Time and patience with your chuck roast are key players when it comes to Chef Jean-Paul’s Roast Beef Debris Po’ Boys. The sandwiches come together in a snap, but the secret to setting yourself up for success with this one lies in the chuck roast. Chef Jean-Paul recommends seasoning your chuck the night before with salt and pepper, and let it set uncovered in the refrigerator. This gives the salt and pepper time to draw moisture out of the chuck roast, getting that seasoning down in the meat before you start cooking.
Roast Beef Debris Po’ Boys
Makes 8 Servings
Ingredients
- 8 (6- to 8-inch) loaves French bread, split
- Butter, for coating
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- Roast Beef Debris (recipe follows)
- Dill pickle slices, sliced tomato, Creole mustard, and shredded iceberg lettuce, to serve
Instructions
- Heat a cast-iron griddle over medium-high heat.
- Scoop out some crumb from the inside of each French bread loaf.
- Coat skillet with butter, and add bread loaves, cut side down, in batches; cook until lightly toasted.
- Spread mayonnaise onto cut sides of bread. Place pickles on bottom cut side of each loaf, top with tomatoes, and fill each sandwich with about 1 cup Roast Beef Debris. Top debris with Creole mustard and lettuce.
Roast Beef Debris
Makes about 8 cups
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 (3¾-pound) boneless chuck roast, trimmed
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 4 cups beef broth
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
- 1 bunch fresh thyme, tied with butcher twine
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°.
- In a medium cast-iron Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Sprinkle beef with salt and pepper. Add beef to Dutch oven; cook until well browned on all sides, 5 to 10 minutes per side, turning occasionally.*
- Add onion, and cook, stirring constantly, scraping bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon, until browned bits begin to deglaze. Add ½ cup broth and continue scraping the bottom of the pan frequently, until well browned. Add tomato paste, and cook, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds. Add garlic, and cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Add crushed red pepper, and cook, stirring constantly until the mixture is a deep red color. Add Worcestershire, and cook, stirring constantly for 30 seconds.
- Add remaining 3½ cups broth, and bring to a boil. Return beef and any remaining liquid to pot. Place thyme bundle on top of beef and spoon some liquid over the top. Cover and bake until very tender, basting any exposed beef every 45 minutes, about 2½ hours in all.
- Taste broth and adjust seasoning, if needed. With two forks, shred beef. Remove any larger pieces of fat, if desired. Taste for seasoning again, and adjust if necessary. Let stand until cool enough to refrigerate. Cover and refrigerate up to 3 days, or freeze up to 3 months.
Notes
*Tip from Chef Jean-Paul:
Browning the beef can be done a day in advance; refrigerate beef, and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour before proceeding.
Browning the beef can be done a day in advance; refrigerate beef, and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour before proceeding.
Watch this dish come together on our YouTube channel where a new episode of “Louisiana Cookin’ with Chef Jean-Paul Bourgeois” is uploaded every Thursday!
Louisiana Cookin’ People,
A dear friend holds the position:
“If you don’t have the right bread, you are not eating a po-boy, you are eating a sandwich.”
I am 13 years into trying to cook a close symbalance of New Orleans style french bread. I nailed the crust by 2014 – 2016. The bread I make is good. It is no where near a light and airy as that loaf from Schwaggmans.
It is a long way from Greensboro, NC to New Orleans.
Can you help? Hope so.