The Lesser-Known Sandwiches of Our Nation Deserve Your Attention
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Super Heroes UNSUNG AMERICAN HEROES THE LESSER-KNOWN SANDWICHES OF OUR NATION DESERVE YOUR ATTENTION ohn montagu, a.k.a. the 4th earl The handy concept wouldn’t take hold in the of Sandwich, had a problem. A rakish Americas until after the Revolutionary War, Jgambler, he was in the midst of a and in the 1800s recipes started appearing in marathon gaming session, “so absorpt in play,” cookbooks for oyster loaves (the proto-po’boy), wrote French literato Pierre-Jean Grosley in ham sandwiches and tongue on buttered biscuits. his 1772 book, A Tour to London, “that, during As the country evolved through westward expan- the whole time, he had no subsistence.” sion, war, industrialization and immigration, In addition to gambling, Montagu was so did the multitudinous concepts of what goes an avid traveler and had seen people of the between two slices of bread. Eastern Mediterranean eat meat pinched Regions grew traditions with fiercely loyal between flatbread. He asked the servants followings. We all know about the Philly chees- to bring him “a piece of beef, between two esteak, the lobster roll and the aforementioned slices of toasted bread, which he [ate] without po’boy, and those can be sublime, but have you ever quitting the game,” according to Grosley. heard of the cudighi? How about the Navajo “This new dish grew highly in vogue during mutton or Oklahoma prime rib? America’s my residence in London; it was called by unsung sandwiches are waiting to be discov- the name of the minister who invented it.” ered, and they each have their own fascinating Thus, the sandwich. backstory. Let this list get you started. Words ADAM ERACE Photography SCOTT SUCHMAN Food Stylist LISA CHERKASKY XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX 66 – AMERICAN WAY 066_FT_America_Unsung_SandwichesBKJB.indd 66 12/10/2020 11:10 Super Heroes AMERICAN XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX AMERICAN WAY – 67 066_FT_America_Unsung_SandwichesBKJB.indd 67 12/10/2020 11:10 Super Heroes WHERE TO GET THE GOODS Pretty much anywhere sandwiches in Buffalo are served, including The Bar-Bill Tavern (barbill.com) and Schwabl’s (schwabls.com) NEW YORK BEEF ON WECK When friends and family visit Keith up with horseradish. It’s unclear who Raimondi, owner of The Dapper Goose in created the beef on weck, but sandwich Buffalo, he and his wife/business partner, history credits William Wahr, a Bavarian Peggy Wong, pile everyone in the baker, with bringing kummelweck bread from car and drive half an hour to The Bar-Bill Germany in the late 1800s. “It had Tavern in East Aurora. “It’s cash only, great texture, and those punches of salt super crammed and the guys carve every are everything,” says Raimondi, who adds single beef on weck to order from a station that the bread’s texture absorbs some of on the bar.” The name is an abbreviation of the “messy beef juices.” “Food wise we’re kummelweck, the German salt-and-caraway- known for wings,” says Raimondi, “but crusted roll—jus-soaked, if you choose— it’s the beef on weck we’ve waited up to cradling ruby ribbons of rare roast beef lit an hour for.” 68 – AMERICAN WAY 066_FT_America_Unsung_SandwichesBKJB.indd 68 12/10/2020 11:11 Super Heroes INDIANA MICHIGAN MISSOURI PORK TENDERLOIN CUDIGHI ST. PAUL Indiana is the nation’s Yoopers love their cudighis. Though it’s a specialty of St. fifth-largest pork producer, Translation: Locals in Michigan’s Louis, the St. Paul sandwich’s so it makes sense that the Upper Peninsula love their Italian origins can be traced to Hoosier State’s official sandwich pork-sausage sandwiches. Minnesota circa 1940, according stars pig—more specifically “Cudighi” (pronounced cuh-duh- to restaurateur Qui Tran. “From a piece of tenderloin pounded ghee) is an anglicization of my research, a Chinese or Korean out to a grand circumference, cotechino, a pork sausage from gentleman moved to St. Louis breaded and deep-fried. “It Northern Italy typically spiced from St. Paul and opened a chop can be the size of a plate,” with cinnamon and cloves. In the suey,” Tran says. “When he says Lindsey Skeen of the late 1800s and early 1900s, discovered Americans loved Indiana Foodways Alliance, Northern Italian immigrants sandwiches, he took an egg-foo- which organizes the state’s came to the Upper Peninsula in young patty and put it on white Tenderloin Lovers Trail. waves to work the iron ore and bread with tomato, lettuce, onion, “Sometimes people need to copper mines. These days, pickles and mayo.” The inventor get an extra bun.” Nick’s Kitchen sandwich slingers across the UP didn’t know what to call the in Huntington, Indiana, claims sear their cudighi on a flat top, sandwich, so he named it after his the sandwich as its invention like a burger, and bookend them hometown. “The untoasted bread circa 1908. The luncheonette tops in wide white rolls, but toppings soaks everything up. It’s a sloppy theirs with lettuce, tomato, change from shop to shop. Some mess and a total St. Louis thing.” onion, pickles and mayo, joints, such as Ralph’s Italian Deli Tran’s family, who arrived in the but the accessories are not in Ishpeming, treat the sandwich U.S. in 1980, serves various St. carved in stone—in Greensburg, like a hot dog, with mustard, Pauls at their 35-year-old halfway between Indianapolis ketchup and onions, while others, institution, Mai Lee, where green and Cincinnati, Mayasari like Vango’s pizzeria in Marquette, onions and bamboo shoots give Indonesian Grill serves both the smother it in tomato sauce and the egg patties crunch. Other traditional sandwich and a melted mozzarella, making it a shops offer ham and shrimp version spiced with lemongrass- cloistered Parm cousin you’ll only iterations. “I still crave them scented tomato curry. find in the Wolverine State. regularly,” says Tran. WHERE TO GET THE GOODS WHERE TO GET THE GOODS WHERE TO GET THE GOODS Find more than 70 venues on Find top versions at Vango’s Mai Lee (maileestl.com), Chinese the Tenderloin Lovers Trail at (vangospizza.com), Ralph’s Italian Deli Express (chineseexpressmo. indianafoodways.com (ralphsitaliandeli.com) and Lawry’s com), Old St. Louis Chop Suey Pasty Shop (lawryspasties.com) (oldstlouischopsuey.weebly.com) GETTY IMAGES (CUDIGHI) GETTY IMAGES AMERICAN WAY – 69 066_FT_America_Unsung_SandwichesBKJB.indd 69 13/10/2020 21:39 Super Heroes XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX 70 – AMERICAN WAY 066_FT_America_Unsung_SandwichesBKJB.indd 70 12/10/2020 11:12 KENTUCKY BENEDICTINE Called pimento cheese’s Kentucky crunchy filling for tea sandwiches. cousin, Benedictine is the name The regional favorite has endured for of both a statewide cream cheese-based more than a century at Derby parties, spread and the sandwich in which bridal showers and Kentucky you’ll find it. Twentieth-century establishments suchas The Café Louisville caterer and entrepreneur in Louisville, whose high-class Jennie C. Benedict gets credit for Queen Anne sandwich layers inventing the mixture of seasoned Benedictine, cucumber slices, cream cheese and finely chopped lettuce and bacon between slices cucumber and onion as a tangy, of walnut wheat. WHERE TO GET THE GOODS Check out The Café (thecafetogo.com), pick up a tub at any deli or market in Louisville, or get yourself invited to a Derby party XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX AMERICAN WAY – 71 066_FT_America_Unsung_SandwichesBKJB.indd 71 12/10/2020 11:12 Super Heroes MARYLAND LAKE TROUT To get the inside joke that is the lake between slices of white bread, it’s often trout sandwich, you’d need to be a crispy planks of fried Atlantic whiting native of the Baltimore metro region or masquerading under the lake trout at least a fan of The Wire. The moniker. “Crabs are Baltimore’s most Baltimore-set detective drama outed iconic seafood, but crabs are the fish in its fourth season: “No lake, expensive,” says food and drink writer no trout … white fish, trash fish … all Drew Lazor, who grew up outside the marketing, all dressed up like city. “So there’s this secondary something it ain’t,” bantered detectives tradition: Crabs are what we eat when Jimmy McNulty and Bunk Moreland. we have money, but when we don’t we Doused with hot sauce and slid eat other stuff, like lake trout.” WHERE TO GET THE GOODS Lazor’s favorite is Hip Hop Fish & Chicken (hiphopfc. com), though they don’t use the term “lake trout” and serve the white bread on the side for DIY sandwich building 72 – AMERICAN WAY 066_FT_America_Unsung_SandwichesBKJB.indd 72 12/10/2020 11:12 Super Heroes WHERE TO GET THE GOODS John’s Roast Pork (johnsroastpork.com) and Tommy DiNic’s (tommydinics. com) are the OGs, while Angelo’s (angelospizzeria southphiladelphia.com) is the most respected newcomer in town PENNSYLVANIA ROAST PORK “The sandwich of Philadelphia is not sandwich’s standard-bearers in town, the cheesesteak. It’s the roast pork,” says though DiGiampietro himself does an Danny DiGiampietro, owner of Angelo’s, incredible rendition starring succulent the viral pizza-and-hoagie specialist in slices of pork leg (which he prefers to the South Philly. “I lived in Florida for five years butt many others use) roasted with tons and the first thing I did when I came home— of garlic, thyme and rosemary, plus extra with the exception of seeing my mother— bones to enrich the jus with marrow-powered was go to Tommy DiNic’s to get a roast-pork umami. Sharp or mild provolone, tender sandwich.” DiNic’s in Center City and broccoli rabe and hot peppers are the John’s Roast Pork in South Philly are the traditional toppings. AMERICAN WAY – 73 066_FT_America_Unsung_SandwichesBKJB.indd 73 12/10/2020 11:12 Super Heroes ILLINOIS NEW MEXICO ARIZONA MOTHER-IN-LAW GREEN CHILE NAVAJO MUTTON CHEESEBURGER Chicago’s mother-in-law Roxanne Wilson grew up in the sandwich is a soft, spicy tamale Whether you partake of a green Navajo Nation, two hours from snuggled into a poppy-seed roll, chile cheeseburger at the wood- the nearest grocery store.