Blackstone Philly Cheesesteaks

I’ve been to Philadelphia once and had my first real Philly Cheesesteak that day.  I already loved them, thanks to our friends Bill and Deb, from Eastern Pennsylvania who made them often.  We made them off and on over the years.

Then Mark got the Blackstone.

Mark rattled off all the things he wanted to make on his new cooking toy. Suddenly he was perusing Blackstone recipes online.  While driving home from a weekend away he turned to me and said we HAD to have cheesesteaks on the Blackstone.  He wanted them that night for dinner.  However, he didn’t want to use Steak-Umms from the freezer case; he wanted ribeye.  Um, okay.  Inside I tried to figure out how to thinly cut a steak since we don’t have a rotary slicer at home.

We unpacked in record time and headed to our favorite local butcher.  I learned the correct term for the meat is shaved ribeye.  I also learned it’s a lot easier to shave it when the meat is slightly frozen.  That meant we had to wait since they only had frozen solid or completely thawed.  It was already close to dinnertime so we’d have to wait until the next day.

Monday was a busy day of calls for him but he poked his head out a few times saying how excited he was for dinner.  Our secret?  I love how excited he is to cook dinner!

We’ve learned from Bill & Deb that Amorosa rolls are key to the perfect Philly Cheesesteak.  Old San Francisco don’t cut it.  We have a cheesesteak sandwich shop in town that uses Amorosa rolls but I needed to buy a dozen.  Nope, not happening.  I improvised with plain old hoagie rolls from the grocery store bakery.  While not perfect, they are the closest we’ve found.

We like our cheesesteaks “wit wiz.” Our wiz of choice is white american cheese, found in the deli department.

As for the meat.  You can visit your local butcher and order it shaved.  We’ve done that with sirloin and ribeye.  Ribeye is a special treat.  Costco sometimes has shaved sirloin in the meat case next to the steaks.  Our grocery store will have it occasionally as well.

They cook fast so you’ll want to have all the stuff out and ready.

Heat the Blackstone to low.  You don’t want it too high and have everything stick.  Start with the onions.  Mark is still relatively new to liking grilled onions and doesn’t like any onion crunch so he really cooks them.  We use avocado oil because it has a higher smoke point.

When they are almost done, push them to the side.

Now it’s time for the meat.  Lay your meat down.  It’ll cook fast.  After you turn it over you can start breaking it up.  Mark uses two spatulas.

Grab the rolls and lay them on the griddle to toast.

 

Stir the onion in with the meat.  It’s okay if you forget the onions are off to the side, they can be plopped on top of the meat or the cheese if you really forget.

Separate the meat into sandwich piles.

Top with the cheese.  You’re the boss, put on as much as you want.

To assemble, slide the spatula under the pile of deliciousness and put it in the toasted hoagie roll.

You can pair it with a salad, it’s a filling sandwich and for me, the sandwich by itself is enough.

Click to print recipe

Philly Cheesesteak

Makes 4

• One pound shaved ribeye or sirloin
• One onion, diced
• 1-2 Tablespoons Avocado Oil
• White American cheese slices
• Amorosa Rolls or Hoagie Rolls

1.  Heat the griddle on low.  Add oil and onions and cook to your liking.  Move to the side.
2. Add shaved meat.  Cook one side then flip over.  Use two spatulas to cut meat into smaller pieces
3. Lay rolls down on griddle to toast.
4. When meat is almost done, stir onions in.  Separate meat into four oblong piles.  Top with cheese.
5. Use a spatula to lift meat mixture onto the roll.

Enjoy!  Store leftovers in the refrigerator.