Chicago.com
Pizza from the heart
Chicago.com’s Cousin Vinnie is looking for the best Chicago pizzeria to be in their new video “pizza in Chicago”. If you want to leave a comment and tell me who you think has the best Chicago pie please do so. Also if you know someone that owns a Chicago pizza joint and wants some exposure tell them to contact me at Vinnie@chicago.com or tell them to leave a comment.
Since the first hungry Italian put cheese and tomatoes on dough, there’s been a debate heard round the country on who’s got the best pizza: New York City or Sweet Home Chicago.
Now I am not here to bash New York’s pies, but I sure as hell am going to defend my hometown.
My Dad, the Original Cousin Vinnie, has been in the pizzeria business all of his life. At the ripe young age of 8yrs old he used to sit on top of the cheese grinder at Connie’s pizzeria in the south side of Chicago and grind cheese for the pies. He has owned places in Chicago like D’Anardo’s Pizza as well as Cousin Vinnie’s in Arizona. Believe you me, we know pizzas. Pizza sauce runs through my family’s veins. Here you can get deep dish or thin crust, hand tossed or rolled. And lucky for us, Chicago specializes in deep-dish (also known as stuffed) pizza. It’s more than a meal, it’s an event. Layers of thick, gooey mozzarella, mild Italian sausage, herbs, and my poppa’s homemade sauce are what I crave when I’m looking to satisfy my picky Chicagoan palate. Deep-dish pizza is as much Chicago as the cheese steak is to Philly, chowder is to Boston, and the California roll is to well, California. Here is one of my papa’s recipes for a “Chicago style pizza” for those of you that do not live here and for those of you that do.
That’s that! Now enjoy the pizza recipe and let me know how it turns out.
| Chicago Deep dish dough:
2 cups warm water 1/2 cup vegetable oil 4 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 cup cornmeal 5 1/2 cups flour 2 packages of rapid rise yeast 1/4 stick of melted butter |
Use a mixer bowl and dissolve rapid rise yeast in warm water. Then add olive oil and vegetable oil, butter, corn meal and1/2 the flour. Mix all contents with a dough hook (you can do it by hand, but it is very difficult) and mix in the rest of the flour. Remove dough and place on a clean countertop. Cover with a damp towel in a large bowl and allow to rise until double in bulk. Knuckle it down and allow to rise again.
It is very important to oil your deep-dish pizza pan or else your pie will stick to the pan. Place some dough in the pan and push it out to the edges using your fingers. Put in enough dough so that you can run the crust up the side of the pan. Make it about 1/8-inch thick throughout the pan.
Every great “Chicago style pizza” starts out with a great filling:
2 cups of peeled tomatoes, and make sure you drain em
1/3 lb of sliced Mozzarella
11 basil leaves
2 1/2tbl spoons of extra virgin olive oil (first cold press makes all the difference)
1 big handful of Parmesan Reggiano
3 good size cloves of garlic (minced)
Place mozzarella in layers on the bottom of the pie. If you want to add other ingredients, add other ingredients such as bulk Italian sausage, pepperoni or fungi (mushrooms). Place them directly on the cheese and under the tomatoes. Then layer the basil, garlic, oregano and salt. Next put in the tomatoes. The parmesan cheese will be used for the top of the pizza. Drizzle olive oil all over the top of the pizza.
Bake the pie in a 475°F oven until the crust is light golden brown and the top is bubbly, in about 35 to 45 minutes.
Have a taste for a Chicago style hot dog and if you’re not in Chicago, no sweat!
To make your own Chicago style dog is fun and quick. Cousin Vinnie will tell you everything you need to know to make an original Chicago Dog at home. You will be shown how to properly make your Dog in true Chicago style.
Grabin’ the right ingredients makes all da difference.
To make your dog truly “Chicago style”, it is important to start with the right ingredients.
The dog itself.
A Chicago Style Hot Dog is all beef and contains no fillers. I enjoy Vienna!
When you picture the perfect Chicago dog it should have a nice slathering of mustard, just like at Grandma’s house. Good news there’s only a trace of fat in a teaspoon of yellow mustard.
A classic Chicago Dog will have a pickle spear. The pickle you choose should compliment, but not run the friggen show! A lot of people put spicy pickle on their Hot Dog, but that is not Chicago! The pickle should have a nice crunch and the seasoning should be mild.
A nice white onion with a nice clean chop about 1/2″ each chop.
If you chop your tomatoes, cousin Vinnie will come by and give ya a talkin to. Wedges baby, that is how it’s done in Chicago, period! The sport peppers should be about an inch long and have enough heat to kick ya in da rear end. There’s usually two peppers on each dog.
You have to use da celery salt , it is a key and an important ingredient.
Genuine Chicago Style Hot Dogs are traditionally served on a steamed poppy seed bun. If you can not find a packaged poppy seed bun you can usually special order poppy seed Hot Dog buns at grocery stores that have their own bakery. In the Chicago area, poppy seed buns are available at most grocery stores including Jewel or Dominick’s. So far I like Turano Bakery brand, some of the best buns I had.
