Alternative sandwich ingredients

[steve(thelil)]

This feels like another failed thread, but a sincere one.

It seems to me that there should be alternatives to bread for building a sandwich. I know of lettuce as the outside of wraps, but it seems like there should be other good things to sandwich inner food between.

Fruit slices? Zucchini slices?

Any ideas?

[tippy]

this one's hard because I can't think of anything that one couldn't put in a sandwich (if they so desired) to come up with alternatives...

[moneyp]

I like to find alternatives to the bread. Maybe Pete can answer this: can you actually buy Injera already made? Does it taste good?

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Lavash and tortillas do just fine for some people.

[steve(thelil)]

Originally Posted by moneyp

I like to find alternatives to the bread. Maybe Pete can answer this: can you actually buy Injera already made? Does it taste good?

Yeah. I'm talking bread. To put it another way, I'm looking for the greatest thing since sliced bread (to make a sandwich with)

I consider wraps to be made with "bread" for the purposes of this thread.

[tippy]

wraps taste like stale soggy tortillas to me. I just don't think tortilla goes as well with stuff as people think - especially maybe cold stuff - but it is easy to eat and that's why I think wraps are so popular. But the wrap part always tastes sucky if you ask me.

[tippy]

last night I made a taco del gato by wrapping my cat in a pillow because she was bugging the crap out of me. It was pretty funny actually - for about 3 seconds. (Yes, these are the kinds of exciting activities that take place chez tippy.)

[John L]

Wraps suck. They are for people who can't taste the difference. Just throw in a little bit of everthing under the sun and wrap it up in a completely tastless giant flower pancake.

Russians tackle the problem of this thread very well. First, they bake very good bread. Second, they only use one piece of bread and eat only open-faced sandwiches.

[Brian Olewnick]

Originally Posted by tippy

last night I made a taco del gato by wrapping my cat in a pillow because she was bugging the crap out of me. It was pretty funny actually - for about 3 seconds. (Yes, these are the kinds of exciting activities that take place chez tippy.)

How'd she taste?

[Dr Dave]

Originally Posted by Brian Olewnick

How'd she taste?

[Gary Sisco]

Ever buy a sandwich in England?

When they say ham and cheese, they mean it. Two slices of bread. A slice of ham. A slice of cheese. That's it.

Cat could starve there.

[clinthopson]

Tortillas make lousy cold sandwiches or "wraps", if you will. They have to be hot, otherwise they are soggy.

Now a quesedilla is a great "sandwich." Any kind of melting cheese does fine with a bit of salsa. The list of other aditions is endless: ham, bacon, chicken, roast pork, pastrami, grilled onions, chopped tomato, roasted chiles, carnitas, pecadillo and on and on.

It must be grilled to reach its peak tho'.

[tippy]

Originally Posted by Brian Olewnick

How'd she taste?

Well, she escaped before I got a chance to take a bite but she looked so so cute: sleek all black taco innards wrapped in Laura Ashley blue/green floral with plum accents pillow case (hey it's from early 90s, sweaty summer linens). She looked smashing I tell ya. The best looking taco ever.

[Enforcer]

I enjoyed a Larry Sandwich last weekend. My bread substitutes were Carmen and Michelle.

[Gary Sisco]

Depends on where you're eating tortillas. In Nicaragua, they were big as pie plates and about half an inch thick, usually cold unless you got to grab one first thing (really first thing -- most mornings the first thing I heard was the sound of women slapping tortillas into shape). They were eaten not like wraps but like bread, tearing strips off as you went. I'd give anything for a local place to buy tortillas like that.

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by moneyp

Maybe Pete can answer this: can you actually buy Injera already made? Does it taste good?

I don't like injera, so I wouldn't be searching for a packaged version.

John L sums up wraps perfectly.

[tippy]

LOVE quesadillas and love hot tortillas but clint said it best. I think the open faced single bread sandwiches have better proportion bread to ingredients than two pieces of bread which is often too much bread - BUT they are not as easy to eat which is really what the sandwich I think is about. I mean when you combine ease of eating with maximum deliciousness that is in its ideal BUT you know that's why they make plates and lots of sandwiches are messy. I do love a nice tender foccacia. Can't go wrong with PB&J either...if you're 8.

[clinthopson]

Cuban sandwiches are certainly a part of the top of the mountain: roast pork, cheese, ham, mustard and pickle on a grilled baguette, yummo!

A cemita in Puebla is very similar except it is spread with mashed beans and has a chunk of avocado in it, also meets the yummo standard.

[Nim Chimpsky]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

Ever buy a sandwich in England?

When they say ham and cheese, they mean it. Two slices of bread. A slice of ham. A slice of cheese. That's it.

Cat could starve there.

Strange then that Britain is the fattest nation in Europe.

Here's another quintessentially English sandwich

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Cantiello

Lavash and tortillas do just fine for some people.

BTW, I agree about wraps not being suitable for a real sandwich.

Did you notice I said some people?

[Al in NYC]

Damn, the bread is the best part of the sandwich. Which is why I'm always on the lookout for sandwich places that use really good bread. Makes all the difference in the world.

[clinthopson]

Sourdough from the La Brea Bakery can't be beat.

[Noj]

Best sandwiches I've ever had, on the best bread. Even their PB&J rules. Homemade peanut butter and jelly, nothing is canned.

[tippy]

I agree, the bread is key. If you go by the bread, 95% of sandwiches out there aren't worth the eating imo. I like the french (or italian?) breads that have a nice crust but not the crust that breaks skin on the roof of your mouth and can only be torn and eaten by applying 2 tons per square inch jaw pressure. Sourdoughs are overrated except in the perfect situation. Perfect sandwich bread is a worthy conversation.

There was a place in San Francisco that baked good/yummy sandwich bread - it was kinda sweet and big but very fresh and good and they added a variety of spices that you could choose from for your sandwich bread. I think it was called Specialties - oh can't remember the name but they also baked terrific cookies including my favorite chocolate wheat germ - that was a slammin cookie wish I could find a variation around here. Anyone know these cookies?

Love cubano sandwiches, and adding beans (I love refried beans) and avocado for the cemmita - YOWZA - sounds kind like what I know as tortas but yummier for some reason.

[Gary Sisco]

Nim -- I think that's more to do with the chips and such than the sandwiches, no? First time I had a sandwich for lunch in England, being an American, I couldn't believe how little there was to it, by comparison. Here in the US, they go to the other extreme. Things must've changed a lot the past twenty-odd years as I don't recall fatness much in the population. Same thing's happened here in the same amount of time, though. I was looking at some snapshots the other day and one was of a guy I was stationed with years ago. At the time, he was considered way-overboard fat. Today, he'd be just about average.

[Gary Sisco]

One thing I got spoiled about and have missed about living in Burlington is the bread. There are several sources of excellent, fresh bread of different varieties, every day. It's hard to get used to it when you don't have them anymore.

[clinthopson]

At kleast around here and in almost every city of any size, excellent artisan bread is available.

A lot of us don't fondly recall to old days when about the only easily available bread was that mushy stuff. We would drive 10 miles to get a couple of loaves of good Jewish rye.

[Alastair]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

Ever buy a sandwich in England?

When they say ham and cheese, they mean it. Two slices of bread. A slice of ham. A slice of cheese. That's it.

Cat could starve there.

If you go to a nice Italian sandwich shop (loads of them in London) they'll put other stuff in for you if you like.

I blame the inported practice of putting mayonnaise and butter in sandwiches for our obesity epidemic.

Out if interest, Gary, when did you visit England?

[Enforcer]

You want great breads? They got great breads at Zingerman's. Great sandwiches, too. Great everything. Terrific place.

[Gary Sisco]

Alastair -- It was '87, if I'm remembering right. Maggie was still in power. She announced an election while I was there, so whatever year that might have been, late 80s. I was there for only three weeks, but it was a good three weeks. Most of the time in London, where I was the guest of a friend made in Nicaragua, and his sister, who had a house in Brixton. I did get to make one foray to the West Country, mainly Bath and Glastonbury, which was also a good adventure. In Glastonbury, I was walking down a sidewalk and out of a shop door just in front of me walked a friend from Vermont! Strange world.