Chicago Italian Beef Food

" DA BEST" CHICAGO-STYLE ITALIAN BEEF

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F.
• Sprinkle the roast with garlic powder, oregano and pepper, then cook roast, uncovered, in a shallow roasting pan, about 30 minutes per pound.
• Roast will be very rare-- don't overcook it!
• Let cool slightly, then thinly slice.
• Add to the roast's pan drippings: the boiling water, bouillon cubes, oregano, thyme, pepper, Tabasco sauce, garlic and Worcestershire sauce.
• Simmer for 20 minutes, scraping up the browned bits.
• Taste for salt and add some if you wish.
• Add the sliced beef; cover and marinate in da gravy overnight.
• Reheat the next day and serve in crusty Italian sandwich rolls.

CHICAGO ITALIAN BEEF (POT ROAST STYLE)

Steps:

• For the pot roast: Position a rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
• Liberally sprinkle the entire roast with salt and pepper. Heat the vegetable oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown the roast on all sides until golden and caramelized; reduce the heat if the fat begins to smoke. Transfer the roast to a plate and reduce the heat to medium. Add in the onions and saute, stirring occasionally, until just beginning to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper and saute until fragrant, another minute. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Deglaze with the red wine and cook until reduced by half. Add in the stock and thyme and bring to a simmer. Adjust the seasoning of the jus. Place the roast back into the pot with any accumulated juices and place in the oven. Cook the roast, turning every 30 minutes, until very tender, 3 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Increase the oven heat to 350 degrees F.
• Transfer the roast to a cutting board and tent with foil. Strain the jus through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl and return back to the pot. Bring to a simmer and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Once cooled a bit, pull the meat into smaller chunks, return to the reduced jus and reserve until ready to build the sandwiches.
• For the sweet peppers: Toss the pepper strips with the olive oil, granulated garlic and some salt and pepper on a baking sheet. Bake, stirring halfway through, until lighter in color and soft, about 20 minutes.
• For the sandwich build: Place some beef on a roll, then some sweet peppers and then some Homemade Hot Giardiniera. Pour a small dish of reduced jus. Take the whole sandwich and quickly dunk in hot jus. Using two hands, go the hell to town.
• Day One: Combine 2 cups water and the salt in a glass or non- reactive bowl. Mix until the salt is dissolved. Add the carrots, cauliflower, serranos, garlic, celery and bell peppers to the salt water and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
• Day Two: Drain and rinse the vegetables. In a clean bowl, mix together the canola oil with the oregano and pepper. Add the vegetables and mix to combine. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Giardiniera will only get better with time. After 2 days at the most in the bowl, you can place in air-tight Mason jars and keep in the fridge for at least 2 to 3 weeks. Makes 3 to 4 cups.
• From Food Network Kitchens; after further testing and to ensure the best results this recipe has been altered from what was in the actual episode.

CHICAGO ITALIAN BEEF SANDWICH

Steps:

• Rub meat with dry ingredients, cover and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours.
• Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.
• Add meat to a roasting pan with bacon fat, add onions and garlic, saute for 15 minutes, deglaze with wine, and add Worcestershire sauce, beef stock and bay leaves.
• Place roasting pan in the oven and cook for 3 hours, uncovered, or until an instant-read thermometer registers 135 degrees F in center. Remove, let cool, then slice very thin.
• Cool broth in roasting pan and remove the fat that rises to the top. Strain.
• Reheat the broth, and add the sliced meat. Place some meat on each toasted roll, ladle with some broth and top with giardiniera vegetables and red peppers.

CHICAGO ITALIAN BEEF

Steps:

• Cook first 5 ingredients in a Crockpot on LOW for 18 (eighteen) hours.
• Turn over at the 6th and 12th hour interval.
• At the 17th hour cut sweet green peppers into 1/8 ths lengthwise and cook in water on low heat until soft.
• Cut bread into 6 inch lengths and slice on the side lengthwise.
• Pull roast apart with a fork, and using tongs, pile bread with meat and juice.
• (Do not let juice drain before putting on bread. The juice is half the taste of the sandwich.) Lay strips of green pepper on top of the meat.
• Salt to taste.
• OPEN WIDE and enjoy the most wonderful taste sensation.
• May be frozen when cooked.

AUTHENTIC CHICAGO ITALIAN BEEF SANDWICH RECIPE

Steps:

• Prep. If you wish, you can stab the surface of the meat every inch or so and stick slivers of fresh garlic into the meat as does my brother-in-law. If you do this, leave the garlic out of the rub. Otherwise, mix the rub in a bowl. Coat the meat lightly with water to help the rub stick, sprinkle it generously on the meat, and massage it in. There will be some left over. Do not discard it, we will use it in the juice.
• Fire up. If you are cooking indoors, put a rack just below the center of the oven and preheat to 225°F. If you are cooking outdoors use a 2-zone setup or a smoker and get it the oven or the indirect side up to about 225°F.
• Cook. Pour the water into a 9 x 13" baking pan and heat it to a boil. Dissolve the bouillon in the water. It may look thin, but it will cook down and concentrate during the roasting. Pour the remaining rub into the pan. Place a rack on top of the pan and place them both on the indirect side of the grill or in the oven indoors. Place the roast on top of the rack above the juice. Roast at 225°F until interior temperature is about 130-140°F for medium rare, about 3 hours (exact time will depend on the cut of meat, its thickness, and how well calibrated your cooker is). This may seem long, but you are cooking over water and that slows things down. Don't worry if there are people who won't eat medium-rare meat. The meat will cook further in step 5, and you can just leave theirs in the juice until it turns to leather if that's what they want.
• While the meat is roasting (mmmmm, smells sooooo good), cut the bell peppers in half and remove the stems and seeds. Rinse, and cut into 1/4" strips. Cook the peppers in a frying pan over a medium high heat with enough olive oil to coat the bottom, about 2 tablespoons. When they are getting limp and the skins begin to brown, about 15 minutes, they are done. Set aside at room temp.
• Prep again. Remove the roast and the juice pan. Take the meat off the rack and remove the rack. Pour off the juice, put the meat back in the pan, and place it in the coldest part of the refrigerator. Let it cool for a few hours, long enough for the meat to firm up. This will make slicing easier. Chill the juice, too, in a separate container. Slice the meat against the grain as thin as humanly possible, preferably with a meat slicer. My wife remembers that her family would cook the roast and take it to the butcher to slice on his machine. That's a good strategy if you don't have a meat slicer but it may be against your local health codes. If you don't have a slicer, use a thin blade and draw it along the meat. If you try to cut down or saw through the crust you will be cutting it too thick.
• Next, taste the juice. If you want you can thin it with more water, or make it richer by cooking it down on top of the stove. In Chicago beef stands it is rich, but not too concentrated. Then turn the heat to a gentle simmer. Soak the meat in the juice for about 1 minute at a low simmer. That's all. That warms the meat and makes it very wet. You can't leave the meat in the juice for more than 10 minutes or else it starts to curl up, squeezes out its natural moisture, and toughens. If you go to a beef stand and the meat is really curly, they have committed a mortal sin. At Mr. Beef, for example, I watched them take a handful of cooked beef and dump it into the juice every time they took out enough for a sandwich. This also enriches the juice with meat protein and seasoning from the crust.
• Serve. Slice the rolls lengthwise but leave them hinged on one side. Or slice a loaf of Italian bread the same way, then cut it widthwise into 10 portions. To assemble the sandwich, start by spooning some juice directly onto the bread. Get it wet. Then lay on the beef generously. Spoon on more juice (don't burn your hand). Top it with bell pepper and, if you wish, giardiniera. If you want it "wet", dip the whole shootin' match in juice. Be sure to have plenty of napkins on hand. You can also try one of the following variations of the classic:Da Combo. Most Italian beef joints offer a "combo," which also has a grilled Italian sausage nestled in with the beef (shown being made at Al's in a photo at right). These are thick, uncured, coarsely ground pork sausages in natural casings, flavored with fennel, paprika, black pepper, red or green bell peppers, onions, garlic, parsley, and crushed red chili peppers for some heat. Italian sausages are made in your choice of hot, medium, or mild (sometimes called sweet).Da Cheef. Cover it with shredded mozzarella and/or provolone, broil for a few minutes, and you have a "cheesy beef" or "cheef". Not many stands offer this mutant strain.Wit Gravy. An even rarer and more heretical variant, topped with marinara.Da Soaker. Just dip the bread in the juice and you have the classic laborer's lunch, a soaker, a.k.a. "sugo pane", or gravy bread. Sugo pane is also commonly made with marinara sauce.

CHICAGO ITALIAN BEEF

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Cut bread two-thirds of the way through. Toast bread in oven until crispy on outside.
• Drop sliced Roast into simmering Beef Juice. Jam beef in baguette. Dip sammich in beef juice pot.
• Drop Sweet Peppers into Beef Juice to get hot and wet.
• Add Giardiniera to sammich. Drape peppers across the beef.
• Serve with more Beef Juice on the side.
• Mix together the Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, granulated garlic and onion and oregano in a bowl until combined.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Cover roast with spice mix (you will have some spice mix left over). Drizzle olive oil over top of roast. Place roast on a rack with water in the bottom of the pan (don't let the water touch the meat). Roast until the internal temperature registers 118 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, about 1 hour. Let roast cool. Reserve the juice.
• Thin-slice roast, as thin as you can. Can't slice thin? You are screwed. Or you can buy your chef friend a six-pack and she will do it for you. Save beef scraps!
• Portion roast slices into 5- to 7-ounce balls.
• Pour all the extra juice and beef scraps in a pot. If there's not enough juice, add some beef base and some water. Taste. Make sure it's not too salty. Simmer for 1 hour, strain and put juice back on to simmer.
• Split pepper in half, then clean white membrane out of it. Cut halves into thirds.
• Heat saute pan on high heat. Once hot, add olive oil. Drop in peppers skin-side down. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Let pepper blister and char, then flip peppers and cook for another 2 minutes. Turn heat off and let peppers rest.
• Put the vinegar, salt, garlic, oregano, crushed red pepper, black pepper and 2 cups cold water into a 4-quart container and stir until the salt has dissolved.
• Cut carrots, celery, onions, green peppers and red peppers into 1/3-inch uniform dice.
• Thinly slice jalapenos and serrano (approximately 1/8-inch thick).
• Place cut veggies into brine and stir well until all ingredients are combined.
• Cover and refrigerate for 2 days. Stir in olive oil.