Like this! Expert Tony Luke Jr. on how to make the perfect cheesesteak

When it comes to the perfect cheesesteak, it's going to be hard to beat Tony Luke's.

The award-winning cheesesteak giant has 17 locations throughout New Jersey, New York, and Philadelphia where he began in 1992. His cheesesteaks are so good that people actually order them from all over the country.

Tony Luke Jr. is very active with City Of Angels, having lost his son to addiction. I caught up with him at the Seth Nemeroff Foundation golf outing and he told me his secret for making the perfect cheesesteak. If you're a cheesesteak lover, you need to know this!

"I don't know if I can say what the best is but I can tell you what I feel is the best cheesesteak for me," says Luke Jr.

"You need a fresh baked roll or at least a roll that is an Italian roll. For me, it needs to be crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle"

Tony on the meat:

"For me, it has to be rib-eye steak, extremely thin sliced not sliced like a fajita, says Tony "thin-sliced on low heat so that it retains all the juices not high heat".

Now the cheese

"If you're going to put cheese," says Luke Jr., "for me it's always been mild provolone. It just has that oily texture and flavor — and fried onions."

Tony's not a pepper guy.

"I personally don't put peppers on my steak, I don't put ketchup and it needs to be seasoned: a little bit of salt, not even pepper but here's the trick," says Luke Jr. "Don't season the meat until the meat is fully cooked because if you season it raw, it will draw out all the moisture from the steak and the steak becomes dry."

So in summation:

"So just as it's done before you lay the cheese on top, put salt, pepper, lay your cheese on top. Now I flip it. I literally take the cheese and I flip it onto the bottom and the reason I do that, the juice from the steak melts into the cheese instead of the other way around. So every bit of that cheese has that ribeye flavor into it. Then I slather on that roll and if you like hot peppers — I love Italian hots — go to town!"

Mangia!

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Steve Trevelise. Any opinions expressed are Steve's own. Steve Trevelise is on New Jersey 101.5 Monday-Thursday from 7pm-11pm. Follow him on Twitter @realstevetrev.