I have admitted before that I know nothing about football and that I have never tailgated. But I do know food, so the whole concept is no mystery to me. Hearty and fun, and easily transportable. And pretty good with a beer. These steak sandwiches fit the bill, great for tailgating because they are versatile. You can prepare all the elements a day ahead, assemble the sandwiches and they will keep for several hours in a cooler. I wrap each sandwich into a tight little foil package. They are delicious cold from the cooler, but if you have a tailgate set up with a grill, you can place the packages on the grill and let them heat up. And the combo of peppery steak, blue cheese and caramelized onions is just about the best way to eat beef I know. Of course, I call these tailgate sandwiches, but they are also perfect packed up for a road trip, a lake weekend, and outdoor concert or for sitting in the stands at a sports practice. Or delicious indoors for lunch or dinner.
I think top round is a great cut for these sandwiches. It slices into lovely strips perfect for a sandwich and takes on the marinade really well. I usually cook the steak in a grill pan, but if you’ve got the grill going you can do that, or just a cast iron skillet. You really want a nice, seared, peppery crust for maximum flavor. I like just at the high end of medium rare, not quite medium, so you get a lovely pink center. Use pieces of blue cheese rather than the pre-crumbled stuff to make a creamy spread, but choose one with lots of blue for the most flavor punch. The cream cheese makes it spreadable and creamy and keeps better than using mayonnaise. My job is to make recipes from scratch, so I always do the onions myself, but I completely understand using a packaged onion jam from the store, though I would stick to one that is only onion, not mixed with other elements. I buy simple soft rolls labelled hoagie for these, or sometimes a large sausage roll, but Mexican style bolillo rolls work well too. Anything too crusty and thick is simply hard to eat. When I wrap these in foil, I compress the sandwich as I go so you get a nice little torpedo that is less likely to fall apart while you eat. As I mentioned, you can make all the elements a day ahead, but I have even assembled the sandwiches a day ahead and kept them wrapped up tight in the fridge.
Ingredients
- For the Steak
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 pounds Top round steak
Flaky sea salt
Cracked black pepper
- For the Onions
4 yellow onions
¼ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 Tablespoons bourbon
¼ cup light brown sugar
- For the Blue Cheese Spread
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
8 ounces blue cheese, at room temperature
- Assembly
6 hoagie rolls
Directions
- For the Steak
- Put the oil, soy sauce and vinegar in a Ziploc bag and shake to combine. Put the steak in the bag and seal, pushing out as much air as you can. Shake it around to get some marinade all over the meat, then place on a plate in the fridge for at least 3 hours, but overnight is fine.
- When ready to cook the steak (make the onions and cheese while its marinating), heat a grill pan, or a grill, to sizzling hot. Remove the meat from the marinade, sweeping off any excess with your fingers. Pat dry with paper towels. If you need to cut it in half to fit the pan and cook in two batches, no problem. Sprinkle one side of the meat with generous amounts of flaky salt and cracked pepper (I buy cracked pepper in a jar, but you can use the coarsest setting of a grinder). Press the salt and pepper into the meat to adhere. Place the seasoned side down on the hot grill pan, then quickly repeat seasoning the other side. Cook for about 4 minutes on one side, until the meat easily lifts from the pan, then flip and cook on the other side until the meat reaches 132 – 138 on an instant read thermometer (just on the high side of medium rare). Remove the cooked meat to a plate and cover loosely with foil. Let it cook to for 15 minutes or so, then refrigerate until chilled, about an hour but longer is fine. Slice the steak into very thin strips
- For the Onions
- Peel the onions and cut in half, then slice into very thin half-moons using a mandoline or the slicing blade of a food processor. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat and add the onions, shuffling to separate. Sprinkle over the salt. Cook until they are wilted and beginning to brown, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes. Add the bourbon and cook, stirring, until it is completely evaporated. Pour in ½ cup of water and cook, scraping the bottom of the pan and stirring frequently, until the water has evaporated. Add the brown sugar and stir, then cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are deeply browned and jammy. Remove to a bowl and cool completely, then cover and refrigerate for a few hours, but overnight is fine.
- For the Blue Cheese Spread
- Put the softened cream cheese and the blue cheese broken into pieces in a small food processor and blend to combine completely. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to serve. Overnight is fine. Bring to room temperature so it is easily spreadable.
- Assembly
- Bring the onions and blue cheese spread to room temperature ( you can soften the spread in the microwave at half power in 15 second burst until it is spreadable). Spread the bottom half of a hoagie roll with a thick layer of blue cheese spread. Layer strips of steak over the spread. Use a fork to lift out some of the caramelized onions and spread them on the top half of the roll. Close the sandwich and place it on one end of a generous piece of foil. Roll it into a tight package, folding the ends over to seal. Repeat with the remaining sandwiches. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes so they firm up nicely.
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