Slow-Cooker Chuck Roast French Dip

You’ve been out all day – be it at the office or running errands or fulfilling your role as family chauffeur. Now all you want to do is come home, do a little prep work and sit down to a delicious, hot meal. Am I right?

One again, it’s our trusted Slow-Cooker to the rescue. I don’t know about you, but mine is nearly 30-years old and it still puts out a great supper. Slow-Cookers are especially handy when it comes to the cheaper cuts of meat such as a Chuck Roast. Slow, with lots of liquid, gives us a roast that is so tender, so flavorful, we might not wait till it’s in the sandwich. I know when I’m shredding the roast for French Dips, I sneak a nibble or two just to enjoy that beefy goodness.

I love the tales behind the creation of this beefy sandwich. Have you heard them? We all know that a French Dip is a roast beef sandwich on a roll that is served along side a bowl or cup of jus. To enjoy the French Dip, you simply “dip” it in the broth. However; as the story goes, that’s not the way a French Dip was served when it was “invented”. As with all stories, there’s more than one tale to be told.

Cole’s Pacific Electric Buffet and Philippe the Original claim to be the birthplace of the French Dip. Both restaurants were established in Los Angeles in 1908. Cole’s claims to have originated the sandwich shortly after opening its doors, while Philippe’s claims that Philippe Mathieu “accidentally” invested the French Dip in 1918. Depending upon which of the Philippe’s stories you care to accept, a cook or a server or the owner himself, while preparing a roast beef sandwich for a police officer or a fireman, accidentally dropped it into a pan of meat drippings. At Philippe’s, the roll is still dipped into jus before piling on the meat and the sandwich is served “wet”, while Cole’s serves up a more traditional. And the Cole story? Seems a customer with sore gums ordered a roast beef sandwich, with drippings on the side so he could soften it up. Some say it wasn’t his sore gums that drove him to dip, but stale bread.

All I know is French Dips are one of my favorite sandwiches. I’d rather mine be dry, and I control how wet it gets.

Slow-Cooker Chuck Roast French Dip
3 lbs Beef Chuck Roast, boneless, trimmed
1 can (10.5 oz) condensed French onion soup, undiluted
1 can (10.5 oz) condensed Beef Consommé, undiluted
1 can (10.5 oz) condensed Beef Broth, undiluted
1 teaspoon Beef Bouillon Granules
1/4 cup Red Wine
8 to 10 French or Italian rolls, split

Trim the roast of excess fat. Cut the roast in half and place in a 3-quart slow cooker. This will allow all the flavors to penetrate the entire roast more easily and help speed up the shredding process when the time comes.

In a large bowl, combines the soup, consommé, broth and bouillon. Mix well until bouillon has dissolved completely into the mixture.

Pour liquid over the roast, cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours.

After the roast has simmered most of the day, add the red wine into the slow-cooker and continue to cook for about 45 minutes longer or until the meat is tender and can easily be shredded.

Remove roast from the slow-cooker. Shred with two forks or meat claws.

Skim fat from the cooking juices, place in small bowls for dipping.

Split rolls, fill with shredded meat and serve with au jus.

Author: Rosemarie's Kitchen

I'm a wife, mother, grandmother and avid home cook.I believe in eating healthy whenever possible, while still managing to indulge in life's pleasures. View all posts by Rosemarie's Kitchen