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Photos from
Keefer's Kaffe.
Some people consider Beef
on Weck - thinly sliced rare roast beef (piled high as 6 inches) on a freshly baked
kummelweck roll - the best roast beef sandwich in America. This sandwich is a staple of
Buffalo, New York. Few, if any, restaurants outside the Buffalo area serve this sandwich
or even know what it is. Also called Beef on Wick, an alternative spelling usually
used by older people from Buffalo and eastern suburbanites. It is a roast beef sandwich on a salty
kimmelweck roll. In fact, it is this roll that makes the sandwich unique.
Learn about the
History of Beef on Weck Sandwiches.
Beef on Weck Sandwich - Beef on Wick Sandwich
Recipe Type:
Sandwich,
Beef,
History
Cuisine:
Mid-Atlantic (Buffalo, NY)
Yields: 8 sandwiches
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
1 (3- to 4-pound) beef roast (tenderloin,
Prime Rib, or eye of round)
1/4 cup extra-virgin
olive oil
Salt and coarsely-ground black pepper
Cornstarch Glaze (see recipe below)
8 Kimmelweck or Kaiser rolls
2 tablespoons caraway seeds
2 tablespoons coarse
salt
Prepared horseradish
* Kimmelweck roll is a salty roll that is similar to a Kaiser roll.
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
 Rub roast with olive oil,
salt, and pepper. Place roast on rack in a shallow baking pan, tucking the thin end under
to make it as thick as the rest of the roast. Bake, uncovered, 40 to 45 minutes or until
thermometer registers 130 to 135 degrees F. Remove from oven and transfer to a cutting board; let
stand 15 minutes before carving. Reserve meat juice, and carve meat into very thin slices.
Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
Brush the prepared Cornstarch Glaze on the top of each kimmelweck or Kaiser roll; sprinkle equal
amounts of caraway seeds and heat in the oven for 3 minutes or until tops of the rolls get
crusty and the caraway seeds and salt begin to stick. Remove from oven and cut each roll inhalf lengthwise.
To assemble sandwiches, divide sliced beef on the bottom
half of each roll, spoon with reserved beef juice, and top with the top half of each roll. Serve with horseradish on
the side.
Makes 8 sandwiches.
Cornstarch Glaze:
1/2 cup cold water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stir together
water and cornstarch. Heat mixture to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to low, and stir until
mixture thickens and is translucent. Remove from heat and let cool.
Comments from readers:
I just found the recipes that are from Buffalo. I have only seen a couple Beef
on Weck recipes and none of them looked right. Your recipe above looks dead on! I have not personally made
them from scratch, but I know a local butcher who makes them. One of the few I saw called for you to brush the roll with
water or egg white for the salt and caraway, and one thing we know for sure
is they have the cornstarch glaze. –
Lisa H, Lockport, NY (6/19/11)
Here in the Erie PA area
there are a few local delicacies found only here. The local version of Beef
on Wick is called Ox Roast. It is virtually the same except that the roll is
plain (sometimes only thick slices of home made bread) but the cooked in an
overnight outdoor roaster made of corrugated steel. The story on the
Ox Roast is that it was brought by the railroad workers. Erie was the hub of
east-west, north-south railroads back in the day. The story is the guys
building the railroads used this method to feed the workers. During my
boyhood all town fairs, carnivals etc. included the firemen sponsoring an
"OX Roast". - Jim (12/15/05)
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