Chicago-Style Italian Beef

Hello my Hy-Vee friends!

For those of you who don’t know, I grew up in Chicago and when I say Chicago, I mean I could hear the Cubs play from my window. Anyways, today I woke up home sick and the only thing that could cure my blues was some iconic Chicago food. Hot dogs, deep dish pizza or grilled Polish sausages would have all been good options, but what I wanted was Italian Beef. What’s Italian beef? It’s a delicious concoction of thinly beef slowly simmered in a rich beef stock that is stuffed into a hoagie. I like mine as a combo hot and wet. A combo is when you add a beautifully charred Italian sausage, hot means that it is loaded with hot giardiniere and wet means the whole thing is dunked into that beautiful broth that the beef was swimming in.

Luckily, while I can’t be in Chicago, I can replicate this dish fairly easily at home.

Easy Chicago-Style Italian Beef

All you need:

2 cans beef stock

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon granulated garlic

1 pound DiLusso rare roast beef (from our Delicatessen)

4 hoagie rolls

Hot or mild giardiniere

This Chicago-Style Italian Sandwich Mix Hot Giardiniere from Mezzetta is my favorite!

All you do:

1. In a large pot, place the beef stock with the oregano, basil and garlic. Bring to a boil and turn down to a simmer.

2. Add the beef and simmer for about 10 minutes. 

3. Remove meat from the stock and divide among the four rolls. If you like it wet and hot, dip into the broth and add the hot giardiniere.

4. Enjoy!

As always, Praise the Lard!

-Chef Alex