Having two kids, most of my time in the off-season is dedicated to Disney+, which is really nearly 24/7 Bluey. Somehow in the little time I did have, I found Ted Lasso, and now I’m like a tick ready to pop for Season 3. It also left me with a craving for more smart television.
My buddy Al Hess, owner of Biscuits & Jams here in Lake Charles, turned me on to The Bear a couple months ago.
Now I, like most chefs, was leery. Realistic kitchen drama is hard to simulate, and even more so, extremely challenging to shoot.
The Bear is something different. We’ve all watched at least one of the 9,000 cooking/baking competition shows and get an unrealistic view of what we think the culinary world might be like. Carmy rips that sweaty gauze covering the severe burn you got when bumped into the Magnalite of smothered potatoes, just rips it right off.
The Bear is a raw nerve exposed from the jump. Instantly enthralling and blood pressure raising at the same time, and with an attention to detail that makes it a complete must watch. And it happens to take place in Chicago.
Now, North Beach, San Francisco, the epicenter of the Beat Generation and home of Joe DiMaggio, is widely known in the Bay as Little Italy. While I’ve lived all over the 7×7 peninsula and ate nearly everything you could think of there, I never really got a great Original Beef sandwich.
Which brings us to the perfect collaboration for NFL Week 1.
Bay Area fans anxiously await the start of the Trey Lance Era as the 49ers travel to take on what is also, in some ways, the start of the Justin Fields Era in Chicago.
With that in mind, The Tailgate Kings are cooking down a Little Italy Beef Sammy for the game.
We’re also issuing a challenge to all the Knights of the Tailgate! Send us pictures of your own version of our recipe! We’d love to see them! And be sure to let us know what you’d like to see for future Tailgate Menus!
Hit me up on Twitter @TheTailgateKing !
But for now, The Little Italy Beef Sammy………oh, and Niners win 33-16.
The Little Italy Beef Sammy
What We Need:
5 lbs of sirloin or round cut
Beef broth
Red wine (If you wouldn’t drink it, don’t cook with it)
Bread (We went with Italian, but your bread choice should be able to handle some absorbing)
1 Large Onion
3 Green Hatch Chilis (or hotter, if you like)
2 Green Bell Peppers
Assortment of Sweet Peppers
Pickled giardiniera (you can pickle your own, but store bought is fine)
Garlic cloves
Grapeseed or Olive Oil
Fresh Herbs (thyme, rosemary, oregano, parsley, sage)
Salt & Pepper
What We Are Doing:
Quick note: Beef is even better if you prep it the day before and let it rest in the jus.
Start by adding your stock to a pot and reducing it by half to fortify.
After you’ve chosen your heat level for your peppers, take them, the green bells, your onion, and a little garlic, and chop them for sautéing.
Dust out your fresh herbs.
Then sweat onions, peppers, and garlic in grapeseed oil, slowly adding in the herbs. Once translucent, add a cup and a half of red wine and cook till the alcohol is burned off.
Add all to reduced, fortified stock, and continue to simmer.
Preheat over to 275.
Season meet with salt & pepper.
Add more oil to sauté pan and put on high heat. Once ready, sear your meat on all sides evenly. Then pull from the heat and let it rest.
In a large oven ready pan, carefully add your braising liquid from the stock pot. Then add your meat, making sure to get it nice and coated before setting it down, fat side up. Cover with foil and then set in oven for at least two hours or until the internal temperature of the meat gets to 155.
Smash garlic cloves. Then, in foil with some grapeseed oil, add them to the oven to roast alongside your meat for 25 to 30 minutes.
When garlic is finished and your meat still in the oven, julienne your sweet peppers. On a medium heat, sauté peppers with roasted garlic. Salt & pepper to taste. Prep giardiniera.
When meat has finished, set aside to cool both the liquid and rest the meat.
Then, thinly slice beef and return it to braising liquid.
Toast your bread, and then rub it full of your roasted garlic spread. Then dip it in the au jus until soaked.
Add thinly sliced beef, followed by the peppers, and then the giardiniera. Close sandwich and dip again if needed. Then wrap it up in parchment and foil and let it rest for five minutes.
Cut that baby open, throw some extra au jus for the love of it, and garnish with a pickled English cucumber and radish salad.
Or French fries!
