Made a killer Italian beef yesterday.  This is a chuck roast, not the optimal cut for Italian beef, although that can be disputed.  One fellow mentioned that the extra marbling made it “more luxurious”.  Leaner, cheaper cuts are favored, if only for economic reasons,  I had this in the freezer and wanted Italian beef.  I stuck several cloves of garlic into it, into both sides, and rubbed it all over with oregano, basil, marjoram, onion powder, and salt and pepper.  Include garlic powder with the rub if you aren’t using the cloves, or even if you do!  Add a cup of water to the pan to make collecting the drippings easier.  Now place it into a 325 oven:It spent about an hour and a half in there, internal temps were a shade on the rare side but it was going to cook more later so that was fine.  Put it into the freezer to firm up for slicing, then start on your sandwich rolls.  I’ve been using this recipe with great success.

The beef should be ready for the slicer by now.  I’ve had this model for a long time, not deli shop quality but it does OK.Now then, toss all of this stuff along with the pan drippings into a big sauce pot and add two or three cups of beef broth that has more of the same spices in it, some folks use a packet of Italian salad dressing mix.  I’ve used it and it works great.  I usually add a few dashes of steak sauce to the mix, and some red pepper flakes.  Don’t forget the garlic!  I added some garlic powder even though I had a lot of garlic that roasted with the beef, you can hardly have too much.  Bring it all to a simmer and let it cook for an hour or two. Or three. Most of that extra fat will render out so you may want to chill it in the fridge to solidify the fat on the top so it can be picked out.The aroma from this will have you and all of your critters salivating.  Go ahead and sneak a little – cook’s perk!  I would recommend this sampling method:The giardiniera is a staple of the Chicago-land sandwich shops, or so I’ve been told.  Several times.  It is good on there.