The true origins of the famous American pizza are still very uncertain, but Deep Dish Pizza – also known as Chicago Style pizza – is a real institution in the U.S., as well as being considered a specialty in the entire Midwest.
It is a variant of the classic Italian pizza that was created in Chicago around the mid 1940’s. With a very high and soft edge, Deep Dish Pizza is usually filled with mozzarella, pepperoni, tomato sauce and a generous amount of grated Parmesan cheese on top of it. It must necessarily be placed in a round baking pan of 30 cm with a 5-to-7 cm high edge and baked in the oven for about 35/40 minutes.
The most passionate fans and lovers of the most famous Italian dish in the world argue that deep dish pizza looks more like a toasted cake than a classic Italian pizza, though recognizing the quality and typicality of the product.
It seems that Deep Dish Pizza originates from a lucky guess of Riz Ricardo and his business partner Ike Sewell, former football star and owner of Pizzeria Uno in Chicago. In 1943, with the help of his cook, Sewell spread the pizza dough in a pan and filled it with two fingers of tomato sauce, mozzarella, sausage and parmesan cheese, creating a new kind of pizza: the Chicago Style pizza. Some people still think actually that the recipe originally belonged to Sewell’s mother, while others claim that the idea belonged to Rudy Malnati, which was chef at Pizzeria Uno at that time. However, it is clear that the famous Chicago pizza has become one of the most popular products in the United States over the years, being now an undisputed symbol of true American cuisine.
Although the American people prefer to enjoy Deep Dish Pizza in one of Chicago’s famous pizzerias, trying to home-make it is quite simple, even if there are several variations.
