It’s British Sandwich Week so I thought I would start this blog with the best-ever reference to a sandwich in a TV show.
Blackadder: Baldrick, go to the kitchen and make me something quick and simple to eat, would you? Two slices of bread with something in between.
Baldrick: What, like Gerald Lord Sandwich had the other day?
Blackadder: Yes, a few rounds of Geralds.
British Gerald Week doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as British Sandwich Week, so it’s just as well that the writers of Blackadder used a bit of artistic licence when writing this scene, and let’s face, it pretty much the whole of this fantastic show.
It’s true that the modern sandwich is named after Lord Sandwich, but his first name was John and not Gerald. It’s said he didn’t invent the sandwich but made it popular when, in 1762 he asked for meat to be served between slices of bread to avoid interrupting a gambling game.
Whether this is true or not, the fact remains that we use his name when eating what has become a staple for billions of people across the world.
In Britain we eat 11.5 billion sandwiches each year. That’s enough to go around the world 44 times if each one was laid end to end.
Of course, there are now so many different variations of a ‘sandwich’, many of which don’t even use bread. We like the weird and unusual here at SK, so here’s a couple of alternative sandwiches for you to try.
The Luther Burger – so-called because it was named after the weight issues of singer Luther Vandross, this burger is held together by a doughnut. Yes, you read that correctly, a doughnut. Now that’s taking sweet and savoury to a whole new level.
The Quintessential Grilled Cheese – as here are lots of sandwiches that purport to be the most expensive in the world, but they tend to not be commercially available, so we are going with the good old Guinness Book of World Records for the definite answer. And that is the Quintessential Grilled Cheese. Served at the Serendipity 3 restaurant in New York, it is served on two pieces of French Pullman champagne (Dom Perignon) bread and edible gold flakes, with white truffle butter and the very rare Caciocavallo Podolico cheese. The sandwich is served with South African lobster tomato bisque. If you like the sound of it, and next time you are in New York, it will cost you £132.
The Candwich – a sandwich that comes in a tin. Yes, you heard us right. With a long shelf life, no need for refrigeration and a selection of flavours that include peanut butter and jam, BBQ chicken and pepperoni pizza, we don’t expect you will be rushing out to buy one of these!
Kit Kat sandwich – the world is a very strange place when you discover that people (look at the internet) actually eat a sandwich toasted with these chocolate biscuit fingers.
We’ve got together in the SK kitchen to come up with some of our own, more unusual, sandwich recipes, so we would love to know what you think of them. We present:
Pulled beef brisket & blue cheese Yorkshire pudding wrap
This sandwich encompasses rich, strong and earthy flavours.
Ingredients:
For the pulled beef:
1kg cooked pulled beef brisket
500ml dark ale
30g black treacle
60g beef stock paste.
For the Yorkshire pudding:
3 large eggs and 3 egg whites
1/2 pint of milk
8oz plain flour
Salt and pepper
For the garnish:
Picked shallots
Horseradish mayo
Toasted pine buts
Crumbled blue cheese
Shredded apple
Watercress
Onion marmalade
Method:
Put the meat ingredients into a pan and reduce until a sticky glazed texture is achieved.
For the Yorkshire pudding, blend the ingredients until smooth and leave to rest. Heat a medium frying with oil pour the hot batter into the pan and cook until golden remove from the pan and set aside ready for wrapping.
Lay the ingredients into the wrap roll tightly and serve with the garnish.
Romanov salmon, asparagus, duck egg & brown shrimp open sandwich
This sandwich showcases some of the best seasonal & local produce Yorkshire has to offer .
Ingredients:
Bliekers Romanov smoked salmon
1 soft boiled duck egg
5 blanched asparagus tips
Half a cucumber spiralized
Organic watercress
Peeled brown shrimps mixed with crème fraiche
2 rye bread slices.
Method:
Toast the rye bread, dress the cucumber, watercress & asparagus lay on the bread, lay the salmon and duck egg on top and a nice spoon full of the shrimp and crème fraiche.
About Neil Shaefer
Marketing & Communications Executive of SK Foods.
Your food. Our Passion.
