Chicago Italian Beef Sandwich

By HeatherS

Ingredients

• SPICE MIX
• 3 tablespoons Italian seasoning
• 2 tablespoons fine sea salt
• 2 tablespoons freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon red chili flakes
• 4 pounds beef top round, with fat cap
• 3 tablespoons bacon fat or canola oil
• 3 yellow onions, chopped
• 1 cup garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 cups beef stock (I recommend Kitchen Basics)
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 sourdough hero or hoagie rolls, split and toasted
• 1 cup chopped drained
• Guido's Hot Italian Giardiniera (under cookbook misc)
• 1 cup jarred red bell peppers, sliced 1/4-inch thick

Details

Servings 6

Preparation

Step 1

1. Combine all the ingredients for the spice mix. Rub the meat with the spice mix, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours. (Store any remaining spice mix in a tightly capped jar.)

2. Preheat the oven to 275°F.

3. On the stovetop, in a roasting pan over high heat, add the bacon fat. When smoking, add the beef and cook for 15 minutes, turning the meat often, until it is nicely browned on all sides. Add the onions and cook for 5 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the wine, Worcestershire, stock, and bay leaves and scrape up all the browned bits.

4. Transfer the pan to the oven and roast the meat about 1 hour 30 minutes, uncovered, until an instant-read thermometer in the center registers 135°F. Remove the meat and let it cool.

5. Cool the broth in the roasting pan and remove the fat that rises to the top. Strain.

6. When the meat is cool, slice it very thin. Reheat the broth and add the meat.

7. Place some meat on each roll, ladle some broth over the meat, and top with giardiniera vegetables and red peppers