Sandwich books are tough. They have to walk the fine line between obvious spread-the-peanut-butter-and-jelly type recipes and the impossible bake-the-bread-from-scratch-while-the-pig-grows-up. Both extremes are a complete waste of time: easy sandwiches need no explanation and impossible sandwiches recipes are so time-consuming that they’ll never get made. The ‘wichcraft book does a great job staying fancy with it’s simpler recipes while still dangling the carrot of the 4hr braised short-rib. What I’m really talking about is the sandwich strategy distribution. It’s medium to high, something like this:
At the easier end there’s recipes for PB&J (with rhubarb and pectin powder) and a light goat cheese and veggie ‘wich. At the harder end there’s red-wine braised flank steak and lobster with sweet-potato slaw. Most of them are pretty involved, but they don’t feel TOO impossible.
The other important aspect of sandwich books is how proud you feel when you make one of their sandwiches. As the sandwiches get more complicated, you get happier that you made it, you feel good about your project. The weird thing about cook books is that you get a bit of this pride boost from just having the book around! You think to yourself “oh, one day I could make this delicious-looking ‘lamb with mint sauce on roasted red pepper-brie-mint bread’, but not today.” (Recipe from Margaux Sky) It’s this potential that compels people to buy these insane books: the push to be a better chef and the illusion that we have infinite time for slow-roasting meats and baking breads. Impossible recipes never get made. They need to be in the book to set the ceiling, but need to be buffeted with many more approachable ones. Anyhow, back to the ‘pride curve’, everyone’s is different: here’s mine:
Sure ‘Wichcraft has a decent distribution of sandwich strategy, but how do they make you feel? Turns out, pretty damn good:
The book is great, go buy it, block off a few hours, make a ‘wich and be proud!
What’s your pride curve? Got a book that makes you feel bad because it’s just too damn hard?
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