Italian Beef

19

A post about Italian beef sandwiches was one of my first posts ever on this blog – back when its only reader was, well, probably me.  Since the post lacked an actual recipe (in terms of measuring ingredients) and picture, I thought I’d take some time to repost a meal that’s incredibly easy to make, and also delicious.  It is especially delicious, in my opinion, when topped with hot peppers/giardiniera from Potbelly.  I don’t want to point any fingers or start any lawsuits, but I’m fairly certain that Potbelly’s hot peppers are laced with crack.  They have to be; otherwise, I would have some semblance of control when eating them.

Italian beef is a very common sandwich in Chicago, said to have originated here.  It’s thinly sliced roast beef, usually served with giardiniera (or sweet peppers, if you want) on a roll.  You can just have them put just the beef on there, you can have them spoon some of the meat juices on there, or you can even request it dipped, which means dunking the whole thing in the meat juices.  That is definitely the sloppiest way to eat it, but also the most tasty in my opinion.  I didn’t want to take a picture of a very soggy sandwich but rest assured that I served myself a little cup of juice on the side of this and slowly drenched my sandwich in it as I was eating it.

I was working from home the day I made this, so I didn’t start the beef until about 1:00 p.m. I wanted to slice it (even though I could never get those paper-thin slices) rather than shred it.  That said, I usually just let this cook all day and shred when I get  home to make it an easy weeknight meal.

Italian Beef

blogherads.adq.push(['Middle1', 'skm-ad-Middle1']);
//

19 thoughts on “Italian Beef

  1. YES! Potbelly hot peppers ARE laced with crack. I don’t know what it is about them but I love those things. The perfect topping for a great looking sandwich! YUM!

  2. Very funny lead-in, Elly. I guess it is a Chicago thing because I’m an East-Coast Italian (1/2) and while this sandwich is not unfamiliar in its individual ingredients, it is not anything I associate with Italian food. Looks delicious, however.

  3. This the ideal thing to make for my family because the heat is only added at the last minute. I can therefore make theirs without!!!

  4. Italian beef has to be one of my favorite street foods. They always have it at festivals and things here for Catholic holidays. Looks delicious!

  5. I just wanna say how much I love this recipe. (My family also loves it) we have made it 6 or 7 times a year. Potbelly peppers are the best.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *