Chicago Style Italian Beef Sandwiches Recipes

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.

Steps:

• Cut roast in half; sprinkle with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, brown meat in oil on all sides. Transfer to a 5-qt. slow cooker., In a food processor, combine the mushrooms, carrots, onion, garlic and oregano. Cover and process until finely chopped. Transfer to slow cooker. Combine beef broth and base; pour over top. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or until tender., Remove meat and shred with two forks. Skim fat from cooking juices. Return meat to slow cooker; heat through. Using a slotted spoon, serve beef on buns; top with giardiniera.

Steps:

• Season beef with a pinch of salt and black pepper. Heat vegetable oil in a heavy pot over high heat. Cook and stir beef in hot oil until browned, 5 to 8 minutes.
• Stir garlic, vinegar, oregano, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, thyme, rosemary, 1 teaspoon black pepper, bay leaf, and red pepper flakes into beef. Pour enough chicken broth into beef mixture to cover the meat by 1 inch and bring to a simmer.
• Cover pot with a lid, reduce heat to low, and simmer until meat is fork-tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• Transfer meat with a strainer or slotted spoon to a separate pot; pour about 1/4 cup of meat broth into pot. Use a wooden spoon to gently break meat into smaller chunks. Cover pot with a lid or aluminum foil and keep warm.
• Skim excess grease from top of broth remaining in the first pot; season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover pot with a lid or aluminum foil and keep broth warm.
• Lay halves of a roll out on a work surface and spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons meat broth over each half. Top bottom half of roll with a generous portion of meat and a spoonful of pickled vegetables. Place tops on sandwich. Repeat with remaining buns, broth, meat, and pickled vegetables to make 3 more sandwiches.
• Spoon hot meat broth into ramekins and top each ramekin with 1/2 teaspoon parsley. Serve sandwiches with hot broth for dipping.

Steps:

• Place roast on a rack, in an open roasting pan, I use an 9" X 13" (230mm x 330mm) baking pan with the rack in it. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees (165 C), allowing 25 minutes per pound (55 min per kilo) , roast will be rare.
• Cool, and slice very thin, I use an electric slicer to do this. To the drippings in the pan, add the boiling water, bouillon cubes or granules, (1 bouillon cube for each cup of boiling water used). Add marjoram, thyme, oregano, hot pepper sauce, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, garlic cloves, and chopped green pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add the thinly sliced beef and cover. Marinate in gravy in refrigerator overnight.
• Next day, heat thoroughly, and serve warm on the French bread, along with a crisp, green salad and plenty of napkins!
• Note: Our family loves the gravy so much that I usually double the gravy recipe so there is plenty to dip the beef sandwich into. We also like to put a lot of gravy on the bread before adding the meat. Sometimes we add barbecue sauce to the sandwich before eating it, for a different flavor, not a lot, just a touch, about 1 Tablespoon or less to taste.
• Courtesy of Joseph Strain.

Steps:

• For the giardiniera: Combine the carrots, pepperoncini, jalapeños, roasted red peppers, olive oil, pepperoncini liquid, garlic powder and pepper in a bowl. Toss well, then set aside.
• For the beef: Remove the sirloin from the freezer and, using a mandoline or a sharp knife, cut into very thin strips against the grain. Sprinkle the meat with salt and pepper.
• Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large saute pan. Add the beef and sauté until starting to brown, but still pink, about 2 minutes. Add the Italian seasoning and garlic, then cook for 30 seconds. Add the broth and vinegar, then bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat.
• Place 3 slices of provolone on each roll. Top with the hot beef. Sprinkle with some of the giardiniera. Serve with extra broth on the side for dipping.

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.

Steps:

• DAY 1.
• Roll whole beef round on all sides in Worcestershire sauce until it's brown. Roll in garlic powder until it's white. Roll in basil until it's green. Sprinkle lightly with red pepper flakes.
• Put in baking pan without rack and bake in oven at 250 dg. for 20 minutes per lb. (Roast will be extremely rare, but don't worry because it will be tender and juicy after recipe is completed) Do not remove roast from pan or drain off drippings. Wrap it all in foil and chill in refrigerator overnight to firm up for easy slicing and to meld seasonings.
• DAY 2.
• Remove from pan and save all drippings including any browned bits from baking pan. Refrigerate until needed.
• Slice chilled roast as close to paper thin as possible (I bring it to butcher where purchased and he slices it for me on his electric slicer.) Put beef slices (saving any juice that dripped off) in plastic bags and chill until ready to assemble.
• Add 1 1/2 cups of water per lb. of beef in saucepan, adding drippings that had been saved earlier. Stir over low heat to make an au jus. If more flavor is needed, add more of the above spices and beef bouillon cubes until flavor seems right. The last few years I've used au jus gravy envelope(s) to speed things up or to stretch out more sauce, adjusting seasonings above to keep the "Italian" flavor If wanted, at this point you can add a bit of garlic powder, oregano, or pepper to taste.
• Bring au jus mixture to a boil.
• TO SERVE:.
• Immediately pour boiling au jus to cover beef slices in a roaster, electric frypan, or large crockpot that will keep sandwiches warm but not hot. DO NOT heat up beef first! The boiling jus will warm up the beef and finish the cooking process. If beef is actually cooked in sauce it will get tough.
• Serve immediately by having guests prepare their own sandwiches on small french sandwich loaves or hoagie buns. If Gonella- brand rolls are available, that was the bread of choice for Sid the stand man.
• Serve with green pepper slices that have been sautéed to soften as well as with yellow pepperoncini peppers for those who want more of a kick!
• NOTE: Sid also made Stromboli Sandwiches, which are a French roll stuffed with Italian beef, a link of cooked hot Italian sausage.
• and mozzarella cheese. He wrapped the sandwiches in foil and heated in oven until the cheese was melted, then poured a drizzle of warm marinara sauce on filling and added a few sautéed green pepper slices (or pepperoncini peppers). I make these with frozen leftover Italian beef after the party by making broiled garlic bread rolls and assembling them as Sid did.

Steps:

• In a crock pot combine all of your ingredients (except for the rolls and giardinara) and let it cook on low for 8 hours until the meat is tender and falling apart.
• Remove the meat from the au jus and shred it with a fork until it is finely shred.
• Return the meat to the crock pot full of au jus to get warm for 20 minutes.
• After the meat is warmed, fill the buns with meat, ladle or dip the sandwiches with au jus.
• For Chicago authenticity, add hot or mild giardiniera to the sandwiches or the sweet green bell peppers.

Steps:

• In saucepan, heat roast beef in au jus.
• Coarsely chop jar of giardiniera. (Also called California Hot Mix, which can be found in pickle aisle. I like Mezzetta brand.).
• Split roll and butter the inside. (Or you can skip this step in lieu of steaming roll in microwave a few seconds.).
• Heat skillet then place roll, buttered side down, on surface to toast.
• When inside of bread is slightly toasted, remove from skillet and top with warm roast beef (along with a few extra spoonfuls of au jus).
• Top with Provolone and heat in microwave 20-30 seconds until cheese begins to melt. Top with 1/4 cup giardiniera.
• Enjoy!