Derrick Tung’s Chinese New Year Pizza with Lap Cheong and Brussels Sprouts

Chicago restaurateur Derrick Tung (@pauliegeeslogansquare) created this pizza as a special in 2017 to serve for Chinese New Year (also known as Lunar New Year, which is celebrated among East and Southeast Asian cultures) at Paulie Gee's Logan Square in Chicago. It’s since become a much-discussed seasonal special. The inspiration is lap cheong, a dried, hard, deep-pink Chinese pork sausage (usually) that Tung remembers his grandmother making.

Lap cheong (the Cantonese name) is typically made from pork and pork fat, sweetened and seasoned with rice wine and soy sauce, giving it a unique flavour. If you’ve never worked with lap cheong, to secure it for this pizza, you’ll want to visit a specialty store, or buy it online(Not sure what brand to go for? Derrick likes Kam Yen Jan.) With a bit of advanced work, it’s easy to source, and the effort? Worthwhile. In other words, yes, you can substitute, but it’s kind of not the point.

Derrick says the original recipe for this pizza has changed due to its popularity. They’ve had to simplify the prep for the lap cheong, garlic and Brussels sprouts. That’s meant finely chopping all three (you can even pulse the sprouts in a blender or food processor) for less textural nuance but more complete coverage. A fancier approach? Carefully peel off each sprout leaf and finely slice the garlic (they use a truffle shaver at Logan Square!) and sausage for a more blackened roni cup edge effect and striking visual appeal.

You can’t go wrong with either (we’ve tried both), though, truth be told, those blackened, curling lap cheong slices do make for a show-stopper. The resulting pizza has two big boosts of sweet-salty flavour from the sausage and soy-chilli glaze, with an undercurrent of pungent garlic and sweet nuttiness from the sprouts. And if you’re a pan-fired fan, you’re in luck. While originally introduced as a wood-fired pizza, in years since, it’s appeared at the restaurant as a Detroit-style square. 

If you’re in Chicago between January and February and want the original, check the restaurant’s handle, @pauliegeeslogansquare, or call ahead for ordering details. Otherwise, this recipe from Derrick should tide you over until then.

This recipe is featured in How Derrick Tung’s Lap Cheung and Soy Chilli Glaze Chinese New Year Pizza Came to Be

Difficulty

Servings

One 12-inch pizza

Prep Time

30 to 45 minutes

Cook Time

5 minutes

By Arthur Bovino

pizza on top of hóngbāo lucky red envelopes

Note

The soy chili glaze must be prepared in advance. This recipe would suit a variety of pizza styles, but we think our classic pizza is a great fit. Make sure to prepare your dough ahead of time and allow it to rise at room temperature before firing up your oven.

1. Prepare the soy chilli glaze.

2. If you’re making the pizza Derrick’s original way: Finely slice the garlic, core and peel the sprouts and thinly slice the lap cheong in oval slices.

If you’re making the pizza Derrick’s original way: Finely slice the garlic, core and peel the sprouts and thinly slice the lap cheong in oval slices. If you’re making the pizza the easy way: finely chop the garlic, pulse the sprouts in a blender or food processor and roughly cut the sausage into small dice, about ¼-inch cubed; slice the sausage in half, then cut them crosswise into pieces about the same size.

3. Light your oven, aiming for 400°C to 450°C on the baking stone inside.

Use an infrared thermometer to quickly and accurately check the temperature.

4. Stretch your dough on a lightly floured surface.

Using your fingertips, gently push the air from the center out toward the crust, then use your knuckles to stretch out the base to 12 inches (30 centimeters).

5. Coat with the garlic, uniformly distributing it over the surface of the pizza out to 2.

5 centimetres from the edge. Top with fresh mozzarella.

6. Equally spread the brussels sprouts over the cheese.

About ¾ of the pizza should be covered with sprouts.

7. Cover evenly with the lap cheong, then drizzle olive oil over the pizza starting from the center and moving in a circle out to the edge.

olive oil being drizzled onto an uncooked pizza covered in Brussels sprouts, lap cheong, garlic and fresh mozzarella

8. Transfer the pizza to your lightly floured pizza peel; launch the pizza into your oven.

9. After 2 to 3 minutes, rotate the dough with a turning peel and cook for a further 30 seconds to 1 minute to ensure an even cook.

You want the lap cheong edges to barely start to turn black and glisten, so adjust the heat and rotate as needed.

Turning peel turning a pizza in an Ooni Karu 16 oven

10. Remove from the oven.

Slice, then scatter with Parmigiano Reggiano.

11. Finish with a drizzle of soy chili glaze in a back-and-forth sweeping motion for visual flair, serve and eat.

Gong hei fat choy!

Soy chili glaze being drizzled onto a cooked pizza covered in Brussels sprouts, lap cheong, fresh mozzarella, garlic and parmesan cheese

Arthur Bovino

Arthur Bovino is Ooni’s Head of Pizza Content.

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