A friend of mine wrote to me: [...] Anyhow, I was also wondering if you would share your beef on weck recipe; I would like to try to make it this winter sometime and don't want to wait until we get together again.

Guess what I'm making for dinner tonight. :-)

Since I typed up the recipe for my friend, I may as well share it with all y'all while I'm at it. The term "beef on weck" comes from a popular dish in Buffalo: steamed roast beef on a kimmelweck roll. Kimmelweck is a Polish roll with salt and caraway seeds baked into the top. It's hard to find 'weck outside of Buffalo. Over the years, my recipe has changed quite a bit, so this doesn't resemble the Buffalo-style sandwich as much as it used to. Still, I think it's pretty good.

Allan's World Famous Beef on Weck

There are four easy steps. This is sooooo easy to make.

Step 1: heat beef broth* to boiling; let simmer

* Whenever I can, I use fresh au jus from the deli counter, but they don't do that kind of thing here in the northwest. I don't know why. In Buffalo, the au jus is *free* when you buy a pound of roast beef. Anyway, when I don't get fresh au jus, I just buy Franco-American Beef Gravy and add a half part water to each part gravy. I usually get three small cans (10 oz.), throw the contents into a big pot, then fill each can half-way up with water and toss that in, too. Don't add water to fresh au jus; that's just for cutting the gravy. :-)

Once the beef broth or gravy or au jus is boiling, we move on to...

Step 2: Throw in some spices; let simmer for a bit

I always throw in a handful of crushed red pepper.
I then throw in either a handful of rosemary, a handful of freshly chopped cilantro, or both. (Today, I'm doing both.)
Optional: There is this fine marinade called Allegro Hot & Spice Marinade that you should be able to find at your local grocery store. A little bit of this adds a nice little kick to the sauce. I don't measure how much I add, but it's probably about a quarter of a cup; definitely no more than that, possibly less.

Step 3: Throw in a pound of sliced roast beef; let simmer some more

I don't just throw in the whole pound at once, I add each slice one at a time. I don't know if this actually makes it taste better, but I *think* it does. Never underestimate the power of psychology. At this point, you're going to want to let it simmer for quite a while. At least an hour or two to get the best flavor.

Step 4: Put on buns; eat

If at all possible, I get genuine kimmelweck rolls like you get in Buffalo, but that's not very common where I currently live. Kaiser rolls (or hard rolls, bulky rolls, soft rolls, or whatever they call them where you live) work just fine.

That's all there is to it. To recap, here are the ingredients:

* beef broth (either fresh au jus *or* 30 to 40 oz. of Franco American gravy cut with 50% water)
* crushed red pepper
* rosemary and/or fresh cilantro
* optional: Allegro hot & spicy marinade
* one pound of sliced roast beef
* buns

Bun Appetit!