Chicago Style Italian Beef, made in your kitchen

One of my favorite things about Chicago is the food. We’ve got our own style of hotdogs & pizza. Chicago has areas around the city which highlight ethnic cuisines – Little Italy, Chinatown, and Little India. If you forced me to eat only one kind of Chicago food for the rest of my life, I’d pick an Italian Beef.

I’m sure you can get an Italian Beef sandwich in many other cities, but Chicago does it right. There are Italian Beef Restaurants that battle it out for the Best Beef in Chicago.  Personally, I’m a Portillo’s Girl. I grew up eating it and all of the other restaurants fall short in comparison.

I was out of town this weekend, but that doesn’t mean I can’t bring the taste of Chicago Beef with me where ever I go. I think my popularity level rises when I make things like this for other people. 🙂

If you have access to a crock pot, there is no reason why you can’t make this. I needed the beef to cook for 10 hours, so I put everything in the crock pot when I went to bed. I happened to wake up in the middle of the night, all I could smell was the Italian beef cooking away. I could hardly wait until lunch!

Lunch time finally came. I couldn’t have been happier. The beef was juicy and perfectly seasoned. If this is the only thing I could eat for the rest of my life, then sign me up!

Chicago Style Italian Beef Sandwiches (10 servings)

• 2 (14 oz.) cans beef broth
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 green pepper, sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 (.7 oz.) package dry Italian-style salad dressing mix
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 5 pound rump roast, seasoned with salt & pepper
• Crusty hoagie rolls
• Giardiniera (if you like things hot!)

Directions:

1. Put everything in the slow cooker except for the rump roast.  Stir it a few times so the seasonings are distributed throughout the crock pot. Add the seasoned rump roast. Cook for 10 hours.
2. Shred meat. Skim the cooking liquid for fat. Add the shredded meat back into the slow cooker. Serve on crusty hoagie rolls & top with hot giardiniera.