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Perfect Chicago-Style Italian Beef Starts In Your Freezer

If you've watched Season 1 of "The Bear" on FX, you've probably seen an Italian beef, even if you didn't realize it. Succulent, ultra-thin slices of slow-roasted beef (drenched in au jus drippings) are first dressed with roasted peppers or Italian giardiniera then packed inside a fresh, chewy roll to make the famous Italian beef, a sandwich that has become a Chicago icon. Though you can order them at a few spots outside the Windy City, ideally, why would you? Making Italian beef sandwiches at home is a labor of love, but can be well worth the effort. The big trick is getting the meat sliced thinly enough, which is crucial for every perfect, messy bite.

The challenge to getting paper-thin slices is two-fold. First, you're slicing the meat — usually a big hunk of lean top round roast or top sirloin – after you've roasted it in stock. This means your meat will be pull-apart tender, which can result in torn slices and uneven, awkward cuts. The second is technological: Delis and restaurants use commercial meat slicers which create consistent wafer-thin slices. It can be much harder to try and replicate the results from an adjustable, motorized blade using just a kitchen knife. Luckily, there's a simple trick that will help deal with both issues: partially freezing the beef before you slice it. Freezing is a clever hack for easily grating butter, and it works for making meat easier to cut as well.

Tips for freezing beef to slice

First and foremost, remember that you're not deep-freezing the beef roast for long-term storage. Instead, the idea is to firm up the meat for easy cutting. This method is called par-freezing and, to do it successfully, it's important not to let the meat chill more than about 30 minutes to avoid letting it get too hard. If you do accidentally leave the beef in the freezer for too long, it will be nearly impossible to cut.

Because you don't want the meat to dry out, it's best to wrap it tightly in plastic wrap before popping it in the freezer. This is not a required step, but it will help trap the juices and keep your meat moist. While the meat is freezing, you can work on other dishes or prepare a homemade giardiniera that can be customized (the way many of the best places in Chicago for Italian beef do it). You can also spoon up a store-bought version like Mezzeta Chicago-style hot giardiniera or try the milder version from Eastern Feast.

Getting the thinnest slices possible

When the beef is ready to come out of the freezer, unwrap it and set it on a large, sturdy cutting board. Using a clean, well-sharpened chef's knife, go ahead and slice the meat as thinly as you can. The slices don't need to be perfect and it's okay if you get a half or a third of a piece off the exposed face each time, since you're folding the meat into the sandwich anyway. 

An alternative to laborious, possibly frustrating hand-slicing is buying pre-sliced roast beef. It won't be quite as flavorful, since it didn't slow cook in au jus, but it will still be tasty. Find a deli that knows what they're doing and order the thinnest slices they offer. If they have an option for shaved slices, go for that. For this method, you'll need to make your own au jus, since you don't have drippings to work with. This can be done using beef stock, spices, and Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce. The goal is to infuse the meat with rich beefy flavors, by simmering the deli meat in your stock-based au jus.

Any way you cut it (or don't), once you have your beef slices, it's time to build that perfect at-home Italian beef in all its sloppy glory. You can even make like the pros and ask your guests whether they want their Italian beef dry or wet, and sweet or hot. 

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