Chicago Italian Beef

"You'll be sorry you didn't grow up in Chicago, and eat one of those wonderful beef sandwiches from Carm's. This tastes identical. This wonderful recipe came from my sister Linda knowing how homesick I am for Chicago food. Start cooking 18 hours before you want to eat."
 
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photo by SharonChen photo by SharonChen
photo by SharonChen
photo by m.nasti_shop photo by m.nasti_shop
photo by SharonChen photo by SharonChen
photo by SharonChen photo by SharonChen
photo by SharonChen photo by SharonChen
Ready In:
18hrs 10mins
Ingredients:
7
Yields:
5 lbs meat
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ingredients

  • 5 lbs rump roast (do not substitute for a different type roast)
  • 2 (10 1/4 ounce) cans beef consomme (Broth)
  • 1 (1 ounce) package Good Seasonings Italian salad dressing mix
  • pepperoncini pepper (1/2-1 jars depending on level of spiciness)
  • giardiniera (1/2-1 jars)
  • 3 -5 sweet green peppers (according to size)
  • 1 loaf long thin French bread
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directions

  • Cook first 5 ingredients in a Crockpot on LOW for 18 (eighteen) hours.
  • Turn over at the 6th and 12th hour interval.
  • At the 17th hour cut sweet green peppers into 1/8 ths lengthwise and cook in water on low heat until soft.
  • Cut bread into 6 inch lengths and slice on the side lengthwise.
  • Pull roast apart with a fork, and using tongs, pile bread with meat and juice.
  • (Do not let juice drain before putting on bread. The juice is half the taste of the sandwich.) Lay strips of green pepper on top of the meat.
  • Salt to taste.
  • OPEN WIDE and enjoy the most wonderful taste sensation.
  • May be frozen when cooked.

Questions & Replies

  1. Do you poor the juice from the pepperincini and giardinera in the slow cooker as well?
     
  2. Could this be done in an instant pot/pressure cooker? If so how long?
     
  3. I've eaten at both Mr. Beef & Al's for yrs. Moving to Florida the most I miss most are the beef sandwiches. Your recipe doesn't seem to include enough liquid & how or when to slice the meat. We have a home deli slicer.
     
  4. If you want a little kick you can use more pepperocini and giadinera juice and use less broth/water
     
  5. Are we draining the pepperoncini and giardinera?
     
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Reviews

  1. Moonbugz, this recipe is GOLDEN!!! I have tried about 5 different Italian Beef recipes from this site and AllRecipes trying desperately to make a beef like those I grew up on in Chicago. While many of them were decent, they weren't excellent and they certainly weren't authentic. I grew up near Carm's and while it wasn't my favorite place to get beef's, it was a definite contender. I followed your recipe pretty closely. I used two 2.5 pound roasts, used 2 packages of Italian Seasoning, used 1/2 of a large jar of spicy pepperoncini and used half of a large jar of HOT giardiniera. I omitted the green peppers because I didn't have them and also because my favorite beef's never included green peppers (unless you added them to the side) and HOLY COW were these off the charts EXCELLENT! My husband is from New York and doesn't know what an Italian Beef is and he's never thought much of all my previous attempts at making it. He couldn't stay out of my crockpot before dinner was even done! That is a HUGE compliment! Also, using two smaller cuts of beef caused the cooking time to decrease quite a bit. Mine was falling apart by the 13 hour mark. I'm salivating just thinking about the leftovers today and the gravy bread the day after that! TO DIE FOR! This is my official favorite Zaar recipe of all time - brings me home! Thank you Moonbugz! OUTSTANDING!
     
  2. It's the best, tried a few on different sites. This has the most well rounded flavor. Some alterations, did 2 0.7 oz organic Italian salad dressing seasoning (whole foods).... Some are pretty salty. Whole jar sliced pepperoncini (16 oz) and fluid. 1/2 jar of giardineira with liquid. And the topper is making up some mild Italian sausages to combo up with the meat. Also added some more giardineira in conjunction with the giardineira in the recipe. It's a winner! Tasty!
     
  3. Perfection! The only problem I had with the recipe was keeping my fork out of the crock pot!!
     
  4. Wait....a pulled Italian beef sandwich? What? Not in Chicago...nope. This recipe looks tasty enough, and I may even TRY it one day. But "Chicago Style Italian beef" this is not.
     
  5. This was our first recipe we tried and we are glad we picked this one. We absolutely loved this! We used Bell Peppers instead of the sweet peppers and didn't cook them. They still tasted great! We've been telling people about this recipe and now we have to give them a copy. We used about a pound more of rump roast because we couldn't find anything smaller. We bought a large loaf of bread and toasted it, then spooned on the Italian beef (with the juice) onto the bread and cut it from there. Also, we found that if you only cook it for 12 hours, it still comes out nice and tender. Again, we are very happy that you posted this recipe. Thanks so much!
     
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Tweaks

  1. I have used pork loin, Boston Butt, various cuts of beef, but the one thing I always do is quarter garlic cloves and, using a pairing knife, insert them into the cut of meat. I also add extra cocktail onions.
     
  2. This is a language usage comment. I don't know what it is about recipes and substitute, but "substitute for" tells me you guys want me to substitute the specified rump roast FOR some other, unspecified cut of beef. That is obviously incorrect. You should just delete the "for" so it says "do not substitute a different type roast." or you could say "substitute with", but the "with" is unnecessary. You could even say, "only use rump roast, not other cuts of beef." and avoid the ambiguity altogether.
     
  3. Slow-cooked in the oven using my own seasonings and bone broth.
     
  4. Nothing didn’t have to!
     
  5. See above.
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I grew up in Chicago and lived there for a total of about 45 years. Somehow I must have alot of gypsy blood in me, and have traveled and lived many places across America. I've managed restaurants, and my foremost passion is food. My other passion is creating southwestern pottery, which is on a back burner right now.
 
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