Shredded Beef Barbecue Sandwiches

Every once in a while I forget that some of the easy, routine things I do with food should be posted here on “Cheap Bastid Cooks”.  So here’s something incredibly easy, cheap and tasty.

Stater Brothers had a special recently on “London Broil” or top round.  It used to be that you could get this cut fairly often for $1.99 a pound.  No more.  Have you noticed how beef prices have gone up?  Most of the time this cut is about twice that now.  So you have to be a bit more careful and stock up when you can.  I found the special price of $2.88/lb to be irresistible.

So Mrs. CB put about a 3 1/2 lb hunk of it in the slow cooker the other day to make “Roast Beast”.  First she seared it on the grill.  Then she cut up a couple of potatoes and an onion and tossed those with about 20 mini-carrots into the cooker with some water, Worcestershire and soy sauce.  Some garlic powder and pepper makes this a leave-it-alone, hands-off meal that can slow cook pretty much until you’re ready to eat it.  It’s fall apart good and breaks off into hunks when you serve it—we eat it out of bowls rather than on a plate.

And we made sure that there was plenty of left overs.  Now you can just reheat the “Roast Beast” the next day or you can do something different with it.

I like to make “Shredded Beef Barbecue Sandwiches”.  It’s super easy and really tasty.  Here’s how:

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Shredded Beef Barbecue Sandwiches

Ingredients
• 1 lb shredded roast beef
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 cup BBQ sauce
• Salt
• Garlic
• Cumin
• 4 buns

Directions
1. Get out a bowl, cutting board and skillet.
2. Take roast beast and shred it on the cutting board using your fingers, 2 forks or a knife.  Put the meat in the bowl.
3. Turn the stove to medium high.  Add the cooking oil.  When ready dump in the shredded beef and spread it in a layer over the bottom of the skillet.
4. Add salt, garlic and cumin.  How much?  Enough.  To taste.
5. When the meat starts to get a bit of a crust on the bottom, flip it all over and stir it up.
6. Add the BBQ sauce.  (Any kind you want—store bought, home made, etc.)
7. Stir well to coat all the meat.  Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.  Make sure it’s heated through.
8. Remove from heat.  Put on buns and enjoy.

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This is super simple minimalist cooking which start to finish will take less than 15 minutes including prep.  I was being a bit lazy so we just opened up a can of baked beans and nuked them and then ate the sandwiches with chips.

One thing I’d do to gussy this up to a full-fledged meal is to make a bit of coleslaw with shredded cabbage and just enough mayo/salad dressing to moisten it and get it to stick together along with a bit of lime juice and some black pepper.  Then I’d put it on top of the BBQ beef and put the top bun on it and chow down.  And I’m tempted to go one step further and make some sweet-potato wedges in the oven.

Peel a sweet potato.  Cut it in half then each of those halves in half lengthwise.  Then convert the 4 chunks into wedges.  Mix in a big bowl with 3 tbsp oil, salt and a bit of chipotle powder.  Pop them onto a cookie sheet and put in the oven for about a half hour until they’re done.

I’m just saying.  But this is a really easy way to get more mileage and flavor out of “Roast Beast”.

The Cheap Bastid Test:  Well, you’re using 1 lb of roast beast that cost $2.88/lb to buy.  Let’s call it $3.50 to factor in shrinkage.  And we used $.50 worth of buns—4 buns at 8 for $1 at the dollar store.  So the total was $4.  That’s cheap!  And it’s flavorful and pungent.

That’s the Cheap Bastid Way:  Eat Good. Eat Cheap. Be Grateful!