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If you love food and enjoy watching a good cutthroat restaurant drama, FX’s new original series The Bear is for you. The series, which launched on June 23, 2022 is all about food, family and the insanity of being a chef. It’s an ode to the lives of chefs and restaurant workers everywhere—constantly making sacrifices for the job.
The Bear follows Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), a young chef from the fine dining world, who finds himself returning home to Chicago to run his family’s sandwich shop—The Original Beef of Chicagoland—after a heartbreaking death in his family. Worlds away from what he’s used to, Carmy must balance the soul-crushing realities of small business ownership, his strong-willed and uncooperative kitchen staff and his strained familial relationships, all while grappling with the impact of his brother’s suicide.
As Carmy fights to transform both the restaurant and himself, he works alongside a rough-around-the-edges kitchen crew that ultimately becomes his chosen family. Apart from being a show about delicious food, The Bear is an emotionally charged narrative that authentically portrays the hard work and sweat that goes into keeping a restaurant going.
As I’m sure you can imagine, the signature dish of the restaurant is the Chicago Italian Beef Sandwich, a brawny sandwich roll overstuffed with thin sliced beef and sopping with garlicky brown gravy.
Related: 22 Mouthwatering Bagel Sandwiches to Upgrade Your Breakfast or Lunch
The sandwich is said to have originated with Chicago’s Italian immigrant population that worked in the stockyards back in the 1900s. The working men would bring home tough meat that couldn’t be sold, and turned it into something we’ve all come to know and love.
A Chicago Italian beef sandwich is composed of thin slices of seasoned roast beef, slow-roasted and simmered for hours in a spicy au jus. The meat is served on a long, soft, yet sturdy roll and dipped (or double-dipped) into the broth. The sandwich is typically topped off with Chicago-style giardiniera (pickled vegetables).
Chicago Italian Beef is made by slowly roasting top-round beef in a pan filled with seasoned beef-based stock. Once cooked it is sliced paper thin and left to soak in the hot beef juice for several minutes before being layered into a sliced open roll. The meat is topped with giardiniera, a simple condiment of hot pickles, peppers, carrots, cauliflower, green olives and more. Before serving the entire sandwich is dipped into the beef juice making the bread nice and wet.
If you’re looking for an authentic Chicago Italian beef sandwich, this recipe is it. A true beef sandwich must be cooked low and slow, creating the best Italian beef you’ve ever sunk your teeth into!
Sweet potato fries would be my first choice to serve along side the Chicago Beef Sandwich. However, if that isn’t an option for you, a cucumber and radish salad would also work well.
Trim fat from beef and set aside, you can always use it as the fat base if you have a food processor but if you don’t, cover the base of your pan with grapeseed oil.
Season beef with salt and pepper. In a large rondeau heat grapeseed oil under medium / high heat. Sear beef on all sides to brown.
Once browned, remove beef and rest on a half sheet tray with a cooling rack. Deglaze pan with your aromatics – the rough chopped, skin on, carrots, celery and garlic and stir with a wooden spoon to melt. Once all the fond has come up from the pan, deglaze with beef stock and stir.
Mix in dried herbs, bouillon, and seasonings.
Add beef back in with the torn or sliced green peppers, just make sure to remove all the seeds. Cook in oven set at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Checking internal temp to 140 degrees.
Once your beef has cooked, take it out and let it rest until cool.
Remove your peppers from the jus and place in to another large pot that is on very low heat, then strain your liquid to remove all the onions, celery, carrots, and garlic. Taste for seasoning and add salt if necessary.
Once the beef has fully cooled and rested, thinly slice the beef about half an inch thickness if you can and place it all back in the jus with the peppers.
Get all your buns ready to start building! Slice your bun in half and take a tong-full of your beef, lay it in gently, then stuff one of the peppers in there and top with your giardinara. Dip each corner into the jus and wrap up your sandwich in parchment or wax paper.
Theresa Greco is the author of the food blog The Food Hunter’s Guide to Cuisine, and the cocktail book My Favorite Cocktails. Stop by and see what she is cooking.
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© 2022 AMG/Parade. All rights reserved.
Your use of this website constitutes and manifests your acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy, Cookie Notification, and awareness of the California Privacy Rights. Pursuant to U.S. Copyright law, as well as other applicable federal and state laws, the content on this website may not be reproduced, distributed, displayed, transmitted, cached, or otherwise used, without the prior, express, and written permission of Athlon Media Group. Ad Choices
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