Today we're embarking on a culinary journey through the USA—a country where regional traditions have created true icons of street and home cooking. We'll prepare two cult dishes known far beyond America's borders.
🍕 Chicago Deep-Dish Pizza
A tall pizza with thick edges, where the filling literally drowns in layers of cheese and tomato sauce. Crispy golden crust on the outside, tender dough inside—this isn't just pizza, it's a full-fledged pie with a cheese-and-tomato filling.
Ingredients:
For the dough:
• Wheat flour — 400 g
• Warm water — 240 ml
• Dry yeast — 7 g (1 packet)
• Sugar — 1 tsp
• Salt — 1 tsp
• Olive oil — 3 tbsp
• Cornmeal (polenta) — 50 g
• Softened butter — 50 g
For the filling:
• Mozzarella — 400 g
• Italian sausages (or ground pork) — 300 g
• Canned tomatoes in their own juice — 400 g
• Garlic — 3 cloves
• Dried oregano — 1 tsp
• Dried basil — 1 tsp
• Tomato paste — 2 tbsp
• Grated parmesan — 50 g
• Salt, black pepper — to taste
• Olive oil — 2 tbsp
Preparation:
Step 1. Knead the deep-dish dough
In a large bowl, mix warm water (about 40°C), yeast, and sugar. Leave for 5-7 minutes until a foamy cap 0.5-1 cm high appears—this is the sign of yeast activation. Add wheat flour and cornmeal, salt, olive oil and softened butter. Knead elastic dough that doesn't stick to your hands but remains soft and pliable (8-10 minutes of kneading). Transfer to an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for 1.5-2 hours. The dough should double in size and slowly restore its shape when pressed with a finger.
Step 2. Prepare the tomato sauce
Crush the canned tomatoes by hand or with a blender to a coarse mash with 0.5-1 cm pieces. In a pan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil, add finely chopped garlic (2-3 mm cubes) and sauté for 30-40 seconds until fragrant, without letting it darken. Pour in the crushed tomatoes, add tomato paste, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Simmer over medium heat for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce is ready when it reduces by a third, thickens and stops being watery—the spoon should leave a trail on the bottom of the pan.
Step 3. Prepare the filling
If using Italian sausages, remove the casing and crumble the meat with your hands. Heat a pan over medium heat without oil and fry the sausage meat or ground meat, breaking it into hazelnut-sized pieces, for 7-8 minutes. The meat should be completely browned and lose its pink color. Drain excess fat, transfer to a separate bowl. Cut the mozzarella into 1.5-2 cm cubes or grate on a coarse grater.
Step 4. Form the deep-dish base
Punch down the risen dough and roll into a 35-40 cm diameter circle, 5-6 mm thick. Grease a round baking pan 26-28 cm in diameter with high sides (4-5 cm) with butter. Place the dough in the pan, distributing evenly across the bottom and forming high sides that rise to the very top of the pan. The dough should fit tightly against the walls without air bubbles. Prick the bottom with a fork in 10-15 places for steam to escape.
Step 5. Assemble the pizza in layers
Place all the mozzarella on the bottom in an even layer—cheese goes first, this is the key feature of Chicago pizza. On top, evenly distribute the fried meat. Then pour all the tomato sauce, smoothing with a spatula so it covers the filling completely to the very edges. Sprinkle with grated parmesan. The layers should fill the pan almost to the top, leaving 3-5 mm from the edge.
Step 6. Bake until golden crust
Preheat oven to 220°C (convection) or 230°C (regular mode). Bake the pizza on the lower third of the oven for 35-40 minutes. The crust should become deep golden, almost brown at the edges, and the cheese inside should be completely melted and slightly bubbling on the surface of the sauce. If the top starts darkening too early, cover with foil. Check doneness by inserting a knife from the side—it should go in easily, without resistance from raw dough.
Step 7. Let rest and serve
Remove the pan from the oven and leave the pizza for 10-15 minutes to stabilize the structure—during this time the cheese will slightly set and the filling won't leak when slicing. Run a knife along the edge of the pan and carefully remove the pizza. Cut into 6-8 triangular slices. Serve hot, using a wide spatula—the slices are heavy and tall (5-6 cm). When cut, clear layers should be visible: crispy bottom, melted cheese, meat, and thick tomato sauce on top.
💡 Fact: Deep-dish pizza was invented in 1943 at Chicago's Pizzeria Uno restaurant by entrepreneur Ike Sewell and his chef Rick Riccardo. They wanted to create a more filling dish than thin Neapolitan pizza, and flipped the traditional structure—cheese on bottom, sauce on top—so the dough wouldn't get soggy during long baking.
🍗 Buffalo Wings with Blue Cheese Sauce
Crispy chicken wings in a spicy-tangy sauce with a buttery sheen, served with refreshing creamy blue cheese sauce and crispy celery sticks. The perfect combination of heat, saltiness, and cool creaminess.
Ingredients:
For the wings:
• Chicken wings — 1 kg (12-14 pieces)
• Vegetable oil for deep frying — 1.5 L
• Salt — 1 tsp
• Freshly ground black pepper — 0.5 tsp
• Garlic powder — 0.5 tsp
• Baking powder — 1 tsp
For Buffalo sauce:
• Hot sauce (like Frank's RedHot or Tabasco) — 120 ml
• Butter — 100 g
• White vinegar — 1 tbsp
• Worcestershire sauce — 1 tsp
• Garlic powder — 0.5 tsp
• Cayenne pepper — pinch (optional)
For blue cheese sauce:
• Blue cheese (Dorblu, Roquefort) — 100 g
• Sour cream — 100 g
• Mayonnaise — 100 g
• Garlic — 1 clove
• Lemon juice — 1 tbsp
• Salt, pepper — to taste
For serving:
• Celery stalks — 4-5 pieces
• Carrot sticks — 1 large carrot
Preparation:
Step 1. Prepare the wings
Separate the wings into three parts: cut off the tips (you can freeze them for stock), divide at the joint into drumettes (part with one bone) and wingettes (middle part with two bones). Rinse with cold water and thoroughly dry with paper towels—the wings must be absolutely dry, without water drops. Place on a rack and leave in the refrigerator uncovered for 1-2 hours or overnight—this will dry the skin and make it crispier after frying. The skin should become matte and slightly parchment-like to the touch.
Step 2. Prepare the blue cheese sauce
Crumble the blue cheese with a fork into coarse crumbs with 3-5 mm pieces—don't turn it into paste, texture matters. In a bowl, mix sour cream, mayonnaise, minced garlic (pressed through a garlic press), lemon juice, salt and pepper. Add the crumbled cheese and gently mix, leaving visible pieces. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes—during this time the flavors will combine and the sauce will thicken to the consistency of thick sour cream. Before serving, the sauce should be cold.
Step 3. Prepare the Buffalo sauce
In a small saucepan over minimum heat, melt the butter until liquid (don't boil). Pour in the hot sauce, add vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder and cayenne pepper. Continuously whisk for 2-3 minutes until smooth—the sauce should emulsify and become glossy, bright orange. Remove from heat and keep warm. Proper sauce has the consistency of liquid honey and coats the spoon in an even layer.
Step 4. Fry the wings in deep oil (first stage)
Heat vegetable oil in a deep thick-walled pot or deep fryer to 175°C (check with a thermometer or dip a wooden stick—moderate bubbles should appear). Mix salt, pepper, garlic powder and baking powder. Rub the wings with this mixture on all sides. Fry the wings in batches of 5-6 pieces for 10-12 minutes, without stirring for the first 2 minutes so they don't stick. The wings should become pale golden but not dark—the meat will cook but the skin won't be crispy yet. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a rack.
Step 5. Second frying for crunch
Raise the oil temperature to 200°C (check with a thermometer—this is critical). Return the wings to the fryer in batches for 3-4 minutes. The oil should actively bubble around the wings. Fry until the skin reaches a deep golden-brown color—it should become hard as a shell. When tapped with a slotted spoon, the wings make a dry clicking sound. Remove to a rack and let excess oil drain for 30-60 seconds.
Step 6. Coat with sauce
Immediately transfer the hot wings to a large bowl. Pour in the warm Buffalo sauce (as much as you like—from 100 to 200 ml) and quickly mix, vigorously shaking the bowl or using two wooden spatulas. Each wing should be completely covered with glossy orange-red sauce. Work quickly while the wings and sauce are hot—this way the sauce sticks and absorbs better into the crispy crust.
Step 7. Prepare vegetables and serve
Cut celery stalks into 10-12 cm long, 1 cm thick sticks, removing tough fibers. Peel the carrot and cut into similar sticks. Soak the vegetables in ice water for 10 minutes—they'll become even crunchier and curve. On a large platter, pile the hot wings in a mound, place a bowl with cold blue cheese sauce next to it, and arrange the celery and carrot sticks. Serve immediately while the wings are hot and crispy. When bitten, the skin should crunch, the meat should easily separate from the bone, and the spiciness of the sauce should be balanced by the cool creamy sauce.
💡 Fact: Buffalo wings were invented by accident in 1964 at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York. Owner Teressa Bellissimo prepared them for her son and his friends late at night from leftover wings that were usually only used for stock. The dish became so popular that now in the USA over 1.4 billion wings are consumed annually just during the Super Bowl finals alone.