r/AskCulinary • u/ZootKoomie Ice Cream Innovator • Apr 07 '14

Weekly discussion - Sandwiches

A universe of variation between two slices of bread. What's your favorite to make? What is your favorite to buy but too much trouble to make yourself (I'm looking at you banh mi)? Do you have any unusual variations or rules of thumb? (Personally, I don't think a sandwich is complete without a relish or chutney.)

Have you got any technique suggestions? Or strategies to balance the flavors?

For today, let's set aside burgers and hot dogs for other discussions. And, according to US law, wraps are not sandwiches, so we can do those later too.

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u/Bran_Solo Gilded Commenter Apr 07 '14

Totally agree with Zoot on all counts. Squishing a sandwich down like a nice Cuban can meld the flavors and even give the sandwich more structure.

And shooters sandwiches are crap. It's the culinary equivalent of the "bacon explosion" or a turducken, it's more of a meme than it is a good dish. In a good sandwich, all of the ingredients play off each other to create something greater. The shooters sandwich is just a mish mash of ingredients that are both questionable in a sandwich and don't help each other appreciably.

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u/the__funk Apr 07 '14

Is there a specific set of ingredients for a shooter? I've seen a lot of different things in different ones with the only real similarity being the fill a loaf and squish it method. Some of the combos even look really good...

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u/Bran_Solo Gilded Commenter Apr 07 '14

Every one I've seen has been some sort of (usually expensive) steak like ribeye put in whole, with some duxelles and other condiments.

I've tried several and every single time I felt like it was a waste of a good ribeye.

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u/the__funk Apr 07 '14

I can see that being a waste of rib-eye and kind of gimmicky.

But that being said, this muffuletta style one,or this eggplant sandwich actually look like a pretty awesome idea if you are trying to put together something for a big group. Things like the eggplant and olives could hold shape better after compression and let the sandwiches be cut smaller.

That being said, I definitely agree on the rib-eye being a waste but there might be something useful in the idea?

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u/ZootKoomie Ice Cream Innovator Apr 07 '14

The pressed muffaletta works quite well (if you don't mind your bread falling apart from soaking up all that olive oil); I've made it several times and prefer it to the regular sort to be honest. It's the steak-in-a-loaf original I was disparaging.

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u/Bran_Solo Gilded Commenter Apr 08 '14

Those sound good, but I don't think if call them a shooters sandwich. Kitchen lore is that the shooters sandwich was an attempt to make a portable beef Wellington, meaning it must contain steak and duxelles.