Have you ever lived in or been to Buffalo?  If you have, then surely you have had a Beef on Weck sandwich – the delectable delight that John Madden erroneously calls Beef on Wicky.  And if you’ve been to Buffalo and you’ve never had a Beef on Weck WAYSA? Anyway…generally the only place you can get this is Buffalo because the Kummelweck [the weck’s full name] rolls are not made anywhere else on the planet outside of Buff’s kitchen.  And maybe his cousin’s.

Well with the posting of this here recipe, the planet is now going to change for the better.  Original recipe is from Charlie the Butcher and provided by my sister, Marge.

Ingredients

• Kaiser Rolls, the fresher and bigger the better

• Mix the next two items together in a sealable container

  • 1 cup rock salt [found in the Jewish food section] – coarse salt may be used as a substitute

  • 1 cup whole caraway seeds

• The next three items make the glue [melted butter may be substituted the glue]

  • ½ cup water – boiled

  • ¼ cup water – warmed

  • ½ TBSP corn starch

Method:

1. Combine the salt and caraway seeds in a clean dry sealable container.  Mix well.

2. Heat ½ cup of water to boil.  Dissolve the corn starch in ¼ cup warm water and add to boiled water.  Return to boil and thicken until it coats a spoon [this is pretty quick].  Cool and store in the refrigerator.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Cut the rolls in half if they haven’t been cut already.  Brush the top of the rolls with the cornstarch glue and sprinkle with the salt/caraway seed mixture.  This is a messy process, so put the tolls on paper towels in order to clean up better.  Transfer the rolls to a baking sheet for about 4 minutes or until the glue is dry.

How you prepare your roast beef is up to you, but…I use the best cut of roast beef I can find, usually an eye round roast and slow cook to medium/medium rare with Vidalia onions and garlic.  Slice the roast as thin as you can and pile it on!  Add a bit of jus to the roll.

Serve with fresh horseradish and a real good dill pickles [Clausen’s works real well].  Add your favorite cole slaw, potato salad or French fries.

The best garnish for this sandwich is an ice cold Molson’s Golden.

If you ever find yourself in Buffalo, please be sure to go to Schwabl’s Restaurant on Seneca Street near Union in West Seneca or to Steve’s Bull Roast on Ridge Road in Lackawanna and sample the Beef on Weck.  You’ll be glad you did!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 8th, 2008 at 1:38 am and is filed under Bread and Rolls. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.