Few Chicagoans make this sandwich at home—why buy a professional-grade meat slicer when there’s a beef stand in every neighborhood? So I had a hard time tracking down a recipe when I moved to New York City. Finally, an old high-school classmate responded to my Facebook plea with a photo of a stained index card titled “Italian Beef—Aunt Tammy.” Aunt Tammy’s meat-slicer workaround involves a rump roast, a slow cooker, and some fork-shredding. Our adaptation calls for sirloin, thinly sliced in advance by your butcher, then quickly poached in the juice.
Featured in: The 2020 Saveur 100: 51-63