Original video by @BrianLagerstrom — all credit to the creator.
French Dip Sandwich
A melty, jus-soaked French dip built on soft hoagie rolls with deli roast beef, bubbling provolone, sweet caramelized onions, and a zippy horseradish sauce. A quick gelatin-and-bouillon beef jus tastes like it simmered all day but comes together in about ten minutes.
Ingredients
Caramelized Onions
- 1000 gyellow onions · about 3 large, julienned
- 50 gunsalted butter · 3½ tablespoons
- 50 gwater · 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons; plus more for deglazing
- 8 gfine salt · 1¼ teaspoons
Beef Jus
- 900 gbeef stock · 32 oz / 4 cups, store-bought
- 14 gpowdered gelatin · 2 packets / 5 teaspoons
- 30 gBetter Than Bouillon beef base · 1½ tablespoons
- 50 gWorcestershire sauce · 3 tablespoons
- 5-8 gsalt · about 1 teaspoon, to taste
Horseradish Sauce
- 75 gmayonnaise · ⅓ cup
- 75 gsour cream or plain Greek yogurt · ⅓ cup
- 50 gprepared horseradish · 3 tablespoons
- 3 gsalt · ½ teaspoon
Assembly
- 2plain hoagie rolls · large, 12-14 inch
- 680 gthinly sliced medium roast beef · 24 oz; premium deli roast beef such as London broil
- 8 slicesprovolone cheese
Steps
- 1
Combine the onions, 8g salt, butter, and 25g water in a Dutch oven. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring every 5 minutes, until dramatically softened and collapsed, about 10-15 minutes.
- 2
Uncover and cook over medium-low heat until fond forms on the bottom of the pot. Deglaze with small splashes of water, scrape with a wooden spoon, lower the heat to low, and repeat about every 5 minutes for 35-50 more minutes, until caramel brown. Transfer to a bowl to cool.
- 3
Combine the beef stock, Worcestershire, Better Than Bouillon, and 5g salt in a saucier. Whisk in the gelatin until dissolved before the stock gets hot, then bring to a simmer and reduce by 30-50%, about 10 minutes. Taste and adjust salt.
- 4
Combine the mayonnaise, sour cream, horseradish, and 3g salt and stir to combine.
- 5
Heat the oven to 400°F (205°C). Trim the rounded tips from the rolls, cut each into 6-7 inch pieces, and split them all the way through. Bring the jus to a boil, then lower to a gentle simmer.
- 6
Toast the rolls at 400°F (205°C) for 5 minutes, until the exterior is lightly glassy and crisp.
- 7
Lay 2 slices of provolone on each bottom half and toast open-faced for 3-4 minutes, until the cheese is melted, bubbly, and waterfalling over the sides.
- 8
Bring the jus to about 135°F (57°C) and move 4-5 slices of beef through it for 20-30 seconds, just until warmed through, then lift out.
- 9
Ribbon the beef onto the sandwich in tight folded piles, laying a final slice across the top to tie the layers together. Spread a thin, even layer of caramelized onions end to end, add a thin layer of horseradish sauce, close the sandwich, and serve immediately with very hot jus for dipping.
Creator's notes
Use soft grocery-store hoagie rolls from the fresh bakery section rather than a crusty artisan baguette — soft bread crisps into a thin glassy shell under the cheese and soaks up jus without falling apart. Spend up for premium deli roast beef cooked medium-rare (Dietz & Watson London Broil or Boar's Head); cheap deli beef has a bouncy lunch-meat texture. The onion recipe makes about double what you need, so freeze half or make a double batch. Short on time, sauté 250g julienned onions in 2 tablespoons oil with a strong pinch of salt for 5-10 minutes for hard color — not truly caramelized, but close enough. Keep the jus at 130-140°F when warming the beef; twice-cooked deli meat is unpleasant. Serve the dipping jus almost too salty and piping hot — that's what brings the sandwich to life.
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