I have three for you:
Pseudo Italian Sub:
Buy a ball of mozzarella and slice it thin. Whisk together olive oil and balsamic vinegar at the ratio you dig best. Split a hoagie roll and toast it, either in the oven or toaster oven, cut sides down. When it's nice and toasty, turn the cut sides up and pour the oil/vinegar on it to the degree you like. Top with mozzarella, prosciutto, tomato slices, and basil leaves.

Veggie:
Toast two slices of sandwich bread, top with mayo (best with Sundried Tomato mayo, which I can't find anymore, dammit, or red pepper mayo, etc. etc.). Top with alfalfa sprouts, tomato slices, cukes, and cheese.

Turkey & Stuff:
Again with toasted bread. Top with sliced avocado, sprouts, spinach leaves, turkey, and bacon, cheese if you like that sort of thing, olives too maybe (I hate olives but they'd probably go well with this.)

Costello's Ripoff:
On another sub roll, layer salami, Capicola, ham, provolone, French fries cole slaw, and tomato. Toast until warm throughout, then wrap in some very heavy foil.

I always grill up extra salmon or lake trout for making it into a sammich the next day. I know quite a few people who seem to have a problem eating cold leftover fish. I don't understand it, but whatever:

Good crusty loaf of something
Cold grilled fish
mayo*
avocado
tomato
red onion
lettuce

This is one of the things I can eat non stop until it's gone.
If I feel like being fancy, I'll throw a little chili sesame oil into the mayo, OR chop up a chipotle and toss a little of the adobo sauce into the mayo.

====
One that I'm not proud of REALLY liking:
grilled pb&j.
Yup, just like it sounds. Buttered bread, pb&J grilled. Oh, and we're talking old school grape or strawberry jelly /jam too.
WONDERFUL. Just SICK good.

*Um real mayo, of course. That sweet, sugary Miracle Whip glop and fish would make me hurl)

My midnight special:

- Thomas's Everything Bagel Bread*
- extra sharp cheddar
- one egg fried in olive oil
- Penzeys 4S Spicy Seasoned Salt
- chorizo, spicy, soft (El Supremo), browned
- cilantro leaves if I have them

Assemble. Must be consumed immediately (does not travel well).
* or a Zabar's with everything if I've just been in NYC

________________________

Bocadillo Cantabrico:

- fresh pita, toasted in olive oil and
- good quality smoked salt
- chorizo, hard Spanish (Palacios brand if possible)
- queso manchego, planed
- fig preserves

After toasting the pita, while the pan is still very hot, thinly slice and then just barely sear the dried chorizo. Spread pita (outside or in) with fig preserves. Nestle chorizo coins. Plane manchego cheese over. Devour. My preferred accompanying beverage is limeade over ice with a shake of Angostura bitters.

I still have a soft spot for pan de sal and crisp pan-fried Spam sandwich. Sometimes I would have it with eggs cooked in the Spanish style (sunnyside up over high heat with a lot of oil just until the edges get crisp - estrellado). My family would usually have this for breakfast or as merienda.

The toughest part is I have to make the pan de sal myself. It took a while to find the right recipe for the bread but definitely worth all the trouble.

One of my favorite late-night indulgences....

Toasted garlic and cheese

Any kind of bread, lightly toasted if squishy
Garlic butter
Hard, sharp cheese, thinly sliced (I often use Kerrygold)

Spread the bread generously with garlic butter, layer with cheese and broil until the cheese is melted and beginning to brown. (If doing this in a toaster oven, put foil or a tray under the sandwich or dripping cheese may start a fire!)

If you have them, you can put thinly sliced tomatoes or ham under the cheese, but leave enough space so the cheese adheres to the bread around them or the sandwich will squirt when you bite it.

Serve hot, open-faced.

Bocadillo Cantabrico...I always wondered what to do with my fig preserves!

This one requires a bit of prep (mainly roasting the pork), but it's so good to be worth it. Based on Zarela Martinez's recipe for tortas ahogadas.

Take a small pork shoulder (although I've done it with loin, too), make incisions all over and liberally stuff with a combination of Mexican oregano, garlic, and salt. Roast.

Make a cooked chipotle-tomato sauce. I use about 3 chipotle chiles en adobo, 1 28-ounce can of preferably fire-roasted tomatoes, 3 or so cloves of garlic, salt, Mexican oregano and a medium onion. Fry up the onion until translucent, add everything else, cook for about 15 minutes or so. Let cool a little, puree. Return to saucepan over low heat to keep warm.

Make crema agria preparada: 2 cups Mexican sour cream, 1/2 cup finely diced onion, 1 finely chopped garlic clove, 2-3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro, salt to taste. Combine all ingredients, and let stand about 15 minutes for flavors to mingle.

To make your sandwich, use Mexican talera or bolillo rolls if you've got access to them. Otherwise, any light crusty roll will do. Layer the sandwich with sliced pork, a generous ladle of the chipotle-tomato sauce (this sandwich should be sloppy), a dollop of the crema preparada, and a slice or two of avocado.

It may be a bit of work, but it's truly my favorite homemade sandwich.

kanin wrote:The toughest part is I have to make the pan de sal myself. It took a while to find the right recipe for the bread but definitely worth all the trouble.

Do you not like the commercial varieties? Homemade is better, I'm sure, but I've enjoyed the Original Baker's Delight pan de sal sold at Uni-Mart. Of course, I haven't had any other kind.

Still one of my favorites -- mashed skinless, boneless sardines on dark rye, with raw onion and hardboiled egg, open face. This one used to make one of my former roomates gag and leave the house, but I knew my husband was the right guy for me when he confessed it was one of his favorites, too.

My grandmother used to make this for me when I was a little girl. I still think of her whenever I see a can of sardines.

Suzy

kanin wrote:I still have a soft spot for pan de sal and crisp pan-fried Spam sandwich. Sometimes I would have it with eggs cooked in the Spanish style (sunnyside up over high heat with a lot of oil just until the edges get crisp - estrellado). My family would usually have this for breakfast or as merienda.

The toughest part is I have to make the pan de sal myself. It took a while to find the right recipe for the bread but definitely worth all the trouble.

Kanin--would you mind sharing your pan de sal recipe? I definitely do not miss the Spam sandwiches of my childhood, but I still like pan del sal with liverwurst.

My favorite kinds of everyday sandwiches...

I'm a big fan of tuna melts on thick wheat bread or on a bagel with Swiss cheese, tomato and red onion. In fact, I just made one yesterday at work for lunch and started an actual fire inside the toaster oven because I piled the sandwich too high. I think that was my third offense with the office toaster oven; I may not be able to construct sandwiches at work for a while.

I'm also a big fan of the simple vegetable sandwich that's been mentioned here in a few different forms. On just a regular day, I make mine with Arnold's Original Recipe wheat bread (which I think Liz mentioned upthread) toasted, a nice mustard which right now happens to be the tarragon variety made by Laurent du Clos, a thick slice or two of Swiss cheese and whatever vegetables I have, usually at least: tomatoes, sprouts, carrots and spinach.

sdritz wrote:Still one of my favorites -- mashed skinless, boneless sardines on dark rye, with raw onion and hardboiled egg, open face. This one used to make one of my former roomates gag and leave the house, but I knew my husband was the right guy for me when he confessed it was one of his favorites, too.

My grandmother used to make this for me when I was a little girl. I still think of her whenever I see a can of sardines.

Suzy

OMIGOSH! We used to have something very similar. I hazily remember opening sardine cans & piling them on soft white bread & drizzling with the fishy oil & then a little mustard. I think I was like ...6 years old. This same memory is linked with another of the era and that was taking whole walnuts & crusing them in the doorjamb - my Ma would get irate because the paint would flake off the doorway of the pantry due to the crushing of the hard shell...wow, my Ma's pantry...it was a special magical place.

LAZ wrote:Do you not like the commercial varieties? Homemade is better, I'm sure, but I've enjoyed the Original Baker's Delight pan de sal sold at Uni-Mart. Of course, I haven't had any other kind. :)

I've never actually thought of buying it from a store since Unimart and other Filipino groceries are a bit of a trek from home. I'll be sure to try it out, though. I enjoy baking bread anyway.

happy_stomach wrote:Kanin--would you mind sharing your pan de sal recipe? I definitely do not miss the Spam sandwiches of my childhood, but I still like pan del sal with liverwurst.

Are you talking about Reno? Does Unimart have it?

I tried a number of recipes that involved milk and/or eggs but found them much richer than I remember. The recipe I use is based on this:
http://www.coupelouislesaffre.com/netkali/LESAFFRE.aspx?IdItem=0&IdDoc=70

I scaled down and tried it as is but found it too sweet and dense so I added more water and decreased the sugar. Here's the baker's percentage, with more specific ingredients and my tweaks in parens.

King Arthur AP 100%
Water 48% (inc to 60)
Instant Yeast 3%
Salt 1.5%
Sugar 18% (dec to 9)
Canola Oil 4%

Sorry for not having volume measurements... I cannot bake anything without a scale.

The picture in the recipe link shows pan de sal that aren't quite shaped right (too round). I had no idea how to shape properly until I came across this very helpful blog post: http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/freshly-baked-pan-de-sal

Of course, the most brilliant sandwich ever conceived, perfect in its balance of flavors and truly the epitome of a sandwich (that is, it approaches the ideal so that anyone who has heard and even moderately understood the word "sandwich" recognizes it as such immediately; it is not a hot dog, a burger, a beef or any other "sandwich" open to debate regarding its sandwichness) is the Cuban sandwich.

Nothing could be simpler. Bread, butter, mustard, pickle, ham, pork and Swiss (sometimes Genoa salami). Of course, the bread is unavailable and the pork is an all day affair. Very easy to make at home, though.

Hey Happy stomach. Watch your toaster oven! They took all our toasters and toater ovens away from us at work. Administration got mad after the third or fourth fire alarm was set off.

I made a new creation the other day. Took some Jewish seeded rye bread...thinly sliced and toasted. Schmeared it with dijon mustard. Put a huge layer of picked red cabbage (from a jar), piled on corned beef. Put a few slices of provalone. Topped with the other slice of bread and heated until the cheese melted. Outstanding!

So I tried the Elvis favorite and surprise it was awesome.

On a toasted french loaf you spread peanut butter and jelly (your choice). Then add a lb. of bacon in the middle of the sandwich, cooked of course.


*My first post

slipperyevans wrote:So I tried the Elvis favorite and surprise it was awesome.

On a toasted french loaf you spread peanut butter and jelly (your choice). Then add a lb. of bacon in the middle of the sandwich, cooked of course.


*My first post

Welcome to LTHForum. How many people does this serve?

To paraphrase Louis Armstrong, if you don't know, he can't tell you.

(or, to put less snarkily, I'm sure the answer is exactly what you fear, but can't utter)

razbry wrote:Here is one sandwich that he loves...

This sounds amazing! Will you be my mommy?

Slipperyevans...Welcome to LTH! I love this group. What, no bannana on the Elvis favorite? I know my son would love this one. And yes, Laikom I will be your mommy! After I make you this sandwich I'll need you to mow my yard!

I made this one based solely on what was in my fridge/freezer and the lovely chives growing in the garden:

baked chicken breast(s)
hoagie-style rolls, drizzled w/ olive oil and then toasted
bag of mixed greens and baby spinach
thinly sliced Vadalia onion, red pepper and a few cloves of garlic, carmelized in a slow skillet
a small scoop of Hellman's mixed w/ a big squirt of fresh lemon, a few turns of the peppermill, and a handful of minced chives

once cooled, I spread the chive/mayo mixture on the roll, sliced the beast meat off the bone (reserving scraps for the cats) and placed on the roll and then topped with the greens and onion/pepper/garlic. Pretty tasty.

For the last few years before my age got into double-figures, my old Jewish Grandmother was a powerful influence on the expanding list of foods that I deemed acceptable to eat. She was a cook and a baker, so I was blessed with wonderful chicken soup and baking powder biscuits and all sorts of treats. My father was always quick to explain that one of the primary reasons he married my Mom was to have an endless supply of Grandma's strudel.

Her kitchen was a culinary kaleidescope of Jewish cooking. She was European, so we enjoyed many of the tasty foods that were so bad for your health -- schmaltz and gribbiness, of course, with lots of fatty flavors that loaded you down and fired you up. Heartburn was a given. Paraphrasing what Buddy Hackett used to say, I didn't know what heartburn was until my freshman year at college in Ohio, when it went away.

For the LTHers who may not know, schmaltz is rendered chicken fat mixed with flavorings such as onions and salt, and it is used as a substitute for butter when dairy is not allowed at the table. For those LTHers who have never encountered real schmaltz, made by a real Bubbe, a moment of silence for your loss.

Now to the sandwich -- and the reason for the big build-up. Grandma made a peasant sandwich that took your breath away. She started with a thick slab of real bread -- either rye with caraway seeds or maybe a hunk of black bread. Something that required serious chewing. Apply a generous layer of schmaltz. Top it with a mixture of coarsely shredded white radishes and onions. Salt and pepper to taste.

A current (and disgusting) expression of culinary delight is "to die for". Well, this sandwich was to die from. But a rapturous death, it was. A moment in your mouth and days to digest. It was heaven on earth.

The only drawback: it was impossible to hide from your "No snacks before dinner" Mom. She often mistakenly admonished me for "spoiling my appetite" again because she was still getting wind of the sandwich I had yesterday.

It is still my all-time favorite sandwich. Anybody know where I can get some real schmaltz?

Ohhhhhh....what a beautiful memory. I'm just stuck on thinking about this "peasant' sandwich. Thank you so much for sharing!

jimwdavis wrote:Anybody know where I can get some real schmaltz?

You can often find it at kosher shops, but it's easy enough to make at home, and then you get the gribenes, too:

Remove the skin and fat of one or more chickens and cut into 1-inch pieces. Save the meat for soup.

Place the fat and skin in a deep saute pan or dutch oven with just a little water. Cook over medium to low heat, turning down the heat if it starts to spatter.

Meanwhile chop an onion (1 medium onion per chicken or to taste). Add the onion to the pan when the skin begins to crisp and brown. Turn the heat up a little and keep cooking until the cracklings and onions (gribenes) are very crisp and dark brown.

Strain the rendered schmaltz into a jar. Refrigerate or freeze. It keeps indefinitely.

Eat the gribenes on pumpernickel with kosher salt or hide in the back of the freezer away from greedy people until you use it for making chopped liver.

Let's see what I've got in my sandwich faves:

Toast whole wheat or multigrain bread, a few slices of roast turkey, and spread thickly with Costco's Jalapeno Artichoke dip. Place under a hot broiler open faced until bubbly and a little browning happens

In praise of some simple:

I like my rice unadulterated. That is...I very much enjoy the "blandness" of white rice when eating a rich protein/vegetable dish; I'm one of those people who ask for their Chinese-American glop on the side...not ladled over the top of the rice. I don't "season" my white rice with soy sauce. I like white food, minimalistic food, bland food, subtle food. It's taken me years of dedication to appreciate mayo...but, somehow I overcame my innate revulsion, I done it.

I stalked the interzone of blandness, the beige, the culinarily pale, the gastronomic closet; and brought back many favorite sandwiches.

the egg salad sandwich wherein capers are the only "outre'" ingredient

the base tuna salad sandwich(tuna, lemon juice, s/p, mayo, yellow mustard), which, on a reckless day, I make with sweet pickle dice and Tabasco chipotle sauce

the saute'd butterflied chicken breast sandwich that follows the below sans olives

behold, the steak sandwich, best when ingredients are purchased and compiled in southern IL(The IGA's and County Markets might surprise one
with their quality and diversity of certain products):

thinly-cut ribeyes denuded of integument/calcified fat and/or cartiledge(or whatever the hell those heat-intransigent white deposits are)

pounded flat

seasoned: k salt, cracked black pepper, olive oil

seared in a med. hot skillet 'til medium

compiled on warmed, split flour-dusted pane' rolls

rolls are smudged with mayo

cracked green olives

crisped iceberg

sliced tomato

meat

(if one must indulge beyond this platonic ideal: Maytag blue, steak sauce, balsamic syrup, rubbed fresh garlic, pickled jalapenos...all are worth a thought)

everything counts in carefully-quantified amounts

razbry wrote:Slipperyevans...Welcome to LTH! I love this group. What, no bannana on the Elvis favorite? I know my son would love this one. !

Actually peanut butter makes an apapearance in not one but TWO sandwich favorites attributed to The King. And for good reason. While growing up Elvis' favorite comfort food was peanut butter and saltines. This was mainly because that was all there was to eat around the house in Tupelo. They didnt see much "store bought" meat in the Presley kitchen and some friends of his have commented that Elvis didnt have a steak until his late teens. Anyway, Elvis had such an attachment to peanut butter and crackers that his family used to tease him about it.

It is more widely known that on several occasions while living at Graceland Elvis would order a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich.
Recipe:
2 white bread slices
2-3 Tbls. creamy peanut butter
1/2 -1 ripe banana ,mashed in a bowl
2 Tbls. butter (north of mason dixon) OR margarine(like Elvis had)

Spread one slice bread with peanut butter.
Spread other slice with mashed bananas.
Make the 2 slices a sandwich
Melt margarine in a skillet over medium heat.
Fry sandwich until golden brown on both sides.
(Note:I have been unable to confirm the sprinkling of cinnamon on the bananas that some have attributed to Elvis' moms recipe.In fact 2 of the family members I spoke with didnt think Gladys ever made these for him)

But Slipperyevans really brought out a nostalgia nugget from the Elvis closet. The sandwich you refer to is (or was) called a Fool's Gold Loaf and sold for $49.95 at a Denver eatery called something like Colorado Mining Company. Elvis reportedly tried one of these while on the road in the rockies.
Years later (approx 1976) while describing the sandwich for some guests at Graceland they all got the hankerin' for one and fired up the Lisa Marie and headed for the Rockies. Legend has it the restaraunt owner prepared 22 of these and delivered them to a private hanger at the airport at midnight.
The Fools Gold Loaf was basically:
a large loaf of bread oven toasted for 15 minutes then halved and hollowed.
Spread with a lot of butter
Then the following items where layered onto the loaf.
1 jar creamy peanut butter
1 jar smuckers grape jelly
1 lb thincut bacon ,crispy and patted.

Talk about a hunk of burnin love!

Now on to my favorite sandwich of all time, aptly named
The Chairman of the Board (apologies to FAS)
2 slices white bread
spread both halves with mayo
cover bottom slice with liver sausage
add a layer of crispy bacon
add a layer of slice avocado
lettuce, salt pepper to taste
optional - slices of sweet onion.


good to see y'all are doin well here at LTH
Bob

A family favorite, reverse-engineered from the menu of the Clamdigger Restaurant at Pike Place Market in Seattle. They call it the

DEVIL ON HORSEBACK

fine-diced corned beef (could be ground but diced is better texture)
shredded sharp cheddar cheese
diced jalapenos
thin-sliced scallions
mayonnaise to mix all into a thick slurry

Heap in a mound on a slice of rye bread, top with russian dressing and broil in a pre-heated oven until heated through and flecks of brown appear on top.

We didn't eat many sandwiches when I was growing up, so my tastes run to the more unconventional. A few that my Mom made when I was little (and that I still love):

Grilled cheese made with pumpernickle bread and havarti...completely different flavor profile than your typical grilled cheese!

Warm steak sandwich: Take leftover flank steak or other leftover beef. Lightly saute in butter with a couple chopped cloves of garlic (just enough to warm it up). Put steak and garlic butter on two pieces of toasted bread (your choice). Serve open-faced.

Kielbasa and beans: Slice open a French bagette and lightly toast. Spread toasted bread with a generous layer of refried bean, then top with sliced, cooked kielbasa. Optional: sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese. Place in oven under broiler until beans are warm & bubbly.

Baked ham & cheese: Place ham and swiss cheese on a crusty bun and wrap in tin foil. Heat in oven (maybe 350 or 400) for about 10 minutes until cheese is melted.

Two really simple ones my mom started when I was in 3rd grade at St. Carthage (now closed) near Hamilton Park:

On the best possible store-bought (or home made) white bread, put

peanut butter + marshmallow Fluff

or

Philly cream chease + chopped ripe black olives.

Oh boy, what a surprise these were to my already-jaded palate!

Geo