Chicago Italian Beef Pot Roast Style Recipes

CHICAGO ITALIAN BEEF

Steps:

• Cook first 5 ingredients in a Crockpot on LOW for 18 (eighteen) hours.
• Turn over at the 6th and 12th hour interval.
• At the 17th hour cut sweet green peppers into 1/8 ths lengthwise and cook in water on low heat until soft.
• Cut bread into 6 inch lengths and slice on the side lengthwise.
• Pull roast apart with a fork, and using tongs, pile bread with meat and juice.
• (Do not let juice drain before putting on bread. The juice is half the taste of the sandwich.) Lay strips of green pepper on top of the meat.
• Salt to taste.
• OPEN WIDE and enjoy the most wonderful taste sensation.
• May be frozen when cooked.

CHICAGO ITALIAN BEEF SANDWICH

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.

CHICAGO-STYLE ITALIAN BEEF SANDWICH

Steps:

• For the pot roast: Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat 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, 5 to 7 minutes per side; reduce the heat if the fat begins to smoke. Transfer the roast to a plate and reduce the heat to medium.
• Add the onions and a pinch of salt and saute, stirring occasionally, until just beginning to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper and garlic and saute until fragrant, another minute. Deglaze with the red wine, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Simmer until reduced by about half, another 2 to 5 minutes. Add the stock and thyme and bring to a simmer. Adjust the seasoning of the liquid.
• Put the roast back in the pot with any accumulated juices and place in the oven, covered. Cook the roast, turning every 30 minutes and uncovering the pot for the last 30 minutes of cooking, until very tender, 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Transfer the roast to a cutting board and tent with foil. Increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees F for the peppers and bread.
• 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 softened, about 45 minutes.
• Strain the pot roast jus through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl and return to the pot. Bring to a simmer and simmer until reduced slightly, 5 to 10 minutes. Adjust the seasoning if necessary. Keep warm.
• Once the meat has cooled a bit, remove the twine. Pull the meat into smaller chunks and return to the reduced jus until ready to build the sandwiches.
• For the sandwich build: Rub the rolls with some of the giardiniera oil and toast in the oven until golden brown and crispy, 5 to 8 minutes.
• Place some beef on a roll, then some sweet peppers (with some of the oil they were cooked in), followed by some hot giardiniera. Pour a small dish of reduced jus. Quickly dunk the whole sandwich in the hot jus, then wrap in deli paper or parchment paper and wait for 2 to 3 minutes while the magic happens. Repeat with the remaining rolls and toppings. When ready, open up and eat!

CHICAGO ITALIAN BEEF

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Cut bread two-thirds of the way through. Toast bread in oven until crispy on outside.
• Drop sliced Roast into simmering Beef Juice. Jam beef in baguette. Dip sammich in beef juice pot.
• Drop Sweet Peppers into Beef Juice to get hot and wet.
• Add Giardiniera to sammich. Drape peppers across the beef.
• Serve with more Beef Juice on the side.
• Mix together the Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, granulated garlic and onion and oregano in a bowl until combined.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Cover roast with spice mix (you will have some spice mix left over). Drizzle olive oil over top of roast. Place roast on a rack with water in the bottom of the pan (don't let the water touch the meat). Roast until the internal temperature registers 118 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, about 1 hour. Let roast cool. Reserve the juice.
• Thin-slice roast, as thin as you can. Can't slice thin? You are screwed. Or you can buy your chef friend a six-pack and she will do it for you. Save beef scraps!
• Portion roast slices into 5- to 7-ounce balls.
• Pour all the extra juice and beef scraps in a pot. If there's not enough juice, add some beef base and some water. Taste. Make sure it's not too salty. Simmer for 1 hour, strain and put juice back on to simmer.
• Split pepper in half, then clean white membrane out of it. Cut halves into thirds.
• Heat saute pan on high heat. Once hot, add olive oil. Drop in peppers skin-side down. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Let pepper blister and char, then flip peppers and cook for another 2 minutes. Turn heat off and let peppers rest.
• Put the vinegar, salt, garlic, oregano, crushed red pepper, black pepper and 2 cups cold water into a 4-quart container and stir until the salt has dissolved.
• Cut carrots, celery, onions, green peppers and red peppers into 1/3-inch uniform dice.
• Thinly slice jalapenos and serrano (approximately 1/8-inch thick).
• Place cut veggies into brine and stir well until all ingredients are combined.
• Cover and refrigerate for 2 days. Stir in olive oil.

CHICAGO STYLE ITALIAN BEEF SANDWICHES (CROCK POT VERSION)

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.

ITALIAN BEEF

Steps:

• Let the meat rest at room temperature for 15 minutes (this is a good time to measure your other spices and seasonings). Season the beef all over with kosher salt.
• Heat a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high. Once it is hot, sear the meat on all sides until golden brown, moving it as little as possible so that it develops a nice crust (this will take about 10 minutes). Transfer to the slow cooker.
• Turn the heat to medium. Carefully splash in some of the broth and with a wooden spoon, scrape up the brown bits on the bottom of the pan (this is FLAVOR). Pour the liquid and any bits into the slow cooker on top of the beef.
• In a small bowl, stir together the seasoning ingredients: Italian seasoning, granulated sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, black pepper, and thyme. Sprinkle on top of the beef.
• Add the pepperoncini peppers and juice. Add the giardiniera (do not add any giardiniera juice).
• Pour in the remaining broth.
• Cover the crockpot and cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours, or until meat shreds easily with a fork. Shred the beef, then stir it together with the juices. Cover and cook on low for 30 additional minutes.
• To serve, split the hoagie buns and toast on a baking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees for 5 to 7 minutes (if desired). Fill with the shredded Italian beef (get plenty of that yummy, messy juice!) and top with provolone, pepperoncini, and Giardiniera as desired. Enjoy!

PORTILLO'S ITALIAN BEEF HACK

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Render the beef fat by chopping it into small bits (about the size of peas) with a food processor. Be sure the fat is very cold--it will chop better. If you don't have a food processor, you can chop the fat by hand. Use a sharp knife and cut it as small as you can. Heat up the fat in a sauté pan over medium heat until the bits are browned. Strain the solids from the fat and measure 1/4 cup of fat for the gravy.
• Make the beef gravy by combining all of the ingredients, including the beef fat, in a medium saucepan over medium heat. When the mixture begins to boil reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, then turn the heat to low.
• Make the sandwiches by heating up the rolls in the hot oven for 3 minutes.
• For each sandwich, drop 1/4 pound of sliced beef (separate the slices) into the gravy for 2 minutes. Make sure the gravy isn't boiling. It should be around 180 degrees F. After the beef has soaked in the gravy, use tongs to arrange the beef on a warmed sandwich roll and top with your choice of hot giardiniera or sweet peppers. Or both. Spoon on some extra gravy just before serving.

ITALIAN ROAST BEEF (COOK'S COUNTRY)

Steps:

• Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees.
• Combine garlic powder, basil, oregano and pepper in small bowl; set aside.
• Pat roast dry with paper towels. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown roast all over, about 10 minutes, then transfer to V-rack (or roasting rack) set inside roasting pan.
• Add onion to fat in skillet and cook over medium heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, flour and 1 teaspoon of the spice mixture until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in broths and water, using wooden spoon to scrape up browned bits. Bring to boil, then pour into roasting pan; set aside.
• Stir together the remaining oil, pepper flakes and salt into remaining spice mixture. Rub mixture all over meat and roast until meat registers 125 degrees (for medium-rare), 75 to 90 minutes. Transfer roast to cutting board, tent with foil, and let rest 20 minutes.
• Pour jus (pan gravy) through fine-mesh strainer and keep warm. Slice roast crosswise against grain into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Serve with jus.
• Additional note from me: If making sandwiches, assemble sliced beef on a roll and top with the roasting pan juice and Giardinera. See homemade: recipe #468165).

UPSTATE-STYLE ROAST BEEF SANDWICH

Steps:

• Bring the roast to room temperature about 1 hour before cooking.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
• Sprinkle the roast on all sides with kosher salt and pepper. Brush the roast with the mustard. Combine the oregano, parsley, sage and thyme in a bowl and sprinkle it on the roast, followed by a liberal amount of kosher salt and pepper. Place the rosemary on a the roasting rack and place the roast on top of the rosemary. Add the broth to the roasting pan. Roast the meat for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 300 degrees F and continue to roast until the internal temperature reaches 110 to 115 degrees F for rare, about 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, combine the sour cream, mayonnaise, horseradish and vinegar. Season with kosher salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.
• Allow the meat to rest, uncovered, for 1 hour. Pour the liquid from the bottom of the roasting pan into a small pot and let simmer for 20 minutes to reduce. Keep warm.
• When ready to slice, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Brush the tops of the rolls with the melted butter and sprinkle with the caraway seeds and some pretzel salt. Toast the rolls slightly for about 5 minutes.
• Spread the horseradish cream on the interiors of the rolls. Top with the onions, if using. Slice the meat paper-thin, about 4 ounces per sandwich. Dip the sliced meat into the warm jus, then add to the roll bottoms. Top with the roll tops. Serve with the remaining jus for dipping if desired.

CHICAGO ITALIAN BEEF (POT ROAST STYLE)

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.