Italian Beef with a Greek Influence 2/6/10

The New Year has started and is well on its way. Why does time fly by when you want to take it slow and easy? I would have thought that as fast as time is going by that I would be losing weight like crazy! Wrong, I postponed my New Year's resolution diet until after the Super Bowl. You have to have time to mentally prepare for a diet. Can you believe the Super Bowl is tomorrow and football is gone until late summer? I hope I can make it that long! Matt and the Bulldogs ended the season stronger than it started. I am looking forward to see what the next season brings to this very young football team. The biz is in full swing with one month into "Wave Season" My waves could be a little higher! HaHa! What is the old saying? Hang loose and catch a wave! I am good with that. Today I am going to put a twist on a Chicago Classic. Italian Beef with a Greek twist John's way! I have been making this version for over six years and it is has been a staple of ours during football season. My brother in law introduced me to this several years ago and we were sold at the very first whiff of this twisted classic. Not only is he one heck of a cook, he is one of the best Pit Master's around! Let's start with a little history of Italian Beef! An Italian beef is a sandwich of thin slices of seasoned roast beef, dripping with meat juices, on a dense, long Italian-style roll, believed to have originated in Chicago, where its history dates back at least to the 1930s. The bread itself is often dipped (or double-dipped) into the juices the meat is cooked in, and the sandwich is typically topped off with Chicago-style Giardiniera (called "hot") or sautéed, green Italian sweet peppers (called "sweet"). Pasquale Scala and the Scala Packing Company, Al’s #1 Beef, Pat Bruno or Italian immigrants who worked for the old Union Stock Yards in Chicago all claim to be the creator of this masterpiece. I do not claim to know who invented “The Italian Beef Sandwich”, but instead I will say Thanks to the contenders for giving me the base for my twisted version. One thing is for certain: the Italian beef sandwich will not be found anywhere in Italy. I will save the Philly Cheesesteak for another day as this is Chicago's day to shine. Enough of the history! This is one of those recipes that has very few ingredients, but will have the neighborhood knocking at your door. You must have a Crockpot. This is a very low and slow recipe. From the store you will need a four to five pound rump roast, two jars of Greek Peperoncini sliced peppers, Italian dry dressing packet, garlic, au jus and the bread of your choice. I told you this twisted version is simple! I typically start this the evening before I want to eat this. Are you ready? Get the old crock pot out and rub the inside with some olive oil. Take three or four cloves of peeled garlic and massage the inside of your crock pot. You know, just like giving a good back rub to your wife. I leave the garlic in the crock pot. Next your trim most of the fat, but not all from your rump roast. Gently place the rump roast in the crock pot and sprinkle the entire Italian dry dressing packet on the rump roast. Open both jars of Greek Peperoncini peppers and pour the entire contents over the rump roast. Yes that is correct, all of the liquid. Turn your crock pot on high and cook for three or four hours. Now is time for the low and slow part. Turn down to low and cook another eight hours at a minimum. I try to get twelve hours out of her before I even lift the lid. One thing I can tell you is that if you make this the night before you are going to have a hard time sleeping. This terrific aroma is so electrifying that even the dogs start howling. I kid you not when you wake up the entire house will smell like an Italian bistro. After twelve hours or so, slowly take the meat out and put it on a sheet pan. The meat will be incredibly tender at this point. Take a couple of forks and shred the meat apart. I would compare it to shredding a Boston butt for pulled pork. Once the entire roast is shredded take your two packets of Au Jus and stir them into the broth that is still in the crock pot. Sometimes I will add beef soup base and Oregano as well, but in this version I did not. Take the shredded roast on put it all back in the crock pot. I normally cook this for a couple of hours more on low to let everything join back together. At this point it is very hard to keep the lid on. I have tormented the family with this aroma for the last fourteen hours and they are very hungry at this point. Now all you have to do is take your favorite hard roll, slice her in half and place her in the broiler until she is toasty brown. In this particular version we were making what we call I-Beef Sliders so we used a small Hawaiian style roll. My preference is a crusty baguette or a hard Italian roll. Now comes the easy part. Take your toasted roll and pile the beef on and add some juice. Put a little press on it and go to town. Serve with your chip and condiments of choice. I promise you will fall in love with this recipe. Take this recipe tweak it to your liking, but most of all have fun. Playing with food is such an inspiration to me. I have to give thanks to my I-Beef followers for making sure that we have very few leftovers. Matt, Tyler, Jake, Arnell, Anthony and Mike H are my I-Beef groupies and whenever you are in town let me know and it will be my pleasure to crank the old crock pot up. I hope you too will one day get to share this Italian Beef recipe with your family and friends! Find something you enjoy and just do it! Have fun and smile! You never know what tomorrow will bring! Until next time, “Cookin with John” will be playing with some more food ideas to share with you!