8 cups of Good Homemade Beef Stock (or high quality store bought)
1 Garlic Head, Sliced In Half
Giardiniera (link to Adams recipe)
French Rolls
Roasted Bell Pepper
Salt to taste
1.5 Tbsp Fennel Seeds
2 tsp Coriander Seeds
2 Tbsp Sweet Paprika
2.5 Tbsp Dried Oregano
2.5 Tbsp Dried Basil
2.5 Tbsp Dried Thyme
1.5 Tbsp Red Chili Flake (will be spicy)
1.5 Tbsp Black Peppercorns
In a pan on medium heat, add the whole spices (fennel, coriander, peppercorns) and toast for 2-3 minutes until fragrant. Then add the ground spices to toast (paprika, oregano, basil, thyme, chili flake) and toast for another minutes or two, making sure you don’t burn any of the spices. Once they all smell fragrant, turn off the heat and pour the spices on a piece of parchment paper and then use that parchment paper to funnel the spices into a spice blender, mortar, and pestle or blender and blend the spices until they are finely ground. Set aside.
Before searing the beef, season it with salt liberally. You could also salt the beef a day ahead and allow it to sit in the fridge, uncovered overnight, to season the meat throughout and to dry out the exterior of the beef to promote better browning.
Get a large Dutch Oven on medium to medium-high heat and add a little olive oil. Add the beef fat side down to sear and render out some of that fat. You do not need super high heat here, take your time developing a nice crust on all sides except the lean side of the beef which will be exposed in the oven and get plenty browned throughout the cooking process. Once all the sides are browned, place the lean, unseared side of the beef facing upwards and add the halved garlic. Toast the garlic for a minute and then deglaze with the beef stock then add the spices. Stir in the spices and then bring up to a simmer. Once simmering, transfer that to a 375 F degree oven for about 3 1/2 hours. We want the beef to begin to tenderize and break down but we do not want it to shred like a pulled pork. So you want it knife tender but still to hold together to allow us to slice it easily. Once the beef is properly cooked, strain the beef jus of the spices and the garlic and then return to the pot to allow to cool. Once cool enough, transfer the entire pot into the fridge and allow it to cool overnight to firm up completely before attempting to slice it.
Once it's completely chilled and firm, you can use a mandolin, the jumbo size is best, and if you have a deli slicer like my grandma used to have, even better. Return the beef jus to the stove to get hot. Slice the beef as thin as you can, maintaining slices of beef rather than shreds but if some of the edges shred, that's fine, I like that contrast in textures. Once the beef is sliced, transfer the sliced beef into the hot beef jus and allow the beef to reheat and continue to tenderize in the hot broth until you're ready to make the sandwiches.
In a 450 F degree oven, roast some cheeks of bell pepper that have been tossed in salt and olive oil, skin side down until the peppers are charred and softened. The Giardiniera is hot and the bell peppers are sweet, so when you order it hot you’ll get Giardiniera, if you order it sweet you get bell peppers, so if you order hot and sweet you’ll get both. So you can customize the sandwich to your liking.
To assemble, open up your roll, grab some wet meat and hover the meat over the roll to allow the juices to cover the inside of the roll, then pack in the meat. If you like it hot and sweet, add Giardiniera and sweet peppers. This would be referred to as ‘wet’. Most people prefer their sandwiches ‘dipped’, which requires you then to dip the whole sandwich into the jus and then serve. Regardless of how you like it, ya then wrap it in parchment paper, and then you’re ready to serve. I like it wet with a side of jus so I then treat it more like a French dip but this sandwich is better than French dip. It's amazing and must be tried.
