'Roast Beef Po' Boy with Debris Gravy - KMPH FOX 26 | Central San Joaquin Valley News Source

Chef Rob Ringler made his famous 'Roast Beef Po' Boy with Debris Gravy.'

Here's the recipe for the sandwich, for those of you who wish to try it out for yourselves:

Roast Beef Po ' Boy with Debris Gravy Recipe

For the Roast:
1 beef chuck roast (this one was 2 ½ pounds)
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Kosher salt and black pepper
Cayenne
3 Tbsp lard or vegetable oil
1 small onion, diced
1 small carrot, diced
1 cup beef stock
1 cup chicken stock
water, if necessary
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp hot sauce
2 sprigs fresh Thyme
1 fresh Bay leaf
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Cut small slits into the roast, about every 3 inches; try not to pierce all the way to the bottom. Stuff the sliced garlic into the slits.

Season the roast very liberally on all sides with the salt and black Pepper, season with Cayenne to your taste; I don't use much.

Heat the fat in a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over high heat. When the oil starts to smoke, wait a few more seconds, then carefully add the roast, cut side down. Brown very well on all sides, without burning it. Remove to a plate.

Drain off all but 1 Tbsp of the fat in the pan, add the onions and carrots, cook until the onions just start to brown, place the roast back in the pan, then add the stocks. Finish, if necessary, with enough water to bring the cooking liquid 3/4 of the way up the roast. Add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, then back down to a simmer. Simmer covered for 3-4 hours or until the meat falls apart by staring at it.

For the Debris Gravy:
Carve the meat into very thin slices; it will be hard to do and will fall apart, that is good. All of the bits and pieces that fall off are your Debris (pronounced DAY-bree.) Add all of the bits and chunks to your cooking liquid after skimming off the fat from the surface. Keep the carved meat with a little liquid on a warm plate, covered tightly with plastic wrap. Bring the gravy to a full boil, and reduce until it coats the back of a spoon. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

For the Po' Boy:
New Orleans-style French bread ( Po ' Boys are generally about 9-10 inches long per sandwich. As you can see I made mine a bit smaller, shame on me.) Cut the bread 3/4 of the way through, leaving a hinge (as seen in the background of the pic).  I find the hinge makes for slightly easier eating.
shredded lettuce (or Cabbage a la Mothers)
mayonnaise
roast beef (see above)
Debris Gravy

Slather the bread with a very generous portion of Mayonnaise on the inside of the upper and lower halves. Place about a cup of shredded lettuce on the bottom half. Cover the lettuce with a generous portion of the 'sliced' beef. Drown the beef with Debris Gravy.

Grab a stack of napkins and enjoy!

**Note - To make this a Ferdi Special a la Mother's, add good quality sliced ham underneath the beef!

This roast will make about 4 very generous Po ' Boys.

The Bread

What makes a Po' Boy special is the bread. A Po' Boy isn't a Po' Boy unless it's made with good quality, fresh French bread. New Orleans French bread has a crunchy crust with a very light center. The loaves are about 3' in length, and have about a 6"circumference. Time was, that many a corner bakery made their own French bread, but there are only three bakeries left in town that make true French bread: Gendusa's, Leidenheimer's and Binder's. Many of the larger grocery stores make bread that they call 'French bread,' but it's not made in the old brick ovens that the real bakeries use, so it doesn't come out with the same contrast between crust and center.

The Fillings

Roast beef and shrimp are the most popular fillings for a Po' Boy, but just about anything can be put inside a loaf of French bread and taste good. Freshness and quality are the two most important aspects of what goes inside a Po' Boy. Many places do an excellent hamburger or cheeseburger Po' Boy, because they can cook the patties to order.

Same goes for seafood fillings like oysters and shrimp. Roast beef and ham are a different story. The average lunch counter doesn't roast their own meat anymore, so the places that do really stand out. A good gravy can go a long way to compensate for not roasting your own meat, which is why some otherwise average places do good barbecue beef and ham Po' Boys.

There's really no limit to what can be made into a Po' Boy. Streetcar Sandwiches does a great smothered duck Po' Boy, for example. Fried catfish is growing in popularity. The low-fat movement has prompted several places to add grilled chicken breasts to their Po' Boy menus, but the combinations of ingredients that make a great Po' Boy don't lend themselves to restricted diets, so this addition to the menus hasn't been that earth-shaking.

Dressed, or Nuttin' on it ...

This is one of those questions than can hang up a tourist like a deer caught in the headlights: You think you've figured out whatever little place in which you're standing in line. You get to the front of the line, and you order your Po' Boy. The lady behind the counter asks a one word question, "Dressed?" You look at her like she's crazy. Of course you're dressed! No, silly, what about your sandwich? What do you want on it? Do you want it dressed with lettuce, tomato, pickles, mayo, or do you just want nuttin' on it?

 You can catch Ringler's other delightful dishes at Ducey's at 54432 Road 432, Bass Lake, CA  93604. 
 

Story Created: Aug 21, 2007 at 5:29 PM PDT

Story Updated: Aug 22, 2007 at 1:09 PM PDT