January Sandwiches and December Wrapup
Welcome to 2017, fellow sandwich lovers, and Happy New Year! 2016 is in the books. Over the course of the last 12 months, we explored 36 List sandwiches, and added a few random bits of sandwich lore along the way. Many have complained that 2016 was a terrible year, and there were certainly many sad events throughout the year, but the sandwiches were as great as ever, or even better!
December saw four List posts from the crew here, with both Crit and I covering ice cream sandwiches, a half-assed attempt at the Hot Turkey sandwich from me, and site favorite (OK, my favorite) the Italian Beef sandwich getting its moment in the sun. Crit also provided a random sandwich writeup about a pretty terrific-looking ham sandwich, and I totally did not mention (but could not stop thinking about) the pretty neat Raclette sandwich I had at Christkindlmarket, with pungent, melty raclette cheese, ham, gherkins, and onions on ciabatta.
Raclette sandwich from Christkindlmarket
I wouldn’t say this was the best sandwich I had all year–in fact, it could have been much better in many ways. But I’ve been thinking about it ever since, and I’d be surprised if I didn’t pick up a half wheel of Raclette and go to work with a blowtorch by the end of 2017.
And now, our January sandwiches!
Italiano–not so much a sandwich as it is a common combination of condiments used in various Chilean sandwiches, mayonnaise, avocado, and tomato, to represent the colors of the Italian flag. They also eat hot dogs this way (see Completo). The Italian sandwich, supposedly referring to a specific type of Italian sub not found outside Portland, Maine, though I imagine we can stretch that definition a bit. (Anybody from Portland who’d like to comment?) And finally, the British jam sandwich, which basically looks like strawberry preserves on toast but who am I to question?
Please speak up, anybody out there who’d like to write up one of these sandwiches for the Tribunal! I will try to get to all three, of course, but I fear one day I will fail and you will all be sad and stop reading. 🙁 So who else out there wants to talk about how great sandwiches are?
Changes to the List
The List went almost entirely unedited throughout the month of December, but I did just notice recently that the Italian sandwich we’re covering this month hadn’t made it onto our schedule, so it’s been adjusted.
The idea behind this site is to explore the nature of sandwichness by eating every sandwich on the Official en.wikipedia.org List of Sandwiches and then to post here about it, preferably with lots of pictures and also words. Sandwich words.
Oh man, jam sandwich. Right up my alley. And maybe one of the others….
The Maine Italian you are going to make this month is not necessarily limited to Portland but it is without question native to Maine and popular throughout the state. I researched this pretty thoroughly for my own sandwich adventure and I have to say it turned out to be one of my favorites, and even though many claim that it was the “original” submarine sandwich it is miles away from any sub I’ve ever tried. The key is good olive oil and fresh veggies (with the most sour pickles you can find) on a not too crusty and soft roll. You’ll love it!
This is great intel! Did you happen to document your sandwich adventures as well?