Grinder, Hoagie, Subway, Sub, Torpedo, Hero or Dagwood… whatever you like to call a big perfectly designed sandwich is up to you… but no matter how you slice it, this dish is pretty delectable. London Broil as a deli meat is fairly new to me. I love to make an actual London Broil Roast in the cooler months, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it available at my local grocer in the deli department! Basically it is a kicked up sort of roast beef. London Broil comes from a much more flat and narrow piece of meat, unlike your traditional roast. This means the surface to flavor ratio goes up by quite a bit.
Fresh and flavorful ingredients are a great start to a good sandwich, but the key to a good grinder is all in the details of how to build your sandwich. For example, I like my bread to be soft on the inside, but to have a toasty exterior. There needs to be the correct meat to bread ratio. Then there are the seasonings. In this sandwich we will season the meat and be sure to have oil and vinegar.
This sandwich is great for lunch, dinner or just a snack if you’re super hungry… It’s great for a meal on the go, a picnic or to cut up for Sunday Football! It’s very versatile and travels well wrapped in foil.
Start with a good sandwich roll… this one happens to be a portuguese roll from a local bakery and is about 7-8″ long.
Take a serrated knife and cut along the side of the bread, careful not to cut all the way through.
Grab some good olive oil and pour it into a bowl for easy use.
Brush onto both exposed insides of the bread.
Once you have it moderately coated, stick it in under your broiler for a minute or two. With the oil this goes pretty quickly… I like my bread a little over toasty, but it that’s not your preference and you don’t like scraping black, watch the oven, don’t send a text, don’t answer the door… watch the bread.
Here is the London Broil meat. This one is Boar’s Head… I’m sure your local deli has either Boar’s Head or another brand, if not, you can use roast beef.
Once your bread is properly toasted, add on your deli meat individually.
We are using a 1/4lb. of meat here, so you want to pile it on with some volume.
The outside of any good roast is usually a pretty yummy seasoning, however, the inside is usually in need of a little help. So, just a sprinkle of some kosher salt will do it.
Then a couple cracks of black pepper.
Can’t have a good sandwich without the right cheese… My favorite for this particular sandwich is a nice Provolone.
Now layer it on. You are going for full cheese coverage here. Again, pop this under the broiler for a minute or two, but watch it.
I am not a fan of burnt cheese, so this a nice melt and warm through was all I was after here.
Now I am brushing on a bit more olive oil.
Add on a good mayonnaise. If you want to roast some garlic in with your mayo, that would be really yummy here too. Of course you may be of the mustard persuasion and that’s o.k. too… but not me.
Evenly distribute your mayo. Here would be the step where you would add in any fresh veggies you would like to add… so lettuce, tomato, pickles etc… none for me thanks. I would rather have a salad on the side than to interrupt this perfectly balanced sandwich. (Also, if you want to add fresh veg. just be sure you aren’t traveling too far otherwise you may want to bring it along separately so they don’t get all wilty.)
Just one last addition… the peppers… you can use sweet peppers of course, but there is something about the kick of a nice hot pepper ring that I love here. Pickled hot peppers also provide your sandwich with that briny vinegar… If you don’t like peppers at all, still add in some vinegar for the flavor and balance.
Now add on those hot pepper rings. Don’t be shy about including a few drops of the yummy liquid they are kept in too!
Recipe for London Broil Grinder:
(Serves 2)
1/2 lb. sliced deli style London Broil
4 slices deli style Provolone cheese
2 sub rolls, Portuguese rolls
1/8 cup olive oil
1/8 cup mayonnaise
1/8 cup hot pepper rings
kosher salt
fresh cracked black pepper
Directions:
Pre-heat broiler set to low. Prepare a sheet pan with a layer of foil or parchment paper.
Slice into bread lengthwise with a serrated knife. Be sure not to cut all the way through. Brush with olive oil. Pop under the broiler to toast. Watch the progress.
Take out of the oven and build your sandwich. Place each piece of London Broil on individually splitting between the two sandwiches. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add cheese up on top of each sandwich. Again place under the broiler for one minute or so until cheese becomes melty.
Remove from oven and brush with a little more olive oil. Then add on mayonnaise and hot pepper rings. Close up and wrap in foil to keep warm.
Enjoy!