Italian Beef

[perry]

Anyone have a recipe to share for Italian Beef Sandwiches? I've been challenged to make them, and have, of course, found a few recipes, but what's the B&B population have to share? I don't have fancy cooking stuff and will even be borrowing a slow cooker...

One recipe was just a chuck roast, a few packs of Italian dressing mix, some pepperoncinis, and a few hours in the cooker. Think that will be sufficient? Haven't bought chuck roast before, will it be readily available at the grocery store?

 

[airplanedoc]

quick and simple recipe is

chuck roast
2 packs hidden valley ranch zesty italian dressing packs
pepperoncinis, or green peppers in a pinch
I use a couple cans of beer in place of water

throw in slow cooker, go to work come home eat.
oYep, chuck roast is readily avaliable. I suppose you could use shoulder roast as well.

Serve with crusty rolls, and a slice of provalone or Mozarella

 

[Alacrity59]

Tough cuts have flavour but it takes a good long time in a slow cooker . . . .like 6 hours. I have no idea about Italian sandwiches but I'd peel up some garlic and insert a few cloves into the roast . . . sear the sucker in a very hot pan with oil on all sides and heck throw in some onions, carrots, and celery and water or stock or beer . . .

Ok they will be Irish/Canadian meat sandwiches I guess . . . ha

 

[Sue]

We just had Italian beef tonight.

Used basically the same recipe you quoted:

lg. roast trimmed and quartered, sprinkle beef w/ 2 packets of Good Seasons dry italian dressing, add one cup water. Turn on slow cooker to 'low' last night for this afternoons sandwiches.

Saute two ea. sliced onions and green peppers, two cloves garlic (chopped) in half stick salted butter. Add salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste, keep for side. About two hours before serving, stir the beef and it shreds, allow to continue simmering on low.

Serve hot beef on sliced rolls of choice with the onion/green pepper mix and sliced provolone.
Sue

 

[KaiserKrebs]

All of these recipies sound delicious, you can use beef chuck roast(shoulder), or beef botom round(rump roast), but authentic Italian beef is typically made with beef top round(at least in Chicago). You can ask your butcher for a top round roast to suit your purposes weight wise, as the whole top round is pretty gigantic.

Don't forget to make lots of Au Jus for dunking or drizzling....mmmmmm

 

[BOOURNS]

+1 on the rump, the chuck can be pretty fatty. Then again fat=flavor.

 

[Tobacco]

No good meat recipes, but to step it up, I highly recommend using some garlic compound butter on the rolls (serve on garlic bread, basically). Roasted Sweet !peppers and giardiniera add to the flavor as you desire. And of course the melted provolone as others have mentioned.

Yum

 

[Abdiel]

What part of the cow do you want for the sammich

 

[homebrewer]

I have one of the legitimate recipes over at a friends hose from one of the famous stands in Chi-town.... beef Villa I think. It has far more ingredients than those listed here, and is probably overkill, but I'll try to find it tomorrow.

One other thing to consider with the beef is how you will slice it. I think half the magic of a true beef in Chicago is the thin sliced, drenched meat. I hope you have a very sharp knife to slice it with. I'm actually considering buying a deli slicer solely for the purpose of thin shaving Italian beefs.... I really think it makes that much of a difference.

Either way, let us know how you make it and how it turns out!

 

[perry]

Garlic butter on nice crusty rolls sounds like a good idea. Probably go with provolone.

I don't know much about cuts of beef, so I'll have a look around at the store and see what I see. I'll keep rump roast in mind.

Was planning on 6+ hours cooking; putting the roast in around 10 - 11am for an evening meal. Onions and peppers on the side sounds like a good idea. I'll just shred the meat with a couple forks in the slow cooker. I was thinking of using beef stock instead of water, but beer sounds even better.

We're planning on next Saturday so I'll let you guys know

 

[perry]

It turned out pretty good! Top round was what I went with. Giardiniera and a few pepponcinis were added during the last hour of cooking. Didn't butter the rolls, but poured a spoon full of the juices on the top half of each one. Green bell peppers and onions cooked on the side.

 

[MAK]

1+ on the green peppers, in my mind you can't have a good sandwich without some green peppers.

 

[langod]

You all inspired me. I'd never heard of Italian beef before.
But yeasterday I found some old steak tips in the freezer that had gotten too freezer-burned to be good for grilling. Rather than toss them, I thought of this thread.
So I put them in the slow cooker with a 1/2 onion, 1/2 pepper, 2 chopped Jalapenos, a cup of water and a pack of Italian dressing mix. Let it cook for several hours. Then shredded it and put it on some nice sandwich rolls. YUM!
Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[jwhite]

I grew up and spent most of my life near Chicago. The secret to the thin sliced Italian beef is as follows. Roast the top round whole to med-rare, then slice thin (a good butcher will do it for you if you bring the roast back after cooking, and its good to let the roast cool before slicing anyway), when you are ready to serve put the sliced beef into a simmering pot of Au Jus for just a couple of minutes, Pack into deli rolls (H.Rosens are the best). Cover with mozz, sauteed peppers and onions, and melt under the broiler. Serve with peperoncini and Au Jus.