Do you like Philly Cheesesteaks?

Ever made them yourself? Got any fun variants on it?

I made some from scratch today, second time I've done so. Did some chicken for myself and beef for everyone else. First time making them with chicken, but it turned out great. Still tasted distinctly like a philly cheesesteak, despite having no steak. The first one here is the chicken, the second is the steak.



I was never a big fan of the 'traditional' Philly Cheesesteak with American cheese or cheese wizz, and usually go with the more 'gourmet' variant with provolone. But we weren't able to find provolone, so instead we went with a mix of cheddar and swiss and got a very similar end result.

The meat is typically cooked fairly quickly but because the beef we used was a little tough I ended up letting them both braise for an hour or so to tenderize, which turned out very well. Cooked them in a mix of garlic, mushrooms, parsley, onion powder, paprika, red chili, cayenne and mustard powder with a bit of water added for liquid.



After they had been cooking for a while I added the cheese. One slice of swiss to the chicken, three slices to the beef, and then a generous helping of cheddar to each and fried for a while until the cheese got some crispy edges. While I do say generous, you do want to be careful not to overdo it on the cheese. First time I made them I did a little bit and it messed with the end texture. You don't quite want it [i]drowned[/i] in cheese, just delightfully coated all over.



Once the cheese was melted I added the pickled vegetables to heat them through, which you can see a bit more about in my previous post about making pickles.



And there you are, ready to be put on a toasted or untoasted bun. Tasty, tasty stuff. There was just enough leftover for one more of each. 🤤