Is there a recipe for Johnny's Italian beef ??

Talking about something that comes close to that great & unforgetable flavor of "Johnny'e Italian Beef" in Elmwood Park Illinois. I've done some research and found that he uses Scala's. Is there any other info available?

Thanks

Cooknotic, check your email.

Mick,

Is there any reason why the recipe cannot be shared here?

Note ingredients are not copyrighted though the instructions are ... so please amend them enough to call it adapted from whatever your source may be.

Regards,

Well... I kinda know cooknotic from another website (not food related), and he gave me a helping hand once with a hard quesition. The reason I'm not all that particular about sharing is because I'm in the Chicago area, and if everyone here acquires great Italian beef, that may take away from our customers, seeing that there are a lot of places (and I do mean a lot) with lousy Italian beef.

Now after saying that and probably pissing some people off and possibly black-balling myself so that no one on this site will be all that particular about helping me with my questions either, I will reveal this much.

Go to the place in question, or a good beef place of your choice, order a beef sandwich, pay close attention and listen to what your taste buds are telling you. Or just use your own recipe and season to your own taste.

Here's what I consider the important part for good beef:

Order your beef from Scalas rare or medium (I like thinly sliced), cook it , slowly, in their juice until it's very tender and use their season packets, add your own ingredients also, preferrably the one's your taste buds told you about, or to taste, for your own unique flavor. I personally, like to throw some olive oil or something flavorful that's a little greasy or oily into to the juice. Dunking bread in a completely watery substance is only going to give you completely soggy bread. The oil base will make it look, feel and taste a little bit more like gravy. You'll also acquire some grease by cooking the meat in the juice.

For a speedier process you could do the same thing with well done beef, I did this with good results. I've also ordered it whole, seasoned & cooked it in a crock-pot or oven until tender & sliced it thin on a meat slicer with astounding results. It's slower but very effective.

Upon inquiry, I found that several beef places do extra prepartion after ordering, not saying they all do the same exact things. Just recently, I spoke with Al's Beef on Taylor street in Chicago, who was very forthcoming about revealing they used Scala's beef and that they did extra preparation in their kitchen before serving to their customers. I was told, "yes we order it from Scala and we cook it ourselves."

Hope this helps whoever's interested-

Hi,

Helps a lot! I doubt someone would choose to blackball anyone who is so forthcoming with their cards on the table as you just demonstrated. In addition, you provided some food for thought on how to achieve a homemade Italian beef, whether or not anyone ever chooses to pursue it.

Regards,

Thanks Cathy2, you've made me feel very warm and welcome on this forum, especially seeing that you are indeed a moderator.