Like I mentioned in a previous post, I've made Italian beef many times. Always good, never great. This was a major step forward. Most recipes you find typically are just a handful of ingredients. Italian herbs, hot pepper flakes, garlic,etc. The depth of flavor was never quite there for the gravy. The gravy, or juice, is really the star of an Italian beef. The beef is truly overcooked and if ate by itself is very dry. It's starving for moisture, which is where the beauty of the gravy soak comes in. The gravy has to be amazing because that is what the beef is soaking up.
I looked at a bunch of blog posts, YouTube videos, pictures from yelp, etc. I tried to put together a visual puzzle from different mediums. What did the juice look like before and after cooking. What did the meat look like etc. I finally came across a lonely unresponded to post on chowhound. It had a ton of ingredients, and seemed to be more of what I was looking for. I actually don't really remember what Al's gravy tasted like specifically as I've only had it once. I just remember a depth that I had never achieved. I thought it was odd that the chowhound post had no responses so wasn't sure if this would be close or not. I took a flyer, and from what I can remember of Al's, it was pretty comparable. That post was for 30 pounds of meat, so I modified the ingredients to a 3.5 pound roast. Also, I forgot the whole garlic cloves. I didn't really miss them, but will put whole cloves in like Al's does next time to compare.
The Spice mix was:
2.5 Tbs sweet paprika
1/2 tsp tumeric
1.5 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp tarragon
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1.5 tsp rosemary
1 Tbs whole fennel seeds
1.5 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp whole mustard seed
1 Tbs whole coriander
1/2 tsp thyme
1.5 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp whole allspice berries
1 tsp cinnamon stick pieces
1 tsp crushed bay leaf
1/4 tsp ground cloves
I mixed this all up, and gave it a light crushing with mortar and pestle. Most of the whole spices stay whole though.
Put about 12 cups hot water, and 2 tsp better than bouillon beef base in a large pot. Add about 3/4 of the entire Spice mix above, and mix well. The recipe on chowhound oddly did not call for salt. I added probably a good Tbs of salt. I also salted the roast. As stated above I should have thrown in about 4 to 5 whole cloves garlic paper and all.
Lower the salted beef roast into the water. I used bottom round, but I'm guessing any well marble roast would do. Al's uses sirloin I believe.
Cook uncovered in an oven set to 325. This would be a good candidate to try on the pellet grill since its cooked uncovered. Once the roast reaches 150, remove it from the broth uncovered to cool. Strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer.
Cool the beef and broth separately in the fridge overnight. The next day slice the beef as thin as you can on a slicer where it stays together, but almost falls apart. I sliced against the grain. I saw some videos of some of Al's slices that seemed to be with the grain. My guess is they throw it on the automatic slicer against the grain. When the roast changes direction, they just keep going. That would explain why you get the mix at Al's of falling apart shreds and whole pieces all at once.
Taste the gravy. It will probably need a little salt. Put the gravy in the oven at 250 in a pan. Once the gravy is warm add the sliced meat. My oven at 250 kept the meat/juice mix at about 150 to 160, which is what I was going for.
Let it sit in the gravy for as long as you wish. I did a few hours. Take a bolillo bread loaf (I can get fresh baked at Latin market, or even Kroger), and slice about 3/4 of the way through. Pile on some meat with juice, and top with giardiniera. I REALLY like the Vienna brand, so that is what I used. Wrap in double deli papers tight to roll it up, and slice down the middle.
You can dunk the entire bun in the gravy before wrapping, but that's too messy for me. It's sloppy enough as is.
An alternate version that I mentioned in the other thread was melted Swiss on the bread with spicy mustard and extra giardiniera. My wife even loved this version, and she's not that sort of gal usually.
