Portillo's Italian Beef Hack
Most major cities in the U.S. have a sandwich that locals proudly claim as their own. For Chicagoans that sandwich is the Italian Beef. Thin-sliced roast beef is dunked in herbed gravy to soak up the flavor, then it's stacked on a warm Italian sandwich roll and topped with sweet peppers or spicy hot Giardiniera. The recipe may seem like a simple one, but if any component of this iconic sandwich isn't faithful to the Chi-Town original, true beef fanatics will cry "foul" quicker than bleacher bums at Wrigley field.
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time15 mins
Total Time30 mins
Servings: 4
Author: Todd Wilbur
Ingredients
Gravy

1/4 pound beef fat trimmings
4 cups water
2 Knorr beef bouillon cubes (double-size cubes, or use 4 standard size)
1 1/2 teaspoons Kitchen Bouquet Browning & Seasoning Sauce
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
Pinch of MSG

Rolls and Beef

4 Turano, Gonnella, or Amoroso sandwich rolls
1 pound roast beef, London broil or Italian style roast beef, sliced very thin

Optional Topping

Marconi hot giardiniera --or--
Cooked sweet peppers

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Render the beef fat by chopping it into small bits (about the size of peas) with a food processor. Be sure the fat is very cold--it will chop better. If you don't have a food processor, you can chop the fat by hand. Use a sharp knife and cut it as small as you can. Heat up the fat in a sauté pan over medium heat until the bits are browned. Strain the solids from the fat and measure 1/4 cup of fat for the gravy.
Make the beef gravy by combining all of the ingredients, including the beef fat, in a medium saucepan over medium heat. When the mixture begins to boil reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, then turn the heat to low.
Make the sandwiches by heating up the rolls in the hot oven for 3 minutes.
For each sandwich, drop 1/4 pound of sliced beef (separate the slices) into the gravy for 2 minutes. Make sure the gravy isn't boiling. It should be around 180 degrees F. After the beef has soaked in the gravy, use tongs to arrange the beef on a warmed sandwich roll and top with your choice of hot giardiniera or sweet peppers. Or both. Spoon on some extra gravy just before serving.

How to make sourdough english muffins

These overnight english muffins are a great way to use leftover sourdough discard.

Please scroll down to the recipe card below for the full recipe, but here is an overview on how to make this recipe:

• Feed your sourdough discard and wait for it to become active.
• Perform a float test to make sure that your discard is active and ready.
• In a large bowl, combine your active sourdough starter with only 2 cups of the flour and water (reserve the remaining cup of flour for the morning). What you have created is called a poolish or levain. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to sit on the counter overnight (or 7-10 hours).
• In the morning, prepare a rimmed baking sheet by sprinkling it with half of the cornmeal.
• Mix the baking soda, salt, and sugar into the dough.
• Using 2 TBSP at a time, mix in the remaining 1 cup of flour, until the dough is no longer sticky.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll to a 1/2″ thickness. If you make them too thick, they won’t cook all the way through.
• Using a 3″ biscuit cutter, cut as many rounds as you can. You can reform the dough scraps back together and cut more, but be careful not to overwork your dough or your english muffins won’t turn out right. You should just be able to get twelve.
• Place the english muffin rounds onto the prepared baking sheet and lightly dust the tops with more cornmeal.
• Cover the english muffins with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rest for 45 minutes. They won’t rise much at this time. That is ok, the magic will happen when you start to cook them.
• Heat a lightly oiled skillet over medium high heat.
• Place an English muffin on the skillet and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until the bottom is light-medium brown.
• Flip over and cook for 3-5 minutes on the other side, until both sides are golden brown and the sides of the english muffin are dry. You can cook more than one muffin at a time, but do not crowd the skillet. Only do 2 or 3 at a time.

Ingredients

• 190 grams sourdough starter
• 100 grams milk
• 2 large eggs
• 100 grams flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 30 grams sugar
• 5 grams salt
• 20 grams butter (melted)

Steps to Make It

1. Gather the ingredients.
2. Preheat your waffle iron to medium or dark and preheat your oven to 200 F.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the sourdough starter, milk, and eggs until completely incorporated.
4. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet. Add the melted butter and mix until just incorporated.
6. Ladle onto the preheated waffle iron. Cook for approximately 4 minutes until golden brown and fragrant. Times will vary depending on your specific waffle iron.
7. Keep the first waffles warm in the oven while you cook the rest of the batter. When all of the waffles are done, remove from oven and serve immediately. Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to three days and heat before serving.

Recipe Variations

These waffles make a great stand-alone breakfast and they are fantastic as part of a big brunch spread. They also hold up well under extra toppings:

• Top with berries and whipped cream.
• Use as the bread element of a breakfast sandwich.
• Top with fried chicken and serve with syrup and hot sauce. The sourdough flavor of these waffles pairs beautifully with the chicken.
• Or go full savory, with toppings like gravy, cheese, bacon, and eggs.