I think we all experience a rollercoaster of sandwich emotions this week. I mean, we kicked things of with the delicious Vetkoek and Curried Mince only suffer through the Orange Slaw and Bologna Sandwich the very next day! Not to mention the Peanut Butter Sandwich that has so much more than peanut butter and The Schmitter which was sloppy but magnificent.
By the way, do scroll to the bottom for some bonus recaps from the Barry Extended Universe. Specifically, Barry Is Cooking Again (I post there sporadically), and In The Chips with Barry (where I try to post every other week).
Do me a solid? Tap the ❤️ button at the bottom iffin’ you dig what you read, dig? Gracias!
The Sandwiches
Sunday, March 31, 2024
Vetkoek and Curried Mince (South Africa
International Sandwich Sunday
Original rating: 9
Plus up: Over easy egg and spicy green chutney
Plussed up rating: 9.5
It is hard to imagine a sandwich that features fried bread as being anything other than delicious. Still, the filling does matter. And in this case it was fantastic. The curried mince was packed with flavor from ingredients like lots of warm spices and chutney. Needless to say it was also quite filling. So why not make it more filling by adding an over easy egg 🤦♂️. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the runny egg yolk was a satisfying addition so no regrets. And the green chutney (the recipe for which is here) add a nice complex spiciness to it. If you’re keen to make this sandwich, this is the recipe I followed.
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Monday, April 1, 2024
Orange Slaw and Bologna Sandwich (1957)
Turn To Sandwiches
Original rating: 1
Plus up: None
As April Fool’s Day approached I thought about what kind of clever prank could I play. Then I saw the recipe for the Orange Slaw and Bologna Sandwich and realized I didn’t need to do a thing. Because this recipes read like a prank. Who makes a slaw with chopped orange, evaporated milk, and prepared horseradish? Go home, 1957. You’re drunk.
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Tuesday, April 2, 2024
Avocado Sandwich Number 2 (1936)
1,001 Sandwiches
Original rating: 7
Plus up: Mexican oregano and chipotle powder | bacon
Plussed up rating: 7.5 | 8
Hard to go wrong with mashed avocado between bread, in my opinion. The one variable in this recipe was the use of rye bread with it’s characteristic caraway seed flavor. But it worked and worked well. Much to my delight, plussing it up with Mexican oregano and chipotle poweder worked. By the way, if you’re curious about Mexican oregano and how it is different from Greek Oregano, here’s a great page on it. The use of bacon as a plus up here was more to mitigate the endless comments on all platforms about how I “should’ve used bacon!” I mean, we all know bacon can plus up pretty much any sandwich, right?
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Wednesday, April 3, 2024
Peanut Butter Sandwich (1937)
Searchlight Recipe Book
Original rating: 5
Plus up: TBD
This recipe was a bit of a noodle-scratcher. Why, on earth, would the authors name it Peanut Butter Sandwich when it has celery, raisins, green bell pepper, and Tabasco too? The name really buried the lede there. And the sandwich left me flummoxed as to where to go with the plus up. Well, I’ve got some good news. Instead of doing the four promised plus ups, I am going to revisit this sandwich in the coming week and try not four, not six, not eight, but ten plus up suggestions. Now, I am not going to eat ten sandwiches nor ten half sandwiches for that matter. I will be cutting up full sandwiches into bites to make this a realistic goal. Should be fun!
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Thursday, April 4, 2024
Thousand Island Sandwich (1937)
1,001 Sandwiches
Original rating: 4.5
Plus up: NEWKS Smokey Chipotle Hot Sauce
Plussed up rating: 6
Yeah, when I saw the name of this sandwich I fully expected we’d be making Thousand Island dressing and that it would be the filling for the sandwich. Wrong-o! The ingredients read like a “what do we have in the fridge” list. Green olive, onion, sweet pickles, green pepper, and mustard? Sure, why not. The only plus up that came to mind was something with a little smokey heat and NEWKS Smokey Chipotle Hot Sauce fit the bill nicely.
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Friday, April 6, 2024
The Schmitter (Philadelphia
Regional History
Original rating: 9
Plus up: pickled Jalapeños
Plussed up rating: 9.5
This was one hot mess of a sandwich. A tasty hot mess, but a hot mess nonetheless. I followed this recipe but have been informed by some folks that they use thinly sliced ribeye. That’d work too. Once thing I dug about his sandwich was the process. Cooking sliced roast beef on one side of the pan, onions on the other. Then flipping the onions and the beef then stacking the beef on top. Same goes for the cooked salami treatment. Adding a little color to meat really does bring some flavor. Combine it all with tomatoes, American cheese from the deli, and that burger sauce and man, that was a flavor bomb. Plussed it up with some pickled jalapeños for pop and a little heat. Yum. Oh and according the bar that created it, the sandwich is not named for famous Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt.
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Saturday, April 6, 2024
Corn Sandwich (1936)
Salads and Sandwiches
Original rating: 5.5
Plus up: Cumin, cilantro, and lime
Plussed up rating: 7.5
Recipe Remix version: 6.5
Gotta admit, I’ve never seen corn as a main ingredient for a sandwich. Let alone one that also incorporates tomato juice. Flavor-wise it was ok but the execution of pouring a slightly thick tomato/corn sauce over buttered bread looked kinda lackluster. Plussing it up with some cumin, cilantro, and lime really livened things up. And inspired me to do the first ever on the spot Recipe Remix! You’ll notice that the rating for the remix is lower than the plussed up version of the original. That’s due to the execution of the remix. Had I added some chiles to the corn/onion mixture and used a lighter tempura style batter, I do think that would’ve been a 9. And so much easier to eat than the original.
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Well, as we saw last week, sometimes these menus change. But, barring and unforseen issues, these are the sandwiches you can…I want to say, look forward to? next week:
Monday 4/8 - The Waffle Sandwich - our history
Tuesday 4/9 - Ham and Peanut Butter Sandwich 1940s
Wednesday 4/10 - Grilled Salmon Sandwich 1964
Thursday 4/11 - Cream Cheese and Chipped Beef Sandwich 1941
Friday 4/12 - Ham Asparagus Deluxe Sandwich 1957
Saturday 4/13 - Sardinegg Sandwich 1936
International Sandwich Sunday 4/14 - Cook Islands Meeting House Sandwich
Barry Is Cooking Again
Saturday, April 6, 2024
Ropa Vieja Vindaloo
If you know me, you know I like play around and mash up cuisines. Especially if there is considerable ingredient overlap. Which is why I wanted to mash up the Cuban dish Ropa Vieja with the Indian flavor profile of Vindaloo. Here is the modified recipes I used to make the beef (in pressure cooker to save time), the Vindaloo flavoring paste, and the one where I brought it all together. Tangy, warm, spicy…this really had all the great elements of each dish. Which only got even tastier the next day. I had it with a basmati rice cooked with fennel seeds and turmeric to vibe off the flavors in the dish and that worked great as well. The one thing I would not do again is add the loose leaf black tea. I could be wrong but I couldn’t tell if it brought anything to the party.
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In The Chips with Barry
Some weeks, all the chips I taste are great. This was not one of those weeks. In fact, the Craft Beer flavored potato chips from Lay’s of China were the worst tasting chips I’ve ever had. And that is saying a lot. Thankfully, the Slabs Cheese and Onion were thick cut but well balanced. And the Calbee French Salad chips were light, crispy and dare I say delightful? As for the Can It Sandwich?, naturally only two made the cut and yep, they both could sandwich.
Lay’s China Craft Beer Potato Chips:
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Slabs Cheese and Onion thick crips:
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Calbee French Salad potato chips:
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Can It Sandwich?
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Ok, that was a lot! Let me know if it was too much and I’ll just keep it to the sandwiches.
Thanks for following Sandwiches of History (and for subscribing to this recap!)
Have a great week!
Cheers!
Barry
🥪
I like the recap of your other content as well. A little plus up to the already excellent sandwich read. Happy weekend!
I’m excited that the chipped beef and cream cheese sandwich is happening on my birthday! I turned a leftover chipped beef cheese ball into a tea sandwich a few weeks ago, so I’m excited to see a sandwich after my own heart!