Author’s Notes

Every college has one: some kind of nasty-fantastic amalgam of cheese and meat and grease and bread and salt and melting awesomeness. From freshman year to graduation, you can eat these things twice a week and it will hurt you, but not badly — that is the magic of youth and appetite and America combined. After that, such a sandwich must be counted a special treat, and adapted to adult use. For this cheese steak sandwich, a version of the Screaming Eagle served in the dining halls of Boston College, the Jesuit university in Chestnut Hill, Mass., I made two essential changes: I used Cheddar in place of the usual white American the college uses; and I replaced the thin-shaved steak that is a hallmark of cheese steaks the world over with skirt steak. Doing so recalled Corinthians. When you are a child, American cheese and shaved steak can count as ambrosia. As an adult, it’s kind of nasty. But skirt steak? Melting Cheddar? That is actually ambrosial. The fiery mayonnaise does the rest. – Sam Sifton of NY Times Cooks

Why This Recipe Works

For this recipe, we chose the outside skirt steak, which is 3 to 4 inches wide, and avoided the wider, far less tender inside skirt steak. We rub a thin coating of baking soda and olive oil over the steaks before grilling them over high heat to guarantee great browning.

Ingredients

For the Chipotle Mayonnaise

• ¾ cup mayonnaise
• 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced, or more to taste

For the Sandwiches

• 2 tablespoons neutral cooking oil, like canola
• 1 large white onion, peeled and sliced thin
• 2 red bell peppers, seeded and sliced thin
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and sliced thin
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2  to 2 ½ pounds skirt steak, trimmed and cut with grain into 6- to 8-inch-long steaks
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 6 large sub rolls or Italian bread cut into 6 submarine-shaped pieces of 8 to 10 inches, sliced down the center
• ½ pound sharp Cheddar cheese, sliced thin

Instructions

1. To make chipotle mayonnaise: Combine mayonnaise and minced peppers in a small bowl and stir well. (Leftover sauce may be covered and stored safely in the refrigerator for weeks.)
2. To make toppings for sandwich: Heat a griddle over medium heat. Spray the griddle with olive oil and add the onion and peppers and stir to combine. Cook, stirring every so often, until they begin to soften and brown, approximately 15 to 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper, remove and set aside.
3. To make steaks:
   1. Set up the Weber grill so you have a foil pan under the grate. Fill the foil pan with red wine or a good beer. Leave the other side of the grill exposed to the grate.
   2. Turn all burners to high, cover, and heat grill until hot, about 15 minutes.
   3. Combine 1 tablespoon of oil and the baking soda in a small bowl. Rub the oil mixture evenly onto both side of each steak. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
   4. Turn off 1 burner that is under the exposed grill area and leave other burner(s) on high.
   5. Clean and oil cooking grate.
   6. Cook steaks on side of grill that has the foil pan under it until well browned and meat registers 130 to 135 degrees (for medium), 2 to 4 minutes per side.
   7. Move steaks to exposed side of grill and cook for another 2 to 4 minutes so that both sides of the meat are “branded” by the grate and properly cooked.
   8. Transfer steaks to cutting board, tent with aluminum foil, and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
   9. After the resting period, slice the steaks against grain as thinly as possible.
4. To make sandwiches:
   1. Butter the rolls. Lower the heat of the Weber to 200 degrees. Place sub rolls on the warming rack in the Weber.
   2. Return sliced steaks to griddle over medium heat, and add onions and peppers.
   3. Stir to combine
   4. Turn heat to low.
   5. Make the base of the sandwich with a mixture of the steak and veggie combination.
   6. Cover the base with the sliced cheese and continue to cook until the cheese is properly melted, approximately 3 minutes.
5. To serve: Remove rolls from Weber and spread chipotle mayonnaise on the interior of the top roll of each serving. Serve immediately.