Friday, July 27, 2012

Sandwich

Egg salad sandwich with dill pickle and mandarins on the side
Go to any gathering here in Bohol and observe how the locals fill their plates with rice -- wide and high – as if the rice is all they intend to eat.  Seeing mine with only a couple of spoonsful, they would ask if I were on a diet.  Little do they know I go for a second helping or two if needed.  By the way, most Pinoys are more into rice than the viands.   I, on the other hand, tend to eat more of the served dishes than the rice.

Be that as it may, I once told a Boholano friend that I could go on for years without rice as long as I have sandwiches, which I had done while in New York City.  And my favorite sandwich filling is egg salad simply because they are so tasty and easy to make.

Indeed, hard-boiled eggs make inexpensive egg-salad sandwiches and smart, simple high-protein snacks; they add protein to green salads and make delicious appetizers like deviled eggs. 

Pastrami, ham and tuna, as well as bacon-lettuce-tomato (BLT) are the other sandwiches I love the most.  Bagel and wheat are my usual choices for bread.

Historically, the first written usage of the English word sandwich appeared in Edward Gibbon's journal, in longhand, referring to "bits of cold meat" in between two pieces of bread. It was named after John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, an 18th-century English aristocrat, although he was neither the inventor nor sustainer of the food.

According to Wikipedia, Montagu ordered his valet to bring him meat tucked between two pieces of bread, and because he also happened to be the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, others began to order "the same as Sandwich!"

Lord Sandwich was fond of this form of food because it allowed him to continue playing cards, particularly cribbage, while eating without getting his cards greasy from eating meat with his bare hands.

Before being known as sandwiches, the food seems to simply have been known as "bread and meat" or "bread and cheese."

In New York, Subway became my favorite eatery whenever I had to fulfill a craving for tasty sandwiches.  It is an American restaurant franchise that primarily sells submarine sandwiches (subs) and salads.  Sandwiches are usually served in soft hero bread (baguettes).  Subway is one of the fastest growing franchises in the world with 37,000 restaurants in 100 countries as of June 27, 2012.  They have branches in Metro Manila.

These days, however, there are many sandwich specialty restaurants that have sprung up in the States and are supposedly doing exceptionally well.  Check out this slideshow.
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Spanish omelette and bacon on mini baguette sandwich

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Suggested site:

Serious Eats: Sandwiches

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17 comments:

  1. Interesting! We do a lot of egg salad sandwiches, simply because we have laying hens.

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  2. Oh I love the history of the sandwich and the bottom sandwich is making my mouth water. B

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  3. wow, that bacon looks so crispy DELICIOUS! Thank you for linking up to Food Photo Linky!

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  4. Neat facts here. Thank you!
    Everything looks so yummy.
    Except the dill pickle. :-)

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  5. That egg and bacon sandwich looks good!

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  6. I love a good egg salad sandwich as well, and that bacon and egg sandwich looks so good! I will have to give that one a try! :)

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  7. You are definitely right, Pinoys are more into rice kaya naglalakihan :D I haven't tried Bacon and Egg :) I will try it sometime.

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  8. i can also live on sandwiches.:p an egg sandwich is the first sandwich i learned to make as a kid. then i made it into a sardine omelet to my mother's disgust! LOL

    i was at a breakfast buffet this morning, and yes, Pinoys really tend to hoard on rice. my grandfather used to say that i won't be affected by any rice crisis because i can live on bread.:p

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  9. Me, too. I am more into the viands than rice :-)
    Love those crispy bacon strips!

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  10. Try a couple of strips of crunchy turkey bacon on a bed of an all white egg omelet with fresh tomato, onion and green pepper sanwiched between slices of white bread for a quick breakfast.

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  11. I am also guilty for having extra rice more than once, I should fix that. Great read on the history of sandwiches, nice!

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  12. I love sandwiches more than rice ;)

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  13. Well, I'll take anything with bacon. :) Great shots...and a fun post!

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  14. Well . . . egg salad is not my favorite since an "incident" in 4th grade. It's funny that I will eat deviled eggs, though.

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  15. Egg sandwich is my eldest sons favorite. Sandwich spread is easy to make that even him himself make it. Egg salad sandwich sounds a good idea.

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  16. Mmmm, egg and bacon! You're making me hungry! Thank you for sharing on WTS#41!

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  17. I like this, it's healthy!

    Visiting for FTF- hope you can stop by..

    http://myrecipecollection.info/2012/07/red-velvet-cupcake.html

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