Roast beef on bread has been around since there have been sandwiches. In fact, the “legend” says that the meat the Earl of Sandwich received between the two pieces of bread was roast beef. This is about the greatest of all roast beef sandwiches: Chicago’s Italian Beef.
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Here in the US, there are many variations on a Roast Beef sandwich. Some are more well known than others. For instance, Beef on Weck is almost unknown outside of the western part of New York State, while everyone knows about the French Dip or the Philly cheesesteak. Other regional specialties include Maryland’s pit beef, Minnesota’s hot beef, and Boston’s North Shore Roast Beef.
But the cream of the crop and the top of the heap is the Chicago Italian beef. Why? Number one, the flavors. The jus the beef creates and then sits in is so complex with all sorts of different flavors balancing them out. Likewise, the flavors of the standard accoutrements all balance out the sandwich.
Anyone who has had dealings with Chicago and its people has heard of this sandwich. And the chain Portillo’s has stores in Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, Florida, Arizona, Texas, and California spreading the gospel of Italian Beef, although to most Chicagoans, they regard Portillo’s as tasty but tourist. The real fight in Chicago is over Al’s Number One, Mr. Beef, Luke’s and a few others, but the Mecca for beef is just outside the City Proper in Elmwood Park. Johnnie’s. When you come to Johnnie’s there’s almost always a line. And to help speed things, it’s cash only, and there’s a specific language to be used when ordering a la Seinfeld. For those Outside Chicago, supermarkets sell frozen beef and jus kits—just heat and eat. And the sandwich itself is spreading to various restaurants nationwide even more than Portillo’s is. And the frozen beef kits are always available on line. Trust me. With the right bread and giardiniera, even these mass produced frozen kinds are amazing.
The sandwich gained HUGE fame and attention from you tube cooking show people once The Bear started airing. Now there are quite a few recipes that try to recreate the taste done by viral you tube chefs. So let’s review the components
The Beef:
Usually round or sirloin, places take hunks of beef and roast it for hours and slice it super thin. This happens after the meat cools overnight after cooking. Unlike other roast beef sandwiches, it’s not pink in the middle. Then it’s placed in
The Gravy:
The gravy, or jus, is where the beef lives when it’s sliced. It’s kept hot, but not hot enough to dry out the meat that’s swimming in it. The gravy is usually beef stock, with dried herbs (of the Italian variety), garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, and other secret ingredients. And of course they add the drippings from the roasting of the beef. In fact, in a place like Johnnie’s, they have someone who comes in and does the spice blend behind closed doors. No one working in the restaurant knows how it’s made. And that’s the case for most good beef stands. Then the next, and most important part is
The Bun:
Why is it important? Because it not only needs to be tough enough to handle what’s going to be done to it, but it needs to taste good even dry. The roll itself is French style, with a crusty exterior yet soft inside. Chicagoans swear by Turnano bakery for their Italian beef rolls, although some places have special orders. The bun comes in to play based on the level of wet you want the sandwich. You can usually get dry (obviously); dipped, where they dip both ends into the jus; dunked, where they do a quick dunk of the whole sandwich in the jus; and wet, where they let that gravy soak into the bun. When the sandwich is that saturated, inferior bread will fall apart and disintegrate. A good roll will keep everything together no matter how wet it gets. See the picture at the top of the diary for an example of a wet sandwich. Notice how the bun still holds well together. A poor roll will turn back into liquid dough. But you still will need
The Accompaniments:
First is the giardiniera. Chicago style is different from “regular” giardiniera in that it’s packed in oil after pickling. You still taste the sharpness of the brine, but the oil also provides a lot of flavor. Next is the bell peppers. These are sweet bell peppers, and have no heat. Most places have hot giardiniera, but some places you can get mild. Sometimes places will add provolone cheese, but that may be just an “at home” thing. Finally, the ultimate accompaniment, the combo—in which they also put an Italian sausage on the sandwich. A typical sandwich—meaning one of the most ordered is a “sweet and hot”. Meaning sweet peppers and hot giardiniera.
But enough talk, let’s get to cooking.
Now there are several recipes which talk about making Italian beef. A couple are just about perfect in their authenticity But they can be excessively complicated. Such as—
Way too much work for me. Here is a recipe for the “easy” way to make it that I got from my sister in law. You’re going to need a beef roast—I am using some top round, I believe it was. Some kind of round. Anyway, first you sear.
Then I deglazed with just water. Just a bit, though. Next is the thing that makes it Italian Beef—the seasoning. To make a good homemade Italian beef, you need three seasoning elements:
1. Louie’s Italian Beef Seasoning. This is a standard and includes all the flavors people are familiar with. For the amount of meat I used—a little over 5lbs—I used one whole packet
2. Good Seasons Zesty Italian. Those of us of a certain age remember our parents buying Good Seasons Italian, mixing it with white vinegar and oil, and shaking. I used one whole packet
3. Pepperoncini and its accompanying brine. I prefer whole pepperoncini to rings, but that’s just you cooking. I used about 10 pepperoncini and about a third of a jar of brine. You can use more or less depending on your heat tolerance levels. But there definitely should be some of that flavor in with the meat. You want a nice kick without a lot of heat. That’s for the giardiniera.
Cooking is absolutely easy. After searing and deglazing, toss in the seasonings and add a couple cups of water. I also threw in a bunch of dehydrated garlic because more garlic is more better. My ratio is something like 4 pounds meat, 2 cups of water, give or take the weight of the meat and how much gravy you want. If you have good bread and want to go full dunk, add more water and seasoning.
Let it go on low for at least 8 hours. I let mine go for like 16 hours, I think.
I took the meat out to cool a bit before breaking it up, and I also got the pepperoncini out. I pulled the stems off and tore the peppers up and put them back in as I shredded the meat. And here it was. With plenty of that gravy/jus.
If you want sweet bell peppers in the beef, add them into the meat with the other seasonings and just remove and dice and add. For the giardiniera, I recommend Vienna, Marconi, and maybe Mezzetta or Ditka’s. Make sure the label says Chicago style, and that olive oil is one of the top ingredients.
I had lil mini rolls because bariatric pouch, and I put provolone cheese in them because I like cheese For reference, in the below image, that is a standard 6 inch petty knife. Lookit how cute:
True, it’s not a beef like you would get at a good beef place, but the taste and feel and wet is close enough. Plus it’s cheaper and all you do is throw the ingredients in the slow cooker and get on with your day. Now of course I would be remiss if I didn’t show you what I did with the leftovers. And here’s a tip if you have leftover meat like pot roast, or pulled pork, or some other meat like that:
Rice Casserole Time!
That’s right, my favorite technique—at least it seems that way from the amount I make. Why? It’s easy, cheesy, and tastes good.
So, I took the leftover beef and jus (not a lot was left), added some more just plain shaved steak I browned real quick, and added cream cheese, some provolone, some other shredded cheese, sour cream, more giardiniera, and green onion.
Then I did something different. I added uncooked rice to the mix. I spread it in a casserole, and then added my liquid and tried to mix it together. Into the oven it went, for a LONG time. Much longer than if the rice was cooked. Add provolone on top to brown, and voila!
It seems almost any kind of leftover protein can make a casserole with rice or potatoes and cheese and stuff like that. So it was a very cheesy, mild Italian beef flavor.
So that’s Italian Beef. It is easy enough to make at home, and it really does taste like you would find in a beef stand that's been open for decades.
This week’s WFD is actually tomorrow’s WFD. I’ve just gotten back from taking some of my kids to a solo and ensemble contest.
Anyway, I’m going to attempt Dongpo Pork—one of the several variations of a braised pork belly from China. Wish me luck on that one.
