August is National Sandwich Month. Really. (Part 2)

National Sandwich Month may have gone the way of August’s signature heat and humidity, but that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate well into fall. During these last gasps of summer, take the opportunity to squeeze in a few more barbecue sandwiches, a couple more picnic lunches, and most importantly, be sure to take full advantage of some peak-season tomatoes.

I personally used the occasion of National Sandwich Month to try a famed and much-loved sandwich shop in my new neighborhood.

And, since the first documented sandwich recipe was for your basic ham sandwich, and since the number one most popular sandwich in the United States is ham as well, I decided to keep with the tradition and pay homage to the classic cold cut.

Granted, my sandwich was a loose interpretation of this US favorite. I went with a sub, from my neighborhood deli Sainato’s Market, adorned with capicola, provolone, hot pepper relish, lettuce, and tomato. And let me just say, it was quite the party.

All about the cross-section.

Remember, there is still time to celebrate the sandwich. Don’t let those late summer tomatoes go to waste–make the number two sandwich among eaters in the US: the BLT.

 

August is National Sandwich Month. Really. (Part 1)

If National Sandwich Month sort of snuck up on you this year, don’t feel bad. If you can’t remember getting the annual announcement, didn’t see your neighbors stringing up their Sandwich Month decorations, don’t beat yourself up about it. National Sandwich Month was last officially declared in 1980.

Maybe you thought you had until November to plan your celebration–a common mistake. You were thinking of National Sandwich Day, observed every November 3rd, on the birthday of John Montagu, Fourth Earl of Sandwich, the supposed originator of meat on bread.

Unfortunately, National Sandwich Month, the longer of the two national celebrations, is also the more obscure. According to The Food Timeline, a truly invaluable online resource put together by librarian (who else but a librarian?) Lynne Olver, National Sandwich Month is a trade holiday. It was originally sponsored by the American Bakers Association, the American Dairy Association, the National Live Stock and Meat Board, the Wheat Flower Institute, and Wheat Grower Groups, though it doesn’t appear that these groups do a tremendous amount of promotion for their holiday season. (This information comes courtesy of the 1970 edition of Chases’ Calendar of Annual Events via The Food Timeline’s comprehensive sandwich section.)

As it turns out, we have a sandwich-centric holiday for pretty much every month of the year. For your convenience, here’s a list of days you can spend celebrating the sandwich and all that it stands for.

August

In addition to hosting National Sandwich Month, August is also National Panini Month, so get pressing.

1st Saturday: National Mustard Day. Start stocking up on the celebratory pastrami.

2nd: National Ice Cream Sandwich Day. Sandwiches can be dessert, too.

September

3: National Welsh Rarebit Day. A cheesy predecessor to the grilled cheese sandwich, often found in early 20th century sandwich cookbooks.

14: National Eat a Hoagie Day. If it’s too much, have a friend help.

October

2nd week: National School Lunch Week. We had triple-decker PB & J at my school.

8: National Fluffernutter Day. Sugar sandwich.

29: National Bologna Day. Watch this to celebrate.

November

National Peanut Butter Lover’s Month. PB & J, the Fluffernutter, the Elvis…

3: National Sandwich Day. The Earl’s birthday.

14: National Pickle Day. Eat one on a sandwich, or on the side.

17: National Homemade Bread Day. Best if someone else home-makes it for you.

December

30: National Bicarbonate of Soda Day. Not really related, but I thought this was a cool one.

January

National Meat/Soup/Wheat Bread Month. All at the same time! Celebrate with 1/2 a sandwich and a cup of soup. It’s a good value.

14: National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day. Find the nearest deli and run there.

20: National Cheese Lover’s Day. And really, who doesn’t love cheese?

24: National Peanut Butter Day. Because an entire month is not enough.

30: National Croissant Day. Makes a good vessel for chicken salad sandwiches.

February

National Potato Lover’s Month. Chips, fries, potato salad. Classy sandwich sidekicks.

4: National Homemade Soup Day. A solid pairing with your favorite sandwich.

March

National Flour Month. It’s all about the bread.

1: National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day. Really? Another one?

3: National Cold Cuts Day. Vacation in the cold cut belt! (It’s the stretch between Eastern Pennsylvania and Northern Indiana historically known for high cold cut demand.)

10: National Pack Your Lunch Day. Pack a sandwich.

14: National Potato Chip Day. And some chips.

21: National French Bread Day. Make yourself a High Rock.

23: National Melba Toast Day. Make lots of tiny sandwiches.

April

Florida Tomato/Grilled Cheese Month. Make grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches, a personal favorite.

2nd week: Egg Salad Week. Makes a good cold sandwich.

1: National Sourdough Bread Day. Makes a good grilled cheese.

2: National PB & J Day. Timeless. And tasty.

12: National Grilled Cheese Day. Even though it’s already grilled cheese month, celebrate extra hard this day.

22: Earth Day. It’s just an important day. So don’t forget it.

May

5: National Hoagie Day. Not to be confused with National Eat a Hoagie Day.

25: National Brown Bag It Day. Another day to bring your lunch. It’s a good idea anyway.

June

National Turkey Lover’s Month. Best way to celebrate: turkey club, for sure.

3: National Egg Day. Have a breakfast sandwich.

4: National Cheese Day. Have a breakfast sandwich with cheese.

July

13: National French Fries Day. Head to Primanti Bros., where they put the fries right on the sandwich. Saves time.

 

New Look!

If you need proof of the sandwich’s supreme versatility, look no further than the new header.

Artwork comes courtesy of Phil Keays, whose favorite sandwich is a hearty hot pastrami on rye.

He only plays originals.

Not sure what kind of sandwich is depicted here. Obviously something with jam.

 

Sandwich Sabbatical No More

I’ve let the record of my sandwiching escapades lapse.

True, this blog has gone months without updates. Be assured, however, that such typographical inertia in no way indicates that I have stopped thinking about sandwiches. Nor have I stopped reading about them. Or eating them. In fact, I’ve been doing a lot of that.

Here are a few topics to look out for as they hit the blog in the coming weeks:

• The Hot Dog: Not a Sandwich. Well, not always.
• Sandwich Companions Through Time. A look at the classic side dishes that turn sandwiches into meals.
• Bread You Can Eat and Bread You Can Drink. Pairing classic sandwiches with tasty brews.

And of course, there are plenty more sandwich excursions to come, including Albany’s reputed “Best Reuben,” a lunch truck adventure, and several forays into non-traditional sandwiching.

Oh, and this guy:

Get excited.

Stay tuned.

 

“Today’s MA legislature is brought to you by Fluffernutters and the number 6.”

At the heart of Massachusetts legislative issues today: the Fluffernutter sandwich, and its potential to become the official sandwich of the Commonwealth. Also up for state status this day: Charleston Chew, an elephant, and the number six. If these bills sound like an episode of Sesame Street, or at least the work of a tenacious group of youngsters, that’s because Massachusetts middle school students have been flooding the state legislature with their alarmingly specific, sometimes random, but generally well-researched petitions.

A major day for state legislators. And sandwiches.

The least random demand made by the local gang of schoolchildren is of course for the Fluffernutter sandwich to be crowned with the distinguished state status. Marshmallow Fluff is evidently the pride of Massachusetts middle school students, who seem to enjoy the sticky combination of Fluff and peanut butter just as much as the generations upon generations of hungry students past. The thin marshmallow spread was invented in Somerville, MA, and has been produced in Lynn, MA for eighty years. This year’s attempt to elevate the already sacred status of the Fluffernutter sandwich comes just three years after a former state senator, Jarrett Barrios, attempted to limit the availability of the sandwich in school lunch programs. Today’s bill marks the second attempt by a state lawmaker to grant the sandwich official status.

Hometown sandwich makes it big. Maybe.

That middle school students should work so hard to honor the sweet, gooey sandwich should come as no surprise. Their willingness to push for state legislation seems to indicate, at the very least, fierce loyalty for a food they probably eat multiple times a week. That, or Massachusetts middle school students have become domineering and power-hungry beyond their years. Just like its slightly more traditional cousin peanut butter and jelly, the Fluffernutter is a sandwich made popular by its accessibility. In the 1920s, with the advent of pre-sliced bread, sandwich-making became a simple and safe occupation for hungry kids (no need for the little ones to start swinging a big bread knife around). Easy spreads like peanut butter and Fluff made for especially user-friendly assembly. In 1986, the Great American Food Almanac stated that the average American student consumed over 1,500 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before high school graduation. One would guess that in Massachusetts, the figures for Fluffernutter consumption are not far off.

The idea of a state sandwich has sparked an enthusiastic debate among sandwich proponents nationwide. At least, this is what is suggested by recent activity in the food blog community. The ultra-cool Serious Eats posted a brief article about the Fluffernutter campaign, and was very soon bombarded with reader-comments suggesting official sandwiches for many states. Conflict and regional food prejudice abound. Some suggestions are far less contentious than others, but some popular pairings include the French Dip for California, the Hot Brown for Kentucky, and a classic deli hot pastrami sandwich with mustard for New York. Sandwich lore is brimming with regional disputes about recipe origins, and about who does a Cheesesteak best, and so on.

Not sure how the elephant will fare in the vote for state animal. Fingers crossed.

And so, local schoolchildren and the sandwiching community at large await the results of the Fluffernutter legislative action as the factory in Lynn keeps pumping out jars of Marshmallow Fluff. If the sandwich makes the cut, it will join five other classic snacks that have been granted this coveted status: the corn muffin, the baked navy bean, the chocolate chip cookie, and the obvious Boston cream pie and doughnut.

Good luck Fluffernutter. We’re all counting on you.

Check out the Boston Globe article about today’s legislative matters here

and read up on the state sandwich debate at Serious Eats here.

 

Lunchtime Crime

While sandwiches aren’t something we necessarily associate with instances of violence and crime, recent news blurbs seem to suggest that tempers flair during lunchtime. Additionally, a recent lunchtime crime perpetrated in my own break room has prompted me to look closer at what can only be described as a rash of disturbingly sandwich-centric trespasses.

In December 2008, a Florida man was accused of throwing a sandwich at his girlfriend during an argument. According to the girlfriend, she was preparing the man’s lunch when he picked up the sandwich and hurled it toward her face. The contents of the sandwich were not specified in the news coverage.

A June 18th, 2009 report from the Associated Press tells the seemingly more random story of Roger Hamilton of Oklahoma City, who was beaten and then robbed of his bologna and cheese sandwich as he prepared to spread it with mayonnaise.  The attacker delivered a punch to Hamilton’s mouth before running off with his sandwich, and has yet to be found by police. The AP report, though brief, paints a vivid picture of the crime:

Police said Hamilton has a swollen lip and his face was covered in blood. The police report listed the value of the sandwich at 76 cents.

I found Roger Hamilton’s story in a local paper during a lunch break at my place of employment. The short article was featured in a sidebar reserved for offbeat news stories. I cut it out and saved the clipping with the headline “Man attacked in Oklahoma City for bologna sandwich.” Little did I know that I too would find myself at the center of a lunchtime crime–the theft of my wallet and phone from my own lunch bag as it sat minding its own business in the break room one afternoon. Gone were my identification cards, my discount cards, my library cards. A seemingly determined police officer failed to turn up even the slightest clue about the theft.

Was bologna to blame?

Two months later, an envelope bearing no return address, adorned only with a name and driver number, arrived bearing my school ID. With it, a note from a truck driver who found my ID in the parking lot of–what else?–a Subway sandwich restaurant in Glens Falls, NY, some twenty miles from where it was taken from my lunch bag, right out from underneath my peanut butter and jelly on 12 grain.

Keep your friends close and your sandwiches closer.

Goodnight and good lunch.

 

Elvis, King of Sandwiches

In September 2005, Gourmet published a recipe for “Elvis Presley’s Hot Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich.” The recipe was accompanied by a photograph of a tidy toasted number sitting in a stylish cast iron skillet. Calling for modest amounts of the sandwich’s principal ingredients (peanut butter, ripe banana, and butter), the recipe presented a nostalgic, relatively heart-healthier version of Elvis’s favorite sandwich. Popular legend has it that The King would scarf down close to a dozen of these monster sandwiches in one sitting, and after adopting the sandwich as one of my own staples, I can see why.

Elvis enjoys a sandwich.

Many Elvis historians maintain that the original recipe called for the sandwich (constructed from white bread, smooth peanut butter, and a very ripe mashed banana) to be fried in an entire stick of butter. While I don’t doubt the flavor-based and textural benefits of this amount of butter, I have yet to make the sandwich that way. Two tablespoons of butter, as listed in the Gourmet recipe, has worked just fine so far.

A simple sandwich.

The fried peanut butter and banana sandwich may fail as a health food, probably obliterating most of the banana’s nutritional offerings with the sandwich’s fat content, but as a comfort food, it may be one of the best sandwiches out there. It’s crunchy, salty, sweet, gooey, and warm. The sandwich’s narrative content, or the unique historical character the sandwich carries with it, places it among the most legendary of sandwich favorites, among such storied ensembles as the Reuben or a towering Dagwood. According to David Adler’s book The Life and Cuisine of Elvis Presley, eating the sandwich was something of a ritual for Elvis: “Elvis enjoyed eating picnic style. However, he fastidiously used a knife and fork to eat his peanut butter and banana sandwiches.” Probably not a bad call: it’s one of the messier sandwiches you’ll find.

The key is the mashed banana.

Perhaps less well known than the peanut butter and banana combo, another of Elvis’s favorite sandwiches, the Fool’s Gold Loaf, follows a similar recipe, though with kicked up portions and flavor combos. The Fool’s Gold Loaf is made by coating an entire uncut loaf of bread in butter, then toasting it in the oven until browned. Then, the loaf is halved lengthwise and hollowed out. An entire jar of Skippy peanut butter, an entire jar of Smucker’s grape jelly, and one pound of cooked bacon later, and the Fool’s Gold Loaf is the mother of all peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

You can read Gourmet‘s take on fried peanut butter and banana here

and learn about David Adler’s excellent book here.

 

Sandwich Excursion #3: Chacarero

There a few ways of knowing that you’re in Boston’s financial district. It might be the austere office buildings or the Banks of America at every turn. Men and women with briefcases are good giveaways, too. Still, perhaps the greatest identifying factor of the Financial District/Downtown Crossing area is the sheer number of sandwiches per city block.

In order to support a sprawling population of hungry professionals and power lunchers, the Financial District has become a city of sandwiches in itself, with deli-type storefronts seemingly every few feet. While the traditional lunchtime offerings certainly have their loyal customers (and with such fine ingredients as Boar’s Head cold cuts, why shouldn’t they?) the bustling lunch break culture of Boston’s professional district seems rather taken with boldness of the flavorful Chilean import, the chacarero.

Chacarero.

Named for the circular sandwich which has brought it fame, Chacarero is a Downtown Crossing storefront open Monday through Friday to serve up a variety of chacareros made to customer specifications. The traditional chacarero is made with either grilled chicken or grilled steak, each available in a barbecue flavor as well. Additionally, each sandwich, which is served on a round, soft bread baked daily, is stacked with Muenster cheese and fresh tomato slices. The fresh bread is adorned with avocado spread and a secret hot sauce, which can be applied to various effects. The key characteristic of a chacarero is the addition of steamed green beans. Yes, that classic vegetable side, on a sandwich.

The careful layering process.

While the green beans add a unique textural dimension, the highlight of the sandwich is the bread, which is soft, light, and yet a reliable vessel for the volume and consistency of the sandwich’s fillings. Despite the slippery green beans, the sandwich stays together to the last bite, and the bread, rather than acting solely as a means to keep some fillings together, contributes its own rich flavor to the sandwich as a whole.

Sandwiches at Chacarero are available in two sizes, small and large. I ordered a large vegetarian sandwich, which substituted roasted red peppers for chicken or steak. The sandwich, light yet satisfying, with a pleasant lingering aftertaste, is the perfect prelude for, quite simply, another chacarero. They’re that good.

Classic sandwich cross-section.

Lunchtime sandwiches did not always enjoy the popularity they do today. In fact, the sandwich as a lunchtime staple did not emerge until the 19th century, when people began moving into cities in large numbers to find work. Working men began bringing hearty, portable sandwiches to work to sustain them throughout the working day. Women, looking for alternatives to men’s saloons as gathering places,  began convening in tea shops to snack on dainty canapes.

Chacarero storefront.

Check out Chacarero here

and stay tuned for more installments in sandwich history. And a lot more sandwich eating.

 

Sandwich Excursion #2: High Rock

Saratoga Springs, NY is known for a lot of things: their natural springs, their race track, their sparkling water in the big blue bottles. Even in the history of the American sandwich, Saratoga Springs represents something of  a landmark, thanks in large part to the myth that the club sandwich may have had its origins there, alongside some early versions of the potato chip. While popular legends about the club sandwich and a crunchy potato sidekick prove difficult to verify, the city today remains a high-quality sandwich destination.

Putnam Market, at 435 Broadway, is home to perhaps the best turkey sandwich of all time. I speak from experience–I’ve been ordering that turkey sandwich since junior high school.

The High Rock is one of many specialty sandwiches named for local landmarks available at Putnam Market. It is comprised of house-roasted free range turkey breast, New York cheddar, cranberry mayonnaise, and fresh lettuce and tomato. While it can be assembled on any number of breads, it is best housed between the two halves of a fresh baguette.

The High Rock on a sunny day during which eager patrons are forced to the outdoor tables by the crowd inside.

For the sandwich crafters of Putnam Market, all trained in the practiced assembly of their sandwiches, a good sandwich with good mouthfeel and superior taste is all about the quality of the ingredients. Breads are delivered fresh from nearby Albany’s Bountiful Bread, tomatoes are sliced fresh, and lettuce arrives in whole heads, not bags. It’s all, as co-owner Catharine Hamilton says, “real food.”

Customers can taste the difference in the roasted free range turkey, and are disappointed when that juicy filling runs out and must be temporarily supplanted by ordinary cold cuts. The other secret to Putnam’s sandwiches, says Hamilton, is Hellmann’s Mayonnaise, combined with any number of flavorful additions, such as cranberry sauce, herbs, and pesto.

The High Rock is named for Saratoga’s High Rock Avenue, in turn named for the famous High Rock Spring. According to New York: A Guide to the Empire State (a product of the Writer’s Program of the Works Projects Administration during the 1940s) the spring and its medicinal benefits attracted many important figures to the area, mainly by way of exploitative business opportunities. The book points specifically to one instance in 1783 when George Washington attempted to buy the High Rock and several adjacent springs.

New York: A Guide to the Empire State (Sixth Printing, 1955). A research copy in Bates Hall, BPL.

One hundred years later, the springs continued to attract those who were “health-bent,” while a blossoming “pleasure-bent” industry sprang up in the city around the nearby Canfield Casino, the very same casino where it is said that alongside the high-stakes gambling and flirtatious nightlife, the club sandwich was invented.

Check out Putnam Market here

and Albany’s Bountiful Bread here.

 

Everything’s Coming Up Sandwiches

Sandwiches are in right now, and sandwich buzz abounds. One might say that my research simply has me more tuned in to all happenings on sliced bread than the average person, but I think it’s something more. We’re in the midst of a sandwich Renaissance, and my timing is just that good. Still, I would direct anyone who doubts this resurgence in sandwich mania to daytime television, where our nation’s eminent talk show hosts are ringing in the new year of the sandwich with unequaled fervor and elegance.

On Tuesday, March 24th, The Martha Stewart Show aired an all-sandwich episode as part of Martha’s “Pack Your Own Lunch Week.”  “The Sandwich Show”  kicked off with Martha demonstrating how to make her own favorite sandwich, a ham and cheese baguette–”the very best boiled ham,” Jarlsberg cheese (“not Swiss cheese, but Jarlsberg”), and unsalted butter. A relatively plain sandwich, but oh-so-elegant in that unmistakably Martha Stewart way. The show went on to feature three prominent New York City sandwich crafters, who showcased everything from a Muffaletta, to a bagel sandwich, to a ground beef Banh Mi called a “Sloppy Bao.”

An elegant Jarlsberg.

“Pack Your Own Lunch Week” was part of an ongoing trend of consumers going back to basics, finding simple everyday ways to cut costs in these difficult financial times. The sandwiches featured on The Martha Stewart Show were meant to inspire viewers at home to create their own homemade lunches. However, Martha’s chosen sandwiches seemed to require a fairly high level of preparation and a wide range of necessary equipment (sandwich presses, food processors, a good serrated Wusthof knife). Also, the necessity for really fine French boiled ham seems to undermine the ultimate goal of cutting costs, but the sandwiches did look pretty great.

That same week, on Friday the 27th, Ellen DeGeneres hosted celebrity chef and Food Network personality Bobby Flay on her daytime talk show. Lacking the elegance of Martha’s boiled ham and Jarlsberg, this show featured Bobby Flay running onstage to Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like the Wolf” to perform shameless plugs for Hellmann’s Mayonnaise.

Also drawing on the trend of eating in and cutting costs, Flay announced that he has teamed up with Hellmann’s to teach Americans how to build a better sandwich, in this case a grilled eggplant sandwich with diced tomatoes and basil mayo. At buildtheperfectsandwich.com, Flay appears in numerous short videos about preparing nutritious and satisfying sandwiches held together with various applications of Hellmann’s jarred mayo. The site includes a collection of sandwich recipes and the Sandwich Recommender, a sandwich personality test which can tell you what your ideal sandwich is. My test results typically point to anything with eggplant, tomatoes, or mushrooms on it.

Hellmann's: Bring out the Bobby Flay.

Deli owner Richard Hellmann developed the formula we know and love as Hellmann’s jarred mayonnaise in 1903, though he did not market it until 1912. The Hellmann’s name and know-how were later acquired by Best Foods, Inc. of California. Now owned by CPC International, the mayo is sold under “Hellmann’s” east of the Rocky Mountains, but is known under the “Best Foods” label west of the landmark mountain range. According to the third edition of John F. Mariani’s Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink (1999), Hellmann’s and Best Foods account for approximately 43 percent of all the jarred mayo sold in the U.S. For further information on all things mayonnaise, I recommend the website for the Association for Dressings and Sauces, including their “Treatise on Mayonnaise.” Click here.

To achieve sandwich perfection with Bobby Flay, click here.

And as always, stay tuned for all things sandwiches. Until then, enjoy some television magic from Ellen DeGeneres and Bobby Flay.