Top round grilled hot and fast over charcoal until charred outside and rare inside, sliced thin and piled on a kaiser roll with tiger sauce and raw onion. It is Baltimore's answer to barbecue.
Pit beef grew up along the East Side and Pulaski Highway, where roadside stands grilled cheap cuts of beef over open charcoal for a working lunch crowd. Unlike slow-smoked barbecue, it is cooked hot and fast and served rare, the char doing the flavour work. Tiger sauce, a horseradish-spiked mayo, and a slice of raw onion are the only accompaniments that matter, and stands like Chaps on Pulaski Highway keep the tradition alive.
1 editor pick for Baltimore pit beef in Baltimore, ranked by editorial score. All Baltimore signature dishes · Baltimore pit beef across every city.