Get ready for your mouth to be happy as you bite into this sandwich and all it’s Italian beefiness!
This post goes out to my best friend Julie Hall, who loves Italian beef so much, she had me bring nearly 100 Chicago Italian beef sandwiches with me, when I visited her and her family in Tennessee.
Julie and I met in high school in Crystal Lake, IL. It was immediately evident we had the exact same sense of humor and we became fast friends. This girl could make me laugh…..hard….and all the time. She would get me laughing so hard it turned into this scream-laugh-cry situation. People often couldn’t handle Julie and I in the same room. We assumed we were too cool to handle and continued our laughing rampage. Man those times were fun.
To make matters worse (for other people, not for us) we were easily amused too. Anything could set us off laughing in a seconds notice. Remember taking the bus in grade school? The bus driver would open the door to stop, look, and listen before crossing the railroad tracks. Well, Julie and I thought it would be hilarious to do the same thing……in my car. I would stop my car before the train tracks and open the driver door while Julie opened the passenger door. We would sit like that for a few minutes, shut the doors, and drive off in hysterics while the cars behind us honked.
We also bonded over our love of playing softball. Julie was very talented and fiercely competitive. I remember playing catch in her front yard, we would compete to see who could throw the ball the hardest. This is typically what you heard while we played catch:
Me: DAMMIT! THAT HURT! Good throw!
Julie: OUCH! Son of a…..good one!
Me: GAH!!! Holy mother of……nice job!
Julie: F#*K!!!! Great job!
We signed up for a summer softball league and ended up on different teams. Every time our teams would play against each other, we would warm each other up…..merely because everyone else was afraid of us! We whipped the ball at each other with a vengeance, and no one else wanted any part of it.
Julie played pitcher and short stop and I played catcher and right field. We would make a pack to help each other out during the game….then both walk away with shit-eating grins on our faces…knowing full well that wasn’t going to happen.
I remember a time when I was up to bat and immediately started to taunt her on the pitchers mound. Julie didn’t say anything……she didn’t have to….she would narrow her eyes and grin a certain grin which meant I was in trouble….and I knew it. 3 pitches later I was struck out. I (jokingly) freaked out and started to charge her on the mound with the bat. She would laugh and play along and before you knew it, everyone watching would be laughing at us. During those games we were like an Abbott and Costello act…..except we knew “who was on first”……nobody…….. because she struck me out!
A few innings later Julie was up to bat. She smacked the ball high and hard into right field. Julie suddenly realized I was playing right field that inning and stopped cold in her tracks. She didn’t bother running to first base, she said, “Ahhh shit” and walked off the field towards her team’s batter box.
I laughed and yelled out, “Ahahahaha! PAYBACK!”, as my mitt closed tightly around the ball she hit directly to me.
The saddest day for me is when Julie and her family moved away to Tennessee after we graduated high school. Since then Julie graduated college and married her soul mate, a hilarious guy named Dan. They have 2 adorably cute little boys and still reside in the Tennessee area. She loves her life in Tennessee but the girl misses Italian beef……..and me……cough. 😀
When Kieran and I drove her way for a visit, she had me stop off at Portillio’s to buy a couple sandwiches for her and her family. Annnnnd when I say “a couple” I really mean close to 100. The Portillio’s staff had a hard time wrapping their minds around my order and a few people came out from behind the counter to get a glimpse of the girl smuggling 100 beef sandwiches to someone who needed their “fix” in Tennessee. It was hilarious.
So, this post is for Julie, and anyone not living in Chicago, who have a craving for our marvelous Italian beef!
Some key things about this recipe to think about. You’ll want to cut the meat as thin as you possibly can. I don’t have a meat slicer, or an electric knife, but I really wish I did! Either of them would have been SuPER helpful in cutting the meat. You can cut the meat with a knife like I did, but it takes a long time since you’re trying to slice the meat extra thin! If you slice a lot of meat, either a meat slicer or electric knife would make a great investment.
Also, I’m a HUGE fan of oven safe meat thermometers. Some of them have alarms that go off when you’re meat has reached the desired temperature so you don’t have to watch the oven all day! Totally convenient and worth getting if you make roasts!
- 3-4 lb beef roast, with the majority of the fat trimmed off
- Vegetable oil
- 1½ teaspoons black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon of dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- A pinch of crushed red pepper
- 10 beef bouillon cubes
- 12 cups of water
- 1-2 tablespoons of soy sauce (optional, you may not need this)
- French Rolls (the bag I bought also said "Italian Beef Rolls"
- 1 Organic green pepper, cut into big strips (*see note)
- ½ tablespoon of olive or coconut oil
- Your favorite store bought or homemade giardiniera
- Preheat your oven to 300 degrees
- In a stove-top safe 9x13 baking pan, bring the 12 cups of water to a boil, then add the 10 beef bouillon cubes. Stir the water until the cubes dissolve, then turn off the heat and set aside. (I didn't have a stove-top safe baking pan, so I boiled the water in a large pot, and poured the mixture into the pan after the cubes had dissolved.)
- Combine all of your rub ingredients in a little bowl, mixing it together with your fingers to break apart any lumps.
- Smear the meat with vegetable oil, so the rub sticks to it. Massage the rub into all sides of the meat. Pour the reaming rub into the 9x13 pan with the beef water, don't throw it away!
- Place an oven safe rack on top of the 9x13 pan, and put the meat on top of rack, and place it in the oven (this way, while the meat is roasting, it's dripping will fall into the water, making a more fabulous, robust Au Jus!).
- Cook the roast until it registers 130 degrees internally. It will take approx 30 minutes per pound to cook, so for a 4 lb roast it should take approx 2 hours. Important: The cut of meat, it's thickness, and oven temperatures differ so make sure to check the roast an hour before you think it should be done to ensure you're not overcooking it. Remember, you'll continue to cook the roast in the Au Jus at a later time, so you don't want to overcook the roast in the oven!
- When the roast is 130 degrees, take it out of the oven, and take it off the rack. Pour the Au Jus into a bowl, and put the roast BACK into the 9/13 pan. Refrigerate both the meat and the juice for at least 4 hours (this will chill the meat to make it easier to slice).
- While your meat is roasting, heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add ½ tablespoon of olive oil and cook the green peppers until they are very soft, and the skins start turning brown, it will take approx 10-15 minutes. Once they are done, remove from heat and set aside (no refrigeration needed, they can sit at room temperature).
- After the meat and Au Jus have chilled out in the fridge, pull them out.
- You'll want to slice the beef as thin as possible If you have a meat slicer or electric knife, utilize them to get uniformed, thin slices. If you don't have a slicer like me, you can use a very sharp knife with a thin blade. Very carefully and slowly, draw the knife along the meat. I angled my knife a little bit away from me while cutting, to ensure I was getting thin slices.
- Pour the Au Jus in a large pan or skillet and taste it (before turning on the heat). If it needs to be thinned out, add water to it. If you add more water, it may lose a little flavor, you can always add 1-2 tablespoons of soy sauce to richen the broth. However, if the flavor is not as rich as you like, and you have time, you can simmer and cook the sauce down for a richer, deeper flavor. Just be careful not to cook the sauce down too much, or it will be become over concentrated and really salty. Keep checking it until you've reached the flavor you like best.
- Once the Au Jus is to our liking, turn down the heat to a simmer. I added enough beef for 2 sandwiches, since I was only making 2 sandwiches. Cook the beef in the Au Jus for just 1-2 minutes. You can go up to 10 minutes if someone does not like medium rare meat, but any longer than 10 minutes can make the beef curl up, lose it's moisture, and get tough!
- When your meat is ready, it's time to assemble! I personally like my bread dipped in the Au Jus, so I took a roll and dunked it on both sides. Then I poured a little more sauce into the roll, filled it up with meat, topped it with green peppers, poured on a little more Au Jus, and topped it with giardiniera.
- Get ready for your mouth to be happy as you bite into this sandwich and all it's Italian beefiness glory!
The meat and au jus is freezable! I made two sandwiches for dinner, and froze the rest of the meat for another dinner!
*I have 1 organic green pepper in the ingredient list because I made two sandwiches. If you are making this recipe for a bigger crowd you'll want to buy approx 1 green pepper for every two people.
Adapted from amazingribs.com
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