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 pie. 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