Is Sandwich, Is Not Sandwich.

We've had some interesting comments in our is sandwich is not sandwich debate lately.

Firstly, I actually agree with treywrage on his earlier point. I do hold my assertion that he AND his philosophy degree are adorable though. (See "crude taxonomy" on the comments)

Anyhow, I tend to be a loose constructionist when it comes to sandwich categorization.

I do have some notable exceptions to this though.

This area has been well tread, but, those bullshit-ornamental-sandwich-animal-face-whatevers, which have been talked to death by pat, will not, nor will they ever, earn the title of sandwich by me.

Pat can call me a goddamn fascist and other names, but in the end, he'll be eating the shitty-sandwiches.

Like many of you, I am somewhat tenuous in adding wraps, such as pita pockets, to the sandwich family, but there's often good sandwich intent there.

We know for sure a burrito is most definitely not a sandwich. There's firm judicial precedent.

There are many pita pockets, however, that are more like sandwiches than burritos, except for their use of unleavened bread.

It's a difficult question, my friends, and I'd be willing to a lot of sandwiches and wraps to find out.

A burger is definately sandwich. No argument there.

Unless it's a boca burger. Then it's a doorstop.

Or maybe a paperweight.

A bookend?

mmm breakfast sliders

I took logic in college, and it helped me figure out the following thing when ordering food the other day.

I was in San Francisco, the night before having seen the Comedians of Comedy with Jessica. We went to a the Nob Hill Grill, a place I knew to be delicious, despite Roome's 3rd law of eating at restaurants, which states never dine at a place of business with a rhyme in it's name. Anyhow, before ordering, I knew two things:

a.) sandwiches are delicious
b.) breakfast can be delicious

As you can see, I had much to mull over. The menu contained many delicious items, two of which were BOTH breakfast AND sandwiches. One was an Eggs Benedict, the other, a special, were Breakfast Sliders.

Okay, this post has gone on too long. I just deleted three paragraphs that below this one, which were garbageyer than the pervious, so I'll wrap it up, in non-sentences.

sliders, wonderful.
eggs, perfectly cooked, sausage spicy, salty, great.
brioche bread, tasty.
home fries, excellent.

Picture above, camera phone.

The McLobster is Real

(snagged off John Beales)

I do not have to tell you what a delicious and decadent treat a Lobster Roll is, but this, this is just offensive to lobsters and to rolls.

Virgin Mary in PB&J

Thank you, Internet.

Grilled Cheese and Disco Fries

As mentioned previously, grilled cheese sandwiches are delicious, especially late at night, and even more especially after the imbibing of certain beverages.

The grilled cheese pictured above was purchased one recent night at Daisy's Diner, the 24 hour eatery closest to my residence. It was constructed of swiss cheese and wheat bread, and tastefully accompanied by one pickle spear and a plastic cup of slaw.

This particular night, however, called for something more. Disco Fries, a local delicacy constructed of french fries, melted american cheese, and brown gravy.

Don't fight it.

Is Sandwich, Is Not Sandwich: Pita Pocket

(photo by roboppy)

The floor is open for debate.

WHAT SAY THE MASSES?!!>??

Pulled Produce Sandwich

No soup at work the other day, which led to the use of slightly squishy cucumber, clover sprouts shipped without a lid, cayenne spiked hummus, and soon to be past the sell by date whole wheat pita.

This is the home version.

another attempt at a tuna sandwich, for you, the reader

Composed of the following:
Tuna
Veganaise
Celery
Red Onion
Curry Powder
Mustard
Whole Wheat Bread

I am telling you, America, curry powder is the tastiest tuna sandwich trick out there. Any other good additions?

Is not sandwich.

Apparently we have readers.

I know, shocking.

View their (his) comments here.

If you'll click the link, you'll see some lovely craftwork made out of items commonly found in sandwiches.


One of them being this thing:


Is this a sandwich?

Without a doubt, No. Listen, Dan-o and I aren't some sandwich nazis trying to force rigid rules and make and uber-sando world of perfectly formed sandwiches that all fit a myopic sandwichworldview.

Other than the two crucial (yet loosely defined) sandwich ingredients, bread and filling, two important factors come into play.

Firstly, Intent.

Did the sandwich maker intend to make a sandwich? Or were they attempting something else, like a wrap, a piece of art, a sushi roll, or whatever?

Secondly, in the words of Harry Caray, Would you eat it?

Does it look tasty? Does it contain ingredients that please your senses?

In the case of these sando-animal creations, the answer to both is a resounding no.

The person who crafted them, as creative as they are, didn't intend them to be sandwiches. It's an artwork, not an edible.

Secondly, I won't eat a sando made of bologna and wonderbread. It's an insult to the memory of the eponymous Earl.
That said, I would never accuse a person who likes bologna in between two slices of bread of not eating a sandwich (heathens), unless of course, they made it into a a mouse or a cat first, then they should just go back to art school or pre-school, wherever they teach such horrible things.

I understand this is a loose definition, and it may not satisfy some. It's hard to accept, I know, that some things just aren't sandwiches.

Oh, one other thing. Though the address of this blog may mislead you, meat is not a requirement for a sandwich. There's plently of delicious veggie sandos out there that fully qaulify.

Anyway,



This is a man who knows about sandwiches.

Thanksgiving Leftover Blues?

This post isn't about Sandwiches, but it is about Thanksgiving. And Thanksgiving is about turkey. And turkey is about sandwiches.

So I've been to a lot of supermarkets lately, and there's a common thread throughout many of the cooking/household/women's magazines lately. There is always a "Great tips for those Thanksgiving leftovers," or "What to do with all that turkey."

ugh.

Like it's that difficult to figure it out. I've got a tip: Put it in your mouth.

Yeah. Eat it. It was delicous the first time. It's going to be delicious a day, or even a week later.

Where I come from, we have pre and post Thanksgivings, all, hopefully, with enough food leftover to eat it again. Thanksgiving is probably one of the most delicious holidays ever. Everyone loves it. I even know a Jihadist Islamofacist who loves it. Let me tell you, he knows what to do with the leftovers.

Anyway, back to what I was saying.

Do you seriously need a recipe to figure out what to do with the left overs? Sweet-potato turkey fritata? Turkey salad? Potato-turkey latake?

No. Fuck! What a way to ruin a wonderful meal.

You basically have three delcious options to use those leftovers. All pretty much pertain to this blog, and all a pretty much required.

1.) Just eat it like you did on Thanksgiving. Easy.

2.) Sandwich. On top of the turkey, you can stick as many sidedishes as you want in this sandwich. I recommend potatoes, stuffing green beans and gravy as a start.

3.) Soup. Don't throw away that carcass yet, no! Boil it for a good while till you have a stock, add a little leftover turkey meat, vegetables, some noodles, spices, whatever. Soup is easy. You could probably leave the house for 3 days with a big pot of soup on the stove and come back to some amazing stuff.

Anyway, thats my rant. I'm really excited for my Thanksgivings this year.

Tuna Sandwich Tuesday

Day off from work today, and I made a delicious tuna sandwich for my lunch. I took some pictures. Here are some reasons why no one will ever see these pictures: Dislodged memory card. Broken viewscreen. Inability to understand a loud beep as a sign of error without visual explanation of said error.

Anyhow, it was delicious. Also pretty.

Tuna, veganaise, curry powder, mutsu apple. Real good.

Not Sandwich Related: British v. French

30 reasons why British hate the French

awesome.

America, Fuck Yeah!

This is why the Brits think Americans are stupid, obnoxious people.

They are absolutely right.

This isn't totally random, there is a mention of sandwiches in the article.

More Wonderful Sandwiches from Limeys

I know hating on the Brits, (my countrymen, full disclosure, nbd) for their lack of culinary subtlety and/or decency is really, really easy, but seriously, sandwiches are so easy to make tasty. Sandwiches if done right are the perfect food. That's a big if.

I'm somewhat astounded about how many times I've said "only the Brits could come up with a sandwich that terrible."

However, I could be wrong. Ladies and Gentlemen, for your approval "The Chip Butty".

French fries, or "chips" as our brothers across the pond call them are delicious. Bread is delicious. This, I may have to try.

Random Aside: Why do those asshole Republicans get to take credit for hating the French and renaming the French-invented food to more Anglo sound names? The British have been doing it centuries. Literally, centuries. Look it up. They hated the French back when Freedom was free, before anyone made hating French the cool thing to do.

Anywhoo, I'm gonna make up one of these Chip Butties and give it a try. Call me a hypocrite, but at least it ain't mayo and bread.

Give me back my Expo markers.

Last friday, a nice enough looking young lady came into my office, introduced herself as Iris, said that she worked in an office upstairs, and requested to borrow a few dry-erase markers for "just a bit".

It is Wednesday. I am still missing my Expos.

In other news. Here's a partial reaction to the Best Sandwiches In America from the Today Show.

The people of Philly speak out. Rocky would be proud.

Vegan Breakfast Sandwich

I get these for free from work sometimes, and they're pretty darned good. It's a spelt english muffin served with garlic dill tofu, barbecue tempeh (I assume for bacon effect), avocado, and caramelized onions. It's tasty, and keeps well in the fridge for a day or two. Thanks, work.

The Fuzz hates sandwiches

A simple sandwich vendor in England tries to sell his delicious wares to hungry school children, and the evil schoolteachers got the police involved.

They probably only serve mayo sandwiches at the school...

If only Mr. Bean was the chef.

Poor Sandwich Man.

My camera works. I'm getting a torta for lunch today.

Sunday Evening Torta

Tonight was my first Torta. You'd think this would have happened earlier in my life, seeing that I'm from California, where delicious and authentic Mexican food is available around every corner. I suppose my devotion to tacos and burritos prevented me from venturing into the unknown realm of Mexican Sandwiches, but all that changed tonight.

For my first Torta, I headed to Tacos Nuevo Mexico, our local favorite and the only place on the east coast I have ever obtained quality Mexican food. (It is seriously impossible to get decent burritos out here, no one knows what they're doing.)

The Torta ... is delicious. I went for Carne Asada, but the Torta can feature nearly anything as its primary ingredient. It's served up with beans, cheese, onions, lettuce, sour cream, quacamole, tomatoes, and chilies. The chilies. My word, the chilies. Just the right amount of heat to round out what is essentially the entire Mexican palate shoved into a sandwich.

Torta? Why was I always so wary of you? You are great.

Macaroni and Cheese Sando?

snagged from damienjones

I would eat this. Smothered in Tapatío I would eat this.

Perhaps, for stability, batter and fry the mac and cheese into some sort of croquette patty? Accompany with lettuce and tomato?

Speaking of Limey Sandwiches

Here's Mr. Bean making a delicious and nutritious sando.

Big deal this is the first thing that comes up on YouTube when you search for the word "sandwich", I am still a good blogger.

A new drink. (not sandwich related)

Anybody ever had a "poor-mosa" ? It is (allegedly) Miller Highlife with orange juice.

I know about adding orange soda to 40s, this seems similar. But I'm intrigued by the High Life. High Life is a simple, tasty, sweet beer, as you know the self-described champagne of beers. It already makes a great breakfast, I can't see why it wouldn't make a great mimosa.

Thanks to some genius at the Garrison (I can't remember exactly who invented it, though I'm pretty sure it was Po-diggs) I've had the High-weizen. It's high life with lemon. Tastes almost exactly like Hefeweizen.

This few years old now, but I think it marks and important change. It's good to see the U.S. Military is using all that science smarts for to invent something that's not used to kill/destroy/find people to kill/destroy.

Ladies and Gentlemen: The Indestructible Sandwich

"Capable of surviving airdrops, rough handling and extreme climates, and just about anything except a GI's jaws, the new "pocket" sandwich is designed to stay "fresh" for up to three years at 26 °C (about the temperature of a warm summer's day), or for six months at 38 °C (just over body temperature)."

Thanks, Science.

A quick warning about peanut butter

According to the wikipedia entry for Unintentional entomophagy, peanut butter contains an "average of 30 or more insect fragments per 100 grams". Take that, vegans.

These are some sandwiches I know.

I've eaten some good sandwiches lately.



1.) The Country Deli 1674 N Shoreline Blvd, Mountain View, California.


House Roasted Turkey. (Light and Dark Meat!) Good Bread (alas, not fresh baked, but delicious anyhow) Tart Cranberry sauce. An exceptional sandwich for under $6. Exactly what you want in a good, local sandwich shop. With house Roasted Beef as well, you can't go wrong.

2.) Homemade Turkey Sando, with bowl of Annie's Udon.


Simple, soooo tasty. nbd. Turkey from Andronico's Market (free range, roasted on site. Soft, delicious Fresh baked bread from Los Altos Bakery and Cafe. Mayo, Lettuce.

Nothing like sammiches from home. Cheap and satisfying. Udon by Annie Chun.

3.) Hot Dog on Wheat, ketchup.



Delicious quick snack. Turned on the cast iron to super hot, seared hot dog, placed in grilled bread. Added ketchup. Mmm.

Though it lacks the je ne sais quoi of my whiskey-fire method cooking I perfected in college, a good hot dog nonetheless.

Lesson Learned: Sammiches out are really nice, for sure, but slap 'em together yourself! Especially, for goodness sake, don't go out buying a grilled cheese. See below of explaination.

Re: Grilled Cheeses

Caroline made me an epic grilled cheese last weekend. I can't believe I didn't blog on it earlier. I ate in in about 4 seconds. I wish I had taken a picture. I was a rittle bit drunk though. Just a tad.

Anyway, It had TWO different kinds of cheeses. Aged Cheddar is amazing. Go out and buy some, put it on every food you have, no matter what.

So Kudos to C-White for a great sammich. And for having an adorable cat named brother who's so cute I just want to eat his face.

Grilled Cheese on Marble Rye

2 slices of marble rye
medium cheddar
hot pepper oil
butter
oregano
lemon pepper

Saw this on hanted snowfort's flickr stream.

Why am I not eating one of these everyday?

Sandwich Links

Hmmm, delicious links:

The Sandwich Project - User submitted Sammies with an ingredient search to find the best out of your meager pantry. Although, some of these submissions are clearly atrocious. There is actually a mayonaise sandwich listed as a recipe. Are you fucking kidding me? Mayonaise and bread? That had to have been submitted by a damn limey. Then again, these are the people that will add chocolate syrup to a glass of milk, shake mixture as hard as possible, and consider it a milkshake.

Serious Sandwiches - Via Serious Eats. Zach Brook knows his sandwiches. Pictures verge on food porn. Especially that turkey one with about a pound of meat on it.

A Hamburger Today - Also via Serious Eats. Hamburgers are sandwiches too! Discussion of the origins of hamburgers, best hamburgers in the US, etc.
(SE is great site, by the way, Mario Batali is one of their bloggers.)

American Sandwiches - Thank You Wikipedia. There's shit here you've probably never heard of. Also responsible for my discovery, (and search) for the mythical hot brown.

Sandwiches That You Will Like - a PBS documentary on Sandwiches in America.

And there's a ton of links on this, so, look it up yourself: Mark your calendars: November 3rd is National Sandwich Day!

Are you gripped by fear worrying about carbon emmisions and your personal water footprint?

Well, good news. You can solve your problems with sandwiches. Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches.

From the folks at The PB&J Camapaign.

Usually the only excuse I need to eat PB&J every day is poverty.

Is Sandwich, Is Not Sandwich: Sandwich Sushi

In the spirit of furthering sandwich scholarship on the web, and to move American cuisine closer to a more inclusive and accurate definition of "sandwich", B+M=D presents: Is Sandwich, Is Not Sandwich.

This installment, Sandwich Sushi: (Recipe Here)

Now, my first instinct is to immediately label these rolled delights as decidedly Not Sandwich, and more in the Wrap* category, but the inclusion of traditional sandwich breads in the preparation poses an interesting question. Does a sandwich, contorted and rolled, become un-sandwich?

Unrolled, these Sandwich Sushi, are of course sandwiches. Bread, filling, everything is there. I would argue that where the problem lies, is in the intention, both in preparation, and in consumption.

Consider this hypothetical: a sandwich has been lovingly prepared and set aside for later consumption, at some point the sandwich is either rolled or folded by some unknown process in one's own lunch box, the sandwich is then undoubtedly unrolled and returned to its traditional horizontal plane before consumption. During each phase of this escapade, the sandwich has not once forfeited its original Sandwich nature due to the intention and action of the sandwich preparer.

With this in mind, I cast my vote that Sandwich Sushi be considered Not Sandwich, being that both intended preparation and intended consumption place them well outside the definition of sandwich proper. I would instead propose they be considered a Wrap Variant, substituting traditional yeasted bread in place of commonly used flat bread.

What do you think, Comments Section?

*I am sure we will discuss the Wrap/Sandwich relationship in future posts.

The Hot Brown Sandwich

Snagged from anearthling's flickr stream.

Let's go to Kentucky.

Re: Top 5 Sammiches.

See below for Dan's excellent post.

The people at the Today Show, however, have clearly lost their minds. All good sammiches, no doubt. But they lack something crucial. Something I have blogged about before, and will undoubtedly blog about again: A Turkey Sandwich.
Nothing is like a Turkey Sandwich. (HEAR THAT ARCHI?!!) Some kind of turkey sammy belongs on that list. A Club, a Hot Brown, whatever.

It's the powerful Anti-Turkey lobby at it again. I'm sure they're responsible for the lack of readership of this blog.

In any case, I had a delicious one today. It was near my work, and it was made with house-roasted turkey. It even included dark meat! I'll post about it later.

The Top 5 Sandwiches IN AMERICA

Apparently The Today Show has been counting down the top sandwiches in America all summer. If you already knew this, you need to stop watching The Today Show. Maybe fill your free morning time with an enriching hobby of some sort.

Anyhow, they've narrowed it down to their Top 5 picks. A pretty decent selection, but far from ideal. Here are one man's gripes:

Where are the sandwiches not made from pigs or cows?

If you have to ship Maine lobster all the way to California to make the best lobster roll, you are doing it wrong. Also, it's SUPPOSED to have mayo, otherwise you're just eating a lobster sandwich.

While a "philly cheesesteak" consisting of "sliced filet mignon topped with provolone, sautéed onions, bacon, lettuce and tomato, finished with a sriracha mayonnaise and served on a ciabatta roll" sounds delicious, it is so far divergent from what an actual philly cheesesteak should be that it actually kind of offends me, and I'm from California.

I know everything tastes better when bacon is involved, that's why it's lazy.

Muffuletta and pastrami on rye, you're ok with me.

Alotta's Delicatessen: 9-15-2007

So good.

First, sorry for the bad pictures. My camera's battery is dead, and couldn't wait to charge it before I ate.

Alotta's Deli is one of those places that you could pass by a million times and never think to go in. A small, unassuming storefront off Foothill Expressway in Los Altos, near the Lucky's (nee Albertson's, nee Lucky's) Alotta's doesn't beg for you to try their sandwiches.

What I'm realizing now is a Los Altos-Mountain View institution, Alotta's Deli is the perfect local deli. Good food and efficent yet taciturn service. There's a lot to be said for that. The guy that takes your order - the owner, or at very least the manager, seems to recognize 75% of the people that come in. He doesn't spend time chatting with anyone, as the line is nearly always out the door. As a result, the wait for a sammich is never more than a few minutes.

Alotta's makes some of the best turkey sandwiches in the bay area. No joke. They're simple, yet absolutely fantastic.

mmmmm

There are two reasons for this. These are simple, but the make a world of difference.

1.) House baked sourdough rolls;
2.) House roasted turkey.

These are such simple, simple things. If you can't cook turkey, you should probably be shot, especially if, like Alotta's, you're just cooking the breast. With today's cooking technology it should be a snap for anyone.

Some sandwich purveyors like to bandy about deli meat names like Boar's Head or Columbus, but which is fine for cured meats salami like meats, but for roastable deli meats, you should be doing it yourself. I might be talking out of my ass here, but it's probably cheaper. Without a doubt, though, it's tastier.

Good bread is a little bit trickier, but it ain't that hard. It has a grand total of about 4 ingredients, and is also super cheap to make. Flour, yeast water and oil.

Why don't more delis do this? Ugh. I dunno.

Anyway, the sandwich, with its tender and moist turkey, in between a crunchy on the outside, yet warm and soft in the middle sourdough roll, was, as it has been everytime, absolutely wonderful. The vegetables nice too: A good, solid portion of green leaf lettuce (don't get me started on the use of iceberg, I'm SURE I'll rant about that later), and juicy chunky tomatoes. hmmm. I'm drooling. They also normally come pickles and peppers, but it would a travesty to ruin the perfect turkey with such a sour-spicy combo.

Anyone that knows me knows I fucking love sandwiches. It should be apparent by the fact that I started a blog dedicated to eating sandwiches. I especially love turkey sandwiches. Alotta's makes a fucking amazing turkey sandwich. If this place was close enough to my work, I'd eat there daily... and never fucking get sick of it.

Go to Alotta's.

Coming Soon!