Quad City–style pizza

Quad-City–style Pizza
This style of pizza usually has most of the toppings under the cheese.[1]
TypePizza
Place of originUnited States
Region or stateQuad Cities
Created byTony Maniscalco Sr. of Tony's Pizzeria (1952)
Main ingredientsPizza dough with malt, tomato sauce with red chili flakes and cayenne, sausage, cheese
Location of the Quad Cities
Sausage pizza from Fat Boy's Pizza of Davenport, Iowa
Sausage pizza from Harris Pizza (Davenport, Iowa location)

Quad City–style pizza is a variety of pizza[1] originating in the Quad Cities region of the states of Illinois and Iowa in the United States.

Characteristics

Characteristics of Quad City–style pizza include malt in the crust, tomato sauce made with red chili flakes or cayenne pepper, toppings placed under the cheese, and being cut into strips instead of triangular slices.[2]

History

Main article: Sicilian pizza

The first person to bring pizza to the Quad Cities was Tony Maniscalco Sr. in 1952. Born of two immigrant parents from Sicily, Maniscalco came to the Quad Cities from Calumet City, Illinois, where he was a butcher by trade. He developed "Quad Cities Style Pizza" using a base recipe from the Bacino family.[3][4][5]

Preparation

Quad City–style pizza dough contains a characteristic spice jam which is heavy on malt,[6] which lends it a toasted, nutty flavor.[1] The pizzas are hand-tossed to be stretched into an even quarter-inch thin crust with a slight lip ringing the edge. The sauce contains both red chili flakes and ground cayenne pepper, and the smooth, thin tomato spread is more spicy than sweet. The sausage is typically a thick blanket of lean, fennel-flecked Italian sausage,[7] sometimes ground twice and spread from edge to edge.[8][9] The pizzas are cooked using a special gas oven with an average cooking time of about 12 minutes. The pizza is cut into strips,[1] as opposed to being cut in slices. An average 16-inch pizza has about 14 strips, and a 10-inch pizza has about 10 strips.[7]

By region

The dish originates in the Quad Cities region of the United States.[10]

The dish has been prepared in other areas of the United States, including Mahtomedi, Minnesota, Acworth, Georgia, Harrisburg, North Carolina, Mesa, Arizona,[11] West Des Moines, Iowa, Northwest and Central Indiana and Chicago, Illinois.[12]

The Outsiders Pizza Company now sells a frozen version of the Quad City–style pizza nationwide through major retail store chains.[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d ""Quad Cities Style" pizza restaurant nominated for "Best New Chicago Pizzeria"". WQAD News. February 28, 2012. Retrieved March 23, 2012.
  2. ^ David Landsel (November 13, 2018). "This Midwest Region You've Probably Never Heard of Makes the Best Pizza You've Never Tried". Food and Wine magazine.
  3. ^ "Everything You Need to Know About Quad City–style pizza". Pizza Need. 2020-03-03. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
  4. ^ "Dear Bill …". The Quad-City Times. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
  5. ^ SCblogger (2018-02-10). "National Pizza Day 2018: The Quad Cities' Pizza Pie Past". Primary Selections from Special Collections. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
  6. ^ Sula, Mike (September 8, 2011). "Roots Handmade Pizza: Quad Cities represent". Chicago Reader. Retrieved March 23, 2012.
  7. ^ a b Shouse, Heather (2011-05-25). "Quad Cities pizza: a primer – Restaurants + Bars". Time Out Chicago. Archived from the original on 2012-08-14. Retrieved 2012-03-22.
  8. ^ Kuban, Adam (2011-04-06). "Is There a 'Quad Cities-Style' Pizza? | Serious Eats: Chicago". Chicago.seriouseats.com. Retrieved 2012-03-22.
  9. ^ David Burke (2011-05-30). "What makes a pizza Quad-Cities style?". Qctimes.com. Retrieved 2012-03-22.
  10. ^ "Chicago gets a slice of Quad-Cities". Quad-City Times. May 30, 2011. Retrieved March 23, 2012.
  11. ^ Soenarie, Angelique (June 6, 2011). "Pizza Pit in Mesa offers famous Quad City pies". The Arizona Republic. Mesa, Arizona. Retrieved 2015-08-07.
  12. ^ Kott, Ruthie (July 5, 2011). "Coolest job ever: pizza consultant". Red Eye. Archived from the original on December 31, 2013. Retrieved March 23, 2012.
  13. ^ Brenda Cain and Yadi Rodriguez (January 6, 2020). "We've eaten over 100 frozen pizzas and so far, these are our favorites". cleveland.com. Retrieved April 27, 2020.