Sandwiches of the Week

Happy holidays! Been pretty busy with work, holidays, travel, cookbook writing, and Sandwiches of History in general. Which is why I am taking the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day off. That said, I still have daily posts planned. Just not sandwich videos. Fingers crossed that I can get them done in time but I’m hoping to share Top 10 Overall of 2023, Top 10 of Old Recipes of 2023, Worst 10 of 2023, The Minus Downs, plus two goofy videos as well.

Also, I need to think about where to send this out from now that the leaders of Substack have decided Nazi content is a-ok. Until I find a solution that doesn’t platform extremism, I will continue to send from here. To be clear, Substack is a private company and has every right to determine what is and isn’t allowed on their platform. Conflating free speech (a contract between the government and citizens) with Terms and Conditions (which non-governmental entities always have) is disingenuous at best, evil at worst. <end soapbox>

Sunday, December 17, 2023
Oddity Sandwich (1917)
Salads and Sandwiches

Original rating: 7
Plus ups:
- Chinese Five Spice - 8
- Chinese Five Spice + grilled cheese treatment in toasted sesame oil - 8.5

I was a little surprised by this sandwich, to be honest. I’m not a huge fan of sweet pickles but when combined with cream cheese and almonds they became a sweet back note. For the plus up, decided to look to Chinese five spice to liven things up. A mix of cinnamon, fennel, cloves, star anise, and white pepper (and sometime Sichuan peppercorns), it brought a lot to the table. And it was tasty. Then, in an uncharacteristic move, I plussed that up by giving it the grilled cheese treatment in som toasted sesame oil and man oh man was it tasty.

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Monday, December 18, 2023
German Sandwich (1907)
Woman’s Favorite Cook Book

Original rating: 6 1/2
Plus ups: Smoked potato chips from Japan
Plussed up rating: 7 1/2

Once again we find ourselves with a sandwich name that implies that the sandwich is from an actual place when, in fact, is not. The combination of butter, mustard, olives, and cottage cheese wasn’t bad but also no one from Germany was laying claim to it. Plussed it up with some very smoky potato chips from Japan and left myself wide open for folks to make WWII Axis comment/joke. Should’ve known better on that one. Either way, the plussed up version was quite tasty indeed.

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Tuesday, December 19, 2023
Night Cap Sandwich (1941)
500 Tasty Sandwiches

Original rating: 6
Plus up: Trader Joe’s Bomba Sauce
Plussed up rating: 6.5

This sandwich had a couple things going for it and one not. Specifically the Vienna Sausages from a can. It has been decades since I’ve had them and I can honestly say they are not something I’ll ever buy. But, mixed in with the other ingredients, they were just kind of there. Which was fine by me. Adding a bit of the fermented Calabrian chili sauce from Trader Joe’s definitely helped but this will not be a go-to breakfast sandwich for me.

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Wednesday, December 20, 2023
Peanut Butter, Lettuce, and Cottage Cheese Sandwich
Our history

Original rating: 6
Plus up: Curry powder
Plussed up rating: 7

Yeah, these are not ingredients I would think to combine. Yet Frank, who wrote in to share that his dad used make them for him as a kid, loved it. So, why not? Turns out the tang of cottage cheese was not bad up against the nuttiness of the peanut butter. Adding a little curry powder plus up boosted the savoriness making it a sandwich I would eat again. Go figure!

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Thursday, December 21, 2023
Tomato and Horse-radish Sandwich (1908)
Lowney’s Cook Book

Original rating: 7 1/2
Plus up: Fresh ground black pepper
Plussed up rating: 8

When I read this recipe I know it was going to be tasty. Fresh grated horse-radish (lol) mixed with creamy mayonnaise and a slightly seasoned tomato? Oh yeah, it was going to be good. I did consider plussing it up with lettuce but ultimately settled on black pepper to keep the focus on the main ingredients. Still, this would be tasty with smoked salmon, bacon, or roast beef. Just sayin’.

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Friday, December 22, 2023
Cheese and Olive Sandwich (1974)
Williams’ Sandwich Recipes

Original rating: 6
Plus up: Trader Joe’s Zhoug Sauce and the grilled cheese treatement
Plussed up rating: 9

I honestly thought sandwiches with nuts in them more or less stopped sometime in the 1920s. Nope. The walnuts with the ripe black olives, mayonnaise, and shredded cheddar cheese were good but adding the Zhoug sauce amped the flavor up significantly. Then the grilled cheese treatment got all the flavors nice an cozy and hte cheese nice an melty. By the way, Zhoug is easy to make at home. I use this recipe when I make it.

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Saturday, December 16, 2023
Salmon Bite Sandwich (1936)
1,001 Sandwiches

Original rating: 4.5
Plus up: Mayonnaise and capers
Plussed up rating: 7

This recipe was interesting as it gave no amounts. For anything. It did say “red salmon” and in the video I said coho when I mean to say sockeye. Still, as some folks pointed out, the authors may have meant canned salmon. And still other offered up that perhaps it should’ve been prepared horseradish. Here’s the thing, there’s no way to know for sure on either count although in other recipe sin the same book they do specifically call for prepared horseradish. Either way, the original sandwich was dry as all get out. All it needed was a nice fat and something to play off the horseradish (in this case capers) to make it shine.

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Thanks again for subscribing to Sandwiches of History Substack, I appreciate it. I hope you and your family are healthy and happy this holiday season.

Quick programming note, I am going to take the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day off.

Cheers!
Barry