Thursday, August 21, 2008, by Ben
Analysis is love. I love sandwiches. Ergo, I analyze Sandwiches.
This is the first version of an attempt to better understand sandwiches. All good analysis is easily summarized into a 2×2 plot that somehow includes everything. For sandwiches this manifests as the “‘Wich Plot©” and shows all sandwiches in the context of “Strategy” and “Execution”.
The plot:
Execution is a scale of how well the sandwich is made, in reality. This is the simpler axis as it’s directly observable by eating the sandwich! Some factors that influence the execution axis:
- How well is the sandwich made? Does it fall apart when you eat it?
- What is the quality of the ingredients? (Is the bread hard and nasty? Are the meats unnatural square shapes?)
- How appetizing does the sandwich look?
- How much love went into building the sandwich?
Strategy is a rating of the sandwich recipe complexity. It’s the rating of the sandwich in theory. Kind of like how each performance in the Olympics gets a difficulty rating. Some factors that influence sandwich strategy ranking include:
- Are there lots of ingredients?
- Does each ingredient require special preparation (roasting, skinning, cooking, etc.)?
- Does the sandwich require a very delicate or specific construction process to be properly made (like a croque monsieur)?
Here’s some samples of how common sandwiches fall on the strategy axis:
By combining the two axis we can start to get a feel for what it means when a sandwich falls in each of the four quadrants. In counter-clockwise from the bottom left:
- Poor execution of low strategy sandwiches: You must be hungry; you are making the simplest of sandwiches without regard to quality or love for sandwiches. Skip these sandwiches, and go have some pasta. Seriously, don’t bother.
- Good execution of low strategy sandwiches: Now we’re talking! You’re practicing the basic sandwiches because you love them. The sandwiches are simple, but delicious and don’t deserve any harassment for their imbalance.
- Good execution of high strategy sandwiches: Now we’re REALLY talking! These are the special sandwiches that allow the whole category to rival the rest of the food world. In extremes, these are the tiny open faced sandwiches that you can find at some of the best restaurants in the world.
- Poor execution of high strategy sandwiches: This is just silly. Why bother making a complicated sandwich if you aren’t going to put any love into it? Some kind of a sick ingredient fetish? More processed meats and cheeses do not a better sandwich make!
Recap:
Let’s plot some sandwiches! I put 5 on the chart, though you can ask yourself “Where would the last sandwich I had fall?” The actual plotting is rather fuzzy since this is not math and there are no numbers.
To really get value out of this analysis, we have to draw some conclusions about certain groups of sandwiches and get some information that might help us in reality. I tried to aggregate some common groups of sandwiches and highlighted them on the chart below with colored circles. You can see that the chain sandwich shops generally, use poor quality ingredients (I hate that shredded lettuce!) and that if you have a few fancy ingredients leftover from dinner, you can whip up a tasty sandwich (though they are usually fairly simple). Specialty sandwich shops are where the love is: decent construction with decent strategy! Now when someone asks why you don’t like Subway or Quizno’s you can say “Oh, yuck, you eat low execution sandwiches?” That is love.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008, by Ben
Kevin Weeks, who runs Seriously Good, wrote a nice overview piece about sandwiches for NPR, The Art of Sandwich-Making. The SANDWICHLab (submit or read) used one of his recipes to make delicious grilled cheese.
A lot of the article is basic information, but he makes two good assertions. First, his definition of sandwiches, (which I disagree with):
“My definition is somewhat broader [than two slices of bread enclosing a filling]: A sandwich is a filling enclosed in bread or pastry that can be eaten by hand.”
Secondly, his respect for bread. Everyone describes what’s IN the sandwich while forgetting the bread. Thanks for the reminder on the importance of bread, Kevin!
“Wherever a sandwich is from, though, its foundation, its most important single element, is the bread. Great bread can elevate great ingredients to new heights. Bad bread can make even the finest fillings ho-hum.”
He also includes recipes for some under-the-radar sandwiches: Muffaletta, Cubano, Bahn Mi and Shwarma (in a pita).
Monday, July 28, 2008, by Ben
Champ’s Gourmet Deli (71 Broadway, NY, NY) is a bustling hive of downtown sandwich love, often full of brokers and traders (WAY downtown.)Â I went for lunch on Thursday around noon and was apprehensive of the lunch rush from bankers and tourists. Thankfully, they work at a blistering speed and it wasn’t terribly crowded (most people take their food to go). They have a decent amount of tables and solo seating along the windows where, thanks to the proximity of the WTC, Wall st and Century 21, you can watch the tourists look at maps. Champ’s looks like a slightly cramped version of the same deli layout that everyone in New York knows: there’s a salad station, a grill station, a sandwich station, some drinks and a cash register. I read through all the usual sandwich offerings (Rubens, tuna, burgers, etc.) and settled on the “Manhattan Special”, because Thursdays are always good for roast beef.
While seemingly nondescript, the sandwich is well constructed. The soft, hot roast beef never exhibited any signs of filling creep, the mozzarella was melted through and the bun kept it all in a neat package while helping the texture and not masking any flavors. That is what this sandwich is all about: texture first flavor second. Sure it tasted good, but the thoroughly soft and warm texture was more inviting. Never was it mushy, or crumbly. Each ingredient provided a slight resistance and came together to soothe like a warm blanket. The portion was large, but not holy-crap-I-can’t-believe-I-finished-it-,-I-can’t-stand-to-walk-and-will-just-take-a-nap-here food-come large. It was the right size.
While I wouldn’t make a weekend event of it, I’d head back there without hesitation. The prices are a little high and the food certainly isn’t gourmet, but Champ’s Gourmet Deli is worth a stop if you’re in the neighborhood (or really like to help tourists with directions). The entrance is really on the south-east corner of Trinity and Rector Streets.
Manhattan Special: Roast Beef, Mozzarella cheese on garlic bread (or in this case a sesame seed roll), $6.75
The sign on Trinity St:
Christmas Surprise:
See all that delicious:
Mmm:
Wednesday, July 23, 2008, by Ben
Via Daily Feed, the Boccalone Salumeria in San Francisco serves baguettes, turned inside out and grilled as a panini. Talk about a paradigm shift! HA HA! How strangs, the outside is warm and soft, while the crust stays on the inside.
I worry that as you ate the sandwich, the crust would push the fillings out torwards the long edge. Or maybe it works if you eat from the long edge in at the risk of pushing the fillings out the edges. After all, isn’t this why the crust is on the outside? This sounds like a challenge for the SANDWICHLab! Also see SANDWICHLab Submissions and Lab Results.
(Image care of Gutenberg @ Daily Feed)
Thursday, July 17, 2008, by Ben
Everyone loves to sit in Madison Square Park and grin at the city spinning around them. It’s an old fact. Everyone loves Shake Shack. Another aging fact.  Everyone grumbles about the line. Also a fact. The hamburgers are delicious. Fact again. The towering mountain of meat, cheese and deep fried mushrooms known as the “Shack Stack” is fantastic. New fact!
What might seem very un-gourmet coming from the Danny Meyer owned Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG) is a tasty sandwich that tests everyone’s jaw-dislocating ability. It’s not a hamburger is the UBERBURGER. It sings a song that goes something like this: bun, burger patty, cheese, deep fried cheese filled portabella mushroom, burger patty, cheese, lettuce, tomato, (mustard), bun. See, it really is the uberburger. Try to order it that way! Say, “one uberburger please.”
The burger is overwhelming. It’s a test. It’s an experiment in hyperbole. It’s delicious. I’d order it again in a heartbeat. Naturally, if you’re not that hungry or are under 5′5″, you probably should stick to a regular (or double) burger. It’s also a good idea to clear your calendar for an hour or two afterward, eating that much meat and cheese induced a class 3 food coma (difficulty keeping ones eyes open, general feeling of warmth and contentment, sluggish verbal response). The burger’s here aren’t as chic as they could be and they’re not the best in the area, but the experience of ordering from a stand and sitting in the park in a safe cocoon of calm is like no other.
The love for shake shack is so big, last year someone started a user-contributed photostream of the line (apparently abandoned) at Shack Watchers.
It looks puny from this height:
’shroom Burger:
The Stack Unveiled:
It looks delicious from this height:
Wednesday, July 16, 2008, by Ben
Finally, France has fallen to the power of the sandwich: the great American hamburger. A few silly inconsistencies (improvements?):
- Â ”nine out of 10 people use knife and fork.”
- “Ketchup does not automatically come with a burger. If requested, it may appear in a porcelain bowl.”
- “She’s kneaded a mixture of chopped sun-dried tomatoes and tangy cornichons and capers into the ground meat. Parmesan shavings stand in for the usual Cheddar.”
But, ovbiously, “The burger has become gastronomic.â€
