Customer Reviews

The Great Chicago-Style Pizza Cookbook

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First of all, NO, these are not the secret recipes of Giordano's, Gino's, Pizzeria Uno, or the others.

They are, however, very good pizza recipes. My main criticism of the book is that some of the instructions are incomplete. For example, in the stuffed pizza recipe he tells you to put the sauce on top of the pizza without pre-cooking the pizza at all. In my experience, that always results in a doughy, partially-uncooked top crust. I prebake the pizza with no sauce for about 10 minutes, then add the sauce, and it's great. But Bruno should've told me that; I shouldn't have had to figure it out for myself.

Yes, I would like to get my hands on the actual Giordano's recipe, but these recipes still beat any pizza I can get here in Oregon.

Ok. I'm a pizza snob (pizza elitist?). I'll admit it. It's hard to live in or near Chicago for any length of time and not become one. I recently moved from Illinois to the west coast and have come to the conclusion that good pizza doesn't exist out here. So, I've been making my own. This book provides good recipes and recommendations on ingredients. A definite must for transplanted Chicagoans.

If you try these recipes, you will not duplicate pizzas cooked at Uno's, Gino's, Giordano's, etc. You will make a decent pizza (and I've had to experiment quite a bit to improve on Bruno's recipes), but don't be fooled into thinking that these are the real thing. And the basic deep dish recipe is just the same as the one you can get free at many sites on the internet. A better book is Evelyn Slomon's, but hers suffers, too.

If you want to make incredible (and authentic) deep-dish pizza, this book shows you in thorough detail exactly how to do it.

The first half of the book is full of pictures describing the processes of making deep-dish pizza in enough detail that someone who has never cooked a pizza can produce an outstanding pizza on the first try. The second half of the book is recipes from the Chicago pizza restaurants. It's hard to imagine the first half being any more clear, and the second half doesn't bore you to death with stuff you will know cold once you've read the first half and used it to make a couple of pizzas.

It is the perfect balance of educational detail and long-term utility.

I've had this book since 1983, the year it was first published. When I bought it, I loved deep-dish pizza, but hadn't a clue how to make it. I've used it to make more than a hundred different deep-dish pizzas, with never a flop yet. I've just purchased my THIRD copy, because I've used the first two copies until they disintegrated. My most popular is the Spinach-stuffed pizza, although the Greek pizza (with Kalamata olives, anchovies, feta and spinach) is my personal favorite.

One thing you won't find is innovations since 1983, but if you hear about something new, it's a snap to include it. It is the difference between learning a recipe and learning the theory. Get this book, and you'll be able to make the kind of pizza you want.

I only lived in Chicago for 5 years, but I did pick up a taste for stuffed pizza. Heaven! This book, which I have had since about 1987, allows me to make "something like" out here in the pizza philistinia of Seattle. I'll never claim to make anything like The Nancy or my personal fave Edwardo's, but it isn't half bad.

Not sure about the tomato paste, though. Are we reading the same recipe? Canned tomatoes, chopped by hand (I use a pastry knife), all the way.

I echo the review that said you have to bake the crust a bit first to keep it from getting soggy. I've also done a bit of experimenting along the way, and think the sauce I have come up with improves on the one in the book, but any good cook should be willing to do that, I'd think. Tastes differ and all that.

Anyway this book has helped me keep my pizza sanity 1700 miles west of Mecca. Highly recommended.

At 25 years old and still going strong, this is the definitive book on making Chicago-style pizza. If you don't believe me, get on a plane and take the El to Pizzeria Uno on Wabash Ave (go to Due a block down the street if Uno's too busy), order a medium sausage, then come home and make "Deep Dish Pizza #1". I think you'll be pretty impressed by the accuracy.

But it's more than that, which is actually a bit of a shame given how it focuses exclusively on Chicago pizza. Where many books on subjects such as pizza are padded out with minor variations on a basic recipe, Bruno's book gives not only recipes but many pictures and technique discussions. Actual recipes in fact take up only about 40 pages of the book, with the real meat of the book being the two chapters that show detailed, illustrated step-by-step instructions for mixing the dough and making deep-dish, stuffed, and thin-crust pizzas, something that in a technique-heavy food like pizza should be quite essential. Pictures and profiles of the great Chicago pizza places of the day round out the book (interestingly, I'm pretty sure that Uno's pizzaiola Aldean Stoudamire, pictured in the colour insert, is the same woman that Jeff Smith referred to as "Mama" in The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American).

Not being from Chicago, I don't know if Pat Bruno is still working the food beat for the Sun-Times a quarter century after writing this book. What I do know is that although the book focuses heavily on Chicago style pizza with no discussion of Italian-style, New York-style, or New England Greek pizza, it still represents the gold standard for what a pizza book should be. The recipes are a tad outdated (I prefer instant to active dry yeast, which makes a bit of process streamlining possible) but perfectly usable, and the technique photos will never go out of style. If all you've ever had is deep-dish from the franchised Uno's Chicago Grill, well, that pizza's not bad at all, but it's not as good as the pizza you'll make out of this book.

As former Chicagoans who have been forced east into a pizza wasteland, we found exactly what we were looking for in this book! Yesterday we sat down to the first genuinely delicious pizza we have had in the last two years. The dough was delicious and the sauce was perfect. We can't wait to make more.

Pasquale has brought to paper things that you have craved since you left the motherland (Chicago). He has personally investigated Pizza making techniques at many Chicago Pizza places. He has transcribed recipes that are so authentic that you wont be disappointed. History, techniques, and recipes all in one book. The recipes are so good, I am surprised he hasnt been sued for devulging the secrets. This book lays next to my Bible.

As a displaced Chicagoan, I was hurting for a good pizza. Bruno's recipes were easy to follow, quite tasty, and very Chicago-style. Although the intro is a little wordy, any self respecting Chicagoan or pizza connesuer(?) should try this book.

I haven't had a chance to make many of the recipes in the book, because I'm stuck on the Chicago style Stuffed Pizza! The biggest part of the book is techniques/tips for doing the sauces and crust, which is going to apply to any recipe for pizza you will try. There are also lots of websites around with additional tips, just google for 'chicago pizza tips' and you should find them. Everybody has their own variation, but this book gives you a base that will surprise your friends with its authenticity. You can also pickup restaurant quality deep dish pans here on Amazon, and save a bit of money with shipping. Great stuff!