italian beef

How To Make italian beef

• Step 1
  Heat oven to 350 degrees. Set out 1 large coffee filter and a few feet of cooking twine.
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  Step 2
  Add Italian Seasoning, bay leaves, small dried red pepper, and salt into the center of the coffee filter. Fold over top and bottom of the filter towards the middle. Holding these flaps down, fold over the left and right sides toward the middle. Now you should have a packet, about 1.5 inches square. Leaving a couple inches at one end, wrap the cooking twine around one way a few times, tuck the string under the wrap, wrap the twine at a 90 degree angle to the first wrap, making a cross. As you run out of twine, tie the two ends together.
• Step 3
  In a Dutch oven, put the roast, water, onion soup mix, Better than Bouillon Beef Flavoring, Merlot wine, pepperoncini, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and spice package. (Note: To make this gluten free, make a French onion soup to substitute for onion soup mix and water.)
• Step 4
  Cover the pot and braise in the oven for one hour. Reset heat to 275 - 300 degrees and braise for 2-3 more hours. Check periodically, and add water as needed to keep the level about the same as when you began cooking. You can tell the meat is very tender if strands of meat strip easily from the roast when pulled with the grain of the meat.
• Step 5
  Remove pan from the oven and cool. When the pan is cool enough, refrigerate until the meat is cold and the fat is congealed, perhaps overnight. (If I want to cool the pan quickly before refrigerating, I set it in the sink, covered, and pour ice over it.)
• Step 6
  When the meat is cold, remove the congealed fat. Move the roast to a cutting board and slice across the grain as thinly as possible. Add the slices back to the broth. Refrigerate until ready to serve; then heat to boiling. Serve over good Italian bread and with more pepperoncini, if desired.
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  Step 7
  Note: sliced meat and broth can be added to containers and frozen.
• Step 8
  Note: I have been using this meat and broth for my vegetable soup: it gives the soup an extra layer of flavors: https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/soup/vegetable-soup/moms-beef-vegetable-soup.html
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