Italian Beef

[Italiancook]

I don't recall where I obtained this recipe for scrumptious Italian Beef when we lived in Chicago. I've made this recipe a multitude of times & my Chicago in-laws loved it. I've served this at parties in other cities, and it's been a hit. Before the pandemic, I always bought the rump roast at a meat market after they agreed to slice it on their slicer after I baked and brought back the roast. I told them to slice it, "paper thin," and each butcher had no problem complying. I don't know if a butcher would allow roasted meat to come back into the store during the pandemic . . . since we're no longer entertaining.

In every city, I have asked a bakery to make me "hard rolls," and I've used those bakery rolls to serve the beef. A quick search of the KABC website came up with 3 hard roll recipes.

5 pound rump roast
3 cups water
3 beef bouillon cubes
1 teaspoon marjoram
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
1 teaspoon oregano
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
3 drops Tabasco
1/2 cup chopped green pepper & small clove garlic, minced

Roast meat on a rack in an open roasting pan in a 325 degree oven until meat thermometer registers 150 degrees (medium rare), about 2 to 2-1/2 hours. I've never roasted this roast on a rack & no problems.

Remove meat. Cool. Wrap in foil. Refrigerate overnight. Next day, take to the butcher who has agreed to slice it paper thin.

Add water to pan drippings, then add 1 bouillon cube for each cup of water used. Stir in seasonings, green pepper, and if desired, a small minced clove of garlic. Simmer 15 minutes. Put sliced meat into mixture; cover & let marinate in refrigerator 4-5 hours (I do overnight). NOTE: I make double the amount of marinade, because everyone I've ever served these to wants plenty on both sides of their rolls.

Reheat meat in marinade to serve on hard rolls. Slice rolls. Quickly dip each cut side in marinade liquid, then add beef to the sandwich.

NOTE: I like to skim off some of the fat, so I add the water & bouillon cubes, dissolve the cubes, then refrigerate the liquid overnight. Next day, I skim off some of the fat. Then add other marinade ingredients & add meat. But, it may be more authentic to serve it full-fat.

NOTE: This is a 4 day project: Day 1, Buy the roast. Day 2. Roast & refrigerate the meat. Day 3 Make the marinade and add beef. Day 4, serve. Of course, you certainly can buy and roast on same day to make it a 3 day adventure.

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• This topic was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by Italiancook.

[Mike Nolan]

If there are any butchers in Lincoln willing to slice a roast after you've cooked it, I'm not aware of them. Grocery store butchers aren't very versatile, and sometimes not all that well trained or knowledgeable about meat.

We do have two newer more-or-less full-service butcher shops, I may ask them the next time I'm there. (That's where I went to buy 40 pounds of chicken backs, for example.) They're both on the other end of town, so it isn't somewhere we go weekly.

My son in Pittsburgh has been making Italian beef in his instant pot. He took it to a friend's restaurant a couple of times to have him slice it, but the restaurant closed during the pandemic. Since then he has bought his own slicer, next time I'm in Pittsburgh maybe I can get him to make it for us.

As to the rolls, as several writers on the subject of Italian beef have noted, the Gonnella or Turano rolls that are traditionally used in Chicago hold up to being drenched well. Not sure what their secret is, I think they're softer than most French rolls, though.

I have made this recipe a few times, without the garlic, though.
Italian Beef

[Italiancook]

Thanks, Mike, for Jeff Mauro's recipe.

Mike, none of the butcher shops I've ever worked with advertised they'd slice the rump roast. I also asked a conditional question, "If I buy a 5 pound rump roast, will you slice it paper thin after I roast & bring it back to your shop?" None refused, but I think during this pandemic, that they'd worry about the customer bringing back Covid germs and refuse the request.

[Mike Nolan]

I used the drippings and fat from an eye of round roast to make another batch of jus for Italian beef.

I used some beef bouillon in water, some onion, carrots and celery, a little garlic powder (since my wife won't be eating it anyway), oregano, basil, marjoram, thyme and parsley, plus some salt, a few peppercorns, a small amount of chipotle powder, several dashes of Worcestershire, and a bit of red wine. I let it boil as slowly as I could for over an hour until the volume had reduced by at least 50%.

Then I let it cool to about 140, put in 1/4 pound of sliced rare roast beef, and let it warm up for several minutes.

Not bad, I'd make it again. Still need to find a roll that can stand up to being dipped, though.

[Mike Nolan]

There's also some discussion of Italian Beef in this thread. Based on what my son sent me, I'm guessing he's using his sous vide rather than his instant pot these days.

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