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I haven’t made a Chicago style deep dish pizza in a while, so Sunday night I put one together. I basically follow the recipe at the Real Deep Dish website, using sausage. There are a couple of modifications that I made to the recipe. First, I turn my oven on to 100ºF, and then turn it off. For the dough rising, I place the bowl with the dough in the oven, and let it sit for several hours. Second, I’ll add a good amount of fennel seed to the sausage. The Italian sausage here in NJ doesn’t seem to have fennel in it — at least not the ones I can find at our local grocery store. Back in Chicago, where I grew up, Italian sausage always had fennel seed in the mix. Third, I use a 10” cast iron pan instead of a deep dish pizza pan. Final product. This was cooked at 450ºF, indirect, for 40 minutes. It was great. I really should do this more often. Other than planning ahead enough to let the dough rise, it’s very quick to put the pizza together. My wife mentioned that this pizza had the best crust of all my attempts at making Chicago style deep dish pizza so far. It was firm enough to keep the cheese and toppings in place but still was very light at the same time. I think one of the keys was that I let the dough rise for a longer period of time than my previous cooks. My kids were out playing, so I waited for them to come back before starting the cook, which resulted in extra rising time for the dough.

These guys are great.. Love the video.. oops they edited in some shots of their old BGE in too.. LOL Natural Born Grillers KK video This website has the three full shows they produced using that KK. www.NaturalBornGrillers.tv

I watched the one about specklebelly goose being "ribeye of the sky". These guys are funny, but still seem like they know what they're doing. They really seem to like their KK, and videos of the grills, do give a better sense of how nice they really are. That said, as a waterfowl Hunter of 50 years, specklebelly goose is definitely not ribeye of the sky, that is Sandhill Crane. Speck goose is the best goose to eat, but still eats like a goose. Sandhill cranes are like a ribeye in every way, from texture to flavor, you even season and cook like a ribeye. Regardless, congrats Dennis, this should be yet another feather in your cap! [emoji41][emoji41] Rob

Nice! Do you have access to dry scallops? If so, try using those. They’re pricier than regular scallops, but completely worth it. It’s like the difference between choice and prime steak.

Now THAT’S attention to detail. Seriously, that’s a great take on Chicago deep dish pizza.

Yardwork keeps me out of trouble...lol Cutting the grass is my quiet time. There's no edging required as the tractor gets close enough and no raking, I mulch and leave the clippings on the grass.

I owned 6 kamado joe grills prior to switching to the KK. I never viewed one in person but based on the positive reputation and the fact that everyone seemed to rave about them, I knew that they had to be top notch. I spoke with Dennis on the phone and I was hooked. I now own 2 KKs a 23" and a 32" and have to say that taking delivery took my breath away. These things are everything that they are chalked up to be and more. I have been known to cook a good meal or two with my kamado's, but since upgrading to the KK my cooking has gone to the next level. They just work better all around. You will not regret this purchase even if you can't find one local to view. You will be very impressed with the build quality

Great-looking ribs, tinyfish. Why do I torture myself by looking at pictures like that when I'm on the road? I had a turkey pot pie this evening.

By all means see one in person if you are able to arrange that. Having said that, I’ll just echo what tinyfish said. I also did a lot of looking into a Komodo Kamado grill, and also asked Dennis a ton of questions via email and by phone, and ultimately ordered my KK 23” without having seen one in person. In addition, my KK 23” was the first kamado grill I ever used. I haven’t regretted it one bit.

Certain friends want to try grilling at 800 F, once they know it's possible. This is a lack of the self control it takes for a good cook to become great. Or perhaps just a healthy experimental nature? In any case, I won't humor them twice. It looks great, but it doesn't taste as good. Also, I don't know for a fact that the byproducts at these temperatures are more harmful than those at lower temperatures, but this is relatively unexplored territory, medically. I think of the Romans getting lead poisoning from their wine vessels. Or, "What's that new mushroom growing in my yard!" If one simply doesn't know, caution is a reasonable response.