Spices for Italian Beef

Love to know what combination of spices you all use on the meat when cooking up Italian Beef. My usual mix is a blend of garlic powder, dried oregano, dried basil and salt and pepper. Am I missing anything?

Thanks, LTHers!

A buddy of mine down in Springfield who has a Barbecue stand not too far from the Cozy Dog, is thinking about adding Italian Beef to his menu. We were passing through town this past Christmas on our way to Kansas City, so I brought him some deconstructed samples of Al's Italian Beef, including the sliced beef itself, bread, sweet and hot peppers, and of course, a couple of pint tubs of au jus. He took one taste of the au jus and declared, "Dang, there's tarragon in here!"

I found it odd that of all the potential herbs and or spices that one could find predominant in Italian Beef juice, that tarragon, a spice I'll bet not many round these parts would immediately associate with said gravy, would stand out. Sure enough though, when I tasted a spoonful, there it was, plain as day; a distinct hit of tarragon that really added a nice complexity and a bit of mellowness to the flavor.

So that's my thought for the day. Hope it was helpful.

Buddy

Buddy...Of course it's helpful. This was the kind of information I was interested in. Who would think to put tarragon in Italian Beef, but if it improves the flavor, I'll have to give it a shot next time.

I would guess that there's mace in Al's seasonings, too but I don't know for sure.

=R=

BuddyRoadhouse wrote: Al's Italian Beef....."Dang, there's tarragon in here!"

just a thought.... I find Al's uses way different ingredients and/or portions of ingredients than many of the other traditional beef places do.

So much so that sometimes upon first bite it makes me think of other dishes I've had on Devon Avenue at Pakistani and Indian places.

In addition to the aforementioned, I'd add a little bit of fennel seed.

ronnie_suburban wrote:I would guess that there's mace in Al's seasonings

That's a pretty good call. Something about the spice combo makes me think of Greek-style chili, but cinnamon wasn't quite right. Nutmeg-like mace just might give it that fall-spice note.

I've heard Al's can remind one of pumpkin pie spices.

i've gotta vouch for elements of pumpkin pie spice @ al's (at least from some of the franchise locations). i actually stopped going to any of the al's franchises for a long while because the last few beefs had some really weird and awful pumpkin pie/cinnamon spice profile.