Happy Father's Day! (Now with root beer)

Welcome to the dinner edition of Father's Day, brought to you by Dad's Root Beer:

Yup, I went there. Totally predictable but totally irresistible. Like we could have Barbecue Beefwiches on the patio on a spectacular Sunday (Father's Day) evening and not have Dad's root beer to go with? In super-fabulous, authentic soda fountain-esque glasses, with ice, no less.


So. Barbecue Beefwiches. We first made this recipe back in August '04 for Daniel's birthday. It's a great dish when you need to feed a crowd with a minimum of fuss. The beef simmers on the stove top for quite a while (four hours to be exact) but it doesn't heat up the kitchen or cause you untold worry for those nervous-that- you're-going-to-run-out-of-propane or scorch-your-roast-over-too-high-heat-on-your (unpredictable, needs to be replaced) BBQ-types. Here is what you need to make a mean BBQ Beefwich:

BBQ Beefwiches adapted from Cooking Light Family Favorites Cookbook

1 3-pound lean beef rump roast
cooking spray
1 1/2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp red wine vinegar (apple cider vinegar will do in a pinch)
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
dash or two of garlic salt

Coat a dutch oven with cooking spray; heat over medium heat until hot. Add beef roast, cook until browned on all sides turning often. Remove roast from dutch oven. Wipe out drippings from dutch oven with paper towels if necessary. Combine ketchup through garlic salt. Return roast to dutch oven and pour ketchup mixture over. (I just mixed the ketchup etc. in the dutch oven then plunked the roast back in.). Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer four hours until meat is tender. Remove roast from dutch oven and let cool slightly. Using two forks shred meat and return to dutch oven. Cover and cook over medium heat until thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally. Serve on hamburger buns.

You'll see that I served our BBQ Beefwiches with a side of coleslaw and potato salad on my tacky Chinese restaurant plates. If you're feeling really daring, put the coleslaw right on top of your beef. Go ahead - it's seriously good. Adds some nice crunch and the sour of the slaw plays off the sweet of the meat sauce. The coleslaw recipe I used is already available on my blog here. The potato salad recipe was a store bought convenience. If I was serious about my potato salad I would have made this version. These sandwiches might best be described as up-market sloppy joes. David never fails to enjoy them and we'll have leftovers for a couple of nights so I don't have to make dinner a few times this week. Everyone happy.