pit beef
{{Short description|Roast beef prepared over a charcoal fire}}
File:Pioneer Pit Beef with Tiger Sauce.jpg
File:CRNE Main Tent (5) Pit Beef Station.jpg
Pit beef is a dish of roast beef prepared over a charcoal fire, commonly using top round cuts of beef. The cooked roast is sliced thinly and often served on a Kaiser roll, and may be topped with horseradish or tiger sauce (horseradish and mayonnaise) and sliced raw onion. Unlike barbecue, the meat is cooked quickly at high temperatures, served rare, and has a light smoke flavor. Pit beef historically was sold at roadside stands.
It gained a national reputation from the HBO show, The Wire, which is set in Baltimore.{{Cite web |date=2016-07-07 |title=Sandwich of the Week: This pit beef sandwich from Baltimore |url=https://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/07/chaps-pit-beef-baltimore-sandwich-of-the-week |access-date=2024-10-20 |website=For The Win |language=en-US}}
In addition, it was featured prominently in the story line of John Water's 1998 Film Pecker, which was set in Baltimore.
The preparation is a local specialty in the area around Baltimore, Maryland. The origin of the specific name "pit beef" dates to the 1970s on Baltimore's east side, along Pulaski Highway, and became popular in the 1980s.{{cite web |last1=Addison |first1=Bill |title=Pit Beef: Baltimore's Answer to Barbecue |url=https://www.eater.com/2017/1/17/14297436/pit-beef-baltimore-maryland |website=Eater |date= January 17, 2017 |accessdate=4 September 2018}}{{cite news |last1=Gorelick |first1=Richard |title=Hunting down the history of how pit beef became a symbol of Baltimore |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2015/07/28/hunting-down-the-history-of-how-pit-beef-became-a-symbol-of-baltimore/ |accessdate=16 January 2024 |publisher=Baltimore Sun |date=July 28, 2015}}{{cite news |last1=Shahin |first1=Jim |title=Smoke Signals: Baltimore pit beef, weird and wonderful |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/smoke-signals-baltimore-pit-beef-weird-and-wonderful/2013/06/17/a4e7e7a2-d395-11e2-a73e-826d299ff459_story.html |accessdate=4 September 2018 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=June 18, 2013}}{{cite news |last1=Raichlin |first1=Steven |title=How to Say Barbecue in Baltimore |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/28/dining/how-to-say-barbecue-in-baltimore.html |accessdate=4 September 2018 |work=New York Times |date=2000}}
Although associated with the working-class neighborhoods around Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard, pit beef owes much to the German and Jewish food cultures of Baltimore. The Kaiser roll was popularized by the city's large German immigrant population and tiger sauce was first produced by Tulkoff Foods, a kosher horseradish manufacturer. Tiger sauce is named after the founder's son, Sol Tulkoff's 802nd Tank Destroyer Battalion during World War II.{{cite web|title=Tulkoff Foods Tiger Horseradish Sauce |url=https://www.tulkoff.com/product/tiger-horseradish-sauce/ |website=Tulkoff Food |date= |accessdate=April 15, 2020}}
Well-known vendors of pit beef sandwiches include Chaps Pit Beef,{{Cite web |date=2023-09-08 |title=Chaps Pit Beef will move from original Baltimore Route 40 roadside stand to a larger space — next door |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2023/09/08/chaps-pit-beef-will-move-from-original-baltimore-route-40-roadside-stand-to-a-larger-space-next-door/ |access-date=2024-10-20 |website=Baltimore Sun |language=en-US}} though it has been known to be available in local Baltimore hardware stores.