One of my favorite meals when I was little was Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. I just didn’t like the cooked veggies that went on them (silly child). I did not grow up in Philadelphia; I did, however, grow up in Pennsylvania, so even though you can’t get a proper cheesesteak outside of Philly, you can get pretty close. I’ve since been to Philly and suffered through the stomach distress of having a very glutinous, but very authentic cheesesteak sandwich.
Cheese whiz, by the way, is not authentic. Cheesesteak sandwiches were invented in 1930 by Pat Olivieri, a hot dog vendor. Cheese Whiz was invented in 1953 by Kraft and it is nothing more than over-processed oil that is given a cheese-like flavor. It’s gross and no one should eat it, but especially not on Cheesesteak.
This recipe really didn’t want me using actual onions, but that’s how I’ve always had them, so I used actual onions. To be honest, were I to make this again (which I will), I’ll probably caramelize the onions and use Swiss cheese instead of Provolone. But, I mostly followed the recipe for the first time. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t cheesesteak.
You can make this meal in a cast-iron skillet (or another oven-proof skillet) or you can use a baking dish. Either way is acceptable. I ended up adding three more slices of provolone to cover the whole thing. Yay, more cheese!
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