Chicago-style pizza
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Chicago-style pizza is pizza prepared according to one of several styles developed in Chicago. It can refer to both the well-known deep-dish or stuffed pizzas and the lesser-known thin-crust "tavern-style" pizzas.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The pan used to bake deep-dish pizza gives the pizza its characteristically high edge, which provides ample space for lots of cheese and a chunky tomato sauce. Chicago-style deep-dish pizza may be prepared either this way or stuffed. Chicago-style thin-crust pizza dough is rolled for a thinner, crispier crust than other thin-crust styles, and the pizza is cut in squares instead of slices.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Italian sausage is the most popular topping at many Chicago pizzerias.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Deep-dish
Chicago-style deep-dish pizza was invented at Pizzeria Uno in Chicago, founded by Ike Sewell and Richard Riccardo in 1943.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":3">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Riccardo's original recipe for a pizza cooked in a pie pan or cake tin was published in 1945 and included a dough made with scalded milk, butter, and sugar.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> The restaurant's cook Alice Mae Redmond later adjusted the recipe to be made with water and olive oil and a "secret dough conditioner" to make it stretch better.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the 1960s and '70s, the dough ball became larger, to cover the full sides of the pan, with a higher fat percentage.<ref name=":0" /> Redmond later worked at Gino's East, founded in 1966, where she made a fattier, biscuit-like dough.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1" />
Uno's original pizza chef Rudy Malnati has also been credited for the development of the recipe.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref> Rudy's sons Lou and Rudy Jr., who also worked at Pizzeria Uno, later respectively founded Lou Malnati's Pizzeria in 1971 and Pizano's in 1991, both also known for their deep-dish pizzas.<ref name=":2" />
The thick pizza crust, sometimes made with cornmeal for texture,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> may be parbaked before the toppings are added to give it greater spring. In traditional recipes, the top of the crust is layered with meats and/or vegetables and mozzarella cheese while the sides rise to the top of the pan, and then a layer of crushed tomatoes is ladled over the top and the whole pizza is baked to completion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Deep-dish pizza
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A deep-dish pizza from Zachary's Pizza in Oakland, California
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Deep-dish pizza from Lou Malnati's
Stuffed pizza
By the mid-1970s, two Chicago chains, Nancy's Pizza, founded by Rocco Palese,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Giordano's Pizzeria, operated by brothers Efren and Joseph Boglio, began experimenting with deep-dish pizza and created the stuffed pizza.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Palese based his creation on his mother's recipe for Template:Lang, an Italian Easter pie from his hometown of Potenza in Basilicata at the far southern end of the Italian Peninsula, more commonly known in Italy as pizza rustica Lucana.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Stuffed pizzas are typically deeper, have another layer of dough covering the toppings, and have more cheese than standard deep-dish pizza, while other restaurants' deep-dish pizzas tend to have more sauce.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Tavern-style pizza
There is also a style of thin-crust pizza known as "tavern style".<ref name="NYT thin">Template:Cite news</ref> Residents of two cities claim to have originated it in the 1940s: Milwaukee<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Chicago.<ref name="NYT thin"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
This pizza has a crust firm enough to have a noticeable crunch and the slices are cut into squares, as opposed to wedges.<ref name="NYT thin"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The name "tavern-style" comes from the pizzas originally being served in taverns, often as an enticement to drink alcohol. This origin in taverns is also linked to the pizza's shape, as the square shape of the slices made it possible for taverns that did not have plates to instead set them on napkins.<ref name="tavern">Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:As of, according to Grubhub data and the company Chicago Pizza Tours, thin-crust outsells the more widely known deep-dish style among locals, with GrubHub stating that deep-dish comprises only 9% of its pizza deliveries.<ref name="GrubHubThinCrust">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In response, Technomics food industry researcher Darren Tristano questioned GrubHub's conclusion on the basis of the delivery service's user demographics, saying that its younger users cannot afford deep dish pizza, while NPR noted that the data would not include information on two particular deep-dish chains (though with just 20 restaurants in the city of 2.7Template:Nbspmillion) that are not on GrubHub.<ref name=GrubHubThinCrust/>