The Filling Midwest Comfort Food That's Perfect For Cold Weather

Typically hearty and casual, old-school Midwestern foods satiate with unique charm. Offerings run the gamut from dense casseroles to distinctive pizza styles, but sandwiches comprise an especially cherished category. After all, two pieces of bread can contain a world of wonders — just take a look at the dish called hot beef.

Popular in both Dakotas as well as Minnesota, the sandwich incorporates either pot roast or roast beef, smothers the meat in a rich brown gravy, and adds a serving of creamy mashed potatoes for good measure. Think of a traditional English Sunday roast, but reassembled into leftover form. The two slices of white bread lend the dish a casual sandwich appearance, but truthfully, this is a fork-and-knife affair.

Add up such elements, and hot beef — also called a roast beef commercial in South Dakota and southern Minnesota — is the type of heavy meal meant for cold weather. Originally, the commercial moniker likely started in reference to traveling salesmen, who'd enjoy the meal on the go. Nowadays, Midwestern residents still trek to their favored diners and dig into the rich creation. The best renditions come piping hot, made from scratch, and tender, ready to nourish whenever the days are short.

Whether it's a juicy Lucy cheeseburger or Minnesota's original hot dish, Upper Midwestern cuisine reassembles familiar components into comforting new forms. The hot beef sandwich is no different — every element is prepared via tried-and-true technique. Originally, the cornerstone meat likely emerged as a way to enjoy a cheap, slow-cooked cut. Today, that means the sandwich can employ either a simple slow-cooker pot roast, shavings of deli-like roast beef, or a classic slow-cooked oven roast. Regardless of the assembly method, the aim's the same: moist strands of beef ready for dousing in gravy.

For this fundamental sauce, a similarly pragmatic approach applies. The best hot beef renditions utilize leftover drippings from the beef roasting process, preferably stretched with high-quality bone broth. However, each serving of the dish requires generous ladles of the brown sauce, so especially in commercial settings, cooks often employ shortcut preparations. Ideally, the gravy comes brown, shiny, and savory, melding the dish together into a rich creation.

Finally come the mashed potatoes. Despite the meaty decadence, there's no holding back with this component either. While any tater recipe is acceptable, heavy cream and butter is the Midwest way. Layer in slices of freshly baked soft white bread, either open-face or closed, and you got yourself a hot beef. Whenever the wind's howling, the snow is falling, and the temperature is in the teens, it's a satiating dish that hits the spot.