Italian Beef Fantastico Food

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.

ITALIAN BEEF BRACIOLE IS SO GOOD IT'LL MAKE YOU CRY

Steps:

• Unless you have mad knife skills, ask your butcher to slice two pounds of lean beef into very thin sheets--as thin as possible.
• Slice the mozzarella into thin strips. Mix the mozzarella in a bowl with the romano cheese, raisins, pine nuts, parsley, and breadcrumbs.
• With a meat hammer, pound out the slices of beef until they're as thin as you can get them.
• Add a few tablespoons of the cheese mixture to the middle of each flattened sheet of beef. Add a thin sheet of prosciutto. Roll up the sheet of beef to form a roll. Tie the roll securely with butcher's twine.
• Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet and brown the braciole on all sides until nicely caramelized.
• Peel and dice the onion and saute in the olive oil and salt in a heavy bottomed stock pot until the onion is translucent (about 12 minutes).
• Add the garlic and herbs, saute until garlic is cooked and fragrant, but not burned.
• Deglaze by adding the red wine. Cook until the wine is reduced in volume by half.
• Add the tomatoes and tomato paste. Bring to a simmer,
• Add the browned braciole and allow the sauce to simmer on very low heat for an hour to an hour and a half. This cooks low and slow. Be sure to stir the sauce frequently so it doesn't burn on the bottom. If the sauce becomes too thick, thin it by adding a bit of water.
• Simply mix together the ingredients. Sprinkle gremolata on top of dish before serving for a bright citrusy note.

ITALIAN BEEF

Steps:

• For the dry rub: Mix together the basil, oregano, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and salt.
• For the meat: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Add the beef stock and 1 quart water to a roasting pan. Place the beef roast on a perforated pan and set into the roasting pan. Coat the entire roast with the dry rub. Cover tightly with foil and place in the oven. Cook until the center of the roast reaches 140 degrees F, about 30 minutes per pound.
• Refrigerate the roast for at least 2 hours (the beef must be cold to slice properly). Slice as thinly as possible.
• For the gravy: While the beef is cooking, combine the beef base, black pepper, garlic, celery, bay leaves, onions and 1 gallon cold water in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for at least 1 hour. (The longer the gravy simmers, the stronger it gets.) Strain and keep hot.
• To serve, drop a portion of sliced beef into the hot gravy; heat until hot, 1 to 2 minutes. Place the beef on a hoagie roll, add some giardiniera and enjoy.

FAVORITE ITALIAN BEEF SANDWICHES

Steps:

• Drain the pepperoncini, reserving liquid. Remove and discard stems of peppers; set peppers aside. Cut roast into large chunks; place a third of the meat in a 5-qt. slow cooker. Add water., In a small bowl, combine the seasonings; sprinkle half over beef. Layer with half the remaining meat, then the onion and pepperoncini. Pour pepperoncini liquid over the top. Add remaining meat to slow cooker; sprinkle with remaining seasonings., Cover and cook on low until meat is tender, 8-9 hours. Shred beef with 2 forks. Using a slotted spoon, serve beef and peppers on rolls.,

ORIGINAL HOMEMADE ITALIAN BEEF

Steps:

• Place the roast into a slow cooker, and season with Italian dressing mix. Pour in the water. Cover, and cook on High for 6 to 7 hours. During the last hour, shred the meat with two forks - if it does not shred easily, cook longer. Add the peppers, and as much of the juice as you like for additional flavor. Serve on buns.

PORTILLO'S ITALIAN BEEF (COPYCAT)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Render the beef fat by chopping it into small bits (about the size of peas) with a food processor. Be sure the fat is very cold--it will chop better. If you don't have a food processor, you can chop the fat by hand. Use a sharp knife and cut it as small as you can. Heat up the fat in a sauté pan over medium heat until the bits are browned. Strain the solids from the fat and measure 1/4 cup of fat for the gravy.
• Make the beef gravy by combining all of the ingredients, including the beef fat, in a medium saucepan over medium heat. When the mixture begins to boil reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, then turn the heat to low.
• Make the sandwiches by heating up the rolls in the hot oven for 3 minutes.
• For each sandwich, drop 1/4 pound of sliced beef (separate the slices) into the gravy for 2 minutes. Make sure the gravy isn't boiling. It should be around 180 degrees F. After the beef has soaked in the gravy, use tongs to arrange the beef on a warmed sandwich roll and top with your choice of hot giardiniera or sweet peppers. Or both. Spoon on some extra gravy just before serving.

ITALIAN BEEF

Steps:

• Cut roast in half; place in a 5-qt. slow cooker. Combine the water and seasonings; pour over roast. Cover and cook on low for 10-12 hours or until meat is very tender. Discard bay leaf. Remove meat and shred with a fork. Skim fat from cooking juices; return meat to slow cooker. Serve on rolls.

ITALIAN BEEF

Steps:

• Put all ingredients in a roasting pan.
• Cover and bake all afternoon at 300 degrees, or until beef shreds easily.
• Can be shredded (using 2 forks) and left sitting in the juice for an hour to absorb the flavors.
• Then served on buns.

ITALIAN BEEF -- FANTASTICO

Steps:

• Prepare a day or two in advance. Season and rub the roast with the dry Italian Salad Dressing mix.
• Place Roast in Crock Pot along with the three cans of Beef Broth to almost cover. You could substitute one can of beer for a can of broth. Top Round and Eye of Round are more tender and will take slightly less cooking time.
• Add the small jar of whole Pepperoncini and 1/2 the jar of juice, along with the Garlic and additional dry Italian Seasoning. Six to eight peppers and 1/2 to 2/3 cup of the juice.
• Crock Pot for 4 to 6 hours on high, or all day if you have a Crock Pot that automatically adjusts.
• When Beef is cooked I remove from juice and refrigerate Roast (to firm up for slicing) and juices overnight. I prefer it sliced but if cooked longer you could shred.
• Next morning remove Roast and slice thin. Return to juices, and refrigerate or place Roast and juices back into Crock Pot to warm and serve. I use meat slicer but can almost do as well with a knife.
• To show to the extent, I am opinionated -- The only way to serve Italian Beef Sandwiches is on a good, firm full bodied rectangular bread or roll. "Earth Grains" makes my favorite in their "San Francisco Style French Rolls", 6 to a package. Baguettes sliced to 5" length, are a reasonable substitute. A Hamburger Bun or Kaiser Roll will not do it for me.
• My favorite accompaniments are "Giardiniera" an Italian condiment of Celery, Onions and Peppers that comes in mild, medium or hot variety. Giardiniera and chopped raw onion make the sandwich for me, along with a small bowl of the juice for dipping. My Better Friends get to take some home. Ciao!

OUR FAVORITE ITALIAN BEEF

Steps:

• put roast in crockpot, season lightly with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
• add seasoning mixes, beer, and both peppers w/juices.
• if there is no liquid covering entire roast, add enough to just cover top of the roast.
• cook in crockpot, on low, for a minimum of 8 hours.
• remove roast from crockpot, allow to cool to touch.
• "pick"meat, seperate and remove the fat, the roast should just fall apart into pieces.
• put meat back into crockpot, cook an additional 6-8 hours.
• i usually cook this the first 8 hours the day before i want to serve this, then the additional cooking is done the day i want to serve it.