Ask us! We will tell you all we know! Cheesesteaks.

I'm starting a new feature. It's called Ask Auntie Leila (unless you want to ask Bridget, Deirdre, Sukie, Rosie, or Habou -- then it's called Ask {insert rank and name here}).






You can ask us anything you want. You can email me at leilamarielawler (at) gmail.com, or you can ask a question in the comments. There have already been several questions and I will get to them -- such questions as --





-- How did you short out your building when you were first married?

-- Do you spank a spirited three-year old three times a day?

-- How do you manage time?





See? Like that.

Today we are addressing my friend Susan from Delaware who went to college with me (or I went with her -- she was a senior when I was a freshman at Swarthmore, a college near Philly where every person just wants a cheesesteak already).





She is a smart lady with eight children who tends to email me and go, "No, but exactly how do you make cheesesteaks?" and isn't satisfied until I tell her how sharp my knife is, how hot my pan is, and how long it takes me.





She made me write out the whole procedure and send it to her, so now I am telling you.

{If you ask me a question I won't divulge all these details about you unless I know you and feel like embarrassing you on the internets, and I won't put your question on the blog unless you say I can -- Susan said I could.}




{Susan, I used my new Shun knife -- a birthday present from Nick. I use it for everything. It's SO sharp!! Awesome.}


I'll put the actual recipe at the bottom of this post.


Get a nice piece of sirloin on sale and start cutting it into thin slices -- but they don't have to be super-thin, because this meat is tender.

If you were using a less tender piece, you would have to make your slices quite thin, and you could even do that in your food processor with the slicing blade and the meat partially frozen. Shaved would be good in that case.

 
Start frying it up in a HOT salted pan, little or no grease, on HIGH heat. Your cast iron pan doesn't need grease; your stainless steel pan does.

Don't be afraid and don't put it in all at once. Do it in batches and be patient. This is a good meal to start cooking earlier in the day so that you have plenty of time for these steps. It isn't a quick meal, really...but it's fairly cheap, especially when compared with the restaurant version!




For eight cheesesteaks I paid $6.95 for the meat ($2.49 for sirloin is an excellent price hereabouts, and I bought three for the freezer), $3.50 for the buns ($1.99 for a package of 6 -- these are the buns that satisfy the "take-out" taste, and don't have high-fructose corn syrup, although they do have some soy flour, boo), and I can't remember about the cheese but it was on sale and I had a coupon from Jen's site.

Maybe $1 for 12 slices? So a total of under $12 for eight hearty sandwiches -- $1.50 per serving!! It's not bean soup, but it is a good alternative to eating out.





As you saute your meat, transfer it to a bowl. When you are done, add salt, pepper, mustard, a little soy sauce, and about two tablespoons of corn starch.





This will all mix with the juices at the bottom of the bowl to make a nice coating on your meat.





As you are waiting for your meat to cook, slice up onions and mushrooms.


 

I did all my mushrooms to Save A Step for pizzas tonight. Mushrooms at my cheap grocery store are about a dollar a pound cheaper for the nice, big, stuffing ones that they sell in bulk, loose, than for the packaged little ones.

Go figure.

I buy about 6 huge ones every time I go, because every week I'll have plenty of use for them -- they are just as much staples as carrots and celery at the bulk price!





Get a kid to slice your bread for you and put it on a flat baking sheet, preferably one blackened with age :)





Toss on your meat. One layer of not-too-thin slices is plenty with some overlapping.


Get another kid to unwrap the cheese for you. Layer on the cheese, breaking the pieces to fit. I use about 1 1/2 slices per sandwich.




Wrap the whole shebang in foil. Here is where those pieces of foil you've stashed away come in handy.






Have a kid hold your lamp for the photos on an evening when there was no sun and hasn't been for quite a while, not that the sod is complaining... Oh, Will, you are so good to me...




Put in the oven at 350* for 10 minutes. That meat has to heat up and the sauce has to kind of cook around it...

Meanwhile, the sides.

Ladies, when you are feeding a frenzy of sharks (growing kids), you need to serve your food with hearty sides.





This is how you get away with buying sirloin: you make it work with other tasty, less expensive foods. In other circumstances this meal would have come with oven fries, which are simply russet potatoes cut in wedges, tossed with oil, and roasted at a high heat (making the oven perfect for the finishing off of the cheesesteaks).

But with only a few people around and the teenage boy getting most of his calories at the golf club that employs him (thank you golf club!!!), we dispensed with the potatoes this time.

Instead we had a yummy glorified cole slaw!

To your base of cabbage (the last of the red in this case, 'cause it's pretty) and carrots (two small ones -- I'm almost out), add red onion chopped very small, leftover corn, and granny smith apple.





Mix in two tablespoons of vinegar, any kind. Thanks, Bridget, for taking good pictures while both my hands were busy!




Add two tablespoons of mayonnaise.




Add a teaspoon of cumin (my favorite) or coriander (I don't know where I put my cumin!! but coriander is good too) and a spoonful of sugar or honey.





Mix well.





This was so tasty! Make extra corn next time just so you can make this delicious salad!





If you have younger kids, cut the sandwiches in half or even thirds. They can be messy (the sandwiches...well, and the kids...) and they are really very filling.





Can you even resist? Add Philly Cheesesteaks to your personal Family Menu Bank if you think everyone would like it.




Enjoy with a glass of iced tea...



...or wine...




And eat while watching the Red Sox cream the evil Yankees!


Philly Cheesesteaks Like Mother, Like Daughter

Use sirloin or chuck roast blade steaks -- you know, that cut where the meat is actually tender and tasty but there is that bit of gristle that runs down the middle? It's perfect if you are slicing it. For 8 people I think you would need about three pounds.

It's helpful if it is slightly frozen, but if your knife is sharp it doesn't really matter. I have a good knife that I keep sharp. The slices don't have to be super thin (the way they are at the restaurant) because the meat is very tender. But it goes further if it is thin!

So slice the pieces parallel to the line of gristle, removing the outer bits of tough material as well. Keep slicing -- as long as most slices are "slices", it doesn't matter if some are a bit hacked or even little bits. Discard anything gristly.

Get ready:

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. dry mustard

½ tsp pepper

2 tablespoons of soy sauce or water with 1 tsp of corn starch dissolved in it.

1 or 2 large onions, sliced thin

4 or 5 large mushrooms, sliced thin

12 slices of white American cheese (normally of course I abhor this type of thing, but I have to admit that a cheesesteak or a cheeseburger hardly tastes normal to me without! -- unless it's a blue-cheese burger or other gourmet style)

8 -10 sub rolls, sliced and placed on a baking tray

Heat up a large skillet with a little olive oil. Sauté the beef on high heat, in batches in a single layer, salting as you go (always salt meat a little as you cook it -- it needs salt and even people who shouldn't have too much salt need some -- it's all the processed food out there that's the problem, not your home cooking). Let the beef brown on one side, then stir it around to brown evenly. Don't worry about it being a bit undercooked -- there will be two more chances on the heat.

Remove to a bowl as you finish each batch.

With a few tablespoons of water, boil up the bits in the pan. Add the mustard and pepper and juices from the bowl and let boil down pretty much. Add the slurry of cornstarch and make a little glaze. It can be somewhat thick because the pieces of meat will continue to exude juices.

I don't like cheesesteaks that are sort of gravy sandwiches -- that doesn't seem authentic Philly to me -- but it's a lot tastier and easier to eat if the juices are bound up with the cornstarch and sort of coat the meat.

Return the sauce to the meat, coat it, and put it in the pan to heat up and distribute the sauce all around. Return to the bowl and rinse the pan for the veggies.

Then assemble the sandwiches: put about 1 1/2 slices of cheese, cut in half, on each bun. Put the meat on.

Sauté the onions in butter or olive oil until they brown, add the mushrooms, and sauté. Distribute over the meat (if everyone likes onions and mushrooms, you can do this part while the meat is in the bowl -- mix it all together, and save a step).

Close the sandwiches and wrap the tray in foil. Heat for about 10 minutes in a 350* oven so the meat heats up again and the cheese melts.

Serve with mustard!

Thanks to Ann Kroeker for the link on Food on Fridays!

Thanks to Amy at The Finer Things!

Thanks to Melissa at The Inspired Room!

Thanks to Gayle at The Grocery Cart Challenge!

Now go see what people are doing over at those lovey ladies'!