Chicago Style Beef Sandwich

When I opened my last restaurant in San Diego, I was constantly being asked to add a Chicago style beef sandwich to the menu. I was in Chicago for a restaurant show and had the opportunity to try some Chicago beef, both local and at the show.

At the show the beef was portioned controlled, you heated it up in the micro or on the grill, it was good but the local sandwiches were way better. I couldn’t get a recipe from the restaurants I visited, so I left Chicago just knowing what a good sandwich tasted like.

After some trial and error and a lot of research I ended up with the recipe below. Of course this is a scaled down version, but I have made it at home to rave reviews.  There are four main components of the sandwich.

1. The meat; it has to be cooked properly and sliced just right, not to thin and not too thick.

2. The bread; I had an Italian bakery make the rolls for me, they were kind of pointy on the ends and had a nice  hard crust, the closest I have found is a French baguette cut about 6” long. Don’t slice the bread in half, just down the middle.

3. The juice; In Chicago if you want juice it’s called a wet sandwich, that’s why the bread is so important to suck up the juice but not fall apart.

4. Giardinara; It means the garden in Italian. It’s a mixture of vegetables that are marinated in white wine vinegar, olive oil and other spices. It usually has carrots, white celery and baby onions and there is various degrees of heat, I used a medium heat. This is served in a small cup on the side with some of the juices.

Most people including me pour the juice on the sandwich and eat the vegetables by hand. When this sandwich hit the menu I could not for the first week keep it in stock, they are that good.

Chicago Style Beef Sandwiches

Giorgio Celmo

Ingredients

5 lbs top round beef

2 cloves garlic

1 ½ quarts water

¼  cup chopped oregano (if using dry increase to 1/2 cup) fresh is better

2Tablespoons black pepper

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

2-3 carrots coarse chopped

2-3 yellow onions coarse chopped

3 stalks celery coarse chopped

Directions

For roasting times figure 10 to 12 minutes per pound, check the meat thermometer for an internal temperature of 130 degrees, for rare. 140 degrees for medium. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place roast dry into oven and dry roast for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove roast from oven, reduce oven temperature to 350. Add remaining ingredients to pan. Return to oven and roast for 2 to 2-1/2 hours. Ladle juices over the top of the meat several times while cooking.  Remove from oven and allow to rest 20-30 minutes. Slice very thin not wafer thin but thin.

The Juices

The juice is used to make wet sandwiches, save all juices and veggies, run juice through a fine meshed screed to mash all veggies to very small particles; you can use a food processor or blender to do the same thing. The idea is to capture the flavors without the pieces.

To Serve

 Serve on a French baguette, don’t cut all the through. If they want a wet sandwich heat the juices in a pan until hot ladle juices over beef not too much, add provolone cheese. Serve with “Giardinara” on the side.