Papa Charlie's Italian Beef

Tried Papa Charlie's frozen last night. One container from Costco and one from jewel, the container from Costco had much better cuts of beef like what you'd find in any beef sandwich. Cuts from the jewel batch had more cold cut like slices, thinner, less beef like.

I took the beef out of the heated juice and added slices of green bell pepper and raw hot Italian sausage links.
If I had more time I would have frozen or ice skimmed the top fat off the broth.
It was a hit and I'm not sure why I'd pay double or more to get it catered!

Funny thing, I just tried out a container of Papa Charlie's from Aldi and I thought it was terrible. Rubbery slices of beef that were cut with the grain making them extra chewy, and bland gravy. It could be that this product has consistency problems.

I bought a couple of frozen "buckets" of Italian beef (Papa Charleys) at Costco too for our New Years Eve party. I realized that I should buy another smaller one at Jewel just in case.

The ones from Costco was delicious and the one from Jewel was grey and gross. I looked at both containers and the one from Costco had something like "authentic Chicago version" and the one from Jewel did not. Obviously, it's a different recipie than the other store bought version, so buyer beware!

I couldn't resist calling Papa Charlie's about the possibility that their product is different in Costco than say, Jewel. Sure enough, it's true! They make a different gravy only for Costco. I've never had it, but I am curious now.