Italian beef

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Italian Beef, as served by Portillo's in Chicago, Illinois.

An Italian beef sandwich consists of thin slices of beef served inside Italian bread or some other crusty bread (often soaked), which has been cut lengthwise and into individual portions. (The "Italian Bread" commonly used in Chicagoland is a white loaf with a high gluten content and little to no sourdough flavor, made to be reminiscent of what many think of as being Italian restaurant bread). Even though it is served on Italian bread sliced lengthwise, this is the only thing it has in common with submarine sandwiches. Italian beef is made using cuts of beef from the sirloin butt (Scala's) or the top/bottom round wet-roasted in broth with garlic, oregano and spices until medium rare or medium. The roast is then cooled, then sliced very thinly ("shaved") using a deli slicer, and then served dripping wet after a reintroduction to its reheated beef cooking broth, topped off with sauteed green bell peppers, or hot Chicago-style "giardiniera" peppers (mix of Serrano peppers, carrot, cauliflower, celery, olives, and oil/spices), or rarely marinara sauce by request; hence the need to use a chewy bread for this dish: a softer bread would disintegrate.

The sandwich was featured on the PBS special Sandwiches That You Will Like.

1 Native locales
2 Possible origins
3 Variations
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Native locales

The Italian beef sandwich is a dish associated with Chicago. It is difficult to obtain outside the Chicago area. Italian Beef sandwiches can be found at most hot dog stands and small Italian-American restaurants throughout the city and its suburbs. Most Chicago hotdog-stand-style Italian Beef retailers purchase pre-seasoned, pre-cooked, and pre-sliced Italian Beef with separate cooking broth ("au jus"), and then heat and serve, while other retailers purchase the raw beef cuts and prepare it themselves. Chicago's favorite, highly-rated, or "famed" Italian Beef places typically prepare the beef themselves on their own premises according to their own recipes. Some produce their own homemade "hot giardiniera" too, but this is more rare.

[edit] Possible origins

As is the case with much of the life and culture of the immigrant classes during the turn of the 20th century, this dish has seen little documentation in print, and its origins may never be fully known.

The usual story (when a story is offered at all) seems to be that this dish is known as "Italian beef" because the vendors who once sold it in the street were of Italian descent. Another story is that an Italian chef wanted to spice up the traditional French Dip sandwich and he used garlic and oregano. Other places it is told that the name comes from the idea that Italians put a lot of seasoning on their beef ([1]).

Stylistically, the dish is typical of Italian-American immigrant cooking in America during the early 20th Century. Whereas in Italy at that time, particularly Southern Italy, meat was scarce, in America it was more readily available. The Italian-American immigrants adapted their cuisine and cooking to the products available to them. Like the ubiquitous Italian-American meatball, which is not considered particularly traditional Italian food in Italy, the Italian Beef and American roasts, became a part of Italian-American cooking in the New World.

One of stories about the origins of Italian Beef sandwiches is that it was started by Italian immigrants who worked for the old Union Stock Yards. They often would bring home some of the toughest, most unwanted cuts of beef sold by the company. In order to make the meat a little more palatable, it was slow-roasted to make it more tender, then slow-simmered in a spicy broth to add 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 for the guests. The women would make large quantities, and then make individual sandwiches which they wrapped in paper and served. [2]

[edit] Variations

A variation of the Italian Beef is the Italian Beef with cheese. It is sometimes called a Cheesey Beef or Cheef. While it is less traditional, a reasonable number of restaurants offer and serve this variation as part of their menus in addition to the more traditional recipe. Cheesey Beefs often include Provolone or Mozzarella but sometimes use cheddar in its place. The cheese is usually added to the Italian Beef last or right before the peppers. Italian beef with cheese is also frequently served on a croissant instead of on Italian bread. This variation of the Italian Beef is even more difficult to obtain outside of the Chicago area than the more traditional sandwich.

Most Chicagoland hot dog and hamburger joints also offer a Combo. This is simply an Italian sausage usually placed on the bottom with layers of Italian beef piled on top. This sandwich is referred to as a "Hook and Ladder" in several Chicagoland restaurants. Different eateries offer hot or mild sausage, or both. The proper way to order an Italian beef is a follows:

1. Italian beef with au jus and hot peppers or giardiniera equates to 'Hot Dipped'. 2. Italian beef with au jus, giardiniera along with an Italian sausage equates to 'Hot Dipped Combo'. 3. Italian beef with no au jus and sweet peppers (roasted green peppers) equates to 'Sweet Dry'. There are varying degrees of juiciness and depending on your taste, the sandwich should be ordered appropriately. For instance... Dipped = a quick dunk in the juice; Juicy = More wet than dipped; Soaked = Soaked.

If you want the taste of Italian beef but also would prefer not to eat such a large sandwich, a nice substitute is 'Gravy Bread.' Gravy bread is simply Italian bread soaked in the juice of the Italian beef and can be served with peppers or giardiniera.

There are some brave souls who order the 'Triple Double' which consists of three items, double cheese, double sausage and double beef. If one were to order the 'Hot Dipped Triple Double', it would equate to a Triple Double along with au jus and hot peppers or giardiniera.

Other even less common variations of the Italian Beef include substituting Italian bread with a large croissant, serving the beef dry (as opposed to sopping wet), or with marinara sauce.