It was a clear bright night, a clear white moon.
We were driving around south Philadelphia throwing out guesses as to
why Philadelphians get to park WHEREVER they feel like, rows of cars on the
sidewalks and the turn lanes. He asked the lady at the donut shop, if we could
follow suit, “if you want to be a scofflaw” she replied. Scofflaw, what? Who says that? What is that?
Someone who scoffs at the law, obviously. Do people still scoff, I kind of feel
like that is a late fifties, early sixties thing…
“Let’s go run the Rocky Steps”, I suggest, I know it’s touristy, but I
just ate my weight in thinly sliced steak and Cheese Whiz, so I need some
aerobics. Supposedly there is a beautiful skyline view from the top. So, we run
up the steps and I’m playing Eye of the Tiger on my phone. Dun. Dun Dun Dun. We
get to the top and do the thing. We’re the only people at the top, except for a
limo driver who is quite possibly Cee Lo Green, I am not positive though. As we
catch our breath, the sky is surprisingly full of stars, and even though it is
late, a few more people start showing up. A mom and her teenage daughter who is
lugging around a camera that I am sure makes her feel like a national
geographic super shooter, four or five overgrown boy scouts, then a couple peddle
up on bikes. He is trying to get her to ride down the steps, she is hesitant
and he is exuding all the charm he can muster, I give her a look like, - don’t do
it sister, and I see that she is now looking past me, at something over my
shoulder, and although I cannot see them , I can hear them. 15, maybe 20 hoodlums
on motorized dirt bikes roll up; there is a four wheeler with a bearded Amish
kid and the smaller bikes have scrappy young Latinos steering them. They all
line up at the top of the steps, my jaw drops – is this real life, is this the
motorcycle gang from Karate kid he says and we chuckle as the start performing
for us. Wheelies and jumps, parading up and down the steps. This can’t be
legal. I look at Cee Lo and he says “I don’t care what they do, as long as they
don’t scratch my car”. I reveal that I am secretly wishing they start jumping
over the length of the limo. We watch a
few more tricks and then my beau says who are these guys? They’re the South
Philly Scofflaws and this is amazing.
Amazing as the South Philly Scofflaws are, they were temporarily
forgotten to the rapturous consumption of the ONLY sandwich that anyone should
ever eat while in Philadelphia. Dinic's is in The Reading Terminal, get there.
There on a perfect Italian roll, fennel spiced pork pulled is piled high on top
of sharp sliced provolone, and then draped with garlicky, olive oily broccoli
rabe and charred roasted peppers. This is how you should order it, and when you
are sitting in your stool, watching them spoon, rich, caramel hued broth over
your sandwich, you will know what I mean when I tell you it is flawless.
Here is how I attempted to replicate this marvel.
Dinic’s Italian Style Pulled
Pork Sandwich – The Best Sandwich EVER
makes six sandwiches
Pulled Pork Ingredients
1 4-Pound Bone in “picnic” Pork Roast
1 Cup Broth
Brine:
5 Rosemary Sprigs
1 Fennel Bulb, Thinly Sliced
1 White Onion, Thinly Sliced
3 Celery Ribs, Chopped
6 Garlic Cloves, Diced
3 TB Apple Cider Vinegar
2 TB Fennel Seeds
Salt & Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
Pulled Pork Instructions
Combine all the brine ingredients with the pork shoulder in a bag and
massage it like you mean it for about two minutes, then refrigerate overnight. Combine
the contents of your brine bag, and the broth into a Dutch oven or large
covered pot. Roast in the oven at 275° for about 3 ½ hours or until the
internal temperature 190°, remove from the oven and uncover and allow to rest
for about 30 minutes before pulling. Remove the roast from the pot and the
drippings and broth on low, re-adding the pulled pork as it surrenders itself
to you. Keep it warm while you prepare the broccoli rabe and assemble the rest
of your sandwiches. To roast the peppers, place them directly on your stovetop
burner until charred, once charred let them sauna it up in a Ziploc bag until
you can easily peel their skins off. I intended to use Cubanelle Peppers.
Broccoli Rabe Ingredients
2 Bunches of Broccoli Rabe (Rapini)
2 Shallots
6 Garlic Cloves
2 TB Red Pepper Flakes
½ Cup Olive Oil (Give or take some)
Broccoli Rabe Instructions
Wash and rough chop the broccoli rabe. Finely dice the shallot and
garlic. Boil about 1 ½ cups of water in a sauté pan, add the broccoli rabe
until it turns dark green and then remove it from the heat. (It will only take
a few seconds and you’ll want to shuffle the pieces around to make sure they
all get cooked). Once you have pressed most of the water from the greens, warm
the olive oil and add first the shallots, then the garlic, then the greens and
red pepper flakes, give a quick stir and then cover for ten minutes, only
checking it if the pan starts making apocalyptic threats. You want the greens to get extra soft, once
they are done, season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
Sandwich Ingredients
Italian Sweet Roll
Sliced Sharp Provolone
Italian Pulled Pork
Broccoli Rabe
Roasted Peppers
Sandwich Assembly Instructions
Slice the roll lengthwise, line with sharp provolone. Pile in Pulled Pork and spoon over a little extra broth. Add in the broccoli Rabe and Roasted Peppers. Eat immediately without hesitation or regrets.
