Sandwiches galore!

Image courtesy of lifesambrosia.com

Do you know why I love sandwiches? I love them because they are so damn easy to make. You dont have to be five star chef to put together a couple of pieces of bread and fill the insides of it to your heart's content with whatever you desire. It is simple, easy and healthier than many other food options. From simple ingredients like cheese, tomato and lettuce to corned beef and goat cheese, you can design it and layer it with a ton of ingredients, provided the flavors go well together.

Another thing I like about sandwiches is the fact that they are so flexible. You can make a simple grilled cheese with white bread or you can make it with sourdough bread or Italian bread. The variations you can come up with are nearly endless, with each variation providing a completely different flavor, texture and taste.

ADD Special: Earliest recorded reference of a "sandwich"? Sometime between 70 B.C. and 70 A.D. a Jewish teacher called Rabbi Hillel created a Passover custom of eating haroseth(chopped nuts and apples) and mohror (bitter herbs) between two pieces of matzo (unleavened bread). The actual term "sandwich" came about approximately 200 years ago and supposedly invented by Sir John Montague, The Fourth Earl of Sandwich (No, I'm not kidding). He popularized the concept of eating meats and cheeses between slices of bread.

As a person who lived in America for quite some time, I'm obsessed with all types of sandwiches. From subs, heroes, gyros, hoagies to the basic cheeseburger and hot dog, I love 'em all. I dont even have to mention the size of some of these American sandwiches. Mammoth is not big enough of a word to describe these things. Buy a cheese burger and you can keep it for a couple of days. It is that filling. The thing about these sandwiches is that they include rich ingredients. That's the main reason it is so damn filling, not because of the size of it. The ingredients and fillings make or break a sandwich. You can put together a great piece of bread but unless you have fresh and nutritious fillings, it won't do any good.

Let's break down the crazy world of sandwiches, shall we? How do you classify a sandwich? Well, the two common classifications of a sandwich are hot and cold sandwiches. Simple enough? You can clearly get an idea of what constitutes a hot sandwich or a cold sandwich just by looking at them but let's take it a one step further.

Hot Sandwiches

Image courtesy of brooklynpaper.com. 5 guys burger! Yummmm!

1. Closed Sandwiches - These are your default hot sandwiches such as burgers, hot dogs, wraps and burritos. You know, two slices of bread or a tortilla/chappathi filled with hot fillings like beef, chicken, eggs and the like. These sandwiches also include cold fillings like slices of tomatoes and lettuce but the body of a closed hot sandwich primarily includes food items that are fried or grilled.

2. Grilled Sandwiches - These sandwiches are primarily put together by buttering up the bread on the outside with fillings placed inside and browning the bread by placing it on a frying pan or a grill. This is one of my favorite types of sandwich. A simple grilled cheese sandwich dipped in tomato soup or a nice hot panini fresh off the grill, nothing better than that.

3. Deep-fried Sandwiches - The heart attack of the sandwich family. These things are closed sandwiches but they are dipped in egg batter and breadcrumbs and deep fried which gives you that terrific crust formation on top of the bread. The Monte Cristo sandwich is a good example for a deep fried sandwich and I'll be providing a recipe for that down below.

Cold Sandwiches

1. Basic cold sandwiches - These sandwiches are similar to the hot sandwiches but it contains mainly cold fillings. Raw vegetables and pre-cooked meat are usually used as the filling for these types of sandwiches. Tuna salad sandwich is a pretty good example for a closed cold sandwich.

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2. Multidecker sandwiches - The clue is in the name. It's a multi layered sandwich with 3 or more slices of bread and multiple fillings. The club sandwich with layers of turkey, bacon, lettuce and tomato is the perfect example for a multidecker sandwich.

So, those are your categories and sub categories of the sandwich family. It is a very difficult process to categorize sandwiches as they include whatever you can get your hands on. You can pretty much put anything between two slices of bread and call it a sandwich. I've had pizza sandwiches, pasta sandwiches and various other out of this world concotions. As I said, sandwiches are the most flexible dish in the food universe.

And there you have it, some history and categories of sandwiches. As I said, sandwiches are supremely easy to put together. It's healthy, nutritious and filling if you include the right ingredients. Sandwiches are the chameleons of the food universe and you know what they say, a good sandwich is only a couple of minutes away.

On to the recipe! This is a simple sandwich that you can put together in like 20 minutes and I can practically eat it every single day of my life.

Monte Cristo - my variation

The Stuff:

White bread - 2 slices
Softened butter - as needed
Chicken breast - 1
Ham, sliced thin - 2 slices
Swiss cheese or any kind of cheese really - as much as you want
Egg - 1
Milk - 2 tbsp
Ketchup - 1 tbsp
Mayonnaise - 1 tbsp
Jalapeños - couple of pieces for that extra kick or you can even add hot sauce.
Juice of half lemon
Salt
Pepper
Cinnamon - a pinch

The Procedure

1. Season the chicken with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Grill the chicken until it's cooked.
2. Cut the chicken breast into thin strips or shred them.
3. Add ketchup, mayonnaise and jalapeños to the shredded chicken. Mix and set it aside.
4. Spread one side of each slice of bread with butter.
5. Arrange the chicken filling, ham and cheese on top of the butter on one slice of the bread.
6. Place the other slice of bread on top of the cheese, butter side against the cheese.
7. Beat the egg and milk together. Add a pinch of cinnamon to this mixture. Dip the sandwich in the egg batter and allow it to soak for about 1-2 minutes.
8. Shallow fry the sandwich until you get that crispy golden exterior. This is basically similar to a French toast at this point but only with fillings.
9. God! Why do you want more steps! It's done! Hog hog hog! Enjoy!

Biscuits or cookies or whatever you want to call it!

I love me some baking, whether it be a simple loaf of bread or absolutely delicious pastries like blueberry muffins, banana nut bread or the Masterchef Australia's elimination challenge special, SCONES! I think baking is the single most hardest thing you can master in the kitchen. Every single aspect of the process needs to be precise and accurate for it to be considered any type of a success. The risk is great but, ultimately, the reward is that much more greater. There is no better feeling than biting into a fresh off the oven muffins or the soft doughy biscuits.

ADD special: Did you know how the term "biscuit" came about originally? It is a french word and was coined to describe twice baked cakes. "Bis" = twice and "cuit" = cooked. It literally means twice cooked. Originally, biscuits were first baked and then returned to the oven for further baking.

Let's talk further about biscuits. Biscuits are referred to two completely different things. To the British and for most other parts of the world, they are referred to what Americans call cookies. They are small, hardened and flat pastries which can be had as a snack. If you ask for biscuits in India, we will guide you towards an aisle that sells sunfeast and bourbon biscuits. Ahhhh Bourbon! Not the whiskey, the biscuit! Although Bourbon whiskey is so damn good that it is referred to as God's nectar, but I digress.

In America, biscuits are usually referred to soft cake-like thingys. They are a staple of a typical thanksgiving day feast and are usually served with gravy along with, of course, the gigantic bird of epic proportions, the Turkey! The American biscuits are the cousins of what is called scones in Britain and most other parts of the world, although there is a major difference between the two. Scones contain eggs and butter which makes it a richer man's version of American biscuits.

One theory proposed by Elizabeth Alston in her book "Biscuits and Scones" is that early British colonists came to America with the recipe for scones only to find out that they couldn't find or afford the necessary ingredients to make them, mainly fresh butter and eggs. They decided to include lard instead of butter and completely eliminated eggs, which gave them something that was similar to scones, American biscuits. By the way, if you like to try your hand on baking these awesome creatures, give that book by Elizabeth Alston a try. Some amazing recipes for scones in that one and a used version of that book costs a penny on Amazon! Difficult to find a much better deal than that.

Is this all too confusing? Its picture time!

Biscuits in Britain and all other parts of the world!
Cookies in America!

Biscuits in America!
Scones' cousin in other parts of the world!

Scones, uh, everywhere?

And there you have it! Some history of biscuits and scones. Damn, now my mouth is watering for some freshly baked biscuits. :(

I don't have an oven right now to make them but you can! Here is a simple, absolute basic recipe for some good ol' fashioned country biscuits!

Country Biscuits(American)

Note: This will give you about 15-18 biscuits.

The stuff

All-purpose flour - 600 g
Salt - 12 g
Granulated Sugar - 30 g
Baking Powder - 30 g
Unsalted Butter - 210 g
Milk - 720 ml

The procedure

1. Sift the dry ingredients together, making sure they are blended thoroughly.
2. Cut in the butter. The mixture should look mealy; do not overmix.
3. Add the milk and stir, combining only until the mixture holds together.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured working surface; knead until it forms one mass. Channel your inner chappathi maker. We are looking for that kind of a texture.
5. Roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1/2 inch. It should be thick. Do not roll it out too thin, like the aforementioned chappathis. Cut into circular shapes with a floured cutter.
6. Bake at 220C until the tops are light brown and the interiors still moist, approximately 10-12 minutes.
7. Remove the biscuits to a wire rack and cool.
8. Uh, there are no more steps. Hog those things! Om nom nom nom!