Few sandwiches are more decadent than a great french dip sandwich. Tender beef, a crusty bread roll, and an insanely good au jus to die for!
What cut of meat is French dip made from?
Finely sliced sirloin or ribeye are the most traditional. My local grocery store usually has thin sliced sirloin available for sale, but it is pretty highly priced. In my part of the world it costs around $8 for a 1/2 pound. This does not make more than one or two small sandwiches, which is why I typically defer to the options listed below.
As an alternative, chuck, bottom and top roasts are not only more readily available, but they are also usually more affordable. When making a french dip sandwich with a roast, you will typically be shredding the meat instead of serving fine slices. It still works fine, but will not be as traditional as finely sliced sirloin.
How to make a French dip sandwich
There are two schools of thought on this, and both options are provided in this recipe. The first is to cook the meat for an extended time in a slow cooker. This works especially well for tougher cuts like the more affordable chuck, bottom or top round roasts. Slow cook roasts tend to shred more than oven roasted beef.
The second method for preparing the beef for your sandwich involves cooking it in the oven. This method requires a faster cook which requires the roast to be sliced thin. Since most home kitchen don’t have a meat slicer, you’ll have to use a sharp knife to “shave” slices as thin as you can.
What is French dip sauce made of: Au Jus
Regardless of the cook method you choose, the key to a great au jus is to let it cook long enough for the flavors to blend. Au jus is the make or break ingredient for any french dip sandwich. Straining it to remove the solids added during cooking (onions from the soup, garlic, etc…) gives you a restaurant quality dipping sauce.
Like most of my beef based sauces or gravies, I add porcini mushroom powder to the au jus superb umami flavor. Most recipes use some combination of Worcestershire or soy, but I tend to use less of these sauces because they add more salt. You can always add more to taste, but adding too much at the beginning is tough to come back from.
To make the powder I buy a package of dried porcini and grind it into a powder in my mortar and pestle.
What kind of bread is best for French dip?
Simple answer: French rolls. Most bakeries in my area sell them fresh every day, and they have a great texture that can handle the weight of the meat. The french rolls I have available are typically 2-3 feet long. It cut them into sandwich sized length and then slice the roll lengthwise without cutting all the way through. Leaving a little hinge of bread will help make it less prone to fall apart as you dip it into the au jus.
Once assembled, I like to wrap the sandwiches in aluminum foil and bake for 15-20 minutes in a 350 degree F oven. This not only helps to melt the cheese (if used), but also further crusts the rolls.
What is on a traditional French dip?
Some french dip sandwiches do not come with cheese, but if you want to add cheese provolone is a nice choice. Add it to the sandwich before putting it into the oven as instructed above.
I personally love the marriage of beef and horseradish, so for my taste no beef recipe is complete without it. For those who wish to be even bolder, minced giardiniera adds just enough acid to take this to the next level.
