While living in Chicago, we came to enjoy an Italian beef sandwich every now and again. You’d be forgiven if you haven’t heard of Italian beef. It’s a local delicacy which hasn’t expanded its reach much beyond the Chicagoland region.
As far as fast food goes, though, it satisfies. Roasted beef. Cooked in juices that impart sweet, spicy, tangy flavor. Served with au jus or, better yet, dipped in those cooking juices. Great handover food. Served with fries, of course.
Our friend Casey, who also lived in Chicago, remembers how he’d place his order: “Sweet and hot, take it off the high dive.”
Like Casey, we’ve long since moved from Chicago and don’t have access to an Italian beef establishment. But we recently got inspired to revisit old times. Included in a Christmas package from our parents were two jars of Chicago-style giardiniera, hot and mild, a thoughtful albeit completely random addition. What to do with Chicago-style giardiniera? That’s a no-brainer.
Homemade Italian beef was easy with the magic of an Instant Pot. We found a couple of recipes using the crock pot and adapted them with one major revision. We added more liquid because the key to delicious Italian beef is being able to dunk it. There must be enough au jus so to fully submerse the sandwich. There can be no concession made about this.
Dunking technique is key. Once you’ve placed the beef and a pepperoncini pepper or two into the baguette, use tongs to dunk it completely in the cooking juices and then quickly pull it out. Don’t linger. Don’t dillydally. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a soggy mess of a sandwich.
Most restaurants use a meat slicer to thinly slice the beef before serving. Because we don’t own a meat slicer and prefer to keep all of our fingers, we shred the beef using shredder claws.
Italian Beef Sandwich
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 to 3 lbs. of beef chuck roast
- Salt
- Pepper
- 1 red onion, sliced
- 6 garlic cloves, pressed
- 2 cups of beef broth (or 2 cups of water and 2 teaspoons of Better Than Bouillon)
- 3 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
- 8 ounces of pepperoncini peppers with juices
- 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon of dried basil
- 1 teaspoon of dried oregano
- slices of provolone cheese
- baguettes
Directions
Turn Instant Pot on “Sauté” function. Add olive oil. Generously season beef with salt and pepper.
When the Instant Pot is hot, cook roast on three minutes per side. Remove roast, and set aside. Add onions and garlic, and sauté until onions are translucent, scraping any meat bits off the bottom of the bowl. Turn Instant Pot off.
Add roast, broth, Worcestershire sauce, pepperoncini peppers with juices, brown sugar, dried basil, and dried oregano.
Cook on “High Pressure” for 65 minutes (if you have an Instant Pot Max, then 55 minutes at “Max Pressure”). Either manually release or let naturally release steam.
Remove beef, place in platter and shred.
Assemble beef in baguettes with pepperoncini peppers. Use tongs to dip sandwich in cooking juices. Garnish with Chicago-style giardiniera.
Makes four to six sandwiches. Serve with French fries.
12 Responses
There are no pepperoncini or brown sugar in the geniune Chicago style Italian beef. i’m sure it will taste just fine without them.
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