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You are here: Home / Now We're Cooking / Yummy Roast Beef Sandwiches

Yummy Roast Beef Sandwiches

July 9, 2020 By Jim Brewer

Every year for the past ten years or so when we go to Urbanna for the Oyster Festival, the first thing I do is head for the Beach Bully food truck and order a roast beef sandwich – or two. There are probably a hundred food vendors at the festival, but Beach Bully, out of Virginia Beach, is best. I once asked what kind of beef they used and the cook said it was a bottom round roast, not a brisket as I would have guessed. They cook them in mass in a big smoker.  There is no question that a  round roast or steak has great flavor, but it can be as tough as the soles of a pair of Nike sneakers.

But the Beach Bully sandwiches are tender, have great flavor and their sauce is an absolutely perfect complement to roast beef.

Last Fourth of July weekend, I thought I’d try my own hand at a smoked beef barbeque sandwich complete with sauce. I knocked it out of the park! 

Here’s what I discovered. First, I don’t think it’s necessary to do one of those cook-it-all-night deals on your smoker. Since it’s a larger roast, however, you don’t want to burn the outside while the inside is still raw, so bring it along at a reasonable temperature. I dusted off my old smoker and used that. I put a small stack of coals on one side and the roast on the other, enough that it was dripping some juice on the coals for added flavor. By the way, I bought the smallest round roast they had since we weren’t having company, and in the event I screwed it up, it wouldn’t be a financial disaster.

Before I put the roast on, I left it out at room temperature for about an hour so it would cook through more evenly. I seasoned it with lots of salt and pepper, but just a whisper of steak rub. I wanted the flavor of roast beef to be dominant, not a bunch of spices. The roast cooked fairly quickly, maybe an hour. I took it off when the thermometer reached 145, and it cooked even more after that, but it was still a little pink, the way Nancy likes it.

But here is the secret. Unless you are a heart surgeon with a big scalpel that will slice roast beef wafer thin, you have to use an electric meat slicer, preferably a commercial grade. Mine is a Waring Pro and I love it. I have used it often for slicing country hams and also for eye of round roasts. It was perfect for slicing the smoked roast. If you slice a round roast thinly, it cuts through all the sinew and gristle and the beef comes out tender. If you don’t cut it very thin, it’s tough.

But I was not through. The sauce is critical. Here is how I made mine, and I think it is better than Arby’s. Blend one cup of catsup,  with 1 T water, 2 T light brown sugar, ¼ t onion powder, ¼ t garlic powder, 2 t Tabasco, 1 t salt and 1 t of pepper. Put the sauce in a small pot and bring to a slight boil, then turn to simmer for several minutes to thicken.

You can serve it hot or cold and it stores nicely in the fridge for up to a couple weeks. It was so good, I’m going to smoke another bottom round soon – and this time I’ll buy a bigger roast.

Roast Beef Sauce

1 C ketchup

1 t water

2 t light brown sugar

1/4 t onion powder

1/4 t garlic powder

1t Worcestershire sauce

2 t Tabasco (use Tabasco, not another hot sauce)

1 t salt 

1 t pepper to taste

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