Like I said yesterday, it’s either a cheesesteak or it’s not. Anyone who calls it “Philly style” is either lying or just wrong. No one from Philly would ever call it that, so anyone who does say it doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
I don’t tell people they’re wrong “because I said so” very often. So give me this one, okay? I know cheesesteaks. And this one is closer to “right” than 99% of the ones I’ve tasted outside of Philly. And the next time will be even closer.
Ingredients
1-1/2 pounds shaved sirloin steak
1 medium onion
kosher salt
white American cheese (or Provolone)
olive pomace oil
crusty Italian bread
Directions
A steak sandwich starts with steak. Not shredded, compressed, re-formed “beef sandwich steaks”. Definitely not — and yes, someone in California served me this once — roast beef.
Ask the butcher to shave it for you. Extremely thin slices across the grain are the secret to tenderness. Also, the more surface area there is the more room there is for the Maillard reaction to work its magic.
Before you start cooking, peel and slice the onion.
Salt the steak before putting it in a pan, then on the other side once it’s in the pan. (High heat, a little olive pomace oil before you put the steak in.) Cook enough for one sandwich at a time.
With the edge of a metal spatula, chop the steak into smaller pieces as it starts to cook.
When the steak is browned on the first side, flip it over and add the onions. Add a few tablespoons of water to release those lovely brown bits from the pan.
Keep chopping the steak with the spatula and flipping it to make sure it’s all well browned, and the onion is browned and softened. As soon as the onions are done — if the steak was sliced thin enough it should be done before the onions — scoop everything into a pile about twice as wide as the roll you’re going to put it on.
If there’s too much there for one sandwich push the extra to the side. Unless you’re working in a restaurant you don’t have to worry about the exact amount in one sandwich.
Turn the heat down low. Put two slices of cheese on top of the steak. Slice the roll in half, leaving a hinge on the back side. Place the open roll on top of the steak and cheese.
Leave the roll on top for about 30 seconds to a minute. The steam will melt the cheese and soften the roll. Then, with a long spatula, scoop as much of the steak up as you can with a single lift. Fill the roll with the rest of the steak.
There are plenty of toppings you could add, from ketchup to sweet peppers to pizza sauce. But if you’ve used good ingredients and prepared it well, it’s ready to go right now.
And that’s it.
65 Comments
Thanks for the feedback. If you’re going to start commenting more, could I ask you to log in, or at least leave a name, so I can recognize you?
Hey Drew!
Thanks for the great lesson on cheesesteak! North of Boston, where there is/was a large Italian population, I’m specifically talking about the Lawrence/Methuen area, they make killer Steak & Cheese subs.
A long time ago when I was 16, I worked for a shop that sold Steak & Cheese subs. We took an uncooked roast beef, shaved it in the meat slicer and portioned it out for use. To cook/assemble you put a little oil on the flat grill (not sure what type of oil – I was 16 and didn’t care) placed the meat on the grill and cut/chopped it with the spatula and a knife. Close to the meat, we put the customer’s choice of onion, mushrooms, peppers, etc and cooked that until tender. When the meat was almost done, we incorporated the meat with the extras then placed squares of white American cheese on top of the mixture. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER use orange American cheese! Then, after the cheese started to get gooey with the meat and onions, we used a long spatula (maybe 8 or 9 inch), and slapped the whole thing on a sub roll which may have been toasted on the grill or just sliced open.
My favorite is steak & cheese w/extra cheese n’ mushrooms! yum!
Thanks for the fantastic reminder!
I think I have to thank you for this post – I couldn't quite place what I've been craving for except that it concerned a sort of bun and cheese and some sort of meat…
You see, I lived in the US as a child and that has been 20 years ago; it's really hard to get your hands on typical everyday American foods, my Japanese grandmother would never cook like your grandmother even if she was alive, and sadly, some memories just fade and you forget those things like… Macaroni & Cheese, Rice a Roni, Sloppy Joes, Steak-ums, …and Cheesesteaks.
I think I'll make myself one tonight. I think the meat meant for shabu-shabu or sukiyaki would just work wonderfully. I'd have to get something similar about the cheese and bread… There was such a debate over the ingredients and preparations that I'm afraid to say it!! But the ones I ate back then weren't even authentic anyway, so who cares.
Trisha, if you’re in Japan (that’s my guess from what you wrote) then I think you get some leeway on finding the “right” ingredients. On the plus side, there’s no danger you’ll be using Cheez Whiz.
i had one of these in boston bus station once and i loved it. very good snack on a stopover to portland. then i had one in florida from a chain place in a food mall and it was dire. my point is dont eat in florida. im from the uk btw
portland, maine, i hope. a bus from boston to portland, oregon would be silly.
I’m trying so hard not to make the snarky comment … oh forget it, here it comes: So, I’m supposed to take food tips from the country that brought us blood pudding and spotted dick?
Have to say, I love the debates that go on here. Anyone from outside of Philly would have no idea what to believe since one “true” Philadelphian is all about whiz, and another’s for provolone.
As for the Amoroso thing, I have to ask, since I currently don’t have time to make one, how close is your bread to the original? Right now, I’m living right in the suburbs of Philly, so I can get a great cheesesteak whenever I want, but I might be moving for college next year, and I certainly don’t want to lose this part of my life!
By the way, as someone born and [partially-] raised in Philly I’d have to say my preference is American cheese and fried onions, but certainly not from Pat’s or Geno’s! There are only eight thousand other places to get a cheesesteak from..
Since the time I made these, I got some bread flour. With that the rolls are pretty close to Amorosos. Not exact, but good enough.
Just curious to know why specifically "olive pomace oil". (As opposed to just "olive oil".)
William, olive oil has a relatively low smoke point. Pomace has been refined, removing most of the solids that actually burn. It also doesn't add any flavor to what you're cooking. You could probably use pure or even extra virgin, and just cook on a lower temperature, but you'd be adding more flavor, too. That might not be a bad thing, but probably not what you were expecting.
Sometimes your choice in ingredients seem at odds with the name of the blog (unusual ingredients (olive pomace oil?) don't seem very grandmotherly).
Canola oil works just fine, and your last few steps could be improved. When I made this stuff in a restaurant (in MI so I'm in no way claiming to be an authority on cheesesteak) I started with sautéing the onions first and then on to when you get to the point to add the cheese, leave the heat on high, toss a little water in the pan to get it steaming, put the cheese on the meat, put a lid on the pan for a few seconds (count to about ten, if there's enough heat and steam that should be plenty of time), then on to the roll over the cheese and steak (don't have to leave it as long of course) etc.
Granted part of the difference in method is in a restaurant you don't mess with the heat much (tends to stay on high), but this way the onion is cooked better (you have to admit in the picture it looks undercooked) and the cheese is nice and gooey.
And it's probably sacrilege to some of the cheesesteak purists out there, but I always liked eating mine with just steak sauce on it.
Anon, if your grandmother were Italian there's a good chance she used pomace. But if I really wanted to go traditional, I'd be calling for lard anyway.
The technique you described for the steam and cheese, and flipping it into the bun, works a lot better on a flat grill with a long spatula. In a frying pan with a "normal" size spatula, it's just too hard to get the flip right. I've tried plenty of times, and usually end up dropping half of it back into the pan.
Drew, I saw this while I was browsing and thought you might be interested. It's a comparison of which place in Philly has the best cheesesteak.
http://miniandmicro.blogspot.com/2009/09/philly-cheesesteak-classic-pats-or.html
Melissa, I think the comments on it nailed it. Pat's and Geno's are both tourist traps. There are plenty of places to get a much better steak.
And Wiz is the devil.