Barbecue makes classic sandwiches better
A welcome addition to many barbecue menus in the last few years are smoked-meat versions of classic sandwiches.
As pitmasters diversify their menus, sandwiches are a rich laboratory for incorporating proteins like brisket into innumerable permutations of tasty ingredients packed between two slices of bread.
Take the Philly cheesesteak sandwich, for example. In Houston, classic cheesesteaks can be procured at outlets like Texadelphia and Pappa Geno’s. The recipe is deceptively simple: Shaved beef (usually rib-eye or top round) is sautéed with onions and/or bell peppers, covered in a melty cheese and served on a hoagiestyle roll.
The choice of cheese is a determining factor in the particular regional style of cheesesteak sandwich, with options like classic American cheese, provolone, and even Cheez Whiz as standard options.
My go-to classic version of this sandwich is at Pappa Geno’s, where I get the #2, aka Philly-style steak and cheese sandwich with a fragrant soft-on-theinside, crusty-on-the-outside roll topped with lean and tender beef, grilled onions and brightyellow Cheez Whiz.
Surely, it’s not possible to improve on such classic sandwich perfection? Oh, but it is. Pitmasters like Russell Roegels at Roegels Barbecue Co. have created their own Texas barbecue-infused versions, with sincere, if cursory, apologies to our Philadelphia culinary brethren.
There’s a toasted, pillow-soft hoagie roll made fresh at a local bakery then topped with superlative chopped brisket, rather than the traditional shaved ribeye. The chunks of fattier, saltand-pepper-encrusted brisket combine with caramelized onions, sautéed red and green bell peppers and Roegels’ own house-made version of Cheez Whiz (it has the consistency of queso).
It’s a messy, delicious, filling option on the everyday menu at the Roegels Katy location and an occasional special at the Voss location.
Specialty or regional sandwiches like the Philly cheesesteak are great comfort food for targeted audiences, but the one sandwich (perhaps more than any other) that binds us all together as Americans is the humble bologna sandwich.
Most Americans of a certain age began our sandwich-obsessed journey with a metal lunchbox stuffed with two crustless slices of Wonder bread slathered with a mayonnaise and topped with two or three slices of Oscar Mayer bologna.
Though bologna embodies the old saying that we don’t need or want to know how the sausage is made, it is basically a cured sausage made with pork or beef and various spices.
Roegels uses finely ground pork shoulder that’s combined with curing salts and spices to make his own bologna. He also makes a cured sausage that is the basis for bologna, known as mortadella, which has a slightly coarser texture. This is achieved by using both pork shoulder as well as brisket, larger chunks of pork fat and traditional ingredients like whole peppercorns and pistachios.
Roegels makes his version of a mortadella sandwich with a buttered-and-toasted burger bun topped with mayonnaise, provolone cheese and his thinly sliced mortadella piled to a good halfinch thickness. It’s the grown-up version of that bologna sandwich that we grew up with. Currently, it is an occasional special at both the Voss and Katy locations (call for availability).
The Philly cheesesteak and mortadella are great additions to Roegels established arsenal of barbecue-infused sandwiches like a Reuben-style pastrami, Cuban sandwich and fried turkey katsu sandwich. They are a great smoked-meat option when it’s time to branch out from the classic Texas trinity of brisket, pork ribs and sausage.