There is no longer a local shop here to get a good one so I’d like to start making them at home. For those of you that do this, what steak do you use? And how do you slice it so thin? Or will the supermarket meat counter do this for you?
beef cut of your choice and budget…
except no eye round - it’s simply too lean.
the trick to thin slicing is to have it partially frozen.
that is a problem when asking the butcher/deli to slice it…
basically you have to buy/use your own slicer and learn how long it takes specific cuts/sizes to semi-freeze for optimum thin slicing.
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As HappyOnion says, just partially freeze a chunk of decent steak. Slice it as thinly as you can. Prep all the ingredients: sliced onions, coarsely (like biggest size of the box grater) grated provolone. Have fresh buns ready. Splash some oil on your cast iron grill, grill onions to translucent then move aside; more oil, toss on sliced beef and quickly stir-fry to rare; add and mix in cheese. Toss onion, beef and cheese together and stuff into buns.
This isn’t downtown Philly cheesesteaks but is a zillion times better! Enjoy.
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Sliced vs chopped?
Is it individual shop preferences or something else?
We need green bell pepper, too.
Never had bell peppers in any I’ve had.
My fav had onions, green bell pepper, and mushrooms, with a dash of brown sauce (which I’m guessing was a bit of soy and Worcestershire).
I partially freeze beef for grinding, but don’t have a slicer… do you think a mandolin would work?
I’m 3000 miles from Philadelphia.
You see all manner of “acccessories” out here.
I’d like to have a real one sometime just to compare.
The original…
Real ones are pretty bad. Decent meat, more steamed than seared, gloppy cheese. Grab the gist and make one at home.
Our experience has been at Pat’s and Delesandro’s plus a place on the northwest side, name forgotten.
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I’ve seen very thinly sliced/shaved beef at Trader Joe’s. Do you think that might work? I’ve never had a cheesesteak, but it sounds like it might be close to what you’re looking for.
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I’m in a small mountain town. And while I feel blessed to have a full blown Safeway (deli, bakery, meat counter, delivery) within a few miles, nearest Trader Joe’s is 90 minutes round trip.
Oh well!..Hope your quest is successful!
Thanks! I am now contemplating a food slicer. Dunno what I will use it for besides steak, but if I can find an easy to clean one that can also be used as a mandolin for veggies and cheese it might be worth it.
Any suggestions?
I love that stuff but it clumps like mad unless you finger separate it before tossing into your fry pan. Which is very time consuming.
You really only need to partially freeze your steak and use a knife. It needn’t be “shaved”, just thin. if you get it too thin, it won’t have any sear.
I remember my first cheesesteak in Philly. As we were approaching the restaurant, I told husband, “I’ve read all about these. i’m going to ace it! Going to ask for it as rare as they can make it.” So we enter and join the line, creeping toward the grill, where I finally saw to my horror a huge mass of raw meat being shoved onto the grill where it quickly turned grey, not brown, and was mooshed together with grilled onions, then cheeze glop mixed through it all. I thought husband would burst his seams laughing at me.
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Ok… just finished some quick research on meat slicers. All are a PITA to clean, and a decent one is 300 bucks or more… so no, not an option. Guess I’ll just use a knife.
Another thought might just be getting roast beef from the deli, sliced as thin as they can, and then just heating it with the veggies/sauce. Would that work well? Or is it just better to do it fresh?
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That’s sure not going to be worse than the real thing. But the real thing is really easy to do. And, yes, have had a meat slicer and unless you are doing professional quantities, they are a pain to clean…just for a handful of sandwiches.
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Never eaten one. How thin should the slice be?
Wait, what? So you’re inferring I can get similar results with deli roast beef and not have to mess with raw steak at all (letting me concentrate on a delicious veggie mix)? (c;
