Sandwiches


Easy to make, Easy to eat
Sandwiches are hard to beat

Filling and spread, covered with bread
Can be eaten without the slightest dread !

Sandwiches are one of the most idiot proof foods you can make.It takes a real smart idiot to screw up a sandwich.

Step 1: Choose the bread
Step 2: choose fillings and spread
Step 3: Cover with bread and eat.


What makes sandwiches special is they are so versatile and impossible to screw up. There are huge varieties of bread and fillings to choose from. They can be grilled, baked, foil cooked, eaten raw, fried , microwaved or subjected to any cooking process known to man.

A mound of different breads, a million different fillings, thousands of spreads all whoch can be cooked in a variety of ways translate into a few million sandwich recipes. Use your imagination and dream up combinations which appeal to you.

The easiest sandwich is of course the one with no filling. Eat bread and wash it down with water. Don't be fooled by the apparent simplicity. You can make very fancy sandwiches too. All you need is large dollops of imagination and willingness to make mistakes and experiment.

History
The earliest recorded sandwich recipe comes from the 1 century BC. Nuts, apples and spices between two matzos( A brittle, flat piece of unleavened bread , eaten during passover )

18th century gives birth to modern sandwich when an ardent gambler Earl asks for bread, cheese and meat to be brought so he can continue gambling. He holds the food -- bread outside and other ingredients inside -- in one hand and keeps playing cards.

USA discovers sandwich a century later and starts off on a good note with a ham sandwich. Mass production of Sliced
white bread make sandwiches very popular. Soon after GI's during WWII combine bread, peanut butter and jelly from their meal-kit rations to make the famous PB&J sandwich.

Tips

1. Experiment with different textures, shapes and flavors, and slice them to the thickness you prefer

2. Try making it complex by grilling the bread or the filling or both

3. Try marinating the meat/vegetables before using them

4. Make sandwiches more interesting by using sandwich spreads. Look beyond mayonnaise, mustard or ketchup. Dream up fancy chutneys or any other gooey stuff you fancy. If you like melted chocolate with tuna sandwich.. go ahead ! It is your life !

5. Sandwiches need not be flat. Roll em up, wrap em and use them in any shape you fancy.

6. Cut sandwiches in strips, bite sized pieces, rounds, ovals. Think and be creative !


Bread ideas
Use any bread like sliced white bread, Middle East Pita bread, Indian Chappati/Nan/roti/poori, French Baguette, country bread, wheat bread Mexican tortillas Italian focaccia etc etc


Filling ideas
Most vegetables/Fruits, Meat/Seafood, Grilled eggplant, broccoli , asparagus, onions, Pea shoots, horseradish, crisp lettuce ,rings of sweet yellow or red peppers, or long, thin slabs of crisp cucumber . Fruits like mango , pineapple , Seafood like grilled salmon, smoked salmon, seared tuna, crabcakes , meats like beef, pork and chicken, bacon, sliced salami, Leftover sliced steak, sliced boiled Egg smoked salmon, sliced red onion , Leftover roast chicken, Fried egg, sliced tomato , Smoky baked ham, Sardines etc etc

Spread ideas
Use any gooey stuff like Apple butter, butter, peanut butter, cheese spreads, mayonnaisse, mustard, ketchup, any of the hundreds of chutneys, melted cheese, pureed vegetables/fruits etc etc.,


Cooking ideas
After assembling the sandwich, you can opt to cook it by Grilling, Frying (ex : Dip sandwich in egg batter and fry). In addition you can microwave or foil cook, toast or use almost any cooking process known to man . Eaxh method changes the taste, texture and flavor and let you generate a load of recipes from each sandwich !

Experiment and have fun !

Break away from the kitchen cooking !

There is no need to be chained to your kitchen. Fun meals can be prepared anywhere with little imagination.


Clay Pot cooking :

Fill a terra cotta pot ( flower pot works fine ) half way with dirt. Line with foil. Add a few pieces of charcoal. When it gets going, you can do foil cooking , kebab cooking, barbecue etc.

Tin can cooking :

Take a large tin and a small tin. Cut them open at one end. Fill up the small can with corruhgated cardboard, pour liquid wax into it ans stick a few candle wicks.You have whats called a 'Buddy Burner " ready.

Now light it, cover it by with the large can and start cooking. Remember to punch a few holes near the top of the large can for air circulation.

Cook foil wrapped dishes or normal dishes.


Gabage can cooking :

Need a show stopper? Need to feed los of people? Well try this.

Heat a big mound of charcoal briquets in a firepit.

Drive a heavy wooden stake in the ground. Impale the turkey or the massive slab of meat on it. Cover it with the largest metal bucket you can find. Don't let it completely seal the dish. Leave some airspace at the bottom. Line up hot coals all around( and over) the metal bucket, as close as possible. Cover the whole thing with a large garbage can. Again ensure to let air in by putting some rocks or sticks between the ground and the bottom edge.

Wait for a couple of hours and dig in.


Wheel barrow cooking :


Get hot coals going inside a wheel barrow and it serves as a mobile kitchen. You can stick-cook, set dutch ovens on top of coal or use a grill to barbecue or do foil packs.

Cookie tin cooking:

Punch holes are around the bottom rim of a cookie tin . Put a paper bag with about a dozen charcoal briquets inside the tin. Put a small round cake rack is placed on top and the lid put back on. You can now take this portable barbeque anywhere.

Milk carton cooking :

Take a large 2 litre milk carton. Staple the spout closed. Cut one side open along three edges so you are left with a hinge-type flap. Cover the inside with foil and place a coal briquets inside, cover with foil again and seal the flap with tape. You have your lightweight portable barbeque ready. Be generous with the foil. Don't expose any uncovered area of the carton to coal or you'll stove will become fire starter !


Can cooking:

This is a modifired version of foil cooking. Here you drop food stuff into a can, cover with foil and cook.

Recipe idea 1 :
Coat the inside of the can with oil. Crack an egg into the can, put 2 small sausages inside and cover it with foil. Place it on a charcoal grill until the egg is cooked.

Take a couple of precooked mini sausages. Stand them up around the inside of the can. Crack a couple of eggs into the can, cover the tin with foil. Cook over charcoal briquettes


Tips:

Remember to skin the chicken before you foil cook it. Or the skin would seal the meat of the chicken and prevent it from cooking well.
Better to cut the chicken in cubes,

When you foil cook vegetables, mix them with oil before wrapping them in oil.

Always make sure the foil wrap is done tight, and sealed well ( A durgstore fold is the easiest) Make sure that you get good foil because cheap foil will actually burn in the coals!

How does canning work ?

In canning, food is boiled and immediately sealed . Boiling kills bacteria and sealing prevents new ones entering. Now the food in the can is completely sterile and so does not spoil. But as soon as you open the can, bacteria enter and begin attacking the food.

Stock up on your favorite canned stuff. They are indispensible in camping and in disaster management.

To can or not to can ?

Contrary to popular belief, some canned foods are as nutritious and more hygienic than 'fresh' food.

Reason ? You never know how 'fresh' fresh is. Fresh foods start losing vitamins as soon as they are picked. And there is invariably a long delay before they end up in your skilet. Also many 'Fresh' fruits and vegetables are picked before they are ready to be eaten.

But many canned foods are harvested at their peak of ripeness and normally cooked and processed from the source within hours, thus preserving more vitamins than their fresh counterparts.

Most canned fruits and vegetables use no chemical preservatives, but are preserved via natural heat methods

Tips:

Never use canned food if the can is dented, misshapen, or leaking,

With a permanent market Date-stamp the expiry date on canned stuff as soon as you buy them

Use older cans first.

Most canned foods can last up to 2 years when properly stored.

Canned foods have already been cooked once, so don't overcook them.

The liquid in the can is a semi soup as it includes nutrients, so whereever possible use the canning liquid.

Fruits packed in their own juices are a better choice than those with syrups

Playing with fire

It is not always great recipes that make your reputation as a great cook. People easily fall for gimmicks like chopping onion like a buzz saw or flipping pizza dough a mile high. Though these take time to master, you can try a easy to learn gimmick to make your reputation as a great chef. By setting fire to food !

Nothing attracts attention as much as a flaming dish or a cocktail on fire. These are HOT. Use them wisely !


Core idea :

Pour alcohol over food and set it on fire.That's it !


Idiot proof recipe ideas


Cook some butter and brown sugar in a skillet till sugar dissolves.

Arrange some pineapple rounds in the syrup in a single layer,cook for a couple of minutes, trun over and cook for a couple of minutes more.

Add any alcohol set it on fire. Apart from making heads turn, it also imparts a nice flavor to the dish.

You can use bananas or other fruits instead of pineapple.


Pour alchohol over stir fried meat/chicken. Light it and enjoy the show !

Now, lets do the same trick with cocktails

Mix your favorite cocktail in a separate glass, but skip the alcohol. Pour alcohol in a separate glass and ignite it. Pour the flaming liquid into the cocktail glass.Cover the glass to extinguish fire.

Idiot proof recipes

Pour rum on top of your favorite cocktail and set it alight.


Pour rum in a glass. Beer in another. Light the rum and pour it into beer.

Pour vodka in a glass, pour some rum on top, and light the rum.

Shake Campari and lemon juice in a cocktail mixer with some ice. Pour into a glass. Heat some brandy until warm. Pour brandy into the glass, holding a match in the stream to create a blue flame, then gulp the lot. The longer the stream, the more impressive the flame, the more solid your reputation becomes.

Pour tequila into shot glass. Place lemon slice on top. Sprinkle with tbsp of white sugar. Pour a small amount of rum over lemon and sugar. Set on fire.

Thank God ! All blogs filed and saved in yahoo briefcase. Don't trust blogger's archiving much. Not too intuitive and am scared of losing important stuff.

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