| The pie is a ubiquitous symbol of both Italian cooking | | | | with two crusts and sauce between, so-called |
| and Americana. Oven-baked, thin-crust or deep-dish, | | | | "stuffed" pizzas. The ingredients are "reversed" in a |
| round or square, it is a common favorite throughout | | | | Chicago pizza, with cheese going in first, and then |
| the United States, with a wide number of regional | | | | sauce on top. This particular form of pizza was |
| variations. | | | | invented in 1943 at Uno's Pizzeria in the River North |
| The most traditional pie is the pizza Napolitano, or | | | | neighborhood of Chicago. |
| Neapolitan pizza. Made of strong flour, the dough is | | | | The Midwest also plays host to the St. Louis style |
| often kneaded by hand and then rolled flat and thin | | | | pizza. This thin-crust delicacy is made using local |
| without a rolling pin. The pizza is cooked in an | | | | provel cheese instead of mozzarella, and is very |
| extremely hot wood-fired stone oven for only sixty | | | | crispy. Heavily seasoned with oregano and other |
| to ninety seconds, and is removed when it is soft | | | | spices, with a slightly sweet sauce, it is difficult to |
| and fragrant. Common varieties of Neapolitan pizza | | | | fold because of the crust and is often cut into |
| include marinara, made with tomato, olive oil, oregano, | | | | squares, instead of served in slices. |
| and garlic, and marguerite, made with tomato, olive | | | | A Hawaiian pizza is an American invention that has |
| oil, fresh basil leaves, and mozzarella cheese. | | | | nothing to do with Hawaii save that one of the main |
| New York was home to the first pizza parlor in the | | | | ingredients is pineapple. The pineapple is put atop the |
| United States, opened in Little Italy in 1905 by | | | | pizza, along with Canadian bacon, giving a rather |
| Gennaro Lombardi. It is not surprising, then, that New | | | | sweet taste very different from pizzas closer to the |
| York-style pizza dominates in the Northeastern part | | | | Italian original. Hawaiian pizza is very common in the |
| of the country. It is thin-crusted, and made with a | | | | Western United States. |
| thin layer of sauce and grated cheese. The dough is | | | | In fact, a number of esoteric pizzas are common on |
| hand-tossed, making the pie large and thin. As a | | | | the West coast, and "gourmet" pizza is often |
| result, it is served cut into slices, traditionally eight, | | | | referred to as "California-style" pizza. This is an |
| which are often eaten folded in half. It can be served | | | | example of fusion cuisine, and many of the pizzas go |
| with any number of toppings, including pepperoni, the | | | | far beyond the common tomato sauce and cheese. |
| most popular topping in the United States, or as a | | | | Thai pizza, for example, can include bean sprouts and |
| "white pizza", which includes no tomato sauce and is | | | | peanut sauce, while breakfast pizza, as the name |
| made with a variety of cheeses, such as mozzarella | | | | implies, may be topped with bacon and scrambled |
| and ricotta. | | | | eggs. As a "gourmet" food, California pizzas are often |
| Chicago is also home to a major variety of pizza. The | | | | individual sized, serving two people at most, and are |
| Chicago-style pizza is deep dish, meaning it is made in | | | | not cut in slices like other common types of pizza pie. |
| a pan with the crust formed up the sides, or even | | | | |