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Follow The Buns | |
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The Hot Dog |
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 | | An Italian beef is a sandwich of thin slices of seasoned roast beef, dripping with meat juices, on a dense, long Italian-style roll, believed to have originated in Chicago, where its history dates back at least to the 1930s. The bread itself is often dipped (or double-dipped) into the juices the meat is cooked in, and the sandwich is typically topped off with Chicago-style giardiniera ("hot") or sauteed, green Italian sweet peppers ("sweet").
Italian beef sandwiches can be found at most hot dog stands and small Italian-American restaurants throughout the city of Chicago and its suburbs. They are considered difficult to find outside the Chicago metropolitan area. |
In the Phoenix metro-area, however, Boomer’s Sweet Home Chicago has opened restaurants serving Italian beef, Chicago-style hot dogs, and other unique foods from the Chicago area.
Preparation
Italian beef is made using cuts of beef from the sirloin butt or the top/bottom round wet-roasted in broth with garlic, oregano and spices until medium rare. The roast is then cooled, shaved using a deli slicer, and then served dripping wet after a reintroduction to its reheated beef broth; hence the need to use a chewy bread, as a softer bread would disintegrate.
Origins
Origins of the sandwich are disputed, but one early vendor, Al's No. 1 Italian Beef, opened its first stand in 1938.
One story has it that the Italian Beef sandwich was started by Italian immigrants who worked for the old Union Stock Yards. They often would bring home some of the tougher, less desirable cuts of beef sold by the company. To make the meat more palatable, it was slow-roasted to make it more tender, then slow-simmered in a spicy broth for flavor. Both the roasting and the broth used Italian-style spices and herbs. The meat was then thinly sliced across the grain and stuffed into fresh Italian bread.
Italian beef became popular at Italian weddings, where it was an inexpensive meal to serve the guests. They would cook large quantities of the beef, and then make individual sandwiches which they served wrapped in paper.
Starting in the mid 1950's a Chicago restaurant was advertising "Pizza, Spaghetti, Ravioli, and Italian Beef Sandwiches" in the Chicago Tribune newspaper.
Variations
There are varying degrees of juiciness, depending on your taste. Nomenclature varies from stand to stand, but wet or dipped means the bread is quickly dunked in the juice; juicy even wetter; and soaked is dripping wet.
Most Chicago beef joints also offer a "combo," adding a grilled Italian sausage to the sandwich. Different eateries offer hot or mild sausage, or both.
Typical beef orders are:
Hot dipped: Italian beef on gravy-wetted bread and giardiniera.
Hot dipped combo: Italian beef and sausage on gravy-wetted bread with giardiniera.
Sweet dry: Italian beef placed on dry bread, topped with sweet peppers.
Gravy bread: meatless Italian bread soaked in the juice of Italian beef, often served with peppers or giardiniera. Also known in some places as "Soakers"
Cheesy beef or cheef: Italian beef with cheese (Provolone, Mozzarella or, rarely, cheddar); not all stands offer this.
Cheesy beef on garlic: Italian beef with cheese and the bread being pre-cooked and seasoned like traditional garlic bread.
Some folks order the "triple double," which consists of double cheese, double sausage and double beef.
Other even less common variations include substituting Italian bread with a large croissant or topping with marinara sauce. |
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