Standing on line at a neighborhood store I picked up, started reading and purchased Saveur magazine The Sandwich Issue http://www.saveur.com/sandwiches/.
I have always been a sandwich person, everything form pb& j, my mother's grilled cream cheese and her homemade jam for me as a child since I was a picky eater, and almost anything else that can be put, stuffed, piled or "gently placed" inside two slices of your average white bread, pita, matzo, roll or hunk that you tore off the end of a loaf of Italian or French bread.
This is an issue you must add to your collection. Next to my desk is a large stack of magazines, even though so much information is available on line I like periodicals. The feel and smell of the pages, it is to me visceral and the pictures fuel my imagination and transport me to the past reminding of places I been. I am fortunate having many of the sandwiches described.
Many articles are written about food and it's importance. We eat during holidays, special family meals, celebrations, for tradition, the list can go on forever but the main reason is we eat to survive.
From such a humble beginning we have elevated the "sandwich" to something ethereal, taken something simple and made it something hard to describe.
This is not bad, pizza has done the same thing. We look to always improve what we do but the funny thing is that no matter how hard you try even something like peanut butter and jelly on sliced white bread does not need much. Sometimes I like things unadulterated, unchanged. There is a place for Wonder bread, Skippy and some inexpensive grape jelly, add a glass of cold milk and it fits.
Like pasta every culture has one that is known around the world.
From Shawarma to Bocadillos, French dip to Bahn Mi, ham and swiss on rye to Carolina pulled pork the list and combinations are infinite.
Breakfast this morning will be fresh bread from Parisi Bakery parisibakery.com, still warm. As I write this I am waiting for Alleva's, http://www.allevadairy.com/, America's oldest Italian cheese store to open and whatever Robert recommends will go on the bread with some fresh mozzarella. If you walk by early morning you can watch it being made and also smell when they are smoking it.
As always I look forward to questions and comment. chef@matthewbabbage.com
No comments:
Post a Comment