A Cavalcade of Sandwiches!

Well, I made the deadline for turning my cookbook! Woot! I still have some recipe testing to do but my publisher says we are in great shape so that’s a relief. Plus, it is getting more real as we’ve got a fantastic photographer and awesome food stylist on board. Man, I never thought I’d putting out a cookbook but here we are. Go figure. Ok, on with this week’s sandwiches!

Sunday, January 21, 2024
Korokke Sando (Japan)
International Sandwich Sunday

Original rating: 8.5
Plus up: Over easy egg
Plussed up rating: 9.5

When I read the recipe for making the Korokke Sando, it seemed like a lot of work. After all, I had to make the kororkke (the baked version not the deep-fried one). And since I didn’t have tonkatsu sauce, I had to make that as well. Turns out, it was quite easy on all fronts. And quite delicious as well (btw, the links in this paragraph are to recipes for each so, ya know, you can make it too!) Topped off with a nice, over easy egg with this runny yolk and it was just heaven. Highly recommend.

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Monday, January 22, 2024
Cheese Sandwich (1909)
Washington Women’s Cook Book

Original rating: 4
Plus up: Seasoned slice of tomato and the grilled cheese treatment
Plussed up rating: 6.5

Talk about misleading sandwich name. The Cheese Sandwich didn’t just have cheese, it had melted butter, vinegar, and way too much salt. Plussing it up with a seasoned slice of tomato and giving the grilled cheese treatment definitely helped but man, what as salty sandwich.

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Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Swiss N’ Wiener (1970)
The New Hamburger and Hot Dog Cookbook

Original rating: 4.5
Plus up: Spicy green chutney and toasting
Plussed up rating: 7

For a sandwich with such a fun name to say and tasty ingredients, this was a disappointment. The whole was less than the sum of it’s parts. Which is odd given all the flavorful elements in here. With ingredients like hot dog, Swiss cheese, parsley, sour cream, and rye bread, this should’ve been better. So I plussed it up with spicy green chutney (I’d link to the recipe but it’s paywalled over on 177MilkStreet.com) and I toasted it. The chutney brought nice vegetal flavors and heat. And the toasting woke up the Swiss cheese a bit and toasted the bread nicely. Tasty finish but not gonna make that again.

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Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Ham and Mustard Sandwich (1930)
Meals Tested, Tasted and Approved

Original rating: 6
Plus up: Seikles Oklahoma Gold Mustard and a slice of Swiss cheese
Plussed up rating: 8

Given that it is one of two ingredients in the name of this sandwich, one might expect a solid punch of mustard. Nope. That’s because to activate mustard powder you need water or vinegar. Quick aside, mustard butter is brilliant when made with already made mustard and butter. But the sandwich wasn’t bad. Smoky ham, pickles, rye bread - that does not suck. But I felt compelled to plus it up with nice tangy mustard and some nutty Swiss cheese and man, did it pay off.

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Thursday, January 25, 2024
Toasted Sardine Sandwich (1918)
Meals Tested, Tasted and Approved

Original rating: 6.5
Plus up: Old Bay Seasoning (affiliate link)
Plussed up rating: 7.5

Sardines seem to get a bad rap. But to me there are as “fishy” tasting as tuna. But according to EatingWell.com, “Not only are they an excellent source of protein, vitamin B12, vitamin D and calcium (containing more than 20% of the Daily Value), but they're also a good source of iron (containing more than 10% DV). Plus, canned sardines contain close to 100% of the recommended daily intake of omega-3 fatty acids.” Yeah, good stuff. And this sandwich recipe had the decency to include mayonnaise too! Plussed up with a little Old Bay Seasoning and you’ve got your self a tasty little number. Lemon pepper or Cajun seasoning would also work very nicely.

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Friday, January 26, 2023
Peanut Butter Sandwich (1900)
The Sandwich Book

Original rating: 0
Plus up: none

You’d think that by now, I’d of learn to be nitpicky about every detail of these recipes. Alas, no. In this particular case I looked at how much buying power five cents in 1900 has now adjusted for inflation ($1.83). What I should’ve done was seek out the price per pound of peanuts in 1900. Which did by scouring old newspaper ads via The Library of Congress. Turns out 10¢ of roasted salted peanuts in 1900 got you a pound of the legumes. Far more than what I used in the video. So I am going to revisit this sandwich in the upcoming week and do it with the proper amount of peanuts. My prediction is that it will still suck, just suck less. Some folks asked if vinegar was as strong as it is now (currently 5% acidity). I have no idea but I am going to test that too. My prediction? Still not going to be something I want to eat. After all, it will still be cooked salad dressing with peanuts in it.

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Saturday, January 27, 2024
Wonder Club Sandwich (1928)
The Wonder Cookbook

Original rating: 7.5
Plus up: Dijon mustard, Swiss cheese, and seasoning for the tomato
Plussed up rating: 8.5

This was fun since I got to leverage that old saw of “the greatest thing since sliced bread.” And I got to dig into some Wonder Bread history. But I found this type of club sandwich construction to be a bit funny. It kind of McDLT’s the fresh elements from the meat. While I don’t hate it, I prefer to mix the fresh elements with the meats. Nonetheless, it was a tasty combo. Smokey ham, chicken, tomato, and lettuce on between slices of buttered toast. How bad could that be? I wanted a little tanginess and nuttiness so I plussed it up with Dijon mustard and Swiss cheese. When I make this again, I’ll probably add the cheese, broil to get it hot and activate the cheese flavor even more, then add the mustard.

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Well, that’s all the sandwiches from this week. Thank you for subscribing to Sandwiches of History, I really do appreciate it.

A quick note about Substack. A couple weeks back, I was ready to jump as the owners of the site were taking the same “we just make the platform” approach to content as Musk has over on Twitter. And we can all see how well that’s worked out. But, I follow filmmaker, journalist, and chronicler David Farrier of Webworm. David is a New Zealander and so is one of the co-founders of Substack. Not that all kiwis know each other but they do and have been in conversations (mostly off the record) about what is happening and what is upcoming for Substack. While David can’t share what they are working on, he is hopeful and is staying for now. So, David is going to be my canary in the coal mine. If he jumps, I’ll jump too. And, of course, I’ll keep you posted.

Have a great week!

Cheers!
Barry