Over the holidays we drove from Saskatchewan to Columbus, Ohio for a wedding. We spent Christmas in Chicago and got to enjoy wet hot Italian beef sandwiches. Wow, they were great! A big thanks to my wife who found the place, Al’s #1Beef.
the kind of sandwich that takes you from very hungry to nap time
Did you watch The Bear? I think we made beef sandwiches three weeks in a row while we were watching it.
My mind went to a different type of porn with the title
oh man so many good memories. Where are the peppers?
Okay I’ve never heard of this before and I need to ask: what makes it “wet”?
Matt Damon, mostly.
But also, the sandwich is dipped in the au jus the meat is cooked in.
if you treat her nicely and you’re good with your hands, you may discover
Sometimes you just make her fart.
Au jus.
just look at it
The meat is basically slow cooked in a vat of fat, meat drippings, and broth. A wet Italian Beef is when you dip the bread of the sandwich fully into that vat, then pile the meat on top.
Thank you! I’ve never come across one but it sounds delicious.
I think the closest I’ve had is getting a beef sandwich with a pot of gravy to dip it in myself.
A true great of the sandwich world. Just make sure you sit down to eat it.
Al’s Beef is a national treasure.
Chicagoing intensifies
I will make this this weekend. Damn, that looks good.
Don’t forget the giardinera!
Looks soggy as fuck, they dunk the whole sandwich before giving it to you??
You can order it dipped, wet, or dry. Wet is the traditional so it usually just has one or two ladles of juice poured over it. Dipped is when they dunk the whole thing. But the bread is high quality so it can usually take it. I prefer wet myself (hehe).
I think I’d have to try one before I could get on board. Doesn’t look particularly appealing to me.
It was one of the go-to easy meals in my household growing up and everyone likes a different amount added. My sister won’t add any, I like a scoop or two, my dad is pretty generous with it, and my mom dunks.
So, no wrong way to enjoy it. In my opinion, the bread absorbs what’s on the meat and it gets kinda dry pretty fast if you don’t add any.
They’re right about the bread, it holds its shape very well when saturated. It will turn to mush if you let it sit there but if you’re eating it fresh, it makes each bite a lot more flavorful without sacrificing texture. It’s like…a really tasty sponge.
Hmm, I’ll have to try one some day. What part of the world is this available in?
Probably anywhere in the US with an Italian-American population. It’s big in Chicago
Cool, thanks!
A good number of places also will sell “gravy bread” which is just the roll dipped in beef gravy (juice).
I prefer dipped, but wet is acceptable. When it is dry the roll can give too much resistance. Beef, hot, dipped… now I’m hungry
Yeah they drench it, and it’s amazing. There is a whole stance you take to eat it too keep clean.
I make roast beef all the time with carrots, onions, potatoes and mushrooms. Never once had the thought of adding it to a roll. Chicago’s food is something else.
