- 5 minutes ago
Chef Joe Nicolosi of Tommy DiNic’s in Philadelphia shares how to make their roast pork sandwich. While the Philly Cheesesteak may be the sandwich you think of first, some may argue that the roast pork sandwich is the real star of Philadelphia. With 3-day roast pork, broccoli rabe, and sharp provolone on an Italian roll, Philly’s best sandwich is not what you think.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:04Hey, I am Joe Nicolosi at TommyDinex Roast Pork and Beef
00:07in the Redding Terminal Market in Philadelphia,
00:09and I'm going to show you how we make
00:10our perfect roast pork sandwich.
00:18The sandwich is a simple one.
00:19It doesn't have many components,
00:20but the components we chose are perfect in our estimation.
00:23It's the right roll.
00:24Our roast pork, char provolone, broccoli rabe.
00:27It's as simple as that.
00:28We have six sandwiches.
00:30Roast pork makes up probably 60% of our sales.
00:33We can be doing 250 to 500 pounds of pork a day.
00:43Our pork is a three-day process, and we start right here.
00:47We have these hams boned out by this butcher shop,
00:49Martin's, right across the aisle here,
00:51and they've been doing that for us 40 years.
00:54Same thing with our produce.
00:55We've got our produce from Iovine's in that corner.
00:58We've been buying from them for 35 years probably,
01:01so that's one of the advantages of being in a market like this.
01:04This is a fresh ham.
01:06Everyone knows spiral ham.
01:08Same cut of meat, but this is just in its raw state.
01:11They're already tied for us.
01:12They're already boned out.
01:13I just take the time to make it a little more perfect.
01:17You want it to be as consistent as possible.
01:19Otherwise, you get one side that is going to be overcooked.
01:22One side can be undercooked.
01:24So I'm just making it as cylindrical as possible.
01:27We put three per pan.
01:28You need a lot of meat in here because that's going to be the base of our stock.
01:33So you need as much meat as possible in one pan.
01:37We have vinegar peppers.
01:39Splash of this vinegar.
01:40Helps the spices stick to it and adds a little bit of brightness in the background.
01:46This pigskin, when they bone out these hams, they're removing the skin as well.
01:51Skin has a gelatinous quality when it's cooked.
01:53Anything like that really adds to the base if you're making a stock, if you're making a broth.
01:57You could even use a pig's foot if you have it.
02:00Take a halved onion.
02:01That goes right in the pan.
02:04Plenty of salt.
02:05A piece of meat this large can use a lot of salt.
02:10Dried rosemary.
02:11For something like this that's going to be roasted for four or five hours,
02:15dry spices are going to hold up much better than using anything fresh with.
02:20Dehydrated onion.
02:20The onion helps pick things up.
02:23This spice mix is probably 50% granulated garlic.
02:27Almost impossible to have too much garlic.
02:29And then you have red pepper, black pepper, marjoram, oregano, a little bit of thyme, and a little bit of
02:34dry parsley.
02:36You want these spices pushed in.
02:39You don't want it floating off the top.
02:41Give them a flip.
02:43Same thing again.
02:45Pork is mild.
02:47You want the spice rub, but the salt in particular, really to get into as much of the center as
02:53it possibly can.
02:55And that needs time to do that.
02:57These are going to go into the fridge for 24 hours.
03:02These are hams that have been here that we prepped yesterday.
03:10So we're on day two.
03:11These are hams that have been here that we prepped yesterday.
03:14You have to learn your ovens.
03:17So the left side of my oven tends to run a little bit hotter.
03:21So I have a larger ham.
03:22I tend to try to put that on the left side.
03:23The ham in the middle tends to take the longest.
03:26So if there's the smallest ham, I'll put that one right in the middle.
03:29And these will go into the oven right now.
03:33500 degree convection oven, high fan.
03:35We'll let them do their thing and we'll come and check in them in about 20 minutes.
03:39There's absolutely no reason you can do this on a home oven.
03:42The ovens that my grandfathers were using in the back of that butcher shop were inferior to what just about
03:47anybody has at home now.
03:49Now it's been 20 minutes.
03:51The first thing we do, we make a beef stock, a proper beef stock for our roast beef sandwich.
03:56We render out the fat from the bones.
03:58I pour that fat off into a pan and check those hams after 20 minutes.
04:02As soon as they start to see color, I add that hot rendered fat and help give a little color
04:08to the hams.
04:09It kind of simulates starting your roast by searing it on the stove top.
04:14Now these are going to just go back in for one minute.
04:16We're going to add more color to the bottom of the hams that are making contact with the pan.
04:21Not only for the flavor of the roast pork, but in our case,
04:24it's more significant for the flavor of the stock that we're going to make.
04:29So you need to be building flavor at every step.
04:33Next step. I think these are already ready.
04:35Splash of soy sauce.
04:39More flavor.
04:40My father liked to say that we use Italian soy sauce.
04:44So it's very special. It's hard to get.
04:46I'm going to let that reduce for another minute.
04:49So we started using soy sauce when we started cooking briskets.
04:53It adds a beautiful depth of flavor.
04:56Any changes that make the thing better, I want to make the thing better.
04:58I don't care if it's not original or it isn't what my grandfather or dad did.
05:04And my dad, though, would have that same perspective.
05:07Do the thing that has more flavor.
05:08Now it's time for a splash of water.
05:11You can see we're getting quite a bit of color there on the hams and on the bottom of the
05:14pan.
05:15At this point, I may take a fork.
05:18Picking up some of the fond and injecting as much flavor into the liquid as we can.
05:24Here's our pigskin. You can see it's got quite a bit of color here.
05:27And it cooks over four hours. It'll really start to break down.
05:30And that is something I find that you can't really do without.
05:34So if you have a butcher, buy the skin as well.
05:37Just five more minutes.
05:39I have the seasoning mix that we're adding to the base here, to the stock,
05:42is very similar to what we were putting as a dry rub on the fresh hams.
05:47The only extra addition would be bay leaf for that depth and earthiness.
05:52They say. I'm not so sure.
05:55Next step.
05:57Just like if you're making a broth or stock at home, you need water.
06:00It is authentic Philadelphia water.
06:04Water.
06:06Water.
06:06Water.
06:07So we mix this up.
06:09One bucket per pan here.
06:11It's been about 12 minutes since we added the soy sauce.
06:14It's time to flip these.
06:16We have a little more darkness over here than we have over here.
06:19So anywhere I see light spots, I want them exposed to air.
06:25Darker sides, a little bit further down.
06:28I don't want them to develop too much color.
06:30And I want the light spots to develop more color.
06:32So little micro adjustments in the pan like that.
06:35Seasoning mix goes in.
06:37Add maybe two cups of water now per pan.
06:40This is the base of our stock that we're going to be cooking along with the hams.
06:43Technically speaking, we're making a broth, not a stock because there's no bones in the pan.
06:47I use stock as a standard for broth because if you tell people the roast pork's coming out of a
06:51broth,
06:52they're going to think you're making a soup, but we're going to keep calling it a stock.
06:56This in here is perfect.
06:58This is a little darker, not in a bad way.
07:01I just know that I want this a little bit more submerged in the liquid.
07:07What's very important to this step is if I had let this water and soy sauce completely evaporate,
07:14you lose everything you just built up.
07:16It's critical that you get to this step before you lose that liquid.
07:22You want it to reduce to develop, but you don't want to lose it altogether.
07:25Once the liquid is starting to bubble, depending on the size of the ham,
07:28I'll drop it anywhere from 225 to 275.
07:32We pull these out when they hit an internal temperature of 130 degrees.
07:37That's pushing it into rare territory, but when you're cooking a piece of meat this large,
07:41the residual heat is going to continue to cook.
07:43If I push these to 150 degrees, 155, by the time I slice them,
07:48they're going to shred and they're going to be drier than you want them to be.
07:57We're at day three here. This is our roast pork.
08:00It's been in the walk-in box for about 24 hours.
08:02Cooling the hams overnight is really the thing that's needed to get them to slice properly.
08:06If you try to slice a hot ham out of the oven, even when it's slightly cooled, it'll just shred.
08:12You could slice this very thin with a knife.
08:15You'd have to be pretty good with a knife and be pretty careful.
08:17The best thing to do for it is to have a slicer.
08:19And you can get a slicer for not too much money at home.
08:24Time for this twine to come off.
08:26You do have a little bit of fat on the outside of these.
08:29That fat will gunk up the machine.
08:32Most people do not want particularly fatty sandwiches.
08:36All right. On to the slicer we go.
08:40We're looking for as thin as you can get.
08:43We're constantly feeling where we're at, making little adjustments.
08:47A little thicker, a little bit thinner.
08:49If you don't put it in the fridge overnight, you're not going to get nice slices like this.
08:53And you would end up with just a mess of a sandwich.
08:56This pork is sliced thinly enough that as you're dropping it into the stock, it's going to heat up in
09:0130 seconds and be ready to make a sandwich.
09:04So at the end of it, after three days, after 72 hours, it's this.
09:09It's a simple thing, but it takes time.
09:12And you can't rush it.
09:18We have our broccoli rabe here.
09:20We get this fresh every day.
09:21A common mistake people make using this as a topping, they don't cut it fine like this.
09:27If you cook and put something like that on your sandwich, it's a mild choking hazard.
09:32So I think a fine cut like this is optimal.
09:37Goes into a sink full of water.
09:39Broccoli rabe hides lots of dirt in the nook and crannies.
09:42Get it nice and rinsed.
09:44Broccoli rabe is not something that most people in the country have heard of.
09:48Even though it's been eaten in South Philly forever since there's been Italian immigrants,
09:52that they have been pairing with pork for well over 100 years.
09:56My father, many times through the 80s when he was in this place, tried to sell broccoli rabe.
10:02No one wanted it. No one knew what it was. It didn't sell.
10:04It's probably 25 years ago that we tried it again, and it took off.
10:10And people loved it.
10:11Now it's a staple.
10:13Generally doing two cases a day.
10:15We'll fill up that sink.
10:16The reason we just don't rinse it and put it in the sink of water is you want it floating
10:20to the top.
10:20The dirt goes to the bottom. The rabe stays up top.
10:24A little excess water can come out.
10:26But a little bit of water in there will help steam as well as it getting roasted.
10:31Not too many ingredients here are simple.
10:33Salt. Just a pinch of black pepper.
10:36A pinch of red pepper.
10:37Fresh garlic.
10:39Because the broccoli rabe is just cooking in 15 minutes,
10:41we don't have to worry about burning this garlic.
10:43A little olive oil on top.
10:45Just ready to go.
10:46400 degrees.
10:48High fan. 15 minutes.
10:50Strain the water out.
10:52Finish it with a little bit of pecorino.
10:54We mess around with various Parmigans.
10:56Messed around with pecorino.
10:57And to us, the pecorino was just the one that we preferred.
11:00Simple as that.
11:00Sometimes you have to trust your gut.
11:02This is the only thing we continue to cook throughout the day.
11:05So throughout all of lunch service, we want it hot.
11:07We want it fresh.
11:08Right out of the oven.
11:14Let's go.
11:14Okay, now the pork's been prepped.
11:16Broccoli rabe is ready to go.
11:17Everything is here, and we're ready to build a sandwich.
11:20This is a bread.
11:21We get this from Sarcones.
11:22They've been around for 100 years.
11:23We get this delivered every single day.
11:25You'll never find two-day-old bread here.
11:28This is a fairly crisp Italian roll.
11:31You want a little bit of crust to hold a sandwich together.
11:34It should not be soft.
11:36I know I'm going to make a roast pork sandwich, so I have to get that pork into that bin.
11:39It'll be ready to go in just a minute.
11:41Sharp provolone, which we hand-carved throughout the day.
11:44You really want the nuttiness of this cheese with the bitterness of the rabe.
11:48It's the cheese my grandfather and his brothers used.
11:51So we never wanted to mess with having anything else.
11:53That's where you leave well enough alone.
11:55It melts up nicely, not totally.
11:57It's not like it won't have like a cheese whisk texture,
12:00but you get some textural variation as you're taking a bite of sandwich.
12:03All right, roast pork is ready to go.
12:05I tend to just build in layers.
12:07I don't want it too dense.
12:10Finish with broccoli rabe.
12:12Some people want it a little bit drier.
12:14Some people want it wet, as we call it.
12:16That's what I would do.
12:19And that's your sandwich.
12:20All right.
12:23It checks out.
12:24It's still good.
12:25You get the lightness of the pork.
12:26You get the depth of flavor of the stock.
12:28You get the nuttiness of the sharp provolone
12:30and balance with the bitterness of the broccoli rabe.
12:33The whole thing just works together really, really well.
12:36I'm a fan.
12:37Simple ideas.
12:38Nothing that's too complicated, but there are strong fundamentals here.
12:42Everything has to be right in order for it to be right.
12:45I think that's what cooking is all about.
12:48And remember what my father said, eat pork, live longer.
12:50howgirl balls motor.
12:53As we go with it, it'll be the color.
Comments