that's gonna render, kinda float on top
when you're doing a certain stew,
or braising dish like this.
And then also we're using the liquid
that we're cooking it in to use as the French dip au jus.
I'm gonna cut fairly big chunks because we are gonna
shred this, and I do like having kinda like larger shreds
'cause if you cut this into small stew pieces,
you wouldn't have very large shreds.
It'd kinda get a little mushy.
Otherwise, it may be more of a sloppy joe texture,
or something like that,
and that's not what I'm looking for here.
They don't have to be perfectly square,
we're just trying to get a good sear on them.
So to get that sear, I'm gonna set the Instant Pot here
to saute, and it's up on the More setting.
So I want it to get good and hot.
I'll let that preheat, then I'll go in with some oil.
But we're gonna season up the beef right now.
So I'm just gonna get a nice season all over it,
just salt and pepper.
So that's why we're using the shoulder clod.
We're braising.
You don't have to spend a lot of money or a lot time
doing it this way.
We're doing it in the Instant Pot to save time,
and the idea behind this recipe is kind of like
a party recipe.
So this guy should be pretty hot.
So get a little oil just to help facilitate this braising,
or this searing.
And then I'll go in with these chunks.
So now, just like I've talked about before,
you don't wanna overcrowd.
So this, I cut it in six pieces out of this one roast.
So I'm gonna do three at a time,
that way we get a nice sear on these three pieces.
Then we move in with the next three.
So don't worry about searing all the sides of the beef.
As long as we get two sides really well, maybe three,
you're just trying to develop that flavor.
We got a good sear on a couple sides of this,
so I'm just gonna go ahead and get the next batch in.
So I got a nice little brown going on with these guys, too.
So I'll pull this out, then I'll go in with,
I've got some onions, garlic, and a little bit of thyme.
So I'll go with onions and garlic first,
a little bit of thyme,
and again, we're just gonna kinda saute a little bit,
move this around, let the onions soften a touch.
Get a slight browning on the garlic,
but we're not trying to thoroughly cook everything here,
we're just trying to wilt them a little bit,
give them a little bit of color,
and let those juices start to escape the onions
to make one flavorful stock.
So we'll go in with this beef stock,
deglaze that pan a little bit.
This should still be set to high saute.
That'll help warm up this beef stock
so that as I kind of scrape some of this fond out
and move it around a little bit,
that'll help start this stock getting warm
so it starts to bubble,
and to facilitate the cooking of this.
All right, so I will get these beef pieces back in the pot.
All right, now we go in with the lid.
All right, let's see it.
Do I got it?
Oh, I didn't hear the sound.
(pot chiming)
There it is.
All right, so I got it on Sealing.
Now I'll cancel from the Saute mode.
Let's see here.
Pressure cook, got it on high.
And we'll go 35 minutes.
(pot beeping)
All right, so now this'll start up.
Once we hit that full pressure, it'll cook for 35 minutes.
We'll give it some time to depressurize on its own.
Then we'll pull the meat out,
and then as we do the rest of this recipe,
we can reduce this and simmer,
and then you'll have the au jus,
which is kind of all that cooking liquid that we got here.
All right, well, I've had a little time to straighten up
my area, switch out my cutting board,
because I'm gonna go on to the buns for this recipe.
This is a good time, while this is cooking,
to prepare your buns
so that you're not scrambling last minute.
So what I do here that makes it kinda the fun recipe,
is you just take the whole thing with a good serrated knife.
Doesn't have to be the nicest knife in the world,
just nice and sharp.
And I'll go through, and just cut this whole thing.
Take the lid off.
On the bottom of this sandwich,
what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna put the slices
of provolone cheese, just slightly overlapping.
The reason I like the provolone on the bottom
is because this is like a shredded beef sandwich
that gets a quick bake, so by putting the provolone
on the bottom, it prevents the bottom bun
from getting too soggy.
Because you want the French dip soggy,
but you want it soggy because you dipped it.
You don't want it soggy off the bat.
So the top bun, we're gonna add a little melted butter,
and then some coarse salt.
The reason I like doing this salt on top
is not only does it give it a little attractive look to it,
a little interest on the top of that bun,
but it adds this nice little pop of a crunchy salt,
which really give the whole sandwich
a little something extra.
I'll get it good with the butter.
The butter helps the browning,
and will help the salt to stick.
Then we'll go on with the salt.
So, you know, any coarse salt will do.
You don't want it as fine as like a table salt
because that'll just kinda melt into the bun,
and then you won't see it, and you won't taste it as much.
It'll just kinda be salty on top.
It's nice having the little crunch from the coarse salt.
So this has been pressure cooking for 35 minutes.
I gave it some time to naturally release its pressure,
and then I opened up the vent to just to make sure
anything else in there has released.
Our little stopper here has gone down
to show us that we can take the lid off.
Always remember to open that lid kind of away from you.
You don't get steam in the face.
So now I've got the pieces of meat
that I will pull out of here.
We'll shred those,
but I also am gonna reduce this liquid,
because a French dip isn't a French dip
without the dip.
So we'll set this guy to saute.
Again, we're on More, which means it's a high setting.
We'll just let that start.
It's already hot, so it should heat up
and start to simmer pretty quickly.
So now I'll go in.
I just use a couple forks, and I'll just pull that apart.
You want it kinda chunky, but nice, large shreds
because it's nice to have a little bit of texture to it.
You don't want it completely torn apart.
So just nice chunky shreds of beef for this sandwich.
(people laughing in background)
- He didn't get anything!
- So now we have the shredded meat.
Like I say, slightly coarse on the shred there
because I like it a little chunky,
so you still maintain some texture to it.
And we're just gonna go right on to this cheese.
And by not allowing it to cool too much,
it helps start to melt that cheese 'cause really,
the oven bake part is just to melt the cheese,
get a little brown on top, and help these get kinda crunchy.
So we're not relying on that oven to do all the work here
'cause they could dry out a little bit.
So we're just doing a short bake time
to make sure that everything's melted, and crunchy,
and gooey, and delicious.
All right.
So now this'll go in the oven.
I've already got this thing preheated,
so cut down on the time a little bit there.
So now while those bake, we'll go back to our au jus.
All right, so this has been reducing for a little while.
So I'm just gonna turn it off,
and I've got my strainer, and my container set up here.
So what I'll do is I'll take, and I gotta kitchen towel.
Use anything, potholders.
Just grab this.
It's gonna be pretty hot.
So I'll take this, and then I will strain it
through this colander here.
And then this is what we're gonna use for our au jus.
Now the other thing you can do is, if you have
a little bit of fat that floats to the surface,
you just take a ladle, and just lightly press down,
that fat that's all floating on top, gently press,
it'll all go right into there.
You don't have that little kind of fatty layer on top.
Well, these sliders are all ready,
so I'm gonna go pull these out,
and then I'm gonna contact a couple people.
Got a little group of people here at the office
that I like to call on a regular basis
for my recipe testers.
So sending out a text, see if one of my recipe testers,
or a couple people can come down.
Oh, of course.
- Hey, guys.
- All right, well, that was easy.
- I smell food.
- So first things first.
They're still pretty hot.
I wanna get off of here.
We'll put them onto this, so I get a spatula.
That ain't gonna work.
There we go.
So get these on.
Now this is a pull-apart slider.
We've got some au jus for dipping.
- Nice.
- Oh, wow.
- So go ahead and dig in.
You might need to kinda get under them
and kinda get on that seam and pull one of those out.
- Get in real close here?
- There you go.
That's what makes it fun, right?
The stringy cheese, and the--
- Delightful.
(sighing)
And just dip?
- Dip away.
- Are we judging if we double-dip?
- This is your personal container,
so you can double-dip to your heart's content.
- Nice.
- Yeah, I think I'm gonna have to go in, too,
'cause can't beat a good French dip.
Real simple
Shoulder, beef shoulder clod.
- Yeah.
- You know, it's one of my favorites
for something like this.
Nice chuck cut.
- You know what I like about this, is everything.
It's that chuck, but it's the bread, as well.
I mean, everything just works.
- Yeah, I use Hawaiian rolls,
'cause I like the slight sweetness,
and you get the salty, savory, sweet,
got a good combination of everything.
- Oh, that's brilliant.
How long did it take you?
- The longest part was the braising,
or the pressure cooking, which only took about 35 minutes,
and then the rest of the prep was 10 minutes here,
10 minutes there, so it's a good one for a party.
You've got time in between.
Stages that you can kinda clean up,
or go do a quick task.
So lot easier than trying to cook something all day.
- And Instant Pot; easy cleanup.
- It's really nice.
- If you like this recipe, remember to like, comment,
and share on social media, and we'll see you next time
here in the Test Kitchen.
(optimistic music)