No Man Is A Sandwich

#14 Hawaiin BLT

2010-03-28T09:59:00.000-07:00

This is the first of two posts of sandwiches from the Big Island of Hawaii, where I recently spent 10 days soaking in a little taste of tropical paradise.

On our first full day on the island we headed out to the Waimea Farmers Market to pick some produce and check out the other local offerings.

The first thing we noticed after getting out of the car was the thick, lustrous smell of bacon! That instantly reminded me that we had not had breakfast, and we cut a path straight towards the smell. As it turned out the bacon was being fried up at a stand run by Mai Bacon, a local outfit that specializes in fresh bacon, produced from local, organically raised pigs. In order to entice passers-by to purchase thick slabs of bacon, the proprietor was offering BLTs made fresh, for $3 each. I should of got two...

Fresh, crisp lettuce, extremely juicy tomato, an avocado aioli, and a generous portion of that fragrant bacon all piled up on a bun made for a great breakfast sandwich. I overheard the fella running the booth say that he buys all the ingredients for the sandwiches from other stands at the market, which I think is very cool. All in all, one of the best BLTs I've ever had.

Also, I should mention the Gorgonzola Rosemary Focaccia we purchase from a local bakery's stand- wow! Talk about some kick-ass bread. Paired up with mango, papaya, local citrus and Kona coffee, we had some great breakfasts for the next couple of days.

#13 Tuscan veggie

2010-02-24T18:40:00.000-08:00

Man, this one was so good I took a bite before it could get its photo taken. I was not disappointed.

This is pretty straightforward sandwich. I made it on the pane toscano that I baked in the previous post, and built up on a solid foundation of dry-cured ham. Prosciutto is probably my favorite of the cured pork options, and one we've already seen once or twice on this blog. I put a couple of slices of cheese down. Muenster. Some thick sliced greenhouse tomatoes and then layered some veggies on top of the prosciutto. For some crunch, I went with a yellow pepper, threw on a few sprouts, and rounded it off with some marinaded spinach (red wine vinegar, olive oil, stone ground mustard), which is something I've been really into lately.

Baby I'm a Want You

2010-02-22T06:15:00.000-08:00

For those of you unfamiliar with early '70s AM gold, this post is all about the bread. As bread is an integral part of the sandwich, I think its only fair that we devote some time to talking about it. The following is a photo essay with some commentary covering a recent day of bread making. Both the recipes came from the oft-mentioned Il Fornaio cookbook. One was the pane toscano recipe (shape enhanced) and the other a traditional focaccia. So scroll down to the video at the very bottom, start the song, and enjoy the photos.

Now, I'm not going to tell you that making bread is easy, and doesn't require some effort, but its so rewarding that you'll never go back. Here's my biggest beef with store-bought bread: the ingredients. Good quality bread only really requires 4 ingredients: flour, yeast, water and salt (and the salt is even somewhat optional). Compare this ingredient list against what your buying at the store and you will likely be shocked at what you see. That said, with subtle variation in the amounts of those ingredients, shapes, rising times, etc...you can create an extraordinary amount of different breads.

The part of bread making that consumes the most time is waiting for it to rise. The recipes from the Il Fornaio book almost all call for a "sponge" starter, which is basically water, yeast and flour that is allowed to sit over-night to get the yeast activated. Most of the recipes involve multiple rising periods, ranging from 1 1/2 hours to 45 mins at a time.

After you get through 2 rising periods, its time to shape your loafs. That's the Pane Toscano recipe getting shaped in the last 3 photos, and here it is covered by a towel after shaping, rising for the final time. Don't forget to preheat your oven!

Here's the focaccia getting prepped to bake: olive oil, and some dimples. By the way, this is the time to use your good olive oil (the one I'm using was a gift from the Natch, NoMans other contributor).

I bake all of my bread on a "stone," which is essentially an unglazed paving square, that you leave in the oven all the time. It works great for pizza as well. In this photo you can see a large stone on the bottom rack, plus an arrangement of smaller unglazed tiles on the top. Before you throw the dough in the oven, give it a few mists of water, this helps the bread to "jump" to a nice fluffy texture, and also aids in crust formation. I usually pre-mist, mist when I put the bread in, and again after 5 mins or so.

Here's the focaccia coming out of the oven:

For the Pane Toscano, I like to cut some slits on the top, and the rub a little olive oil in to them:

Here's the last loaf coming out of the oven:

Not a bad haul for a days worth of baking...

First things first- with all that fresh baked bread, you better make a snack.

First, cut some thin strips of focaccia. Then crush some garlic onto a plate, mix it with some olive oil, chiffonade of basil, grated Parmesan cheese, and dig in!

I have come to find bread making to be a great Sunday activity, one that I actually look forward. I hope all of you sandwich fans out there will give it a shot. There are plenty of great recipes out there, and honestly, bread is pretty hard to mess up.

#12 Side Pork Greens and Tomato

2010-02-22T05:41:00.000-08:00

People are always warning against reinventing the wheel, and I think that is sound advice; wheels don't need reinventing. But as a metaphor that phrase rings pretty hollow, as some tried and true "things" need to be rethought every now and then. That's where the Side Pork, Greens and Tomato sandwich comes in.

Now, for the record I love a good BLT, but there is nothing wrong with branching out from tradition. For those of you who are not well versed in your cuts of pork, Side Pork is the same cut as bacon, the difference being that bacon is cured, while side pork is fresh.

I fried it up a pan with a little bit of olive oil, and made sure to cook it until it was good and crispy. I whisked together some crushed garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and a splash of lemon juice to make a dressing, and then lightly coated some fresh spinach with it, and set it aside while the pork cooked.

The bread for this sandwich was again a Pagnotta, but this time I prepared a version of it using wheat flour, which gives it a little coarser texture. While the greens were marinading, and the pork was frying I slipped the sliced bread into the oven to melt some smoked gouda. I was thinking that since the pork wasn't cured like bacon, the addition of a smoked cheese would help round out the flavor profile. After that, just a couple of slices of tomato (salted and peppered, of course), and then you put all together. I have to say the side pork had a different texture from bacon, a little bit chewier, which I found quit enjoyable, and the marinaded greens really tied the whole thing together in a way lettuce never would have been able to.

#11 Greek Lamb Steak and Cheese

2010-02-21T11:11:00.000-08:00

Heya No Man fans, I just put this bountiful beauty together last weekend and I figured it would be perfect to share.

Firstly, the warm and sunny Oakland temperature allowed me to fix up the meat and veggies on a traditional charcoal fire grill. Please excuse the separation of meat from veggies. Not my first choice, but the wife insists that they cook at different rates and should be separated. I like to get everything mingled together, but the separation keeps the temperature controlled so the veggies don’t sweat out all their crunchiness.

The meat is lamb tri-tip that was soaked in a simple red wine marinade (burgundy wine, salt, pepper, onions and rosemary) for an hour or so and then seared on the grill for about five minutes a side. As Sandwich always preaches I let the meat rest for 10-15 to complete cooking. The veggies were just the traditional kabob stuffs, red pepper, yellow pepper, onion and mushrooms. I spread the bottom of carpet slipper with some olive oil and threw that on the grill for a few seconds.

The sauce you see dripping down the sides is a tzatziki. I wish I had made this myself, but it’s store bought. It’s really easy to make. Just mix together some Greek yogurt, minced garlic, grated cucumbers, olive oil, salt and pepper and some lemon juice. I also put a layer of crumbled feta on top of the sauce to give it a good bite. This was good for two solid meals of food. Now if I only had a picture of Tom Selleck and a waterfall...

#10 Ham & Cheese

2010-02-15T10:48:00.000-08:00

Ham and cheese is a true classic, but this version adds a few updates which move this sandwich out of cold cut drudgery and into the realm of culinary delight.

I started with some homemade Pagnotta bread (again the recipe from Il Fornio), one slice of which received a nice slather of cream cheese. The cream cheese may seem to be a bit extravagant of an addition to a ham and cheese sandwich, but here it serves two useful purposes. First, it provides a nice bed on which to anchor the cucumber slices (they don't slide out when you bit down this way), and second, it gives the sandwich a really nice texture by sort of tying everything together.

The other slice of bread gets a dollop of mustard, here I'm using Groetje's spicy brown (which is a great all-natural, no preservative, spicy as hell brown mustard). I covered the mustard with two slices of sharp New York cheddar, on top of which I piled some greens. Here is a tip you can apply to almost all sandwiches: marinade your greens! Basically, I made a quick vinaigrette of red wine vinegar, olive oil, and 1/2 tsp of the spicy mustard. Then you just mix the greens around with the vinaigrette, and plop them on the sandwich, you'll probably be surprised what a difference this makes! You don't want the greens soaking or dripping, just coat them a little.

Then all you need is a couple slices of tomato, and a few thin (thin!) slices of ham. I love to get my deli meat (always get it at a deli, never buy prepackaged!) at a local grocery store, Goodrich's. They always show you the first slice for thickness/thinness approval, they have high quality staff and products, and you can get a great deli sandwich for about $4 with your choice of meat, cheese, bread and fixings!

Sandwiches Around the Interwebs

2010-02-05T09:16:00.000-08:00

So, I've lately become aware of some awesome sandwich related content that is floating around the etherwebs, and I've decided that from time to time it would be fun to share some of these items. So in that spirit, here are a couple of sites that I find enjoyable.

Scanwiches- basically just what it sounds like, dude's scanner must be pretty gross...

This next one involves two parts. First, open this link and start the song. Second, open this link in a new tab, then just scroll down and enjoy. I realize I'm being somewhat cryptic, but it'll be more fun this way. Thanks to Shooter for this link, it is amazing!

#9 Pastrami

2010-01-27T09:34:00.001-08:00

A classic! Nothing to this sandwich- just pastrami (thin-sliced), mustard, cheese, and some veggies. This one is made with turkey pastrami- which tends to be my pastrami of choice in most circumstances.

You may notice the proportions on this sandwich are fairly even. That is to say, it isn't a cow between two pieces of bread. It is equal portions of veggies and meat, which is the way a good sandwich is made. You want to blend textures and flavors, not throw a tomato on a 1/4 lb of lunchmeat.

Speaking of mustard, lately I've been using Eden Foods' Organic Brown, and I have to say, I really like it. First, its a Michigan based company, and second, they have a commitment to the health of our environment and the health of their customers. It's also reasonably priced, and really tasty!

#8 Vietnamese Steak Sandwich

2010-01-25T06:23:00.000-08:00

The first in an ongoing presentation of great achievements in sandwich styles from around the world.

This beauty features some thin-sliced (against the grain!) flank steak, marinated in a mixture of lime juice, rice wine vinegar, garlic, cilantro, and safflower oil. I used half of the marinade to coat the carrots and scallions that top the sandwich as well. It would have been great to have added some daikon, cucumber, thin sliced onion or shallot in with the carrot, but I kept this one simple.

Flank steak is usually a really thin cut of beef, so this one was broiled on one side only to ensure a perfect medium rare- about 5 minutes. Marinating the steak over night helps to tenderize it, due to the acidity of the lime juice, and helps to ensure that the steak turns out tender and flavorful, but not chewy. Remember to let your meat rest when it comes out of the oven. This not only allows it to finish cooking, but also gives the juices a chance to reabsorb into the meat- ensuring the best results.

In Vietnamese cuisine the meat on this sandwich could be any number of things, from pork, to chicken, to parts of the animal used less often in the states.

I served this one up on a homemade 1/2 length baguette, which had been lightly oiled and toasted, just so it wouldn't get soggy when the juicy steak was placed on it.

#7 Jolly Pumpkin Brewery Porchetta

2010-01-24T11:44:00.000-08:00

Natch's post reminded me that I had yet to post a restaurant sandwich on the blog. So here's a sandwich I had the good fortune of enjoying at the Jolly Pumpkin Cafe and Brewery in Ann Arbor.

Here is the menu description:

"Porchetta-
slow-roasted herb and garlic infused pork shoulder on a ciabatta roll with
salsa verde aioli, housemade fennel sauerkraut and organic spinach"

This sandwich blended together three unique flavors into one really big taste in a really bold and fresh way. The aioli was really distinct, but didn't over power the sandwich. While the fennel added a nice bitter note, and a little bit of texture to the sandwich. The pork was perfectly cooked, and the roll was really nice as well.

The fries were done up Belgian style, just the way I like them. The trick is to fry them once in a low temperature oil, take them out, and fry them again in a high temperature oil. That way they get cooked through, crispy on the outside, and stay soft and fluffy inside. The pickle was actually made with zucchini, which was a little different than a typical pickle, but retained enough traditional pickle vibe to satisfy me.

While the sandwich was definitely a standout, I don't want to overlook mentioning the fine selection of beer which the Jolly Pumpkin offers. They have draft beer, as well as wine-sized 750 ml bottles in several varieties; they have kind of a neo-traditionl Belgian vibe, bitter and full of flavor.

Overall, I was really impressed by the sandwich and the beer and I would highly recommend both. The menu reflects the Pumpkin's stated commitment to embrace "community tradition by supporting neighboring farms, promoting environmental sustainability, and valuing surrounding businesses.

Our eclectic menu is driven by fresh seasonal ingredients collected daily from local markets. With avant-garde aspirations in both taste and presentation, our passionate culinary experts are constantly revising traditional dishes to mindfully reflect a variety of organic regional flavors."

Check em out if your ever in Ann Arbor.

#6 Cafe Biere Fried Chicken Sando

2010-01-19T19:57:00.000-08:00

Greetings from the Left Coast!

Sandwich asked me to swoop in with an update in sando-culinary delights from my mostly sunny little home by the San Francisco Bay. By way of introduction, I am The Natural (Natch for short) and I currently reside in the bustling community of Oakland, CA. In Oakland and the rest of the Bay Area people take their independent, organic, free-range foodieism to the next level. Some claim that the revolution in California cuisine, which is basically a fusion of many different styles of food driven by local and fresh ingredients, avocados (lots of avocados) and an unusual reliance on aioli, started right down the road from Oakland at the Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA. Though I will be touching on some of the classic cali-fare I’ll also inject my posts with a healthy dose of my Midwestern roots. In that spirit I bring you dear readers my first post: Café Biere’s Fried Chicken sandwich.

Café Biere is a small gastropub that specializes in Belgian beer and food. They have an extensive beer menu that includes Belgian, American, German and Japanese beers. More importantly, it is home to this delectable treat.

A lightly breaded Petaluma Farms chicken breast dusted with cayenne pepper, topped with cole slaw and sitting atop the ubiquitous avocado. The spread is a chipotle aioli and the bread is the always trusty and crusty carpet slipper (aka ciabatta). The real star and surprise with this beauty was a chipotle infused maple syrup for dipping and grinning. I washed the sandwich down with San Francisco’s own 21st Amendment Monk’s Blood Belgian-Style Dark Ale. The Blood was aged in an oak barrel, which gave it a great sour cherry flavor. Other flavors that popped out were vanilla and strong fig aftertaste, which gave perfect sweetness to match the maple syrup and offset the cayenne.

#5 Corned Beef

2010-01-11T06:22:00.000-08:00

Well this truly was a special sandwich! This year for the traditional New Year's Day Corned Beef, I decided to go all out and do it from scratch. Let me tell you, I could not have been happier with the results. We started with a 6 lb brisket (purchased at Whole Foods so it was range feed, grass finished, etc...the good stuff), and a load of spices and herbs (peppercorns, juniper berries, cloves, cinnamon, and so on). I combined the spices with a copious amount of salt to boil up a brine, which the brisket then sat in for 10 days in the fridge. After that, I just boiled it for a couple of hours with a simple mirepoix,

and then straight to the plate.

The beauty part of preparing a 6 lb brisket for 2 people is that the leftovers are substantial enough for several sandwiches. To put this one together, I warmed up the corned beef by sauteing it in a hot pan for about 3 minutes on each side, so it just started to brown. Then I placed it on a couple of pieces of bread that had been brushed with olive oil and toasted. The sandwich is finished off with some homemade sauerkraut.

The thing that really brought this sandwich together was the slightly crispy, thin-sliced beef. When combined with the warm sauerkraut, and sandwiched between some lightly toasted bread, it made for the kind of sandwich that makes you want to say "Oh, fuck yeah!"

I paired it up with a side salad, and a frosty glass of home-brewed IPA. Delicious!

In case your wondering why this post does not refer to the sandwich as a Reuben, that is because it is not a Reuben. NOTE: not every sandwich with corned beef is a Reuben. This isn't 'Nam, there are rules.

#4 Figs w/ Carmelized Onions and Goat Cheese

2010-01-03T13:45:00.001-08:00

For the first vegetarian offering I decided to go with a sandwich that everyone should try. As filling as it is delicious - make sure you always serve it warm, and don't rush the onions. Use more goat cheese than you think you should, and just spread a thick layer of those onions from right out of the pan, throw some figs on there and, done.

You may have noticed that once again I have chosen not to the bread, so, maybe its time we had a little talk about toasting.

When to toast, and When not to toast?

I personally feel like things have gotten a little toast happy in the last few years, not that I don't like toast, I do, but why do we have everything on toasted buns, Quizno's style and shit, I mean what happened to just using good quality bread, still warm from the oven? (We'll be doing a feature on bread baking soon...). The question of when to toast is really ultimately decided by sandwich contents. Take this sandwich for instance:

I wouldn't have been able to get smears of goat cheese to sit like this on toasted bread, plus I want the onions to melt into the cheese, not the cheese into bread. Also, I don't see a lot of sense in toasting the bread only to stack cold ingredients on it. Sandwiches where the bread should be toasted should also be sandwiches where you want the filling of the sandwich warm (thus enabling assembly, followed by warming). I think with this sandwich the warm and gooey onions would not been as manageable on toast as they are on thick slices of warm bread. This way the whole thing kind of mushes together, and you a great blending of the sweetness of the onions with the freshness of the figs.

#3 Prosciutto w/ Fried Egg, Tomato, and Basil

2010-01-03T13:17:00.000-08:00

This sandwich is quickly becoming a standby of late, probably because it has a high flavor to effort quotient.

This one is served on two slices of homemade country white bread, which I chose not to toast. The trick to the sandwich is to make sure you flip the egg, and then put some thick slices of a semi-soft cheese right on top of em while they finish to an over-medium (yolks slightly moist, but not runny). I used a local Amish cheese made with yogurt. After that you just layer the egg and cheese, some slices of tomato, prosciutto, and finish with some torn basil in the middle. You may as well sprinkle the bread with some good olive oil and salt and pepper if you think of it, just so the bread isn't too dry.

A great feature of this sandwich is it works at anytime of the day, pair it with some soup, or a salad and it even works as a dinner. I would advise you to not skimp on the prosciutto (its always important to use good quality ingredients!), I always find high-end cured meats to be especially rewarding.

Speaking of cured meat! Stay tuned for sandwich #5 coming this week: Reubens with Homemade Corned Beef. Brined the brisket myself even...and it came out great. So, look for that on Tuesday.

#2 Grilled Cheese w/Turkey Noodle Soup

2009-12-07T16:32:00.000-08:00

It is my firm belief that nothing pairs with soup like grilled cheese. To me, serving soup without grilled cheese is a lot like serving it without a spoon, or serving it on a plate- it just isn't done!

One of the best parts of Thanksgiving (maybe one of the only redeeming qualities of my least favorite of the pilgrim holidays) is the leftover turkey. This year my friend Matt was kind enough to share some outstanding turkey noodle soup he made. Right away I knew down deep in my soul that the spirit of this soup yearned to be paired with a sandwich, and so it came to pass.

Between two slices of the old Italian "carpet slipper," I placed several slices of some Gruyere cheese, sprinkled a dash of olive oil and salt and pepper, and toasted it up. I prefer in general to toast the sandwich (post construction) in the oven as opposed to doing it on the stove-top. I think you get a better toast, and its far less greasy.

Once again, the dinnerware and photography were provided by my lovely lady-friend Laurie- check her stuff out on etsy.com.

Sandwich...a nice place to live?

2009-12-04T13:13:00.000-08:00

I've recently become aware that there are at least 2 towns in the U.S. that call themselves "Sandwich," and at least one city that chooses that moniker as well. So which Sandwich is the best?

Well, here are the options:

1. Sandwich, MA Ah, the sandwich by the sea! Originally incorporated in 1639, this is the oldest sandwich of the bunch. Plus, their website answers the important questions like, "Can I have my picture taken at the Grist Mill?" as well as providing a web cam link that looks in on the Transfer Station.

2. Sandwich, IL This one scores immediate points for being a city, not just a lowly town like the others, as well as having the oldest state fair in Illinois! However, their website is a disgrace. They do however offer a helpful FAQ regarding what sort of burning is/is not permissible:

"Q--Can we burn leaves in the city?

A--City ordinance requires that you may only burn limited amounts of paper, cardboard, dry leaves or other combustible material in a wire mesh burner as long as the material is dry and does not create an offensive odor, nuisance or fire hazard due to location or wind. Dry leaves may also be burned on a driveway, garden area, or other open area. A responsible adult person must be present and attend the fire at all times until fully extinguished. The hours of burning are 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

It is unlawful to burn wet cardboard or paper, rags, feathers, wet or green leaves, green weeds or grass at any time. The burning of any material such as rubber, tires, leather, tar paper, old batteries or any material which emits an offensive odor when burned is unlawful. It is unlawful to burn any material on any of the public streets, pavements, curbing, sidewalks, parkways or alleys in the city. In past years, the City Council has spent numerous hours looking at costs related to leaf handling. As the city continues to grow, we believe, at some future point, additional action regarding leaf burning will be needed."

I'll say now, as I've said before, it'll be a sad day when Sandwich gets to big to allow burning (I mean they already took away my right to burn old batteries...where will it end?).

3. Sandwich, NH Originally chartered in honor of the Earl himself, this town dates back to the pre-revolutionary days, and is now famous mostly for sandwich mountain", which is actually a 2,600 ft tall pile of pastrami. Apparently, the city council has failed to capitalize fully upon the potential marketing and tourist activities of having a town so named, but there is a plan in the works to build a new town hall out of whole grain bread.

Neither of these towns (nor the city) really seem interested in utilizing the possibilities of the name to the full potential, no Sandwich Days, no parades, no Sandwich queen, no streets named for condiments...geeesh.

#1 Roast Beef w/sporuts on Ciabatta

2009-12-02T17:55:00.001-08:00

I've decided to make the first sandwich post pretty safe. Nothing too fancy here, just good old fashioned roast beef, Amish swiss cheese, mustard, lettuce, tomato and sprouts, all parked on sliced ciabatta bread.

This has always been a favorite of mine, and it really has everything I want in a sandwich. I'll tell ya, ciabatta (Italian for "carpet slipper") is really a perfect sandwich bread: nice thick pores that absorb dressing well and high marks for toastability make it a good all purpose loaf.

I baked this one from the recipe in the Il Fornaio cookbook- check it out if your into badass homemade bread.

By the way, the plate in this picture was made by my girlfriend, check out her other stuff at etsy.com (she also took the picture- I love the way she draped the roast beef down the front like that...)

-Sandwich

Updated- What is a Sandwich?

2009-11-30T10:42:00.000-08:00

My friend The Natch (likely soon to be the Left Coast contributor to NoMan- hopefully he'll do more than advise putting avocado slices on everything...) sent me an email as a response to the intro post, and I think he brings up some good points. So lets check it out, here's what the Natch had to say:

"No tortillas..really? I understand a regular burrito would not constitute a sandwich (apparently that is backed by some legal precedent), but what about lavash wraps and breakfast burritos (e.g. traditional sandwich insides with a tortilla outside)? You may be leaving out a world of possibilities.

Natch "

Now, if we take as a given that a burrito is not a sandwich, why would we want to make exceptions for breakfast burritos? Arguably, its just a way of being able to eat an actual breakfast (say- eggs, potatoes, cheese, veggies) while your driving, due to its being wrapped up for travel. I'm going to have to say that is no sandwich, its just lazy.

As for the lavash/wrap angle, I certainly see where your coming from, but I have to refer back to the 3 rules. Wraps only meet one of those rules (they have stuff in them), and while I think slippery-slope arguments are rhetorically poor, where would it end Natch? Calzones meet 2 of 3 requirements by at least having leavened bread and stuff in them, but I don't think many folks would call it a sandwich. So yes, we are going to leave all wraps out- though they may be tasty, they are not sandwiches. Besides, traditional "sandwich insides" stop being "sandwich insides" when they stop being on a sandwich. Sorry, no Falafel wraps, no gyros, no tuna salad lavash (an exception to rule may be a special "Rapp on Wraps" series, or if Bill O'Reilly contacts me personally regarding falafel coverage).

Another comment on the first post warns "I would give caution to banishing all yeast-free breads without a sampling of what yeast free has to offer. May I suggest Hemp Bread?"

This is an excellent point! Bread that is leavened without yeast, in my mind, is still sandwich-suitable. I think the key is that it is leavened. I've updated rule 3 to reflect this technicality, and made a mental note to try some hemp bread!

Welcome to No Man Is A Sandwich

2009-11-30T06:21:00.000-08:00

Greetings and welcome to the No Man Is A Sandwich blog. Since this is the first post, I thought it would be a good idea to set the mood for what will be doing around here. To do so, I will adopt the style of one America's great orators (Donald Rumsfeld) and pose, then answer, a series of questions.

-What are you going to talk about here at No Man Is A Sandwich?

Good question. Mostly, we are going to talk about Sandwiches, but other topics will be covered as well, mostly food related, but don't be surprised to see posts about things only tangentially related to sandwiches (perhaps some light condiment coverage, bread baking, grilling, discussion of sustainable food systems, chaos theory as relates to sandwiches, etc...)

Most of you are probably familiar with the origins of the sandwich , but in case your not, here goes: John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, ordered that his meat be brought to him between two slices of bread (not rolled up in a flour tortilla, mind you) in order to prevent his fingers from getting greasy, and thereby ruining the card game in which he was participating. This story proves two things: 1) humans give very little thought when naming things, and 2) that our best ideas always involve perpetuation of our vices.

-If your going to write mostly about sandwiches, shouldn't you define what you think constitutes a sandwich?

Thanks to the litigious manner of our fine country, I don't have to wrestle with this question any longer, as the courts have already done that for me (pending appeal). A few years back there was a legal battle over what specific elements connote a sandwich. According to this article from the Boston Globe, the "brouhaha began when Panera, one of the country's biggest bakery cafes, argued that owners of the White City Shopping Center in Shrewsbury violated a 2001 lease agreement that restricted the mall from renting to another sandwich shop. When the center signed a lease this year with Qdoba, Panera balked, saying the Mexican chain's burritos violate its sandwich exclusivity clause."

The court found that "a sandwich is not commonly understood to include burritos, tacos, and quesadillas, which are typically made with a single tortilla and stuffed with a choice filling of meat, rice, and beans," and I would have to agree.

As far as this blog is concerned, only food items containing the following three characteristics will be considered sandwiches:

1) Two or more slices of bread (note- a hoagie bun sliced in half, but not cut through, is technically not two slices, but will be considered a sandwich nonetheless).

2) There's gotta be stuff in between those slices, or dammit, your just having toast!

3) There better have been some sort of leavening agent in that bread you sliced and put stuff between.

-How often can we expect new sandwich related content?

Well, I eat a lot of sandwiches, and I expect to photo them, describe them, and discuss them here several times a week. Sandwiches I make myself, sandwiches I purchase, sandwiches provided by acquaintances, are all fair game.

-What's with you and sandwiches anyway?

Going all the way back to high school, Sandwich was my nickname (hence the neat, and some would say clever, misquotation of John Donne that titles this blog). You may wonder, as many folks seem to, why my nickname would be "sandwich". The obvious answer is, I like sandwiches.

So there you have it, a blog about sandwiches written by a guy they call sandwich.

See you soon,

Sandwich