Eye-talian Beef Sammiches
Here's the latest recipe I use for italian beef sandwiches. Its kind of a work in progress, since I typically will add a little of this or a little of that just to experiment.
The meat:
This isn't a shaved beef, it's a pulled beef at least the way I make it. So I look for a good, marbled chuck roast and trim as much fat as I can off the outside. Rump roast works good too but I like the fat in the marbling from a chuck. Pick out a 4-5 pound roast and throw it in the crock pot or any other slow cooker you have. I have a counter-top roaster I use since my crock pot isn't big enough. If you use a roaster set it on about 275. And if you use a roaster, don't use the rack, just sit that bad boy right down on the bottom so it cooks in its own juice.
With the roast add:
1 pkg of dry Ranch dressing mix
1 large jar (the tall one, don't know how many ozs)of pepperoncini peppers, including the juice.
6-7 cloves of fresh garlic, minced (garlic powder works if you're lazy but I don't think it's as good)
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp kosher salt
2 tbsp fresh ground pepper
2 tbsp crushed red pepper
4 beef bullion cubes or a cup of beef bullion if you use the real stuff
Cook this concoction, covered, for about 6-7 hours or until you can pull the meat apart easily with two forks. Sometimes shorter, sometimes longer depending on the roast you get. I take the roast out of the roaster and pull it in a large bowl. Then I strain the meat juice through a collander and return it to the roaster along with the meat, turn the heat down to about 200 and let it stew for a while longer. Just makes it better and better. You should have five or six cups of au jus. If you don't, you can add ever how much water you need to have a good amount of it. I make up the difference with beef bullion if I need to add more liquid. No more than a cup or so will do the trick usually.
The veggies
I use a mix of two green peppers sliced in one inch slices, a large sweet onion quartered, a stick of real butter, and two jars of hot giardiniera along with the juice of one jar it came in. Simmer all of these together until the veggies are soft and smell like heaven.
The bread
I use an italian bread recipe that I shape into rolls. The recipe is below. the only difference is instead of shaping into two rolls, I cut the rolls into sandwich roll sizes, about 8 inches long. We usually cut these in half after baking because that's a big ass sammich.
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp or 2 pkg. (1/2 oz.) active dry yeast
1-3/4 cups warm water, 95 to 110 degrees F
1 Tbsp soft butter or margarine
5 cups bread or high gluten flour, about
1 egg white
1 Tbsp cold water
Preparation:
In large bowl, stir together sugar, salt, yeast, and water. Stir in soft butter. Mix in enough flour to make a soft dough that can be kneaded by hand. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 minutes, adding more flour if necessary, until the dough is soft and not sticky. Place dough in greased medium bowl and flip dough over so that the top is also lightly greased. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let set for 30 minutes in a warm, draft-free place.
Grease large baking sheet. Sprinkle baking sheet with coarse cornmeal, if desired. Remove dough from bowl onto lightly floured table and divide into 2 equal parts. Roll each dough half into a 15 X 9-inch rectangle. Tightly roll dough along the 15-inch side. Pinch seams and taper the ends of each loaf. Place loaves on baking sheet. Cover and let rise in warm, draft-free place for only 20 minutes.
Preheat oven 425 degrees F. Make 3 deep diagonal slashes on each loaf. Bake bread for 20 minutes. Lightly beat egg white and cold water in small bowl. Remove loaves from oven, brush with watered egg, and return to oven for another 5 minutes. Serve bread warm or cold.
The way to eat these sandwiches is to slit the rolls, add a heap of beef and juice, add some of the veggies on top, and then with a pair of tongs dip the whole damn sammich in the juice. Serve on a big ass plate covered with butcher paper and a big pile of hand cut homemade french fries on the side. They're a pain in the ass to make, but they sure are worth the trouble. To me, the homemade rolls are as important as the beef.
BKB
