Sandwiches

[kernelbogey]

What could be better on a Monday than thick slices of cold Roast beef topside, lashings of hot horseradish relish on a bed of watercress and rocket served in a ciabatta, with cherry toms on a side dish?

Maybe a steak sandwich?

[vinteuil]

What could be better on a Monday than thick slices of cold Roast beef topside, lashings of hot horseradish relish on a bed of watercress and rocket served in a ciabatta, with cherry toms on a side dish?

... only recently did I learn that the ciabatta is - a very recent invention - 1982

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciabatta

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[Serial_Apologist]

... they are very much a 'continental thing'

The bocadillo, the panino, the jambon-beurre - what could be more continental, what could be nicer?


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How well I recall the sandwiches prepared by Mme Saurat for us to eat on the beach near Martigues of an afternoon when aged 15 I was en famille in the south of France: lengths of French bread either sliced with salami between, or lumps of dark chocolate stuffed in from each end!

(Having a "good ear" I managed to pick up on the local Provençale dialect, which greatly alarmed my Parisian hosts!)

[Dave2002]

Me too. Toast and marmalade is the stand-by when I'm not feeling well and have lost my appetite for anything else. One of the downsides of lockdown is that I've been baking my own bread so haven't had a decent piece of bread for 18 months.

You've not been doing it right!

Are you doing it completely by hand?

[Sir Velo]

... only recently did I learn that the ciabatta is - a very recent invention - 1982

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciabatta

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Clever marketing ploy - sounds more posh than a "white bread roll" eh?

[Serial_Apologist]

You've not been doing it right!

French frank just needs the dough!

Are you doing it completely by hand?

[Dave2002]

.... who lives on a mainly liquid diet until that long-anticipated late "Newsnight supper"....

I had an aunt who was like that. Didn't seem to like food too much, but the recycling bin filled up with sherry bottles at one heck of a rate, and did for the last few years. Still, she did make it past 90......

[Serial_Apologist]

I had an aunt who was like that. Didn't seem to like food too much, but the recycling bin filled up with sherry bottles at one heck of a rate, and did for the last few years. Still, she did make it past 90......

She made bread past 90?

[french frank]

You've not been doing it right!

Tell me about it

Are you doing it completely by hand?

Er, yes … why?

I wonder if sandwiches are less of a continental thing? I don't recall eating them much if at all in my time in Jena (also trips to France). I guess there are rolls - Broetchen - which aren't strictly speaking a sandwich.

Baguettes?

[vinteuil]

Baguettes?

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The bocadillo, the panino, the jambon-beurre ...

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[Joseph K]

Baguettes?

Yes - but, in my experience of driving (being driven) round France I recall that it was always easier to eat the component foodstuffs separately - baguette, cheese, tomatoes etc. Rather than trying to slice the baguette in half etc. Not really much of a sandwich?

I have a fond memory of staying at a French hostel where breakfast was a bowl of coffee and a croissant or roll.

[vinteuil]

Not really much of a sandwich?
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... few things to match it, Joseph. I'm surprised at your assessment. A jambon-beurre and a bock of Leffe - pure joy

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[oddoneout]

(Having a "good ear" I managed to pick up on the local Provençale dialect, which greatly alarmed my Parisian hosts!)

Oh my goodness that catapulted me straight back to some horrid sessions with a poisonous little madam (or rather mademoiselle I suppose) who had come over with a couple of others from Paris to do some teacher training work experience at my grammar school. Thanks to a French teacher who mostly conducted the lessons in French I was quite a confident speaker, but soon shut up after being subjected to sneering comments about my dreadful accent (I think the word peasant appeared on more than one occasion), said in the full knowledge that my teacher was Provencal... I have often wondered if she was silly enough to be so rude in person, as Mme S had a fearsome temper and didn't care who she used it on.
Sorry Joe for going OT, but it was such strong memory jolt.
Rather more relevant, holidays each year in France featured bread and various meats and cheeses, but we never tried to make sandwiches.

[HighlandDougie]

... they are very much a 'continental thing'

The bocadillo, the panino, the jambon-beurre - what could be more continental, what could be nicer?


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Indeed - but they are not "les sandwichs". I love jambon-beurre but it is not a ham sandwich. Sandwiches need two slices of bread which is bread rather than crust. So, impossible to make a sandwich in the true sense of the word with a baguette, ficelle, or, more locally here, a pan bagnat. And, FF is right - I've been churning out sourdough loaves but they don't really provide the bread that constitutes a proper sandwich. My favourite is probably corned beef, with the butter seasoned with a hint of Branston Pickle. And I'm ashamed to admit that I love Heinz Sandwich Spread (stocked in the Co-op in Perthshire but, alas, not by Carrefour) but, contrary to its name, it does not constitute a wonderful filling for a sandwich - delicious on oatcakes, though. Or, plain crisps with a smear of salad cream?

[Joseph K]

... few things to match it, Joseph. I'm surprised at your assessment. A jambon-beurre and a bock of Leffe - pure joy

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Wasn't meant as a value-judgement.