Italian beef

English

An Italian beef sandwich with a lot of onions and peppers.

Etymology

Shortening of "Italian beef sandwich", because the sandwiches were made, using beef, by Italian immigrants in Chicago.

Noun

Italian beef (plural Italian beefs)

1. (Chicago) A sandwich of thin slices of seasoned roast beef on a dense, long Italian-style roll.
   • 2006, “Losing Weight The Old-Fashioned Way”, in Ebony, volume 61, number 9, page 77:

     I changed my eating habits and stopped eating after 6 p.m. I switched from eating Italian beefs, drinking high-calorie mocha lattes and big sodas to drinking lots of water, eating salmon and having oatmeal for breakfast.

   • 2009, 500 Things to Eat Before It's Too Late, page 261:

     Chicago's Mr. Beef is one of the best places to enjoy an Italian beef.

   • 2013, Fried Walleye and Cherry Pie: Midwestern Writers on Food, page 24:

     One evening in the autumn of my freshman year, my appetite casually drifted toward the pleasant thought of an Italian beef. Maybe double-dipped (sopped with gravy), hot and sweet (with giardiniera and peppers).