And the Greatest Sandwich of All Time is....
For the season 1 finale, Molly and Declan recap our learnings thus far; hear from some of you on your most wild, weird, and wonderful sandos; and dream up what may be the greatest sandwich of all time. Stick around to the end—Molly and Declan call up our final winner of a year-supply of Cabot cheese!
Special thanks to our listeners for your questions, especially those of you that called in. We still need your help Send your burning sandwich questions (not burning sandwich, you know what we mean) to podcasts@food52.com.
Mystical galactic voiceover: Peanut butter and jelly. Grilled cheese. Pastrami. Tuna salad. The Sandwich Universe.
Molly Baz: Hello, and welcome back to The Sandwich Universe, where everything is a sandwich.
Declan Bond: And a sandwich is everything.
Molly: I am Molly Baz. I'm a professional chef, cookbook author, and recipe developer. Um, and I am joined here with my good friend, Declan Bond.
Declan: Hello, everyone. I am just a lowly professional eater, sandwich enthusiast, but a civilian representative.
Molly: And this is the final episode of the series. And so instead of tackling another iconic American deli sandwich, we decided that we would like to create our own iconic sandwich.
Declan: In order to find a brilliant novel sandwich, we're going to talk through a bit of, you know, what we've learned along the way as we've created a bunch of the iconic sandwiches and, and done variations on those. And then we are going to hear about some of the weird, wild, bizarre, and delicious sandwiches that you guys have been making and have had, uh, throughout your lives. And I couldn't help myself, I did a bit of research before this episode, just to, just to try and understand, you know, how many sandwiches, really, Americans eat. And according to the South Florida Reporter, Americans eat on average 300 million sandwiches every day, which means that we basically eat one sandwich per day.
Molly: Wait, every single person, every--each person eats one sandwich per day on average?
Declan: Yeah. Averaged out, Americans are eating 300 million sandwiches a day. There's about 300 and something million, uh, Americans in America.
Molly: Holy smokes. Wait, that's stressful. Because that means, what that says to me is that there are a large handful of Americans that are eating like, three to six sandwiches a day.
Declan: (laughing) That is massive.
Molly: Because otherwise, like, how do we get--
Declan: Exactly. Every man, woman and child is eating at least one sandwich a day, which--
Molly: Which means somebody is eating a lot. Bless you, whoever you are.
Declan: I mean, we're skewing, we're skewing the metrics. We are. (laughing) We're definitely...
Molly: Yeah, we are. This podcast is skewing it. (laughing)
Declan: Um, for the better, I'd say.
Molly: Wow. That's really pretty impressive, honestly.
Declan: Yeah. Shout out to America. Alright, well, should we talk about what we've learned across a bunch of sandwiches?
Molly: Yeah, let's do a full recap from the seas. What did we learn? We made so many sandwiches. There were so many discoveries, so many takeaways. I think we should try and go--we should try and pinpoint what some of the most important ones are, so that the listener can leave this podcast with some real tools.
Declan: You want to go first?
Molly: There are so many, but for the sake of keeping this brief, I think the first one for me is that texture is so important in a sandwich. So--
Declan: Massive.
Molly: There are some sandwiches that are just born textural, i.e. the BLT. Like, what the BLT has going for itself is texture. We love that for the BLT.
Declan: I mean, one of the things, I mean, come on.
Molly: Sure. There's other things
Declan: But yes. It is--the bacon, lettuce, and texture sandwich.
Molly: Exactly. And so, but then there are the other sandwiches that are maybe not notoriously, extremely textural, such as, say, a tuna salad sandwich or an egg salad sandwich.
Declan: Egg salad, yup.
Molly: And I feel like what we were very successful at in this podcast is figuring out creative ways to introduce texture into those sandwiches that might not otherwise be there. So whether that be like, a thick one inch layer of iceberg lettuce that you crunch into, as you're making your way through that sort of like, homogenous tuna salad, or whether it's adding, you know, chopped dill pickles, or chopped celery into your tuna salad or your egg salad to sort of break up the monotony, and just recognizing, I just think we all need to recognize that texture is an important consideration when it comes to sandwich architecture. Are you with me?
Declan: Yeah. I'm with you. I think, I mean, like I said, it's one of the reasons the BLT is, is one of my faves. Um, and yeah, I feel like pickles have, have really played a big part in, uh, in texturizing some of those more sloppy gloopy sandwiches. Um...
Molly: They really just played a big part in general in this podcast.
Declan: They played a big part, which actually--okay. So that's a good, that cascades, right? Right into one of my big takeaways, which is, uh, from a flavor perspective, I feel like acid is, it's not always the first thing you think of, but it might need to be going forward. It's, it's something that most sandwiches are--it's easy to get, you know, more acidity into most sandwiches, but most sandwiches really spike on, you know, fattiness, uh, richness, savoriness, even sweetness sometimes. But acid is, is always something that can be leveled up, I feel like. You know, we did this with the Italian sandwich, um, you know, adding a kind of slaw, you know, shredduce, really heavily dressed with lots of vinegar. Um, like we said, pickles all over the place. Um, pickle juice in the chicken brine, uh, hot sauce, like a vinegary hot sauce. We made marinated onions for the breakfast sandwich. I just feel like there's always room to like, level up the acidity of most sandwiches.
Molly: I think, kind of in tandem with that, is heat, like spice. The spice factor is something--it's not welcome in every sandwich, for sure. But I feel like we found ourselves reaching for some kind of like, hot saucey, chili-centric condiment, and oftentimes those things are acidic. And so they, it can kind of play both parts.
Declan: Mmhmm. I feel like it's not, it's not super traditional in American sandwich dogma to have like, something really spicy and, and really kind of...
Molly: But, but at the same time, it's like, it doesn't, it doesn't necessarily need to mean that your sandwich is net spicy. You know what I mean? But there can be a heat factor in a sandwich and it can ultimately read as just like, really well-balanced with like a little bit of like a slow burn at the end. And that's really pleasant. Yeah.
Declan: Mmhmm. Just brightening it up. Yeah. I also--you know, I have a problem where I eat sandwiches really, really fast sometimes. And a little heat can slow me down.
Molly: No no no. You have a problem where you eat everything really fast. You guys haven't had the pleasure of watching Declan eat. I had him over for dinner last night. Um, and he literally was just face down in a bowl of rice and chicken for like 15 minutes. Did not come up once for air, and he's just shoveling food straight to the facha.
Declan: (laughing) Hey, it was, it was a really delicious, um, you know, I'm not sure who made it. It was, yeah, it wasn't clear.
Molly: Oh, oh good. I thought at the end of the meal, you said there was room for improvement. Did you not? (laughing) That's how you left.
Declan: (laughing) I might have said that, I might have said that. Yeah.
Molly: Okay. So, so, so acid, so heat. Another big one for me, and, um, this was one that really, I think, um, was solidified for me in the Italian sando, but can be applied across the board, is this notion of a appropriate balance of meat or protein to like, all of the other components of a sandwich. So with the Italian, obviously it's sliced cured meats, and then the vinegary spicy pickly slaw. We found that having a 50-50 ratio was the best ratio for that sandwich. But in the same way in the BLT, there's a, there's a really intense layer of bacon. And you're balancing that with the lettuce and the mayonnaise and the tomatoes. And so I think paying--same with the turkey sandwich, the basic bitch turkey sandwich that we made, it was maybe a half an inch of turkey, and then there was like, piles of other things on it. And I think, um, oftentimes when you think about a sandwich, because the name of the sandwich is often whatever that protein is, or that's kind of like, "the turkey sandwich," "the tuna sandwich," you tend to sort of focus in all of your effort on that one ingredient, where really actually doing justice to that ingredient means focusing on everything around it.
Declan: Yeah, I think bias towards more other stuff, vegetables, et cetera, ratio to meat in general has been--it just lightens up. Yeah. It just lightens up the sandwich, too. Like, some of these sandwiches can get so heavy, but if you just make sure to kind of bias towards, uh, you know, your, your other stuff, it, it lightens it. And like you said, it kind of gives the protein a way to shine that, that isn't domineering and heavy.
Molly: Totals.
Declan: On that note, also, um, I think one thing that I've found, uh, is that we use a lot of mayo. Mayo is everywhere, uh, in American sandwiches in particular. And I think that--
Molly: As it should be, honestly.
Declan: As it should be. Mayo is glorious. Kewpie is the best. We've established that over and over.
Molly: The GMOAT, if you will. The greatest mayonnaise of all time. (laughing)
Declan: (laughing) The g'moat. But what we did every time, was we like, transformed our normal mayo into something exciting and special that, you know, it was both the kind of, you know, functionally the binding agent for all of these delicious elements within the sandwich, but also had, you know, a lot to say and a lot to add in terms of its own flavor profile. So smoked paprika mayo on the BLT, chili crisp mayo on the chicken sandwich, hot sauce mayo on our breakfast sandwich, chimichurri mayo on the turkey sandwich...
Molly: I mean, the list goes on and on!
Declan: (laughing) The list goes on.
Molly: Honestly, it's, it's your canvas. I think that that's the takeaway, is like, you can, you can make an iconic sandwich and you can sort of tweak the flavor profile, um, to your liking, and in many different ways. And oftentimes the way to do that is by making a, like, zhuzhed-up mayonnaise of some sort for the sandwich. And so that is--just get zhuzhin', dog.
Declan: Just get zhuzhin'.
Molly: Okay. And then lastly, unless you have any more, I just want to reiterate one last time that sesame sourdough is king of the sandwich kingdom.
Declan: There can be only one.
Molly: There is only one king, but there can also be a queen. And I would like to...
Declan: Nominate...
Molly: Milk bread, Japanese milk bread, because I feel like it was kind of a...
Declan: Milk bread, yes. It was a sleeper.
Molly: It was a sleeper hit. And, uh, once we like cracked open a loaf of milk bread and made a BLT with it, we were kind of like, "This is it." So if we're talking--anywhere that you want to, your, your inclination is to use store-bought squishy, white bread, Wonder bread, whatever, if you can access Japanese milk bread, you will not be sorry.
Declan: Yeah. It's, it's just, it's everything you love about squish bread, but a little bit more structure, a little bit more, uh, you know, kind of like, um, it's a little more solid, um, but it's just as light and fluffy and easy.
Molly: And the flavor is so friggin' good.
Declan: Yes. It's glorious.
Molly: So that's, that's kind of the wrap on what we learned, which I feel like that was a lot already. I could go on for hours, but I feel like those are some really big core elements that we kind of took away from this pod that hopefully you guys can apply to your sandwich making endeavors moving forward.
(midroll)
Molly: So this week is a little different because instead of asking you guys what your questions are with regards to any particular sandwich, we thought we'd open the floor to you and just ask you for your weirdest, wildest, most delicious kind of off-the-beaten-path flavor combinations or sandwiches, as a whole, that you have had in your lifetime that fall outside of the sort of canon of American deli sandwiches that we've been tackling. And we got a lot of responses from you. So we are going to...
Declan: I mean, 300 million sandwiches a day.
Molly: Yeah. I mean, everybody's got something to say. So without further ado, let's hear from you.
Call-in: Hi there. My name's Lauren Dahling. I'm based in uh, Boulder County, Colorado, originally hailing from Dallas, Texas, where my street grandmother used to make these sandwiches for me. Um, at the time I didn't really realize they were kind of like a pâté, a pâté-esque spread. But man, I loved these as a kid. You get a can of Vienna sausages, as cheap as that sounds and even gross to even think about canned sausages, but you get a, you can get a can or two cans of those, and probably, um, one tablespoon of really good mayo per can, and you smash that together, making it a paste and then adding lots of black pepper, um, and making a spread. You can add more mayonnaise if you wanted, and then get some really good sandwich bread, or even a sourdough, toast that, and then you spread it. And then we cut them like tea sandwiches and ate them. Man, it's tasty, and it's cheap. And, uh, part of my childhood.
Molly: I am--whoa. I don't know what your take on this was, but I am so into it.
Declan: Um, I'm absolutely into it. I mean, black pepper and mayonnaise, it's kind of the keys, keys to our hearts.
Molly: I just love the ingenuity of, of like creating your own pâté.
Declan: Totally.
Molly: Like, no, one's going to actually make pâté at home, but, and also like, Vienna sausages are basically just hot dogs and we love hot dogs. So it's just like, you're making like, spreadable hot dogs.
Declan: (laughing) Hot dog pâté.
Molly: It's a hot dog spread. Is there anything more delicious than that? (laughing)
Declan: That's epic.
Molly: It, it's honestly so smart, and I'm going, I'm going to try it. I don't even know where to get a, uh, can--I guess you can get them anywhere. Libby's makes them.
Declan: I do think that this sandwich could probably, uh, benefit from a little bit of veg, or like stuff around...
Molly: Dare we say pickles? I mean, hot dogs and pickles! (laughing)
Declan: (laughing) Yeah, definitely some pickles. I mean, come on.
Molly: Like, a pickle and Vienna sausage pâté sandwich? Sign me up. I love it. Okay, let's hear another one.
Call-in: Hey guys. It's Kenoly from Sydney, Australia. I want to talk you through my legendary invention called the Sand Break. It is a sandwich and breakfast in one. Alright, here we go. You need two pieces of highly processed white bread. Then you need crunchy peanut butter. Must be crunchy. Slap that on the two pieces of white bread, then sprinkle on crunchy nut cornflakes and slap the two pieces together. And you need to cut it diagonally, and enjoy. It is texturally incredible. And Molly, I'm sure you want to add some Maldon in there, so go ahead and do that. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure it's delish. Enjoy!
Molly: (laughing) My girl! She knows the way to my heart. Well, I think um, she clearly understands the importance of texture in a sandwich. I mean, that thing is all texture.
Declan: That thing is a big texture.
Molly: It's crunchy peanut butter and then cornflakes and then Maldon salt! I mean, we'll try. I'm not sure--she said something about a specific kind of corn flake, and I was just wondering, is it like a Frosted Flake, or is it, is it more of a savory thing? I do not know. Didn't she say like, a crunch corn flake?
Declan: We can only hope.
Molly: Yeah.
Declan: We can only hope that it's a savory number.
Molly: Or...I mean, I do get down with a Frosted Flake. (laughing) Okay. Love it. Texture all the way.
Call-in: So my grandpa has made himself famous for his peanut butter and chicken salad sandwich. He takes white smushy bread, puts creamy peanut butter on one side chicken salad on the other side, and then layers Ritz crackers in between, and smashes it together. It is a textural phenomenon.
Declan: Wow.
Molly: Another win for the textural lovers. Um, I feel like there--something is happening in the world where in people are putting peanut butter on everything. Peanut butter is going in most sandwiches, I would say. Like--
Declan: Of the 300 million sandwiches per day, I'd say 50% of them have peanut butter.
Molly: 250 million of them include peanut butter. I got maybe, I don't know, like 30,000 responses to my Instagram ask about these sandwiches, and I would say 95% of them included peanut butter.
Declan: Yeah, totally. And in fact, my, my aunt told me recently that my grandfather liked to have peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches. And someone reached out to me on my Instagram and said the same thing. Peanut butter and mayonnaise.
Molly: (high-pitched voice) Way to go, Big! (laughing) So patronizing!
Declan: (laughing) Oh, how dare you!
Molly: How many DMs did you get, Big?
Declan: Oh, it was just a flood. I couldn't keep them off me. Um, so peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwich, which brought to my mind, like, a PB and J, but for savory people.
Molly: Oh, really? That brings to my mind, like, a vomit in my mouth.
Declan: (laughing) It's not, it doesn't sound not tasty to be--I mean, it sounds kind of weirdly tasty, but also, yeah, weirdly horrid.
Molly: Like, I just imagine it sloshing around in your mouth and it's all fat.
Declan: Maybe if it was extra crunchy and reinforced, um, but anyways, I think you're right. The, the phenomenon of peanut butter being in and around sandwiches is, is present.
Molly: It's a thing, it's happening. You heard it here first, folks. Okay, should we take another one?
Declan: Let's do it.
Call-in: I want to introduce you to the Bombay Sandwich. So you start it off with a nice fluffy white bread, all the crust, like, cutoff, clean edges, really soft and fluffy from the get-go. Then you had a layer of Amul butter. Amul is a household brand in India. Um, nice creamy butter consistency. So you had the butter, and then you had the mint coriander chutney. It's amazing. It's got a little bit of green chilies, it's nice and savory, but you had the mint and coriander really play well together. Some people will also add an additional tamarind sauce to add a little sweetness to it. So you had another layer, but mostly it was just mint coriander chutney. Then you had grated cheese, thinly sliced cucumber adding that crunch element, which is perfect. And it was cool, so it really works well with like, any spiciness that was coming from the mint chutney.
Declan: It just sounds so fresh.
Molly: Oh God, it sounds--
Declan: I'm just, I'm--I'm sitting in a sweaty closet, recording a podcast. And I just want this fresh sandwich.
Molly: In your mouth right now.
Declan: It sounds delicious.
Molly: Oh, my God, it sounds so good. (laughing) Did she say--well, the one thing that I wish she would have, she had talked about was what kind of cheese was on it. In my mind, it was cheddar, but I feel like that's probably not true.
Declan: Mmm, yeah. I wonder if it was like a paneer, or...
Molly: I don't know, that feels like a weird--would have been--I don't know. We'll have to investigate the Bombay sandwich, but it sounds just delightful.
Declan: It does. I have to--well, the cucumber cheddar combo also brings to mind like a Finnish sandwich, which is on like--
Molly: Mmhmm. Cucumbers and chedd are so good together.
Declan: Cucumbers and sharp cheddar. Just that really sharp bite and the watery crispy cucumber.
Molly: Yeah.
Declan: Uh, the Finnish is on a brown bread, like a sprouted rye, which is also really nice, but the Bombay variant with a little bit of mint chutney. Mmm.
Molly: Le yum!
Declan: Okay. So this one is from the Hora Diaries: "My grandpa used to make these sandwiches for road trips that I absolutely loved. It was built on plain white read with tomato ketchup spread on one slice of bread, Indian green coriander chutney on the other slice, not too spicy, but quite tangy, and filled with nakim, which is the crunchy fried snack, little fried chickpea flour snacks, covered in spices."
Molly: How wild that two of our call-ins today are both like, reps for the chutney play in a sandwich.
Declan: I love it.
Molly: I love it so much. I still love it.
Declan: (laughing) We love it.
Molly: (laughing) We talked about it five minutes ago, I still love it. Um, the ketchup is interesting. That kind of feels to me like the ketchup in this sandwich is playing a similar role as the tamarind chutney was in the last sandwich. But what I'm super excited about in this sandwich is the crunchy fried chickpea flour snacks. Because just before coming into the closet to record this podcast today--
Declan: What were we eating? Yup. (laughing)
Molly: We were eating little crispy fried Indian snacks covered in spices.
Declan: Delicious.
Molly: And they were the best. And now just imagine that, Dec, and just instead of potato chips, you smashed those up and you put them in a sandwich.
Declan: Mmhmm. I feel like that also gets to something that we've been seeing a lot, uh, in the, in the, you know, sandwich, the weird sandwich combos, which is like some kind of crunchy chippy thing that again, like add that like, heavy, textural element.
Molly: Here's one coming in from @LauraTapper.
Call-in: My epic sandwich experience was around ten years ago at Smorgasburg in Williamsburg. It was this chicken schnitzel sandwich that was topped with a kale Caesar salad. It had a fried egg. Um, there was Grana Padano cheese and it was on this great pretzel bun. And I just clearly remember standing there in the sunshine and biting into this perfect hot crispy, salty, runny situation.
Molly: I am so, (laughing) so thrilled to hear this, because it's been a little bit painful for me to not have been able to really talk about Caesar salad or incorporate Caesar salad in any way into the sandwiches in this podcast, because--
Declan: What do you mean? Wasn't the egg salad, like a Caesar--remember?
Molly: Oh, yeah. (laughing)
Declan: It was an egg salad Caesar.
Molly: Okay. Nevermind. Well guess what? We didn't do it enough.
Declan: Yeah. Just a mere one sandwich was Caesar salad.
Molly: It wasn't enough sandwiches. Didn't even register, like on my radar.
Declan: I know, because you, you didn't like my Caesar salad. That's why. Cause you--
Molly: That's not true, I did. Your broken Caesar.
Declan: You just didn't like that I did it. (laughing)
Molly: Yeah. Well, that's a completely different problem. (laughing)
Declan: That's true.
Molly: But I'm loving that she's talking about Caesar salads inside of a sandwich. I'm thinking, she's thinking like, the actual salad itself is inside the sandwich, which it deserves to be. I mean, think about a grilled chicken Caesar wrap. That's something we could have probably tackled and really leveled up.
Declan: I feel like, yeah, this one also--just reading this, I'm like, there's a good balance. There's chicken schnitzel. There's kale salad. There's a fried egg. Like, there's, there's a good, like, you know, uh, distribution of different things. It's not just a schnitzel in my head.
Molly: Yeah. And I also just want to say that I've been thinking a lot about schnitzel, okay? (laughing)
Declan: (laughing) You've been thinking about schnitzel.
Molly: That's all. (laughing)
Declan: You've been thinking about something breaded and something deep fried and it could be a schnitzel.
Molly: And pounded, and it may or may not be a schnitzel. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Big. (laughing)
Declan: Um, aright, one more. This one is--this one definitely is going to be, uh, this one's trying. It comes from AdamObie83, who says: "Bologna, Cheez Whiz, strawberry jam, and dill pickle. A sixth grader's fever dream." (laughing)
Molly: (laughing) Oh, no, I don't want to eat that. I'm sorry, Adam.
Declan: I mean, yeah, someone left the kids at home.
Molly: I guess if you could just take out the strawberry jam, would eat. Not a huge Cheez Whiz fan, but I can see how it's coming together.
Declan: What exactly is Cheez Whiz? Is it just like, aerated cheese?
Molly: Yeah. It's like, shelf stable, aerated, stabilized, nacho cheese in a can. It's basically Reddi-Whip, but make it cheese.
Declan: Wow. I mean, I, I like it better than Reddi-Whip. I don't like whipped cream that much.
Molly: Mmmm...yeah, that's true. But still.
Declan: So I'm kind of down for this, but yeah. Is there like a fancy version or is it all like, you know?
Molly: Oh, of Cheez Whiz? No, but should we invent that and get rich?
Declan: That could be the next big thing.
Molly: Let's offline about that. Don't take our ideas, anyone. Um, cause what if, cause okay, fine. Let's just keep talking about it. What if we did invent like an elevated Cheez Whiz, and then we swapped out the bologna for Morty D. And then we had like, cornichons on there and we just said eff it to the strawberry jam. (laughing)
Declan: And the jam will be, you know, hand, uh, seeded with goose quills, currant jam. (laughing)
Molly: Oh yeah. Goose quill-seeded currant jam. Like, I would eat that at that point.
Declan: What kind of bread is this on?
Molly: Mmm, I'm thinking it's probably squish bread.
Declan: It's probably squish bread. (laughing) We're noticing...
Molly: If I know my sixth graders like I think I do. (laughing)
Declan: Yeah, yeah, that's true, right. (laughing)
Molly: Okay. You wild for that one, Adam. (laughing)
Declan: (laughing) You wild for that one!
Molly: Okay. Do we want another one? Keep 'em coming.
Declan: How about this one, from LegalizeJackalopes.
Molly: I'm sorry?
Declan: (laughing) That's the handle, LegalizeJackalopes.
Molly: What's a jackalope? (laughing) What's a jackalope? Like an antelope jack rabbit combo?
Declan: There you go. (laughing) Wow, you're quick.
Molly: (laughing) I mean, yeah, antalize those things. Antalize? Legalize! (laughing)
Declan: (laughing) Antalize...okay. "Pea and mayo sandwich. This was my childhood request."
Molly: Oh, that's it?
Declan: That's it, just peas and mayonnaise.
Molly: I, like, you took a breath, I thought you were going to keep going. (laughing)
Declan: No, no, no. That's it. Just peas. I mean, is it like sugar snap--? I'm like, cause of my first thought is like, little green peas.
Molly: I think it's boiled green peas.
Declan: You think it's boiled green peas? That's a mushy...
Molly: That's a mushy pea.
Declan: That's a mushy pea sandwich.
Molly: Did you say pea and mayo? You said pea and mayo.
Declan: Yeah, mayo. Pea and mayo. What if it was sugar snappy or something like that?
Molly: Ok, I think I would eat it if it were blanched and chilled English peas, and then thinly sliced sugar snap peas that got like, marinaded in a nice, like zippy, zingy, lemony, vinegary, garlicky dressing. And then, and that was like, the three quarters of the sandwich. And then there was like a garlicky mayo on the other side. So it was like super crunchy, and the, it was almost like a pea salad kind of in the middle. Would eat.
Declan: Mmm, yeah. And maybe like, prosciutto, or...
Molly: Oh hell yeah.
Declan: Something, like, meaty, because I feel like without something else, peas and mayo is just--I love a simple sandwich, I really do, but, I don't know.
Molly: It may just be too simple. Okay, let's take one more. One last one, okay? This is coming in from @CalvinHuttut, and he says, "A crusty baguette filled with crushed up, heated, frozen mini-chicken pot pie, and a drizzle of sriracha." (laughing) Yum!
Declan: I mean, switch it up with the baguette, gotta love that.
Molly: Yeah. Shoutout to the baguette.
Declan: More baguette sandwiches are needed in the world.
Molly: Wait, I'm kind of loving this. Cause it's like a, it's like a, it's like a, almost like a gravy, chicken and gravy moment. It's taking me almost in like a French dip direction?
Declan: Mmm. I'm thinking--yeah. I mean, it feels very, uh, European.
Molly: Does it? Or does it just sound like homie got high? (laughing) Like, let's just..
Declan: I mean, at the last moment, this drizzle of sriracha definitely gives it all away. (laughing)
Molly: It's the give away. But also mind you, he's crushing a frozen mini chicken pot pie. (laughing) I love this dude so much.
Declan: Gotta love the ingenuity.
Molly: Calvin, my boy. Um, I mean, would try. I'm not mad at it. I actually love sriracha. I know you're kind of a sriracha-hater, that's like a super whack thing about you.
Declan: What are you talking about? How...how dare you? (laughing)
Molly: You're whack with sriracha. You don't like sriracha.
Declan: All I'm saying is that if I have my choice, sriracha is at the bottom of the list after sambal and chili crisp. That's all. That is all.
Molly: Okay. Well, that's a very small list. That's a close-minded list.
Declan: I'm not saying it doesn't have a place. It truly does.
Molly: Alright, Calvin. You did me in, Calvin.
Declan: (laughing)
Molly: You guys are cray.
Declan: You guys wild.
Molly: Are we going to get wild? In the sandwich category? (laughing)
Declan: I think we should. I think we have to.
Molly: We have to, alright.
(musical interlude)
Molly: Uh, where to even begin with this invent-your-own? I mean, the world is our oyster.
Declan: Yeah. How do we...
Molly: Should we do an oyster sandwich? So instead of, normally we kind of go from the outside in, bread-wise, but I think for the sake of creating our own, let's identify what that core protein is going to be, and then work our way out from the sandwich. So, one other thing, as I mentioned recently, just a few minutes ago, is that I've been thinking 'bout schnitzel! And I've been thinking about, like, all, all the different kinds of pounded, breaded and fried meats that there are. The Milanese, the schnitzel, the pork katsu. And we did a fried chicken sandwich, but we didn't do a fried pork cutlet sandwich.
Declan: Mmhmm.
Molly: Are you down for a juicy pounded, breaded pork cutlet? Like panko-fried.
Declan: Absolutely, yes.
Molly: Fuck yeah.
Declan: I think the only parameter I want to introduce is that it can't be too heavy.
Molly: I love that. I think that's a great constraint for us when we begin to now talk about what's going on around it. So let's just say, for the sandwich, we'll do--I want to do pork shoulder. Um, so that it's like juicy and marbled, and we will like pound it, bread it in panko, and deep fry it, and that will be our base. We could maybe do like a little bit of a marinade situation, but let's figure out next what's happening around it, flavor profile-wise.
Declan: Okay. You sure about pork shoulder?
Molly: (sighing) Big...
Declan: (laughing) I should know.
Molly: Stay in your lane, alright?
Declan: (laughing) I think pork shoulder sounds great.
Molly: Great. So we want to do something to brighten and lighten it up. And for me that's, that's meaning like, again, some kind of--I want to do something crunchy on here. Like I, I'm, I'm feeling a slaw of sorts, and it doesn't need to be like a sweet cabbage slaw, but I just mean like, a crunchy vegetable slaw.
Declan: What about-just cause we just talked about sugar snap peas, and they like, are kind of interesting alt, I feel like, for something crunchy and fresh, like could, could there be a sugar snap pea slaw?
Molly: There could. There could. There, uh, there could also be a celery slaw.
Declan: There could. (both burst out laughing)
Molly: This is going really well.
Declan: I mean, why not just do both? We could just, I mean, we could do a sugar snap and celery slaw, like, like, and maybe we take inspiration from this coriander mint chutney.
Molly: Mmm, yes. Maybe it's getting dressed in that. Like we're making--cause you know, it's a kind of a loose sort of spicy condiment of, of blended Serrano chilies, mint, cilantro. And what if we dress our celery snap pea slaw in that?
Declan: Okay, yeah.
Molly: That sounds so good. I mean, c'mon.
Declan: Yeah.
Molly: For some reason, I also feel like I want parm in there though.
Declan: Yeah.
Molly: Like shards. Okay. That sounds fun. Um, so we've got our slaw, we've got our juicy crispy pork shoulder cutlet. (both laughing) Um, what--I do, I still think we need a binding agent kind of mayonnaisey situation.
Declan: I mean, the question is what are we doing to the mayonnaise? We've already got the, the kind of fresh, minty, you know, a little bit of heat, a little bit acid slaw.
Molly: Okay. I have an idea.
Declan: Synthesize.
Molly: So, you know what tonnato is. So for those of you who don't, tonnato is a condiment that's basically mayonnaise--it's sort of like a Caesar dressing, honestly. It's a mayonnaise that has--instead of anchovies blended into it, it's tuna, tuna fish, like oil-canned tuna that gets blended into it, along with mustard and black pepper and lemon juice and whatever else. And so maybe instead doing an anchovy aioli, what if we do like a tonnato? And so it's a tuna aioli type of situation that gets blended, and because tonnato is traditionally, um, drizzled over thinly sliced veal, but we're doing a pork play here, and pork cutlet, but I could see them working together in the same way.
Declan: Mmhmm. I feel like, I feel like we're hitting all the notes. We're leveling up seafood. We're doing something with a breaded fried pork thing. We're getting it to be fresh and light. I'm into this!
Molly: One thing I just want to say, I feel weird about the fact there's no pickles on the sandwich, and I'm thinking we should put them in the slaw.
Declan: There are pickles.
Molly: Okay. (laughing) That's just table stakes.
Declan: (laughing) There are pickles on this. They're in the slaw. Or just pickle planks, even.
Molly: And that brings us to our last question, which is, what is the bread. And I think we should go three, two, one, and at the same time, say which kind of bread we think it should be on.
Declan: Okay.
Molly: Three, two, one. Milk bread!
Declan: Sesame sourdough! (both burst out laughing)
Molly: Oh my god, so predictable! I just, it's too much of a mouthful for me on sesame sourdough. Like, we already have the cutlet, it's so tall. Like, we're never going to even be able to get our, our mouths around that sandwich.
Declan: No, see I, okay. So I thought about--the two things I thought about immediately were milk bread and a bun, like some kind of brioche bun, or whatever. The reason I ended up on sesame sourdough is because I feel like it's, first of all, it's unexpected, which I think will just be like, nice. And I feel like if you cut the sesame sourdough at like a little bit of a thinner slice than you normally do, um, like, I'm thinking, like, a half-inch to even a third of an inch, like pretty thin.
Molly: It's gonna be hard to do, but yeah.
Declan: I can handle it. Don't worry.
Molly: I am just, I, I'm worried at the, just like unruliness of the sandwich overall. And I guess the reason that I went with milk bread is I was kind of thinking in the like, Japanese katsu sando direction.
Declan: Yeah.
Molly: And it's just, it's a classic choice for, uh, for a cutlet like this. But you know what, Big? I'm going to give you this one!
Declan: Okay.
Molly: Because I feel like you've taken my lead on a lot of things in this podcast. And it's your turn to prove your worth. (laughing)
Declan: Okay, I'm going to have to show that I can both cut a sesame sourdough slice at one third of an inch, and that it was the right choice.
Molly: Great. I'm in. So to recap, sesame sourdough on the outside, tonatto as our lubricant, a crispy panko breaded pork cutlet, topped with a celery snap pea slaw that's dressed in a mint and cilantro chutney.
Declan: Forget about it. That's a delicious sandwich.
Molly: I sure hope so.
(musical interlude)
Molly: Okay, so this episode is a special episode because we have partnered with Cabot Creamery to give away a one year supply of cheese to two winners throughout the season. And we're going to announce the final winner right here, right now.
(musical interlude)
Declan: Hey Charlene!
Charlene: Hi!
Molly: How you doin'?
Charlene: I'm doing great, thank you.
Declan: Awesome.
Molly: Good. Well, we are excited to have you on the line, because we wanted to let you know that you have just won a year's supply of Cabot Creamery cheese.
Charlene: Really? Wow. (laughing) Oh my god. Oh my god. Cheese is my favorite food group.
Declan: Perfect. Perfect.
Molly: It is? We'd love to hear what you think you plan to do with all that cheese.
Charlene: Oh, I'm thinking about tacos, and a zucchini cheese melt, and I'm thinking all kinds of foods.
Declan: Oh, interesting. Wait, what's a zucchini cheese melt?
Charlene: Um, you do like, like a yellow and green zucchini, and then you put cheese, your zucchini down, a little sauce, your cheese. It's, it's--
Declan: Amazing. Is it a sandwich?
Charlene: No, it's like a casserole.
Molly: Wow.
Declan: Okay, okay, okay.
Molly: Wow. Well, thanks for listening to The Sandwich Universe and we hope that you enjoy all that cheese.
Charlene: Oh, I definitely will. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Declan: Thanks Charlene.
Molly: You're so welcome. Take care.
Charlene: Take care. Buh-bye.
(musical interlude)
Molly: Okay, Wikiman? Not a peep outta you.
Declan: Honestly, I am so excited for this one.
Molly: Me too. I'm hungry. I fasted for the last three hours.
Declan: Really? I also fasted.
Molly: I'm gonna start with the tonnato. I'm making it in a blender, basically making a mayonnaise here, and I'm going to blend in the tuna and some mustard and anchovies. Do you want to cut the pork shoulder into like, kind of medalliony sized pieces, knowing that they're going to expand as you pound them between two pieces of parchment? I don't have a meat mallet, but I'm thinking if you just pound it with a wine bottle. Okay, I'm going. (blender sounds)
Declan: Time to pound.
Molly: (laughing) Time to pound.
Declan: Wine bottle. Wow, this wine looks nice that I'm about to use to--
Molly: Maybe don't use that bottle.
Declan: Why?
Molly: There's a bottle that I don't care about there, just in case it happens to--
Declan: Let's put this in the fridge, actually. (laughing)
Molly: Okay. (laughing) Let's get this chilling right away.
Declan: Let's get this chilling immediately. (laughing) (pounding sounds) Did you season the cutlets?
Molly: Yup. Chutney going into a bowl and I'm going to build my whole slaw in here. Okay, I'm going to cut these sugar snaps pretty thin.
Declan: Yup. On a bias, I trust.
Molly: Yes, of course. Nothing but the best for you, Big.
Declan: Alright, bread on this is going, I'm going super thin. I'm going half inch. I want it to be--
Molly: Okay. Show us what you got, Knife Skills.
Declan: I think single dredge.
Molly: Yeah.
Declan: It's a pretty thin cutlet.
Molly: Yeah, but I don't--I want this to be a manageable sandwich.
Declan: Yeah, exactly.
Molly: Sizzlin', we sizzlin'!
Declan: Sizzlin' down here.
Molly: Wow. This is wild. Here we go.
Declan: Here we go.
Molly: Cheers to our last sandwich!
Declan: Cheers!
(musical interlude)
Molly: (chewing sounds) This is ridiculous. It's unlike anything I've ever had. The juicy pork cutlet...
Declan: With minty chutney slaw...
Molly: Do you feel me on the shoulder or what?
Declan: Absolutely.
Molly: It's so juicy.
(musical interlude)
Molly: I feel full.
Declan: I feel full. Um...what a journey.
Molly: And it's a collective fullness. It's not like, a fullness from that last sandwich. It's like, a fullness from the last eight weeks, and all those sandwiches.
Declan: Eight weeks of sandwich eating.
Molly: So many questions, so many answers, so many discoveries, so many takeaways. I learned a lot.
Declan: I feel like I actually learned the most.
Molly: Yeah, definitely. (laughing) No, I actually learned a lot as well. I mean, every time I step foot in the kitchen, I learn something. Wow, how has cheesy did that just sound? (laughing) Um, I just shed a tear. But truly, the more you make sandwiches, the better you get at it. And the more you kind of like, dial in. And I really feel like that culminated in one final sandwich that kind of knocked our socks off. And so I do, I like to think that everything we learned in the past nine episodes were sort of like, cumulative education, um, in sandwich cookery. And I hope that everyone else has too. I hope that all of you have taken something away from one episode or two episodes, or maybe you're a diehard Sandwich Universe head. What are they called, the Sandwich Universe heads?
Declan: Sandonauts.
Molly: Oh! (laughing) So dorky, you just abbreviated astronaut. Um, yeah, so to all my fellow sandonauts, um, I hope you leave this season with a refreshed, a new found love of sandwiches, with a fervor for sandwiches, a pressing desire and/or need to get in the kitchen and start making sandwiches. And we want to see them all. So if you make them in your homes, don't forget to take pictures of them and tag me @mollybaz, and Declan @declanbond, and Food52 @f52podcasts, and tag Cabot, our beloved presenting sponsor, @cabotcheese, because we are all dying to see what you come up with. So that's all for now, folks. And if you, if you loved this season--
Declan: Tell a friend.
Molly: Please leave a review.
Declan: Lend a hand.
Molly: So that we may get renewed for next season. (laughing)
Declan: But yeah, thanks for joining on the adventure.
Molly: And we hope to see you again sometime soon.
Declan: Goodbye!
Molly: I don't want to say goodbye, so I'm just going to leave.