A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.
Bernard Meltzer

One of the many tasty treats in Chicago is a soft Italian roll or hoagie roll filled and dripping with thinly sliced Italian beef that went for a bath in roasted beef juices and dressed with peppers, onions, and hot giardiniera…Italian beef a mainstay for all kinds of parties and football games.  You usually can find a good Italian beef anywhere and a lot places have a party pack kind of setup for a large gathering, so I really never actually made Italian beef from scratch until today.

Generously season a roast that has been studded with garlic and rosemary with dried oregano, dried basil, dried marjoram, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes.  I sprinkled a little onion powder and paprika over the roast so many options out there’d I need to experiment further with the seasonings to get the flavors that I recall.  One day maybe I’ll order the blended spices from The Spice House sounds like a winner to me.  Clever people they are!

I didn’t want to go the slow cooker route the first time and chose to start with a hunk of sirloin tip roast well seasoned with the flavors used in some of the recipes that I looked at adjusting here and them to my own taste.  The roasting time after browning the roast stove top is not that long in a 325º preheated oven and only reaches a 130º internal temperature…yes rare or no more than just barely there med rare temp.  The meat basically cooks more while taking a nice hot bath in the beef juices.  Just slightly cooled and tightly wrapped in foil for a nice long chill in the fridge so that the meat can be sliced paper-thin on the slicer.

Place the browned roast on a roasting rack in a roasting pan about 2 inches deep.  Preheat oven to 325º

Now when it comes to the beef juice I read many opinions and methods until finally settled for a combination of things, including the deglazed pan juices from browning the roast (use some beef broth or stock to deglaze) before placing it in the oven .  A note here, I tossed in a thickly sliced sweet Vidalia onion before deglazing the pan and adding a combination beefy things that I had on hand since I am in no position to go gallivanting about for ingredients.  I tossed in some beef broth, veal stock to equal about 8 cups of broth and cooked it down for about 15 minutes before adding 4 cups or so to the beef roasting pan.

Slice the tightly wrapped and thoroughly chilled beef until slicing time, I like overnight.   Sauté peppers and onions, heat broth and make your sandwiches…dip beef into hot juices and make a sandwiches, serve with additional beef juice for dipping and lots of napkins.  Very good but I want a deeper Italian beef flavor like in Chicago!Enjoy at game time with a side of jus…