Philadelphia Cheesesteak

As tradition built it

Philadelphia Cheesesteak

Serves 1 . Griddle in about 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 6 thin (1/8-inch) slices, about 6 oz ribeye
• 1/2 cup, diced onions
• 1/4 cup Cheez Whiz, or 2 slices provolone or American cheese: provolone, American, or Cheez Whiz
• 1 Italian roll, locally baked, Amoroso's the most cited brand

Method

1. Griddle-chop the ribeye, not pre-sliced into strips, alongside sautéed onions.
2. Fold through or top with cheese, provolone, American, or Cheez Whiz, depending entirely on which side of the city's oldest good-natured argument the cook stands on.
3. Pile into a locally baked Italian roll, Amoroso's the most cited brand.

Notes

Pat's chops its steak thinner; Geno's leaves thicker chunks, a genuine, sourced side-by-side difference this chapter treats as two valid traditions rather than a contest with a winner.

What a modern chef changes

A Mornay-adjacent Cheez Whiz built from scratch

Method

1. Cook the ribeye sous vide to a precise medium-rare first, then finish it hard and fast on the Big Green Egg's plancha, griddle-chopping it only at that final stage, so the meat itself never spends long enough over direct heat to grey through.
2. Make a proper Mornay-adjacent Cheez Whiz analogue from scratch, a genuine sharp cheese sauce built the way the original was never going to be built commercially in the 1950s, using the spice grinder to work a little smoked paprika through it for a note the tinned product cannot offer.
3. Toast the roll on the same plancha the meat just left, carrying its residual beef fat straight into the bread.