Guide to a Perfect Homemade Philly Cheesesteak

The Life

When I moved from the East Coast to Lexington in 2005 to pursue a career in Thoroughbred racing, I knew my wife and I would miss our family and friends but I had no idea how much we’d miss some of our favorite foods.

My wife is from Maryland and the sudden realization that no restaurants in Lexington serve crabs — because we were nowhere near saltwater — was especially harsh. I’ve since utilized this amazing crabcake recipe on many occasions to stem the tide until we can get back East to visit family.

If you’ve spent more than an afternoon around me in Kentucky you’ve probably heard my lament of lack of quality New York-style pizza in town. I’ve found a couple of pizza places that offer a solid pie, but nothing that stacks up to the real deal back East.

When it came to cheesesteaks, a staple of my diet since childhood, I found I was simply out of luck in Lexington.

Let me start out by explaining that you can make a quality sandwich with several qualities reminiscent of a Philly cheesesteak, but once you add green peppers, mushrooms and some sort of aioli, you might have some sort of tasty sandwich, but a Philly cheesesteak it ain’t.

Both my parents grew up in Philadelphia and I lived in Pennsylvania until we moved to Delaware when I was six, so I really don’t really even remember a time when I didn’t feast on this beautiful example of sandwich-y goodness. There were a couple of local sandwich shops in Delaware that made a terrific cheesesteak, but my favorite by far is Tony Luke’s in Philadelphia. I won’t turn my nose up at any of the big Philly cheesesteak spots, but Tony Luke’s is money … and their Roast Pork Italian with sharp provolone and broccoli rabe is melt-in-your-mouth wonderful.

TONY LUKE'S ROAST PORK ITALIAN

Courtesy of Tony Luke's

Sorry, I slipped away there for a moment into a roast pork stupor, back to the Philly cheesesteak. I never needed to craft up my own cheesesteaks while growing up on the East Coast, so when I decided to start I quickly realized that there was going to be some trial and error involved.

Finding the right roll and the ideal cut of meat for the steak were the two trickiest parts. I started out using a regular hoagie roll from the bread aisle, but it was nowhere near crusty enough and I kept looking through a number of different options.

The roll must be nice and crusty and I found that French bread, either par-baked or just heated up in the over for a few minutes, in the bakery section of the grocery store made the cut.

I also tried a number of different options for the steak. I first used the rare Londonport from the deli, but found it was way too salty. Next, I moved on to buying a nice top sirloin and having the grocery deli slice it — almost shave it really — for me. This was a partial success, but eventually I found that a ribeye had the right flavor, probably thanks to a little more fat.

So now that we’ve got the meat and the roll, we are on our way.

A true Philly cheesesteak uses Cheez Whiz and when you order you simply say “Whiz Wit” for a cheesesteak with Cheez Whiz and fried onions or “Whiz Witout” for a cheesesteak with just the Whiz. 

I used to be pretty unyielding on the Whiz, but as I’ve grown older and people have become more careful about what they put in their bodies, I’ve become OK with substituting American or provolone cheese. When people ask me, “What’s in that stuff?” nodding at the Whiz jar, I don’t really have an answer other than, “part cheese and part yum?”

So, if my friends prefer American or provolone I’m happy to switch it up for them, but for God’s sake people keep the mushrooms and green peppers away from the cheesesteak.

Below is my guide to crafting up a tasty cheesesteak. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

  • 16-ounce ribeye (deli sliced by your grocery store)
  • French roll(s) (the bakery at my grocery store has 18-20-inch rolls that make three nice sandwiches)
  • Choice of cheese – Cheez Whiz (see below for my blend), American, provolone
  • Fresh-ground black pepper
  • Kosher salt
  • Minced garlic (or small clove)
  • 1 small onion (red or white is fine, I prefer red)
  • Olive Oil (don’t skimp here, a nice Olive Oil makes a big difference)
  • Worcestershire Sauce

Step 1

Warm the bread nice and crispy, or if you found a nice par-baked French bread, pop it in the oven until golden brown and then let it cool while you prepare the steak.

ON OUR WAY

Step 2

Slice both ends off the onion then slice it in half and then in half again. Then slice onion in into square chunks (about a quarter of an onion per sandwich works well. You want the onion to compliment not overwhelm).

KEY INGREDIENT
 

Step 3

Heat one frying pan to medium for the steak and another for the onions. Make sure both are nice and hot before you start. This is especially important so that you get a good sear on the meat.

Step 4

At this point, I warm up the Cheez Whiz. In Philly, the cheese always seems to have a little extra bite. The first few times I made homemade cheesesteaks, the Cheez Whiz tasted bland. So I came up with a mix of about 2 parts Whiz and 1 part Tostitos Smooth & Cheesy Sauce. It’s pretty amazing — just enough extra zing to give your sandwich some extra flavor.

CHEEZY GOODNESS

Step 5

Drizzle just enough Olive Oil on the second pan to get a nice coat and start frying those onions. You want them to be nice and soft but not limp and overcooked, so keep flipping and stirring them. After about 5 to 7 minutes when they look like the image below, you can reduce the heat to very low and cover. You want to be able to devote all of your attention to the ribeye.

GET THEM GOLDEN BROWN BUT NOT LIMP AND LIFELESS

Step 6

Drizzle Olive Oil on the frying pan and make sure the entire surface is very lightly coated, add just a little bit of minced garlic (1/4 to 1/2 of a teaspoon) and your pan should be sizzling and crackling. Transfer the steak quickly to the pan before the garlic burns — pretty much drop the garlic and right away get the sliced ribeye on top in the pan.

TIME TO GET THE RIBEYE COOKIN'

Step 6

Let that steak sizzle and pop for about 90 seconds to 2 minutes to get a nice sear, then flip the meat with a spatula and let the other side sear for a minute or two.

STEAK COOKS QUICKLY

Step 7

Start gently shredding the steak in the pan with a pair of spatulas until you’ve got the steak lightly shredded. At this point, start grinding fresh pepper liberally onto the steak and add kosher salt to taste into the pan while stirring. We’ve got a little salt grinder that works great. Then splash on a tablespoon of Worcestershire Sauce evenly and keep turning and flipping the steak in the frying pan. (Note: my wife likes the taste of onions but not the texture, so I also add a healthy sprinkle of onion powder to the steak for her.)

SHRED AND SEASON

Step 8

Stir the fried onions into the steak and blend them together in the pan. (Note: Be sure not to leave the ribeye cooking in the pan longer than needed. Give it about 90 seconds per side for the sear plus couple of minutes while shredding and seasoning and just a minute or so with the onion. You don’t want to dry out the steak.)

Step 9

Reduce to low heat, add the cheese (American or Provolone) to the top of the steak and cover to melt. If you are using Whiz, just take the blend from the sauce pan and coat both the top and bottom halves of the roll.

LET THE CHEESE MELT IN

Step 10

Transfer the steak and onion mix (and cheese if melted on top) to the crusty roll for a taste of sandwich bliss.

WHIZ WIT, WHIZ WITOUT
PROVOLONE WIT, PROVOLONE WITOUT

 

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