Thursday, March 3, 2011

Italian Drip Beef Sandwiches

This started off to be a bit of a fail but I think in the end I was able to salvage it. Every so often I try a recipe that turns out to be lackluster either because of the recipe itself or because of mistakes I have made in cooking it. I never post those recipes because I want all the recipes that I post here to be ones that I would make again. However, this time I made a bunch of rookie mistakes but was able to somewhat fix them.

Firstly, I used a much smaller (about 1.5 lbs) roast than what was listed in the recipe but forgot to adjust the seasoning. Ooops. I tend to often decrease the amount of meat used in recipes but keep the same amounts of acoutrements because I like things to be heavy on the spices/veggies/sauce but this time I forgot to adjust the salt. I also forgot to adjust the cooking time. So, when I pulled the pot out of the oven after 5 hours, all the liquid had cooked down and the beef tasted like a salt-lick. Practically inedible.

I frantically googled and asked friends' opinions on how to salvage an over-salted dish. I had no time to cook up another batch so that wouldn't work. I ended up adding brown sugar, a little at a time, and then balsamic vinegar, a little at a time, tasting as I went. This definitely did help with the saltiness. It was still saltier than I would like but not inedible anymore. I actually really liked the new flavor profile that the balsamic brought. The meat ended up being sweet at first with a spicy kick at the end. I think if I made this again, I would still love the addition of balsamic.

I decided to add some water to the meat and let it cook down a bit and used unsalted butter on the bread. Once the meat was on the bread, it definitely improved in salt level. All in all, this would have been super yummy without so much salt but was still tasty and I loved the sweet and spicy combo. I didn't have any extra liquid for dipping but I don't think I missed it too much. Recipe from the Pioneer Woman.



Ingredients:
1 whole beef chuck roast, 2.5 to 4 pounds
1 can beef consomme or beef broth
3 tablespoons (heaping) Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cups water
½ jars (16 oz) pepperoncini peppers, with juice
Buttered, toasted deli rolls

Directions:Combine all ingredients in a heavy pot or dutch oven. Stir lightly to combine seasoning with the liquid.

Cover and bake in a 275 degree oven for 5 to 6 hours, or until meat is fork-tender and falling apart. If meat is not yet tender, return to oven for 30 minute intervals till it’s tender!

Remove from oven. With two forks, completely shred all meat, leaving no large chunks behind. Serve immediately, or keep warm over a simmer on the stove.

May make the day before, then store in the refrigerator. Remove the hardened fat from the top before reheating.

Serve on buttered, toasted rolls. Top with cheese and melt under the broiler if desired. Serve with juices from the pot.

Linked to Fudge Ripple Tuesday Night Supper Club.

5 comments:

ann said... [Reply to comment]

It looks like you were able to salvage the situation. The sandwich still looks good!

anniebakes said... [Reply to comment]

it sure looks good, I've made this drip beef before as well, don't you just love PW?

Alida said... [Reply to comment]

oh my goodness... this looks so tasty!

e-Mom said... [Reply to comment]

Your dishes all look fabulous. The portion sizes seem just right!

Our daughter and SIL are in the D.C. area too. Maybe you're neighbors! enjoy our renos.

Christy said... [Reply to comment]

they look yummy! adding water is a good way to reduce saltiness. sometimes when i have a piece of meat that might be a bit over cooked, i slice it and place it in liquid and heat it through a bit. your addition of balsamic sounds divine! thank you for sharing with tuesday night supper club.

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