Authentic Philly Cheese Steak

Cheesesteaks are a divisive thing sometimes. Let me explain. If you talk to anyone from Philly, literally everyone proclaims themselves to be a cheesesteak expert and that everything you’ve heard about cheesesteaks is wrong and the cheesesteak place that you prefer is quite frankly, shit. But let me be the peacemaker here for my brethren from the Philadelphia area, they’re a lovable albeit caustic lot. Kyle from Crossing Broad sums it perfectly:

“Basically any cheesesteak you can get in Philly is delicious. It’s really hard to screw one up so long as you use sliced rib-eye (or a finely-chopped lesser cut), fresh rolls and cheese, and don’t line stale bread with a full strip of actual steak like they do in other cities when they try to replicate our genius. As such, there’s really no right answer to this question– just strong opinions. Most people don’t live within walking distance of the famous South Philly joints, and at the very least require a cab or Uber ride to get to them since parking is a complete shitshow. Therefore, basically anyone living in the greater Philly area, especially in the surrounding 10-mile radius of the city center, has a local shop that sticks the landing on their preferred version of the sandwich, thus inducing snobbery about said favorite hole-in-the wall, little-engine-that-could being better than Big Bad Pat’s.”

So how exactly do you make a Philly cheesesteak? First it starts with the bread. The bread is essential, don’t come here with some piss poor soft rolls from the grocery store and try and pass that off as good bread for a steak sandwich. You need a hoagie sub roll, in Philly they usually source them from Amoroso’s or Liscio’s but if you don’t live in the area a good baguette will do the trick. The key is to make sure it’s springy while remaining crusty on the outside, you need something that will hold in all the juices without getting soggy. Next is the meat, traditionally folks use thinly sliced rib-eye meat as it has the perfect ratio of meat to fat. If you can’t find it thinly sliced or if you don’t have a butcher who can do that for you, I recommend looking in your meat section at your grocery store for shaved beef. If you don’t have access to either, you can buy a rib-eye steak, freeze it, and then thinly slice it the best you can. Finally it’s the cheese (and the onions) together they form a dynamic duo that creates magic with the meat and bread. Purists will proclaim that provolone cheese is the only way to go on a steak but honestly I’m a whiz or American cheese guy myself. The latter both melt much better and have a delightfully cheesy flavor versus provolone which sometimes can be too strong for its own good in a sandwich.

That’s all you need for a good cheesesteak, no other veggies, don’t go putting peppers on it. Just keep it basic and you won’t draw the scorn of all the Philly folks who know you.

For me cheesesteaks started with Steak-ums, I would cook them up as a kid because if you think about it they are pretty easy to prepare as a kid. You just break them up in a pan, brown them, and add cheese. For me they were heavenly, all that greasy goodness was definitely clogging up my baby arteries. As I grew up, I would make yearly pilgrimages to Philly to get an authentic cheesesteak. We would always go to Pat’s because that’s who we believed made the best ones in Philly at the time, now we prefer Tony Luke’s because it’s way easier to get to and tastes just as good (if not better). Cheesesteaks I feel like really represent Philly and its people well, it’s an underrated sandwich and it’s not given enough due for how great it is, just like the city of Philadelphia.

If you want the full backstory on this iconic Philly sammitch go here.

Recipe – Authentic Philly Cheesesteak

Ingredients

16 oz. Thinly Sliced Rib-Eye Beef

2 Cups Pub Cheese*if you want to make your own cheese sauce, but still have it have that cheese whiz vibe* (or provolone or cheese whiz)

1 Cup Condensed Milk

1 Tbsp. Cooking Oil

1 Cup diced White Onion

Salt

Pepper

Italian Roll (or if you don’t have access a baguette)

Method

Step 1- In a large sauce pan add your cooking oil, once it’s heated, add your onions. Cook for approximately 10 minutes till they soften and become translucent.

Step 2- Once the onions have cooked in the same pan, increase your heat and add in the beef. Brown until all of the meat is no longer red, season with salt and pepper and then let it stay warm on low heat.

Step 3- If you’re making a cheese sauce, in medium sauce pan add your pub cheese and condensed milk. Stir for about 5 minutes at medium heat so you have a perfectly smooth gooey cheesy mixture. It should look like cheese whiz. If you want to just use cheese whiz instead, just simmer however much you want on the sandwich in a pot or nuke it in the microwave for 45 seconds until it’s nice and melty.

Step 4- Assemble your sandwich on the roll, meat first then the cheese if you’re going whiz. If you’re going provolone or american, melt the cheese on the steak prior to putting on the bread. Enjoy!