The French Dip

Food editor at large Marjan Ippel has barely returned from New York when she hears about the sensation in the Big Apple that she really would not have wanted to miss: the French dip. She’ll be going back soon for this suddenly haute-cuisine sandwich of hot meat with gravy.

Remember how you used to dip a slice of bread into the gravy pan? Well, exactly that. But fancy.

Although the French or beef dip didn’t necessarily start out fancy at all. The sandwich of hot beef in a pool of gravy simply followed the path taken by so many other bites served in sandwich shops and diners before it. From low to high.

Diner classic
And now that American diner classic from 1908 (or perhaps 1918) is on the menu at ultra-hip New York establishments. From meat palace Minetta Tavern to nouveau bistro Dirty French.

The French dip resembles our own classic, the hot-meat sandwich.

Indeed, the sandwich bears some resemblance to our own classic, the hot-meat sandwich. But specifically the one with gravy, not the one with peanut sauce. But does it have Dutch roots?

L.A.
The French dip originated in L.A., that much is clear. But whether Philippe or Cole invented it, and whether that happened in 1908 (Cole’s Pacific Electric Buffet) or 1918 (Philippe the Original)? We will probably never know.

As is usual with legendary dishes, people continue to argue about it. The sandwich is not French, at any rate. ‘French’ is supposedly the surname of the first person ever to sink their teeth into this sandwich dripping with meat gravy. But that isn’t certain either.

As simple as it is ingenious: bread + meat + gravy.

What is certain is that it is as simple as it is ingenious, with just three ingredients: beef, gravy and a baguette or French roll – so there is still something French about it after all. But the beef also immediately makes it challenged in terms of sustainability. Because cows are simply enormous climate wreckers.

Upmarket nose-to-tail dip
The solution? Upmarket nose-to-tail French dips. Perhaps even tastier. Like a veal kidney sandwich with veal-head gravy. We’d happily have that here too. With, just like in NYC, fries on the side, of course. And/or – as at Rider in Brooklyn – bone marrow and horseradish.