(Almost but not quite) Philly Cheesesteak

For years I have been appalled at people’s inexplicable failure to be able to make a passable Philly Cheesesteak.  Now there is nothing wrong with calling something a “steak and cheese sandwich” but if you call it a Philly Cheesesteak you are holding yourself to a higher standard.  I have seen some incredible things passed off as a Philly Cheesesteak: in Baltimore they sold me a slice of roast beef with a piece of cheese on white bread and called it a cheesesteak and once in college they sold something called a “Vegan Philly Cheesesteak”.  With so many people failing so utterly to make this simple sandwich I thought maybe there is some secret that makes this hard.  So I set out to discover what it really takes to make one.  So to that end I give you the Sort-of-but-not-quite Philly Cheesesteak:

Ingredients:

• 1/3 lb sliced rare roast beef
• 4 slices of provolone
• 1 slice of havardi
• 1 hogie roll (if I could import one I would but this time I just went with a soft french roll)
• 1/4 onion chopped
• 1/4 pepper chopped
• oil for the pan
• salt & pepper

Heat the oil in a heavy pan on high heat.  Toss in onion and pepper.  Shred the roast beef and put it in the pan.  The trick is to let it cook together and chop it in the pan.  Using a pastry scoop and a knife (or 2 knives) chop the cooking meat into little pieces and add a pinch of salt and some pepper.  Push the meat into a pile remove from heat and place cheese on top to melt.  Scoop the meat onto the roll making sure you flip it over to get the cheese on the bread side.  If you want you can mix some cheese into the meat too, that will be a bit better.  And that’s it!  So how did it turn out?

All in all it was a tasty sandwich.  Traditionally a cheese steak is made with cheese wiz but that stuff is kinda gross.  I think starting with a raw meat that has more fat in it would achieve the desired cheesy gooeyness.  This made for a delicious lunch and cost less than most places charge for a Philly Cheesesteak imposter.