~ The Secret is in the Sauce: Meet the Bone-Suckin' BBQ'd Roast Beef, Bacon & Blue Cheese Sammie ~

It's Monday.  It's the middle of January.  It's also bone-suckin' cold outside.  Not a problem.  In my kitchen, we're having a meatwave.  I've got a big beefy eye-of-round roast in the oven, and, a few bottles of Bone Suckin' Sauce in my pantry -- it's a mandatory staple.  Plus, there's one last college football game on TV tonight, so, I've got entertainment too.  They don't call where I live "Happy Valley" for nothing -- we always find a path to some type of happiness.  While our home team may not be playing for The National Championship of Collegiate Football tonight, our Big 10 Conference is, so, why not get with the program.  After all, we Penn Staters wrote the "How To" books on partying and tailgating.  If you can't handle that, it's time to put the big boy pants on!

Never heard of Bone Suckin' Sauce?  Allow me to educate you!

A bit about Bone Suckin' Sauce:  Tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, honey, molasses, mustard, horseradish, lemon juice, onions, garlic, peppers, natural hickory smoked flavor, natural spices, salt and xanthan gum.  It's the xanthan gum, which they used in place of cornstarch as a thickener, that makes it gluten-free and keeps it a transparent light-red color.  Bone Suckin' Sauce hails from Raleigh, NC, and, is the brainchild of Phil Ford.  Back in 1987, Phil was trying to copy his mother's recipe for a western North Carolina-style barbecue sauce.  His creation was so delicious his sister-in-law, Sandi Ford, convinced Phil to partner with her and her husband to sell it.  It was coined "bone suckin' " because it made Sandi suck on the rib bones to get every last bit of flavor from them.

Mel's critique:  This addictive sauce is slightly-sweet, similar to ketchup, but with a whole lot more goin' on, including that hint of hickory smoke.

It's brighter, fresher and crisper than any other barbecue sauce too -- nothing is overdone.  It is a well-balanced blend of sweet-savory BBQ perfection.  Its texture is thin-ish, but, don't confuse that with watery, because it not.  It is perfect for dipping, drizzling, slathering, or basteing, and, there is nothing from A-Z in the world of grilling or barbecuing it isn't fantastic on.

It's time to talk about beef eye-of-round roast:

Usually under-appreciated and often misunderstood, it's a great value & just perfect for cold or hot deli-style sandwiches!

The eye-of-round is a circular, log-shaped piece of meat cut from the beef hind quarter. A "round" itself is made up of three different "cuts", all of which you can easily find at the grocery store:  bottom round, top round and eye-of-round. Of the three cuts, the eye is the most tender, but, even at that, it is very lean, so, if overcooked, it is very tough.  When it's cut into steaks, they're called "round steaks" -- don't overcook them either!  Read on:

Too many people waste their time trying to coax this lean, tough, economically-priced-for-good-reason cut of beef roast into doing something is not "cut out" to be:  fall-apart "pot roast kind of tender" and full of flavor.  I am here to tell you, marinating it will not tenderize it, and, braising or slow-cooking it to "pot roast kind of tender" will not only NOT improve its flavor, it will render it flavorless.  Don't do it.  That said, when roasted to rare- to medium-rare, it is full of beefy flavor and downtright tender too -- perfect for sandwich making.  One more thing.  Pay attention. Roasting it past medium-rare will produce a tasteless product suitable for boot making!

You can find my recipes for perfectly roasted ~ Eye-of-Round Roast:  Back-to-School Sandwiches ~, along with my recipe for ~ Yankee Pot Roast: Simple, Sensible & Scrumptious (w/Mushroom Gravy & Roasted Carrots & Potatoes) ~, by clicking on the Related Article links below.

My recipe for 4 sandwiches:

thinly-sliced roasted eye-of-round, about 6 ounces per sandwich

Bone Suckin' Sauce, about 3 tablespoons per sandwich

1  very thinly-sliced red onion

crisply-fried bacon strips, 4 per sandwich

8  ounces blue cheese crumbles

4  big rolls,  the bigger the better

~ Step 1. Using a large chef's knife, slice the beef as thin as you can.  Slice enough for four hearty sandwiches.  If you have a kitchen scale, now is the time to use it.  

Place each portion of meat into a large bowl.  Add the Bone Suckin' sauce and half of the sliced onion.

~ Step 2.  Using a pair of salad servers, toss the meat mixture like you would a salad.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and, allow to rest for 30-60 minutes.

Note:  Do not toss the meat with the Bone Suckin' sauce any more than 1 hour in advance. Also, resist the urge to put this in the refrigerator for an hour. Why?  These sandwiches are to-die-for if the meat mix is at room temperature!

This assembly photo should be self-explanatory:

(bun, bacon, blue cheese, Bone Suckin' beef, onion, bun)

The Secret is in the Sauce:  Meet the Bone-Suckin' BBQ'd Roast Beef, Bacon & Blue Cheese Sammie:  Recipe yields 4 very large deli-style sandwiches.

Special Equipment List:  cutting board; chef's knife; kitchen scale; salad bowl; salad servers

Cook's Note:  By the way, for appetizers, we're eating ~ Jesse's Bacon-Wrapped Dijon Shrimp ~. You can find my recipe by clicking into Categories 3, 19  or 20.  Guess what we'll be dipping these into? Yep.  A bowl of Bone Suckin' Sauce.  Happiness in Happy Valley!

"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti

(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2015)

Related articles

~ January "White Out" White Chicken 'n Corn Chili ~

~ "White Out" White Chicken 'n Corn Chili Burritos ~

~ Mel's #1 March Madness Munchie: Potato Chips ~

~ My Bacon-y Bacon-Lovers Baked Beans & Bacon ~

~ GrandMel's Creamy Potato and Egg Salad Recipe~

~My Carolina-Style Pulled-Pork BBQ (Oven Method)~

~ Cooking Boneless Pork Backribs (Pork on a Fork) ~

~ Around Town (in search of a blockpit & a recipe for PA-Style Blockpit BBQ'd Butter 'n Vinegar Chicken) ~

~ Yankee Pot Roast: Simple, Sensible, Scrumptious (w/Mushroom Gravy & Roasted Carrots & Potatoes)~

~ Eye-of-Round Roast: Back-to-School Sandwiches ~

Comments

[Marilyn Cummins]

Thanks Mel! I got your message and will definitely try it. In fact, we always have chicken on Monday! 'Chicken and Waffles' it is!
Thanks, my friend.

[Kitchen Encounters]

Marilyn! I do "sort of" recall the turkey barbeque from Koch's. My Aunt Mary (the one who lived on Hunter Street) used to buy it, not my mom. Truthfully, I do not like turkey or chicken chicken chili when made in the crock pot. It always has a funky, mush-like texture to it -- this is due to the nature of the poultry and the machine it is being slow cooked in. I find it preferable to roast the meat, shred or chop in, then, stir it into the base. I do it similar to my method for making my recipe for ~ Pennsylvania-Dutch-Style Chicken & Waffles ~. I do hope this helps.

[Marilyn Cummins]

Good Morning , Mel! I have been enjoying all of your "Sammie" posts!
I having been looking for, and trying to re-create a recipe for turkey barbeque.
Do you remember getting it from 'Koch's' turkey farm in Lewistown Valley?
My mom and I would go there and purchase it,frozen. It had that kind of thickened chicken broth sauce. I have tried making it in a slow cooker, etc., but the turkey/chicken I used, shredded to mush. I don't want to add canned soups to thicken it either. Help! It would bring back such great memories for me!
Thanks, love me!