Tag Archives: Sandwiches

The Ten Sandwich Commandments

March 9, 2017 allansuddaby Leave a comment

I’ve been in this game for years, it made me an animal
There’s rules to this shit, I wrote me a manual
A step-by-step booklet for you to get
Your game on track, not your wig pushed back.

-The Notorious B.I.G.^[1]

The Ten Sandwich Commandments

Thou shalt provide interest.
Thou shalt provide textural contrast.
Thou shalt consider the colours of your ingredients.
Thou shalt balance rich sandwiches with fresh, light components.
Thou shalt balance salty meat and cheese with acidity.
Thou shalt cut bread precisely.
Thou shalt spread to the edge.
Thou shalt aggressively season meat, slaws, and salsas to compensate for the muting effect of bread.
Thou shalt apply salt to raw vegetables such as tomatoes and

Beef, Meat

Burger Freak-Out

August 4, 2016 allansuddaby 4 Comments

Originally published September 29, 2012.

This summer I had a little burger freak-out. I thought about hamburgers more in the last few months than my entire life previous, and I came to realize that, despite eating them for about twenty five years, I knew very little about them.

The following burger info will be obvious to many of you, but circumstances conspired to stunt my burger knowledge from a very young age. For instance, the burgers I ate growing up were a bit like squished meatballs: they contained bread crumbs and eggs and were mixed to bind the ingredients together. They were tasty and comforting, but they hampered my understanding of proper hamburger flavour and texture for years. To aggravate … Continue reading.

General

Because Flavour Dynamics

January 23, 2016 allansuddaby Leave a comment

Background: I work for Elm Café. We make sandwiches (herein referred to as “sammiches”). Today we made one that I was particularly excited about, so on my personal Twitter account @allansuddaby I tweeted: “Just sampled an @elmcafe sammich: beef shortrib, Brie, port-soaked plums, rutabaga, red wine reduction. Will cure what ails you.” National Post columnist and local wit Colby Cosh responded: “Sounds like the Incredibly Random Sandwich Generator came up with a winner!” at which I literally lol’d. Then it dawned on me that the ingredients in this sandwich are emphatically not random. I thought it would be interesting to explain why they make a great sandwich.

Because Flavour Dynamics: The Sammich Apologist

The sandwich in question is … Continue reading.

Beef, Canadian, Charcuterie, Meat, Québécoise

On Smoked Meat, Montreal, and the Gout

September 16, 2012 allansuddaby 5 Comments

I have a certain old friend. Technically we went to high school together, but I first got to know him in Lister Hall, then at the Kappa Alpha house on university row. He studied philosophy, and after graduation he followed a girl to Montreal. There he fell victim to many of the city’s seductions: strong beer, girls, and cocaine, yes, but above all these, smoked meat.

For a while he lived only a few blocks from Schwartz’s, that Mecca of Montreal smoked meat. For a while he ate there every day: a sandwich, a pickle, and a cherry coke.

Montreal smoked meat is that city’s answer to New York’s pastrami: beef, cured with a concoction of spices similar to those … Continue reading.

Meat, Poultry

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

August 23, 2010 allansuddaby Leave a comment

It’s amazing how a dish that is considered boring, almost proverbially boring, can be so good when it’s made properly.

Yes, chicken salad is boring when you buy it in a tub. But when you have the cold leftovers of a properly roasted bird, and thick, homemade mayonnaise, nothing beats the clean flavours of a chicken salad sandwich.

Sure, the chicken skin is no longer crisp, but it’s still tender and salty. Besides, the crispiness comes from the celery.

And the round creaminess of the mayo is spiked with raw onion, and black pepper, and vinegar, and herbs.

It’s good when the leftovers are as coveted as the original dish.

Button Soup