Maryland Pit Beef

From today's Baltimore Sun, Rob Kasper writes a pretty in depth piece on Pit Beef. Some of you might recall meeting Rob at Crabstock One.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/bal-fo.kasper26jul26,0,3099738.column?coll=bal-home-columnists

Thanks, Signman. Good Write-up !!

Hey, Signman, Rob's one of my favorite columnists over at the Sun. You might also want to check out Kevin Cowherd’s column today, “The Grand Tour of the West is full of potholes.” In it he uses his pointed satire to talk about his Roadtrip to the West.

While, he doesn’t talk about food, specifically, it is an interesting write-up about traveling in the Southwest! So anyone heading in that direction might want to make note of some of the "potholes."

Check it out at: http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/lifestyle/bal-to.cowherd27jul27,0,244111.column?coll=bal-home-columnists

The hometown boys in Baltimore come up with some pretty good stories for us “hungry travelers” once in a while.

Thanks. There was a place years ago in Havre de Grace where we used to stop on the way to the marina. Great sandwiches. Curious how it appears to be solely a Maryland thing and hasn't spread elsewhere.

ctrueder, mark August 26th on your calendar to join us for Crabstock III, lunchtime, probably at G&M in Linthicum. Please e-mail me for more. Just click on my name for link.

The writeup makes me wish that we had it outside of Maryland. It sounds far better than a fast food burger

I go to Maryland almost every weekend and never get tired of the pit sandwiches (beef, turkey and ham)... all are GOOD!!!... thanks for the article... I'll put it to good use!!!...

To me a pit beef sandwich like a crabcake is always a "must do" whenever I'm in the Baltimore area.

My experiences with Pit Beef have been at chaps only, I would love to try others and compare.

I love pit beef and wish you could get it outside of MD. The beef/horseradish combo is great!!! Its a sort of BBQ thing from the "North" (OK, Border State, then!)

Didn't know pit beef had so many fans. Now, can anyone compare it to the just north of Boston roast beef places that were on the May tour, Kelly's, etc.

I'm embarassed to say that although I love regional food, I haven't tried a true MD pit beef sandwich. AND, it looks like one of the reviewed restaurants (Smokeys) is right near my house in Columbia. Anyone know the exact location? I didn't see it in the article. I wish it was open on the weekend...would be difficult to get there during the week as I am up in Bmore working...

joanie: in the article, there is a sidebar that includes the following
---------
Smokeys & Uncle Grube's
7300 Roosevelt Blvd., Elkridge
410-796-0024
Hours: Open Monday-Friday 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
---------

The first time I tried Maryland Pit Beef was at a place called "Bull On The Beach" located at Rehoboth Beach, Deleware. I learned that they also had a location in Ocean City, Maryland too. However, the beef sandwich was absolutely one of the best I ever had. It was piled high with beef, the beef was very moist and juicy and then I could cover it with horseradish. One of the best sandwiches I ever tasted. You ate one of these and you didn't want to eat for the rest of the day. As a matter of fact just recalling the experience is making me hungry enough to eat a horse.

But I don't live on a farm, oh well. Here Rover here boy!! Just joking this is not asian food.

"Raichlen also noted that pit beef seemed to have a favorite side of town, the east side of Baltimore. "I was a Pikesville guy, and when I grew up I didn't know about pit beef," he said. Raichlen, who now travels the world cooking and eating barbecue, subsequently rectified that hole in his upbringing by visiting several pit-beef stands on Pulaski Highway."

Must be so because I grew up in Maryland in the 50's and 60's and spent 4 years in college in Baltimore in the 60's and never heard of the stuff until now. Actually, I suspect it's largely a recent invention.

But talk of Pulaski Highway does bring back memories as that was the location of the first Arby's I ever visited in the days when Arby's had genuine roast beef--huge "steamship" rounds, roasted and carved to order. This is another reason I question the authenticity of the "pit beef" "tradition". If "pit beef" was common on Pulaski Highway back then, seems unlikely a place like Arby's could have been as popular as it was (lines out the door).

Here's another interesting "take" on Baltimore pit beef:

http://www.citypaper.com/eat/review.asp?id=2619

AND, then there's this (by ole' Steven Raichlen):

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9501EFD81230F93BA15755C0A9669C8B63&sec=travel&pagewanted=2

Man, have we (my wife and I) learned a lot about "gud" food since moving to Maryland!

ctrueder, methinks you have too much time on your hands. Since you're going back in time with those articles, here's one about coddies, totally unique to Baltimore.

http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=2322

E-mail me and I'll tell you where you can still find them.

Are you free on Saturday 8/26 to join other Roadfooders for Crabstock III? Here's the details. http://roadfood.com/Forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=12706

The Sun article mentions a pit beef sandwich with a "tangy tomato" sauce rather than horseradish. Has anyone tried it? What is it like? Ketchup?

MD-style pit beef, done right, is ridiculously good. It is so vastly superior to any beef brisket I've ever had (and I've had tons of it all through the south).

The Eating Team is hosting a Crab Cake, Coddie, and Pit Beef tour of Baltimore on Saturday, December 8th. There is no cost for this and anyone can jump on or off the tour whenever they want. We just want to share our adventure with anyone else who is interested in these kinds of things.

Please send me an email through the site if you want further details.

It seems like pit beef is a lot harder to find in Baltimore than it was a few years ago. I know there is still Chapps, but I was in eastern Baltimore county today, which I'll admit I dont' find myself in that area as much as I used to, and a lot of the old pit beef places I used to visit were gone.

quote:

Originally posted by Robearjr

It seems like pit beef is a lot harder to find in Baltimore than it was a few years ago. I know there is still Chapps, but I was in eastern Baltimore county today, which I'll admit I dont' find myself in that area as much as I used to, and a lot of the old pit beef places I used to visit were gone.

That is sad. I love pit beef. Maybe there would be more if it was a national CHAIN!!!

Its too bad the links are all dead. Nothing better then rare roast beef on a fresh roll. I used to bake fresh rolls for dinner service, not those huge multi-grains on a cutting board(I did those too). I used to slice off a pile of prime rib on my breal and make mini sandwiches and dip them in au jus. They got so popular we served them as bar food.
britt

There used to be a place called Fat Daddy's and Big Al's both on Pulaski Highway, but I don't think either of them are around at all anymore. Big Al's suppossedly moved from Route 40 to Eastern Blvd in Essex, but I went looking for it yesterday and I could not find it. There is a place called Al's seafood in Essex, but I don't think that it is the same Al.

The Pit Beef place on Rolling Road is still there and still great.

quote:

Originally posted by Greymo
The Pit Beef place on Rolling Road is still there and still great.

Pioneer Beef on Rolling Road at Johnnycake Road is excellent! Outside the Baltimore beltway by Security Square Mall, they give you a tasting slice of the beef you ordered to show you its done-ness. Rare IS rare, and juicy. Excellent fries too. Open Mon-Sat.

Kevin

Pioneer Beef
1600 N Rolling Rd,
Windsor Mill, MD
(410) 455-0015

It is my understanding that the Union Bridge Fire Carnival, which runs this week, has outstanding pit beef. Union Bridge is on the Carroll/Frederick County line.

quote:

Originally posted by Robearjr
It is my understanding that the Union Bridge Fire Carnival, which runs this week, has outstanding pit beef. Union Bridge is on the Carroll/Frederick County line.

Their's was pretty dry last year, though they did have very good fried chicken. Gamber's is also running now (a little closer to Baltimore than Union Bridge, but not much) and I've always had good luck with their pit beef.

St John's church in Westminster is also having their carnival now, though their pit beef has also been spotty. I usually stick with Italian sausage at St John's, or wait for a fresh made corn dog.

So how about some way us southern folks can make our own Pit Beef???
Joe

Joe, I've used[url='http://tvwbb.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6880069052/m/4980087105']this recipe[/url] several times with success. Once I even cured the beef for close to a week before grilling it...

The recipe is also published in Steven Raichlen's book "BBQ USA".

Brad

Anyone have a picture of pit beef that they could post on here so I could see what it looks like?