Cool, happy baking!
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You too!
We’re all going to have to hit the gym once this is over, aren’t we! 
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Making another batch of pasties:
Filled with half a kilo of beef, one potato, one carrot, two big mushrooms, a bit of butter, a shitload of salt & pepper plus every spice that caught my fancy:
I don’t own a rolling pin, but you make do:
Edit:
Nom.
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…and I only just realised that I forgot to put onion or garlic in these ones.
Oh well, we’ll see how they turn out. They’re not lacking for spice regardless.
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I’ve heard Ledo’s described as “Detroit-style” but I wonder if the resemblance is superficial, i.e. they’re both rectangular and cut more-or-less into squares. But they’re not unique around here (in MD); I can think of two other places in the area (besides the Ledo chain – it’s separate) with the same style of pizza. (The original Ledo is up for sale, and that was before all the COVID-19 closings.)
Ledo is, I think, sui generis but my favorite pizza, near where I live, is the one they make at Whole Foods – i.e. the slice is a big, foldable, chewy triangle. I think my favorite anywhere is from Roebling Pizza in Brooklyn.
I remember having a pizza that (the restaurant said) was Chicago-style. It had the sauce on top of the cheese and toppings (and, by necessity, was deep dish). (This was at Mangia in Austin.) Maybe that’s how it’s really done in Chicago? I’ve never visited, so far, except to change planes.
Round pizza cut in a grid also sounds like Johnny’s, in Louisiana. The “everything” pizza was named “sweep the kitchen.”
One day I need to go to New Haven and try theirs.
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Chicago-style deep dish pizza is like a (dessert) pie, but with cheese, toppings, and sauce instead of filling.
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There are several Chicago-style pizzas, but deep dish with the sauce on top is definitely one of them.
And yes, come to Chicago and eat pizza. And everything else! It’s a great foodie town, at every price point.
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I mean, don’t come NOW. You know what I mean!
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Italian beef sandwiches…
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The way I heard it Detroit style is a variation of the sort of Sicilian pizza that proliferated through the South and Midwest in the 60’s.
It also seems fairly similar to various styles of grandma pie/pizza ala nonna.
Definitely seems distinct but there are a lot of really similar pizza’s all over.
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Flattened dough with various combinations of tomato sauce, cheese(s), meats/veggies…there are a lot of variations on that theme.
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In suburban TX, at least, during the '80s, it meant rectangular pizza but with a thick crust.
Now I want a lahmajeen.
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Well apparently the deal is there’s broadly 2 types of Sicilian in the US.
You have what’s basically Italian sfincione (which I can not spell, thanks google) with moz on it. Like you tend to find in the NY Metro area and some other cities with big, old Italian populations. Which is really thick and bready, and I guess you’d call it distinctly topped. Cheese sits seperate from the sauce, with a distinct crust where the edges aren’t topped.
And then when Pizza proliferated across the country in the 60’s it was Sicilian pizza that done did it. But coming from a newer wave of more recent, and often not Sicilian immigrants it’s a bit different. Thinner (while still being thick), often cheese right up to the edge and cooked in a lot more oil (or a lot more oil from the cheese) so way more fried on the bottom. With the cheese combining more into the sauce. So basically a lot of what you’re seeing with the Detroit style.
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That’s how Chicago deep-dish is done - sauce on top. The pizza is baked (and in a restaurant setting, served) in a cast-iron pan, so there’s a bit of frying action on the crust.
The thin-crust follows the more typical pattern of cheese and toppings on top of the sauce, and it’s baked without a pan.
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Everybody always thinks the only Chicago style pizza is deep dish, and their only experience with deep dish is at a chain Uno’s or Bertucci’s. In reality, those chain places are like a B- for deep dish in Chicago, and most of us like tavern style instead. Thin crust (not an actual cracker, but a regular pizza crust rolled thin and baked twice) red sauce, a layer of toppings, and a layer of cheese cooked until it’s brown. It’s salty so you buy more beer, hence tavern style. Home Run Inn is a good example, but there are more and better local tavern style pizzas.
I’m surprised how hard it is to find Italian beef outside Chicago. It’s just a French dip with hot giardiniera on top.
Then again, it’s hard to find hot giardiniera outside Chicago as well. I need to make a new batch.
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After years of only going to Uno, I branched out. My favorite now is Lou Malnati’s.
Truth. I think it has a hard time catching on, because people aren’t used to eating a sandwich that’s soaked in broth from the very beginning.
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One of the beauties of the Italian beef sandwich is that it has so many options. You can order it practically dripping with broth, or nearly dry, with or without mozzarella, and/or sweet peppers, and/or hot giardinera, and/or red sauce. The bread is key.
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What’s the sauce on your sprouts?
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Cream sauce. Not pictured: a bit of nutmeg sprinkled on top.
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