When it comes to cheese, Malnati's doesn't skimp on the mozzarella. The family-owned company's made a name for itself slinging deep-dish pies that weigh more than some people's pets, where you can't pull out a slice without strings of cheese stretching from the pan to your plate.
FYI's Food Porn took us behind the counter to see just how each pie is made. (Spoiler: If you're on a low-carb diet, you're going to want to stay far, far away.) A single slice of the Classic Chicago Deep Dish will set you back between 600 and 730 calories, depending on how heavy-handed they are with the filling—and how hearty your slice is—but once you see what's in it, that calorie count starts to make sense. Or, at the very least, you understand how it ricochets up that high.
Each pie requires 30 ounces of dough (almost 2 whole pounds!), which is weighed out before being pressed into the pan. The dough's blanketed in slices of Wisconsin mozzarella, which gives it that Boomerang-worthy cheese pull every time you grab a slice, then a layer of homemade Italian sausage and vine-ripened tomatoes. From there, it's sprinkled with even more cheese (parm, this time) and fresh herbs. It takes half an hour to bake all the way through, but for deep-dish fans, the wait is well worth it, apparently—the company sells 3 million pies a year.
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