Directions

This was my first time making Italian beef myself, so I loosely followed this recipe from Amazing Ribs. Of course, I substituted that rub for Lane’s BBQ Signature Rub, which is a great all-purpose rub for any type of meat, seafood, or vegetables. I also made it my own with poblano peppers instead of green bell peppers and giardiniera. I’ve never been a big fan of giardiniera, but I do like the spice it provides, so I felt like poblanos would add some heat with the same feel that the sweet peppers give.

With this recipe you’re going to have to plan ahead a little bit because the meat needs to cool in the fridge for a few hours after smoking. So make sure you give yourself enough time because this is important for slicing thin enough.

Fire up your smoker to 325 indirect, using whatever type of wood you prefer. I used hickory and oak. While that’s getting up to temp, prep your beef roast. I stabbed a few holes all around and stuffed garlic into each hole, then rubbed the whole thing with Lane’s Signature Rub.

In a saucepan, bring six cups of water to a boil, then dissolve six cubs of beef bullion in it and stir until you have beef broth. Pour this into a half foil pan. Place a wire baking rack over top of it and put your beef roast on top of the rack, then place it all into your smoker. You’re going to let it go for approximately 40 minutes per pound. Every piece of meat is different, so it may be more or less, but that’s a general guideline. You’re looking for your meat to reach 130 degrees, which is medium rare.

When it reaches medium rare, remove from the smoker. Pour the juice from the pan into a bowl and put that in the fridge. Also put your meat in the fridge in your foil pan. Let them sit for a few hours to get sufficiently cold until you’re ready to eat.

Just before you are ready to eat, slice up your poblanos length-wise, then sautee them in a tablespoon of olive oil.

When you are ready to eat, head up the broth in a sauce pan. Take your roast out of the fridge and slice it as thinly as possible. If you have a meat slicer, perfect. If not (I don’t), it takes a steady hand and quite a bit of patience to do. Once sliced, put a handful into the hot broth to heat up and finish cooking. You don’t need to let it go long; just enough to heat it through.

Place a slice of provolone cheese inside your French roll. Using tongs, take some of the cooked meat out of the broth and place inside your french roll on top of the cheese. Finally, top the meat with a few slices of sauteed peppers. You can eat it like this (dry) or spoon a bunch of the broth over it. You can even dip the whole thing into the broth if you want it wet.

Purists might not like my use of cheese and poblanos, but it adds a great twist to an already great sandwich. This one is a little difficult to do at a tailgate since it requires refrigerating, but you could probably use a cooler of ice for that as long as you’re tailgating long enough. Otherwise, cook it the night before and keep it in the fridge overnight. Then, at your tailgate, you can slice the meat and heat in the brother on your grill, as well as sautee your peppers on your grill, then serve.

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