[CH] Italian Beef
Virginia H. Dimond (dimondcn@enteract.com)
Tue, 29 Feb 2000 13:05:20 -0600
>Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 08:35:42 -0600
>From: "David Cook" <zeb@austin.rr.com>
>Subject: Re: [CH] Regional food/Seedlings/Tabasco challenge
>
>Virginia,
>You're just mean! Now I'm going to be dreaming about Italian beef for
days.
>I haven't had one since I left the region 6 years back. Plus, you can't get
>decent hot gardinaria pickle outside the Chicago area either. I've bought
>stuff that claimed it was, only to find it was all vinegar, no oil, and no
>heat!
>
>David Cook
See below about the Italian Beef. If you'd like me to ship you some
giardenera, email me privately.
>Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 12:20:40 -0600
>From: "Judy Howle" <howle@ebicom.net>
>Subject: Re: [CH] Italian Beef Sandwiches recipes
>
>I did some research and came up with some recipes. Will have to try it,
>sounds great! Do any of these sound "authentic"?
[snip the recipes]
I've never made Italian Beef -- and really few people around here do. Why
make it when you can buy it at your local supermarket? It comes prepackaged
frozen, and most deli departments will throw in the Italian Gravy on request
when you buy sliced Vienna roast beef. I think the major deterrent to
making it from scratch is the need to slice the cooked beef paper-thin.
Unless you have an electric meat slicer, this can be difficult (and
tedious).
I think Judy's first recipe, "Mary's Italian Beef," is the most authentic.
The seasonings sound right. I would suggest you could use beef stock in
place of the drippings/water if you don't have any drippings available.
The good news is that if you live in the US, you don't have to make it. Lou
Malnati's (which is OK, but not great Chicago pizza, IMO) has a mail order
service, which includes Vienna Italian Beef. (Vienna is one of the major
manufacturers of Italian Beef, and a lot of small beef stands use it.)
It's pricey -- $50 for 2#'s of beef, plus the gravy, bread and a small
amount of giardinera, but if I ever moved I'm sure I'd bite the bullet and
order it on occasion.
http://www.deepdishpizza.com/priority.vienna.html
Lou Malnati's also sells mail order Chicago hotdog packs, but I don't know
why anyone would bother. The Vienna hotdogs are great, but most communities
have good dogs. Also pizza and Eli's Cheesecake -- yum!!!
Ginny