The week in 🥪 🥪 🥪 ...

I usually record a sandwich, then edit, write, make thumbnails, and stage the following morning. But sometimes, I have to hit the road. So to maintain the daily posts I’ve got to record multiple sandwich in a day. You know, rack ‘em and stack ‘em.

On the plus side, you get to see a new sandwich video every day, even if I’m out of town for work, or visiting a relative, or attending a cookbook photoshoot. The down side is I make some unforced errors. Like using Trader Joe’s products multiple times in a week, forgetting to plug my wireless lav mic transmitter in, etc. What can I say, I’m only human. Hopefully you still enjoy the vids this week 🤞

Btw, if you like sinking your teeth into the weekly recap, please tap the ❤️ button at the bottom. I’d appreciate it greatly.

Sunday, February 25, 2024
Egg Banjo (UK, 🇬🇧)
International Sandwich Sunday

Original rating: 7
Plus up: Dijon mustard and Swiss cheese, melted
Plussed up rating: 8

Some sandwiches featured on International Sandwich Sunday are complex. The Egg Banjo from the UK circa WWI, not so much. Still, it was a tasty sandwich of a fried egg with runny yolk between buttered bread. I’m still flabbergasted that the one time I actually wanted an egg yolk to explode onto my shirt (for demonstration purposes), it didn’t happen. Adding a little sharp Dijon mustard and nutty Swiss cheese and then heating it up provided a nice contrast to the egg. But with such a straightforward sandwich, the plus up possibilities are endless.

In case you missed it:
Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Facebook | Reddit

Thank you for reading Sandwiches of History Substack. This post is public so feel free to share it.

Monday, February 26, 2024
Roast Beef and Tomato Sandwich (1909)
The Up-To-Date Sandwich Book

Original rating: 4
Plus up: Stilton blue cheese
Plussed up rating: 4.25

For the record, I do love Boston Brown Bread. Made with wheat and rye flour as well as cornmeal and molasses, it is just a nice kinda sweet, definitely moist, dark bread. And yes it comes in a can. Even when you make it at home, the traditional way is to steam in a coffee can. I could see that working with beef and butter to be honest. But the tomato with salt and pepper felt like a spanner in the work. It just didn’t work well for me. Adding the Stilton blued cheese made it marginally better but yeah, not making this one again.

In case you missed it:
Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Facebook | Reddit

Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Cheese and Horse-radish Sandwich (Switzerland) (1936)
1,001 Sandwiches

Original rating: 5
Plus up: Prepared horseradish and Trader Joe’s Everything But The Bagel Seasoning
Plussed up rating: 8

Some of the sins committed by the authors of some old recipes include not providing amounts or failing to include certain instructions. Well, the failing in this sandwich, imho, is the amount of grated horseradish called for really wasn’t enough. It just sort of disappeared. Which, if you’ve ever had fresh horseradish, ain’t exactly easy to do. So, the plus up was a nice dollop prepared horseradish and Trader Joe’s Everything But The Bagel seasoning. No more hitch in the giddyup after that as the former brought the kick and the latter brought the seasoning. By the way, if you’re curious, that seasoning blend contains sesame seeds (white and black), poppy seeds, dried garlic & onion, and sea salt. Highly recommend having it on hand.

In case you missed it:
Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Facebook | Reddit

Wednesday, February 28, 2024
Maid Rite Sandwich (regional)
Maid Rite (Iowa)
Original rating: 7
Plus up: Trader Joe’s Fried Jalapeños
Plussed up rating: 7.5

I’ve been meaning to get to this sandwich for a while. A precursor to the Sloppy Joe, the Maid Rite Sandwich was actually pretty tasty. It consisted of ground beef, onions, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and beef broth cook so that the sauce clung to the meat. Don’t get me wrong. My mind was not blown here but it was good. My mind was, however, somewhere else apparently as I put pickles on and never mentioned it in the video 🤦‍♂️. Then there’s the wonky audio 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ . Plussed up with Trader Joe’s Fried Jalapeños turned out to be a mixed blessing. Sure, it brought the heat but the crispiness totally disappeared thanks to the sauce on the meat. Cowboy candy (pickled jalapeños) or even fresh jalapeños would’ve been better. And cheese. Probably should’ve added some cheese to.

In case you missed it:
Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Facebook | Reddit

Thursday, February 29, 2024
Cheese and Pistachio Sandwich (1936)
1,001 Sandwiches

Original rating: 8.5
Plus up: Fig jam
Plussed up rating: 9.5

I would call this a very “dairy-forward” sandwich. After all it had cream cheese, cream, Roquefort blue cheese, and butter. But it also had celery salt pistachios. And the balanced each other quite nicely. Plussing it up the sweet fig jam was just took it to another level. This combo would make for a nice canapé too.

In case you missed it:
Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Facebook | Reddit

Friday, March 1, 2023
Deviled Egg & Tomato Sandwich
our history

Original rating: 7.5
Plus up: Trader Joe’s Furikake seasoning
Plussed up rating: 9

I can honestly say that I’ve never had leftover deviled eggs. They’re just too tasty! I also have only made them once. So I had to roll up my sleeves, hunt down a recipe, and get to work. The idea of smooshed deviled eggs made sense to me. Adding a tomato made sense to me. Having between two slices of toast made sense to me. What was a little perplexing was the addition of mayonnaise. Turns out, not a problem. Sure, the sandwich was rich but it was good. I’d like to re-try it with summer tomato. Plussed up with Trader Joe’s (they really should be paying me at this point lol) Furikake and you’ve got yourself a de-luxe sandwich.

Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Facebook | Reddit

Saturday, March 2, 2024
Gambler’s Grill (1977)
Kend Dodd’s Butty Book

Original rating: 6
Plus up: Trader Joe’s Everything But The Elote seasoning (ok, this is ridiculous)
Plussed up rating: 7

Yep, without realizing it I used Trader Joe’s products for plus ups on five of the seven sandwich this week. D’oh! Man, I need to do a better job of self-monitoring. As for the Gambler’s Grill, it was interesting. I mean, how many sandwiches have you heard of that call for creamed corn? Yeah, me too. None. But combining that with ham and cheese then heating up turned out to be pretty ok. Trader Joe’s Everything But The Elote seasoning not only played nicely off of the corn (naturally) but the ham and cheese as well.

In case you missed it:
Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Facebook | Reddit

On the menu next week:
Sunday March 3rd - Bifana (Portugal)
Monday March 4th - Combination Sandwich 1917
Tuesday March 5th - Colnbrook Sandwich 1896
Wednesday March 6th - Clam and Celery Sandwich 1924
Thursday March 7th - Windsor Sandwich 1912
Friday March 8th - Ham and Anchovy Sandwich 1928
Saturday March 9th - Brunchwich 1965

Thanks for following Sandwiches of History and for subscribing to this recap!

Have a great week!

Cheers!
Barry
🥪