SANDWICHES OF THE WORLD

 

When you hear the word sandwich what comes to your mind - two loaves of bread with mayonnaise, chicken and vegetables in between? Nothing can be far from the bigger and better picture! Sandwiches can be the regular, plain old sandwich or the Open Face, Wrap, Pinwheel, Grilled, Stacked or Double Decker or anything that is “sandwiched” together to be eaten.

 

While regular sandwiches have the goodies hidden between two loaves of bread an Open Sandwich is just that, topless with the contents staring at you!  A “cheese sandwich” brings to mind cold cheese between two slices of fresh bread. A “grilled cheese sandwich” brings to mind ooey gooey lusciousness between two slices of fried bread. It is like comparing apples to oranges. The ingredients might be the same, but the sandwiches are very different. A wrap is made by placing your fillings inside of a tortilla and “wrapping” the tortilla around it like they do for a Mexican burrito. The wrap itself is like our roti/paratha kabab roll or chicken roll. Unlike a wrap, a pinwheel sandwich lays a thin layer of filling over the entire tortilla/bread. The tortilla is then rolled into a tight tube and sliced into rounds. When laid flat, these rounds resemble a pinwheel which is where they get their name.

 

Pinwheel sandwich

Wrap sandwich

 

Major types of sandwiches include:

• Two slices of bread with other ingredients between
• Two halves of a baguette or roll with other ingredients between
• Club sandwich
• Hero, hoagie, or submarine sandwich
• Open-faced sandwich
• Pocket sandwich

 

Club sandwich

A club sandwich, also called a clubhouse sandwich, is a sandwich of bread (traditionally toasted), sliced cooked poultry, ham or fried bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise.  It is often cut into quarters or halves and held together by cocktail sticks. Modern versions frequently have two layers which are separated by an additional slice of bread. The club sandwich may have originated at the Union Club of New York City and hence the name.

 

Sub Sandwich

The Submarine sandwich or Sub which you get in Subway is the creation of the Italian American community. It is a type of cold or hot sandwich made from a cylindrical bread roll split lengthwise and filled with meats, cheeses, vegetables, and condiments, It has many different names like hero, hoagie, grinder and wedge.  The use of the term "submarine" or "sub" (after the resemblance of the roll to the shape of a submarine) is widespread in the United States and Canada. The name as originating in New London, Connecticut which was  the United States Navy's primary submarine base during World War II

 

Open sandwich

An open sandwich, also known as an open-face/open-faced sandwich, bread baser, bread platter, half-widgeor tartine  consists of a slice of bread or toast with one or more food items on top. Open sandwiches allow for an arrangement of different types of sandwiches to be served with afternoon teas or as an accompaniment to salads. They can be cut into fancy shapes of triangles, stars, rounds and crescents, and arranged in an attractive platter for presentation. Common ingredients for open sandwiches are jam, stuffed olives, chopped herbs, cream cheese, hard-boiled eggs and pimiento. Any ingredients can be used to add flavor and color to enhance the presentation of the sandwich platter. Open sandwich is the common, traditional sandwich type in the Nordic countries, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Belarus, Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Kazakhstan where it is typically eaten at breakfast, lunch, supper, or as a snack.  In Finland the sandwich is called voileipä, and in Estonia similarly võileib, which also means "butter bread".

 

Pocket sandwich is a sandwich which is made using a single piece of folded or hollowed bread, such as a pita, which is made from dough cooked with fillings inside. The come in various shapes and sizes and can be

• Hot Pockets
• Fougasse
• Calzone
• Stromboli
• Pita
• Runza
• Pepperoni roll
• Pizza rolls
• Hot dogs.

Stromboli

Hot Pockets is an American brand of microwaveable turnovers produced by Nestlé. They generally contain one or more types of cheese, meat, or vegetables. Fougasse is French and Calzone is Italian oven-baked folded pizza, often described as a turnover, made with leavened dough. A calzone is similar to a Stromboli, an Italian-American pizza turnover, and the two are sometimes confused. Unlike Stromboli, which are generally rolled or folded into a cylindrical or rectangular shape, calzones are always folded into a crescent shape, and typically do not contain tomato sauce inside.

Doner Kebab

Pita is a family of yeast-leavened round flatbreads baked from wheat flour, common in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and neighboring areas. It includes the widely known version with an interior pocket filled with lamb, chicken, a variety of salads and sauces and served as Doner kebab or Felafel.

 

Runza is a yeast dough bread pocket with a filling consisting of  beef, cabbage, or sauerkraut, onions, and seasonings and is popular in Nebraska. The German and Russian immigrants brought this with them. Runzas can be baked into various shapes such as a half-moon, a rectangle, a round (bun), a square, or a triangle.

Pepperoni roll is an Italian-American stuffed bread roll. Originally conceived of as a coal miner's lunch, it is popular in West Virginia. Pepperoni is an American variety of spicy salami made from cured pork and beef seasoned with paprika or other chili pepper.

Hot dog

Pizza rolls are of bite-sized breaded pizza pockets with an interior of tomato sauce, melted cheese and various pizza toppings. They are sold in a variety of flavors including cheese, pepperoni, sausage, supreme, multiple cheeses, and mixed meats.

Hot dog is a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The term hot dog can also refer to the sausage itself which can be a wiener (Vienna sausage) or a frankfurter (Frankfurter Würstchen, also just called frank). 

 

Banh mi, the dream sandwich.

 

Banh mi sandwich

I have saved the best for last. Vietnam's banh mi, the pork roll, the crusty and yet fluffy French-style baguette filled with processed pork, farmhouse pate, mayonnaise, pickled carrots and daikon, coriander and chill is surely, is the king or queen of sandwiches. A humble and yet astonishingly tasty creation that is up there in the heady sandwich echelons of the croque madame, the katsu sando, the lobster roll and the shawarma. The banh mi in Vietnam is food of the people, available on street corners, in markets and in small eateries nationwide, loved by locals and tourists alike as a breakfast or lunch staple, each version slightly different, tailored to local tastes, and yet all delicious and affordable.  

The French, of course, brought baguettes with them during their imperialist reign of Vietnam, beginning in the 1850s. These bread sticks were typically served slathered in pate, or stuffed with ham and butter, or cheese, until the 1950s, when the Partition of Vietnam led to experimentation with local foodstuffs, and soon the banh mi as we now know it – with pork, pickled vegetables and chilli – was born.  

There's far more to banh mi than just processed pork in a roll. Seek out variations such as "banh mi xiu mai", with pork meatballs, "banh mi cha ca", with fried fish patties, and perhaps the ultimate breakfast, "banh mi op la", with fried eggs and Maggi seasoning sauce.

 

A taste of home

Vada Pav, India - The street food favourite is now a sandwich that is known across the world. Its origins are traced to Ashok Vaidya who made the batter fried potato in bread with garlic chutney on top and started a food revolution with his vegetarian sandwich that is still a Mumbai staple. For every tourist tasting the street side Vada pav is a must.

Vada pav