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I love Texas. I love the people, the weather (usually – especially since I have been older) and the food of this state. I have to admit though, once in awhile I miss the foods that I learned to love when I was a kid in the Philadelphia suburbs. Last time we talked about pizza – this time? The cheesesteak.
Seriously. There are hundreds of places around here that advertise the best Philly Cheesesteaks. I have eaten at almost every one of them and I can tell you that they may be Dallas Cheesesteaks but Philly Cheesesteaks they are not. The meat isn’t right, the roll isn’t right… it just… isn’t…quite… right.
Even making them myself it was so hard to get those crispy frizzled edges and I could not get the flavor right.
Last week I decided to try using a London Broil. I sliced it paper thin and added a generous amount of salt. I rubbed my cast iron griddle with a little olive oil and a clove of garlic and then I heated that thing up to red hot.
Guess what?
Perfect. Yep. Perfect.
The trick seems to be in the salt, the paper thin slices, and the hot griddle. YUM! I like provolone cheese but you can use American. Some people stoop to processed cheese spreads – please don’t. Just don’t go there.
Real philly cheesesteak sandwiches....
Ingredients
- 2 pounds London Broil, cut paper thin across the grain
- 1 Bell pepper, cut in chunks
- 1 onion, cut in chunks
- Salt
- Pepper
- 1 pound provolone cheese, sliced or shredded
- 8 sourdough hoagie rolls
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 500F
- Place the hoagie rolls in the oven until they are hot and crisp
- Salt the meat carefully and mix it to make sure that the salt is evenly distributed
- Oil a griddle (preferably cast iron) lightly with olive oil
- Cut a clove of garlic in half and rub it over the griddle
- Heat the griddle until it is very hot
- Saute the onion and garlic - remove from the griddle
- Place the meat on the griddle - do not over crowd
- Cook the meat until it is done and the edges are a little crispy
- Repeat with the rest of the meat, cooking in batches
- Split the rolls and place the meat inside
- Add pepper and more salt if needed
- Put some of the onion and pepper on each roll
- Add the cheese
- Broil until the cheese is melted
- serve hot
You really need to make this on a cast iron griddle for the best result. It is the only way i was able to get it right. 
