Growing up in our family Italian restaurant, Italian Beef was always sliced beef, simmered in its jus. I had no idea it existed differently – until my mom started making it like this! I must say, it’s hard to go back to the sliced Italian Beef after you’ve experienced and tasted just how real and delicious this version is!
People raised on Portillo’s may not consider this “real” Italian Beef- an example of one such instance to follow.
So I had a college boyfriend, my first real, serious boyfriend. I was states away from home at a huge Big 10 school with people from all over the world. Well, in the second year of our relationship, I spent a lot of time at his apartment, which he shared with three other guys. None of them cooked, (none of them ever cleaned a single thing, ever, either, but that’s not the story here) and I believed in home-cooked dinners.
There’s just something about eating actual food that someone has cooked at home, using real ingredients, that’s good for the body and soul. Now- I’m not knocking restaurants, I climbed the ranks in restaurants and was a restaurant chef for decades. I ran restaurants. I ran kitchens. I made really good food. However, sometimes facilities are a bit limited in the ingredients (or the quality of them anyway) they can procure.
We all know that sometimes as quantity increases, quality decreases; as much as we wish it weren’t true. Trust me, I’ve spent a lot of my career fighting that fight.
Anyway, back to the college guy. He was from Chicago, and he loved Italian Beef. So for his birthday, I decided I’d pull out all the stops and make him a real good Italian Beef sandwich. I made my own rolls, I went and found a really good-looking cut of meat, I used all fresh herbs for my Italian seasoning blend, I did it up. I took the day off of classes and work to make all this magic happen.
Well, he got home from class in the early evening, I poured us each a drink and began to prepare his plate while he showered and unpacked his backpack and all that.
He walked into the kitchen and complimented my drink and how good everything smelled. I was feeling over the moon- everything had turned out so delicious and perfect and I was so excited for him to experience how amazing this meal was about to be!
I set his plate down in front of him and his face did NOT light up how I imagined it would. Instead, he looked at it, picked the sandwich up, put it back down, looked at me, and said, “Um babe, what is this?”
I immediately felt a little crushed, but also a little bit like “is he dumb?”
I said, “It’s Italian Beef! Your favorite!”
He laughed, and said, “Um no this is not,” laughed again, and said, “I don’t think you know what real Italian Beef is.”
Needless to say, that relationship did not last much longer.
The roommates ate it instead, loved it, and couldn’t stop complimenting every component. I was very vulnerable and definitely crushed, and it took me a long time to cook for someone else again. It took even longer to feel confident about what I made for others.
Don’t be that guy though, even if your true love is Portillo’s – just give this a try 😉
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BEST Italian Beef
Equipment
- Dutch oven 6 qt
- Chef's knife non-serrated for slicing onion
Ingredients
- 3 lb Chuck roast
- 2 Tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
- 1/2 ea white onion, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1 c beef broth
- 12 oz jar of whole pepperoncini (can use sliced if you prefer)
- 3 Tbsp Italian seasoning (make your own blend with this easy recipe!)
Instructions
- Prep all ingredients first. Slice the onion into ~1/2 inch slices. Peel and crush the garlic cloves.
- Drain half of the liquid from the jar of pepperoncini, discard that. Save the remaining half inside the jar with the pepperoncini.
- Place Dutch oven on stovetop, turn heat to medium-high. Let pan heat for a minute. Add 2T ghee, let heat for a minute and fully melt.
- Now you can preheat the oven to 400F.
- Using tongs, carefully add chuck roast to the dutch oven. (It could splatter a bit, be prepared for that)
- Let roast sear on this side for 4 minutes. DO NOT touch the meat until that timer is done!
- Using tongs and caution, carefully flip the roast over. Set a timer for 4 minutes and do not touch the meat until then. The first side should have a beautiful dark brown color to most of it.
- Remove roast from pan, set aside on a plate. Reduce heat (medium-low, your dutch oven is probably very hot at this point!) and add onion and garlic to the pot. Stir with wooden spoon. [Do you smell that!? SO GOOD!]
- Let cook for about 1 minute, stirring occasionally. If you still see brown bits on the bottom of the pot, add a splash of beef broth and stir with wooden spoon to release all that goodness.
- Turn off heat. Move onions to the sides a bit, return roast to pot, place some onions on top. Add the remainder of the ingredients to the pot (Italian seasoning, pepperoncini, beef broth).
- Carefully cover dutch oven with lid, using hot pads place into oven on center rack. Cook at 400F for 30 minutes, then reduce heat to 300F for three hours.
- Carefully remove from oven and shred the beef inside the pot. It should be fall-apart tender! Serve on your favorite rolls, as a bowl on potatoes, or just on its own with a fork!
Notes
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe?
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