Recipe: French Dip Sandwiches*

Welcome Summer!

I just noticed that in the photo above, you see Christmas plates in the background.  That’s because we always have Homemade French Dip as part of our Christmas Eve buffet; however, it’s also a real crowd pleaser for large or small SUMMER events—even better if you plan ahead and buy your boneless roasts when they go on sale ($2.79/lb last week at Maceys).  It helps to have access to an electric slicer, or at least an electric knife, to make thin, uniform slices.  Anyway you “slice it,” you can beat the high per pound prices at the deli by making your own.  

Boneless Rump or Sirloin Tip Roast(s)

Peeled and quartered Onions

Salt and Pepper

Packaged Au jus Mix

Hard Rolls

Horseradish Sauce

1.     Buy a pound of roast for every 3 to 4 people you plan to serve.  Rinse off the roasts in cold water, cut off any extra fat you want removed, and salt and pepper them well on all sides.

2.     Place in heavy roasting pans, electric roaster ovens, or crock pots.

3.     Add 1 large onion for every 5 lbs of roast you plan to cook.  Salt and pepper the onion pieces.

4.     In bottom of pan, add ½ cup water for every 5 lbs of roast.

5.     Cook slowly until well done and tender.  Unlike prime rib or steak, you want it to be so done it’s almost falling apart.  For oven or electric roaster oven, plan on cooking at 300 degrees for about five hours (maybe more, depending on how full your pans are).  For crock pots, start the meat on high for an hour, then finish on low for another 7 or 8 hours.

6.     Remove roasts and leave out 20 to 30 minutes before placing in fridge.  When cool, cover well and refrigerate until ready to slice.  Make sure you don’t put too much warm meat in one fridge, or it may bring other things in the fridge to an unsafe temperature while it cools.  If you have to put more than one roast in one fridge, place them on different shelves, away from each other.  This can be done up to a day ahead of serving.  The meat will slice better when cold.

7.     While the juice from the roasts is still warm, pour through a wire strainer, smashing the onions against it with a spoon so as much of it as possible is pressed into the juice. The onions should be soft enough that you can press them through the wire strainer to add flavor to the Au jus and leave just a bit of pulp to throw away.  (If you cooked the meat in a roaster, make sure you scrape the pan well and swirl with additional water if needed to get any browned bits—this is where the flavor will come from).

8.  Place this broth in the fridge to cool.  When it is cold, you will be able to remove and discard any fat that has hardened onto the top.

9.     When the meat has cooled, slice it thinly across the grain with electric knife or electric meat slicer if you have these.  If not, a very sharp carving knife will do, but it won’t be as thin.

10.  When ready to heat the meat, mix the reserved juice with packets of Au jus mix prepared according to package directions, as you won’t have enough au jus from the meat juice alone.  Once it and the broth from the roast are simmered together, taste it and make sure it’s the right strength.  If it’s too weak, add some beef bouillon cubes that have been dissolved in a small amount of boiling water (like add 3 cubes to ¼ cup water—just enough to dissolve them—mash with a fork if needed).  If the broth is too strong, simply add more water to dilute it a little to desired taste.

11.  For heating, pour the juice over the sliced meat and warm either covered in a casserole in oven or in a pan on the stove.  You do not want to boil the meat—just get the juice simmering and it will be warm enough to heat the sliced meat in a short time.  This only takes a few minutes.

12.  Drain the hot Au jus off the meat and into a picture to pour individual cups of it for dipping. 

13.   If desired, mix purchased horseradish sauce with mayo to desired strength and those who like it can spread it on their rolls when putting their sandwich together.

*Originally distributed May 2014