza. (Giordano’s)
Traditionally, another layer of sauce is added on the second layer of dough, it was said.
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While a deep-dish pizza contains similar ingredients and has a similar texture to its thin-crust counterparts, there is another major difference.
This is how it is eaten.
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Using a fork and knife on a slice of thin-crust pizza may seem unusual to many, but with deep-crust pizza, this is simply not the case.
“It’s perfectly appropriate to cut a slice with a knife and lift it with a fork,” says the website of Geno’s East, another Chicago-based pizza chain.
