Maryland Pit Beef Recipe

November 16, 2021November 16, 2021

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What a win on Saturday! Michigan forgot to show up for the first quarter, took the lead, gave away the lead, then snatched it back at the end. The Wolverines beat Penn State 21-17 to improve to 9-1 on the season.

With two games left, Michigan is still in play for the Big Ten title and a spot in the College Football Playoff. Ohio State is waiting next week, but the Wolverines can’t overlook a trip to College Park, Maryland this coming Saturday.

The Maryland Terrapins are 5-5 overall and 2-5 in the Big Ten. They won their first four games of the season, but have dropped five of their last six, most recently a 40-21 defeat at Michigan State this past weekend.

As I was deciding what to make for this week, my first thought was crab cakes, because, you know, that (and football) are what Maryland does. But I did crab a couple years ago when Michigan played the Terps.

So I decided to go with another traditional Maryland dish that many outside the Atlantic region probably aren’t aware is connected to Maryland: pit beef.

A Brief History

According to Famous Chap’s Pit Beef, it started in the 1970s working-class neighborhoods of Baltimore. Roadside stands and trailers popped up along the Pulaski Highway. A 2015 Baltimore Sun story traces the first mention of pit beef to a 1968 Sun ad for “Al Kelz’s Elite Tavern on York Road, which listed it, along with steamed and soft crabs, crab fluffs, and crab cakes, as offerings in its crab garden.”

In the 1990s, former Baltimore Ravens first baseman John “Boog” Powell opened Boog’s Barbecue in the newly opened Oriole Park at Camden Yards. He featured pit beef and helped it catch on in popularity.

So what exactly is pit beef?

Depending on your definition of barbecue, it may not actually be considered barbecue. It’s cooked hot and fast instead of low and slow.

Maryland pit beef uses top round or bottom round. It is cooked over charcoal to get a crispy crust and then sliced thin and served on a Kaiser roll with thinly sliced onion and horseradish.

Sounds amazing, doesn’t it?

You can use top round, bottom round, or any similar cut for this. Top round (sometimes called London Broil) is leaner and more tender, while bottom round is fattier and more flavorful, but also more tough. Unless you like spending money, go with whichever cut is on sale, because it’s not cheap.

The Maryland Pit Beef Recipe

Fire up your charcoal grill or smoker to 275 degrees using your choice of wood. I went with hickory on this one.

Season your beef with your favorite beef rub and let it come to room temperature. For this cook, I used Fire & Smoke Society Holy Garlic rub.

Once your smoker is up to temperature and producing clean smoke, place your beef on the grate and close the lid. Let it cook for about 45 minutes to an hour until it reaches an internal temperature of 115 degrees.

While it’s cooking, make your horseradish sauce. Mix together 1 cup of Duke’s mayo, a whole jar of prepared horseradish, 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar, 5 cloves of garlic, and some Kosher salt and cracked black pepper to taste. Place it in the fridge until ready to serve.

When the meat is at 115, set in a tented foil pan to rest for a few minutes while you open your vents to allow your smoker to heat up. You’re going to sear the meat, so you want it nice and hot. You can place the meat directly on the coals (caveman style), on the rack just above them (cowboy style), or in a cast iron pan right above the fire. Either way, make sure it’s nice and hot so you can get a great sear.

Sear on both sides for about a minute and a half or two minutes, then sear the smaller edges. Once you have a good crust on all sides, place it back into the tented foil pan for 15-20 minutes to rest. The temperature will continue to rise slightly during this time, so make sure it doesn’t go past your desired temp. I went to about 130.

If you have a meat slicer, use it to slice your beef as thinly as possible. If you don’t have one, you can slice by hand, but it will be tough to get it super thin.

Toast your Kaiser rolls. I couldn’t find them at the grocery store I went to, so I just used onion rolls, which was a bad choice because they were too flimsy to hold up to the weight of the meat. Make sure to get something sturdy.

Slather both buns with your horseradish sauce. Top with a heaping pile of thinly sliced meat. Add some thinly sliced raw onions. I added some sautéed mushrooms because I love them with beef, but they aren’t traditional to Maryland pit beef.