Have you ever wanted an Italian beef sandwich, but you’re not in Chicago? I have. and I’ve realized, there are lots of recipes for making it at home in a slow cooker. It’s really just a beef roast braised in stock and spices, so it really doesn’t seem too hard to make. So I think I will try it over the long holiday weekend in the US.
What’s the best cut of meat to use? I have a chuck roast in the freezer, but I feel like that’s probably not the best choice. Most recipes seem to recommend something like bottom round. Or some say tri-tip also works, and that’s readily available in California. I might try to pick up one of those.
Some recipes, like this one, just tell you to cook the meat for the recommended time, and then shred it like a pot roast. But that feels wrong. Every Italian beef I’ve seen in Chicago has been sliced, and some commenters recommend slicing the meat after a few hours of cooking and returning it to the liquid to finish cooking (and I think that’s how they do it in Chicago, correct?). How long should I cook it before slicing, and how long after? I assume it will cook faster once it’s been sliced, so I wouldn’t have to cook it the full time in the recipe.
Beef shanks.
The meat will just fall apart. Pick the bone out(your dog will love you).
It doesn’t really slice as much as come off in chunks. You could slice that, I guess.
I don’t like the idea of partially cooking, slicing and finish cooking. You’ll get a glob of meat in a bunch of juice.
uh, that’s exactly what Italian beef is…
I used this recipe recently (Instant Pot), and it was terrific. But I’ve never had it in Chicago, so I don’t know if it was authentic.
I’d personally use the chuck roast - I find that the low fat content of bottom round tends to lack in unctuous punch as it were. But I’ll grant that bottom round will hold together better over a long cooking period. I’d probably do the beef in a slow cooker, over pretty high heat for a shorter time (say 90-120 minutes), evacuate and let cool just a bit to firm, then slice thinly with a long serrated blade (less likely for me to tear into chunks) and then gently return to the pot with whatever additional liquid you feel you need to braise further and absorb all the flavor through the additional surface area.
Note, that after that first 90-120 minutes, it should be fully cooked, though depending on the size of the roast it may still be medium-ish, so the rest of the cooking time is mostly about flavor absorption, so I’d guess no more than another hour on higher heat, or longer on lower.
IMHO, less time if you want the beefiness to stand out, longer if you want the broth-herbs-peppers to stand out. Oh, and if you’re using a slow cooker, I’d say in the last 30 minutes add a bit of whatever you consider the most key herbs/spices/etc. to the dish, to bring the flavors to the front after the long cooking time.
Personally, I think the tinkering with the dish is one of the most fun parts of cooking. You get a good baseline then figure out how to make it better, or at least, better to your personal tastes.
