BTW… I have become so enamored with the flavor of these smashed meat balls (for this and my burgers), last week I made chili… and instead of just browning 2 lbs of beef in a large skillet, I formed a dozen of these balls and smashed them 3 at a time, before adding them to the other ingredients in my stand mixer to break it all apart, and add it to the crock pot.
That was the only change I made to my standby chili recipe and the results were surprising (so much beefier).
So maybe “smash-meat” is a new cat for ingredients. (c; Wonder what it would do to a Bolognese?
So sorry, but just one more “BTW” while I am thinking about this:
I’ve never been a “pink in the middle” boy. While I like tender and juicy, looser pink meat in the center of my burger turns me off, and a reason why I never order/make a half pound burger (I’d order/make it med/well, and it would be dry, grey, and tasteless on the inside).
But these smash burgers… there is no pink (and no grey). They’re brown with a great crust, and amazingly tender, juicy, and flavorful. To be honest, since they are seared to within an inch of their lives, I have no idea how they come out so tender and juicy (although I do understand why they are so flavorful).
Wished I discovered this years ago. Yeah… I had heard of them, but it wasn’t a trend in So Cal when I lived there. And up here it is quite a trip to hit up a place that does them this way so I never bothered.
Thinking of opening a restaurant in town called “SmashVille” as there is no place left here that can do a decent (let alone stellar) burger. (c;
OK… I’ll climb down from my soap box now. Just wanted to underline/reiterate/obnoxiously harp about how great these are. (c;
Nothing to apologize for.
I’m team pink though.
You’ll find smashed thin burgers, frequently with grilled onions smushed in, east of the Rockies.
I don’t see em up here in Oregon.
We used to get these at a drive-in in El Paso in 1963. Double patties in fact. Seared yet juicy. I used to copy them at home, rolling out the patties between waxed paper to probably 3/16". 5 inch buns, all the trimmings. Need to revisit these. Thanks for the memory nudge.
Hi Scott, coming in late to your thread but rather than calling what you are making a Philly cheese steak, just call it a cheese steak sandwich. That way you can go in whatever direction you please and not worry about how it compares to the original especially if you haven’t had it in Philly. I’m not from or have lived in Philadelphia but my son goes to school there so we have had several occasions to try it. Its not a fancy sandwich, but a greasy slippery mess. Tasty but when you start adding mushrooms and peppers and fancy cheese with sauce, you’ve deviated enough that Philly is far back in the rear view mirror as you drive west. It sort of like clam chowder. There are three primary regional variants where I am. New England, Manhattan and Rhode Island with Rhode Island being the simplest and my favorite for the clean essence of clams. Throw in tomatoes or cream and its something different. Chowder family, but the thing that gave it the regional touch is now gone. Getting back to Philly, a much better sandwich is the roast pork with greens and provolone. Beats the cheese steak but a mile.
As to chili, try making it with chunks of meat, not ground, which you can give a good hard sear. Cook the meat with lots of dried chilis that you soak and then blend. No tomatoes. Will be a revelation.
As to smash burgers, its a pretty established alternative for burgers these days. So much so that there is a chain called Smashburger.
Yeah… never been to Philadelphia, but there “was” a place up here that made what I thought was a pretty authentic one (she got the bread and steak from there), and I used that to go by as it was delicious. But the shrooms and peppers were always at my request (and don’t remember where that desire originated). I assumed that in Philly (like in most markets/genres) there are offerings that vary greatly regarding quality and the end result. And calling it a cheese steak is probably a misnomer, but IMHO it is still seriously delicious.
As for chili, I do use dried anchos, along with fresh peppers, but prefer my coarse grind of short rib and chuck as opposed to cut steak… and it has to have my San Marzano tomatoes. I have made tomato and bean-less chili in the past for things like chili burgers/dogs, but in a bowl or over pasta I much prefer tomatoes and beans.
I have heard of SmashBurger (there are a few around here), but the closest one is 90 minutes round trip in an area I rarely go to for any reason so it was just not something I explored.
Steak Tartar… not a fan of steak or raw anything (except maybe oysters and ceviche), Carne Asada (although I love Mexican), prime rib, or any steak like form of beef, lamb, or pork. When my parents served steak or chops up (which was all too often) I would have hot dogs or fish sticks as a replacement. I think this is attributable to the fact that they did a lousy job of it, as well as me being uncomfortable with cuts of animals that look like cuts of animals. And working with this kind of stuff for the ground/shredded result I enjoy in dishes is my least favorite aspect of cooking.
In college, I briefly worked at a cheesesteak shop. They used actual steak. The owner would partially freeze rib eye and shave it on the slicer. Good quality but expensive for back in the day ($11.99 for a half with just meat and cheese in 2015/16-- even peppers and onions were an added charge!).
Now the restaurant I’m toiling away at uses Sysco brand “steak-ums”. Not my cup of tea but they cook fast and people love them.
At home, if I’m craving one (which is rare), I’ll use Pat Lafrieda shaved steak. It’s usually $8.99 a pound and the BF and I each get a sandwich out of it. He likes them more than I do, though! As someone stated earlier, no matter how good it is, it is never quite the same as when done on a restaurant flat-top. Sure there are plenty of videos and recipes to make restaurant-style shaved steak (partially freezing and using a very sharp knife would get the job done) but it’s just not worth all that trouble for a sandwich and it still might not come out right.
I like mine with hot cherry peppers, onions, and Provolone.
If you are at a corner deli in Phila that makes cheese steaks as many do, and where most Philadelphians get their cheese steaks, they are not making piles of beef that get steamed but one (or a few ) at a time and they do get seared. They will never be pink, the meat is too thin. Meat to cheese to bread ratio is critical.
If you are outside of Pat’s/Geno’s/Jim’s and the other tourist spots most shops that sell cheese steaks offer mushroom cheese steaks, pizza steaks (moz and sauce), cheese steak hoagies (lettuce, tomato, onion, cherry peppers), and pepper steaks (bell peppers) and often other variations.
I dated a guy from Philly for a long time. His father worked for Schmidt’s and he and his brothers would work there on breaks from school. His dad always brought home “shorts” of the beer he got for free (not entirely full). I drank a lot of that beer back in the 70’s. But please leave the salami off of my cheesesteak…
