Philly Cheesesteak — South Philly Classic

Transcript

Speaker: Yo! It is twelve thirty in the afternoon on 9th Street, the flat-top is screaming, and the smell of chopped ribeye and sweet onions hitting hot oil is rolling out the corner-shop door all the way down to the Italian Market. Tonight, the show, youse guys, is a real Philly Cheesesteak — a long crusty hoagie roll, mountains of chopped ribeye, sweet caramelized onions, and a thick lava-pour of molten Whiz running down the side. With me, our master chef from a 9th Street corner shop, and our sous-chef, who will absolutely fight him on Whiz versus Provolone. Let us cook.

Speaker: Listen, the beef. The whole thing rises or dies on the beef. Take one and a half pounds of boneless ribeye, that is six hundred eighty grams, and put it in the freezer for exactly thirty minutes — not frozen, just stiff. Then take a sharp knife and slice it paper-thin against the grain, two millimetres, one-sixteenth of an inch. You want it thin enough that it cooks in three minutes on the griddle. Skip the freezer step and you cannot slice thin enough — the beef stays chewy. Down the shore I learned that one the hard way.

Speaker: Yo. Now the roll, because the roll is half the sandwich. Get four long hoagie rolls, eight inches each, twenty centimetres, soft inside with a thin crackly crust — the kind from a 9th Street bakery. Warm them in a three hundred fifty degree Fahrenheit oven, one hundred seventy-five Celsius, for sixty seconds — just to crisp the crust and warm the inside. Do not toast them hard, you want a little chew. Slice three quarters of the way through lengthwise so the roll opens like a hinge. Use the long roll, youse — never a short one.

Speaker: Onions. Two medium yellow onions, that is three hundred fifty grams or about twelve ounces, sliced in half-moons one quarter inch thick — six millimetres. Heat one tablespoon of canola oil on the flat-top griddle at three hundred seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit, one hundred ninety Celsius. Lay the onions down and sweat them four to five minutes, stirring twice, until soft, translucent, and deep amber sweet. Salt them light — half a teaspoon. Push them to the cool side of the griddle. That is the bed your beef lands on.

Speaker: Crank the griddle up to four hundred Fahrenheit, two hundred five Celsius. Add one tablespoon of canola oil to the hot side. Lay the cold sliced ribeye down in one even layer — do not stack it. Within thirty seconds it starts to sizzle hard. Take two metal spatulas and CHOP through the beef across both directions for two minutes, breaking it into rough small pieces. Season with one teaspoon of kosher salt and half a teaspoon of cracked black pepper. Total cook time on the beef — three to four minutes. Pull it the second it loses its pink, never longer.

Speaker: Now the cheese — and yo, this is where our master chef and me disagree. The classic move is Cheez Whiz. Eight ounces, two hundred twenty-five grams, gently warmed in a small pan to one hundred forty Fahrenheit, sixty Celsius — pourable lava, not boiling. The other classic move is six slices of white American cheese, one hundred seventy grams, laid directly on the chopped beef on the griddle until they melt into the meat in forty-five seconds. Or — provolone, four ounces, one hundred fifteen grams. Wit' Whiz, wit' American, or wit' Provolone — youse pick. I say Provolone.

Speaker: Assembly, and the order matters. Take the warmed hinged roll, open it. Mound the chopped beef and caramelized onions together with the spatulas right on the griddle into a roll-shaped log — about ten ounces, two hundred eighty grams, per sandwich. Slide the spatulas under the log and lift it into the open roll in one motion. If you went Whiz, pour two ounces, sixty grams, of warm Whiz straight down the centre of the beef. If you went American or Provolone, the cheese is already melted into the meat. Close the roll. The sandwich should be hot, weigh about fourteen ounces, four hundred grams.

Speaker: Serve immediately on brown butcher paper — no plate, this is Philly. Eat within five minutes while the roll is still crisp and the cheese is still molten — internal temperature one hundred sixty Fahrenheit, seventy Celsius. Optional toppings on the side, never on the sandwich until the eater asks — sweet long hot peppers, sliced jalapeños, sautéed mushrooms, and a small ramekin of marinara if youse want a pizza steak. Pair with a cold birch beer or a wooder ice for dessert. Two napkins minimum — yo, this thing is gonna run.

Speaker: Yo, the three things to remember. First — slice the ribeye PAPER-THIN after thirty minutes in the freezer; chop it on a four-hundred-degree griddle for three to four minutes flat. Second — sweat the onions in canola oil at three seventy-five Fahrenheit, one ninety Celsius, four to five minutes till deep amber. Third — wit' Whiz, wit' American, or wit' Provolone, youse pick — but warm the roll for sixty seconds at three fifty Fahrenheit and eat it within five minutes off butcher paper. Grazie to our master chef from 9th Street and our sous-chef. Yo — go cook.