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It’s Uncle Sam(wich) week here at Sporked! All week long, we’re celebrating Independence Day by highlighting the best regional sandwiches and all the ingredients you need to make them at home. For more tasty sandwich fixins, see the full collection of rankings, product recommendations, and more.

If you’ve never had a beef on weck sandwich, picture this: Thinly sliced, juicy roast beef cooked in savory beef consomme and piled high on a unique kind of bread called a kummelweck roll. Now, the kummelweck (correctly spelled with a “u” and translated to “caraway roll” in some German dialects) is not your average bun. It’s closely related to a Kaiser roll, but with a twist: The top is sprinkled generously with coarse salt and caraway seeds, giving it an anise-like flavor. It sorta tastes like rye bread, but very salty, which perfectly complements the roast beef. The best kummelweck rolls are crusty on the outside and soft on the inside, creating a sturdy base to soak up the fragrant au jus and generous layer of horseradish. Don’t wreck your weck by forgetting the horseradish, alright? It’s critical.

More critical, though—and what really sets beef on weck apart from your standard roast beef sandwich—are those signature kummelweck rolls. So, if you’ve got a hankering for this Buffalo sandwich staple, don’t skip them. I’ll be frank with you: We searched far and wide for premade kummelweck rolls you can buy, and, well, we only found two companies that sell them nationwide. Yep. Two. So, before we roll up our sleeves and talk about both, I just want to give you one disclaimer here, which is… 

You can make your own kummelweck rolls by using Kaiser rolls. Just paint an egg wash on top, sprinkle some sea salt and caraway seeds over them, and bake ‘em for a few minutes. But if you’re looking for authentic weck rolls made by bakers who have been in the beef on weck biz for a long time, keep reading!

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Runner-Up

Founded in the Bronx in 1946, Anderson’s Frozen Custard specializes in creamy frozen custard (obvi), handmade ice cream, and you guessed it, beef on weck sandwiches. Through Goldbelly, you can buy one of their signature beef on weck sandwich kits. These assemble four sandwiches in total. And the sandwiches are pretty good. But there’s one big caveat: The kit costs $99.95. In the spirit of good journalism, we bought it anyway. After assembling and taste-testing these wecks for ourselves, we found the price point to be too high. The roast beef comes a little overcooked (for safety reasons, I’m sure), and the topping for the kummelweck rolls misses the mark. It’s heavy on the salt, light on the caraway. That said, if you’re willing to splurge and want an easy, beginner experience of assembling your own beef on weck sandwiches, give it a shot. The kummelweck rolls themselves (which, at the end of the day, is what this ranking is all about) have a thick, doughy quality that soaks up the au jus nicely without dissolving into mush. But four sandwiches for $100 just seems like a cry for help, if you ask me.

Credit: Liv Averett / Goldbelly

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Best Weck

Founded in 1920, the family-owned DiCamillo Bakery from Niagara Falls, NY has been making kummelweck rolls for generations—and you can tell. We had them shipped all the way to Los Angeles and, you guys, these rolls are stunningly good. I have so many accolades: The bread is soft, plush, and clearly crafted by experts. It’s delicate without being too delicate—you’re still able to soak up that au jus and spread a nice layer of horseradish over top. They come out of the oven with a glistening golden sheen, crispy on the outside and pillow-soft on the inside. The salt and caraway topping is sublime; these don’t skimp on the caraway, so you’re getting a bold rye taste. It’s the perfect ratio of salt to seeds. For high quality weck rolls crafted with care and talent, order these. For $24.99, you can order two dozen. It doesn’t even matter if you don’t want to make twenty-four beef on weck sammies, because these are yummy enough to eat on their own, right out of the bag. 

Credit: Liv Averett / DiCamillo Bakery

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

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