Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Hiatus
Given the busy weeks coming up (work travel, personal travel, birthdays, holidays) I'm going to need to take a hiatus for a bit; but have no fear! I'll be back :-)
Friday, November 16, 2012
Primanti Brothers-Style Grilled Cheese
Anyone who has been to Pittsburgh should know the glorious foods that result from the application of French fries to basically anything and there is no greater manifestation of this combo than a Primanti Brothers sandwich. The first time I had one I didn't even know what had hit me.
Officially the sandwich involves coleslaw, tomato, and french fries as the topping to your choice of meat and cheese (for me that's traditionally been turkey and provolone). You can add extra meat or extra cheese or even an egg and, in my experience, any combination is really a good one. But as you can see in the photo above, the sandwich isn't grilled. Now, I'm not one to try to improve on a winning formula, but this sandwich was so good I had to include it in my blog-- and for it to be in my blog it has to be grilled! So, let's get down to it :-)
Ingredients:
* Deli sliced honey ham
* Provolone
* Coleslaw
* Tomato
* Frozen French fries (or really any french fries will do-- in an ideal world I would've gotten some waffle fries, but that wouldn't be true to the original)
* Pepperidge Farm Sourdough (I believe they usually use plain white bread, but we know how obsessed I am with the P. Farm Sourdough)
The only significant prep work to be done was cooking the french fries according to the package instructions. I had purchased pre-made coleslaw, but in retrospect making my own would have been better (this slaw was too runny, but more on that later).
Once the fries were done it was straight to sandwich assembly. Since these were going to be massive we opted for one per person and started off with two slices of provolone (yes, I'm deviating from the norm and going with slices this week) on two of the slices of bread.
Next came the honey ham.
Followed by the coleslaw.
And then another layer of provolone.
Next the tomato slices.
And yet another layer of provolone (I mean, for it to be a grilled cheese the cheese has to be the star of the show).
And finally the French fries.
It was tricky to get them to stay on the sandwich, but we prevailed.
Good gravy, this sandwich is huge! I was already having visions of fries flying as I attempted to flip the sandwich in my frying pan. This would require extreme care.
I cooked the sandwiches one at a time, covering them while they cooked on each side, and had some right tasty looking sammies in no time. I couldn't wait to dive in.
Taste Review:
Our first observation was that the sandwich was colorful-- yellow fries, red tomatoes, greenish coleslaw, pink ham. A feast for the eyes as well as the tummy. The sandwich was pretty runny though-- tomatoes are watery and the coleslaw is way creamy, so those were forces to be reckoned with. The ham and the coleslaw were both sweet and that helped to offset the saltiness of the bread and french fries. Despite the multiple layers, the cheese wasn't really a strong flavor. You could tell it was there because it gave a smoothness and creaminess to the sandwich, but the coleslaw was the main taste in the sandwich-- probably because it was so creamy since it was pre-made. This is where I revisit my point that making my own coleslaw would have been a smart choice. It was just super creamy and sweet and tended to overtake the other flavors on the sandwich. As usual, Colin had gotten out his hot sauce, but he said he didn't actually need it-- I think there were enough different flavors and elements to the sandwich that he didn't need to add one more.
As mentioned, my only minor gripe with the original was the soft bread, so grilling the sandwich brings it to the right consistency (in my opinion), but the runniness of the coleslaw was frustrating as it attempted to counteract the nice crispiness of the bread. So, in case you haven't caught on yet, changing the type of coleslaw is the main improvement I would make to this one. One other minor modification would be to use bigger French fries-- just because that would be yummy. But back to the coleslaw-- if you took that away from the sandwich it would feel like more of a grilled cheese because then the cheese would be the star of the show, but we do like this sandwich as is even if it's not, strictly speaking, a grilled cheese.
Despite the need to improve the coleslaw situation, this sandwich was deeeelish.
Officially the sandwich involves coleslaw, tomato, and french fries as the topping to your choice of meat and cheese (for me that's traditionally been turkey and provolone). You can add extra meat or extra cheese or even an egg and, in my experience, any combination is really a good one. But as you can see in the photo above, the sandwich isn't grilled. Now, I'm not one to try to improve on a winning formula, but this sandwich was so good I had to include it in my blog-- and for it to be in my blog it has to be grilled! So, let's get down to it :-)
Ingredients:
* Deli sliced honey ham
* Provolone
* Coleslaw
* Tomato
* Frozen French fries (or really any french fries will do-- in an ideal world I would've gotten some waffle fries, but that wouldn't be true to the original)
* Pepperidge Farm Sourdough (I believe they usually use plain white bread, but we know how obsessed I am with the P. Farm Sourdough)
The only significant prep work to be done was cooking the french fries according to the package instructions. I had purchased pre-made coleslaw, but in retrospect making my own would have been better (this slaw was too runny, but more on that later).
Once the fries were done it was straight to sandwich assembly. Since these were going to be massive we opted for one per person and started off with two slices of provolone (yes, I'm deviating from the norm and going with slices this week) on two of the slices of bread.
Next came the honey ham.
Followed by the coleslaw.
And then another layer of provolone.
Next the tomato slices.
And yet another layer of provolone (I mean, for it to be a grilled cheese the cheese has to be the star of the show).
And finally the French fries.
It was tricky to get them to stay on the sandwich, but we prevailed.
Good gravy, this sandwich is huge! I was already having visions of fries flying as I attempted to flip the sandwich in my frying pan. This would require extreme care.
I cooked the sandwiches one at a time, covering them while they cooked on each side, and had some right tasty looking sammies in no time. I couldn't wait to dive in.
Taste Review:
Our first observation was that the sandwich was colorful-- yellow fries, red tomatoes, greenish coleslaw, pink ham. A feast for the eyes as well as the tummy. The sandwich was pretty runny though-- tomatoes are watery and the coleslaw is way creamy, so those were forces to be reckoned with. The ham and the coleslaw were both sweet and that helped to offset the saltiness of the bread and french fries. Despite the multiple layers, the cheese wasn't really a strong flavor. You could tell it was there because it gave a smoothness and creaminess to the sandwich, but the coleslaw was the main taste in the sandwich-- probably because it was so creamy since it was pre-made. This is where I revisit my point that making my own coleslaw would have been a smart choice. It was just super creamy and sweet and tended to overtake the other flavors on the sandwich. As usual, Colin had gotten out his hot sauce, but he said he didn't actually need it-- I think there were enough different flavors and elements to the sandwich that he didn't need to add one more.
As mentioned, my only minor gripe with the original was the soft bread, so grilling the sandwich brings it to the right consistency (in my opinion), but the runniness of the coleslaw was frustrating as it attempted to counteract the nice crispiness of the bread. So, in case you haven't caught on yet, changing the type of coleslaw is the main improvement I would make to this one. One other minor modification would be to use bigger French fries-- just because that would be yummy. But back to the coleslaw-- if you took that away from the sandwich it would feel like more of a grilled cheese because then the cheese would be the star of the show, but we do like this sandwich as is even if it's not, strictly speaking, a grilled cheese.
FINAL
RESULTS:
|
Sandwich:
|
Primanti Brothers Grilled Cheese
|
|
Gooey-ness:
|
5 (RUNNY, but not because of the cheese)
|
|
Aroma:
|
1
|
|
Appearance:
|
Big and colorful.
|
|
Taste:
|
A |
|
Gooey Scale
|
Aroma
Scale
|
| 1
= still cold/hard |
1 = can’t smell a thing
|
| 2
= slightly melted but still firm |
2 = tender waft
|
| 3
= melted evenly |
3 = makes
your stomach growl
|
| 4
= melted and slightly runny (starting to get those cheese strings between your
sandwich and your mouth when you take a bite) |
4 = strong scent
|
| 5
= runny |
5 =
overpoweringly pungent
|
| 6
= sloppy mess! |
Despite the need to improve the coleslaw situation, this sandwich was deeeelish.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Product Review: Toastabags
I'm not sure I ever thought I'd do a post that's a product review, but lo and behold here I am! Awhile back my friend Jessi told me about a product she had seen called Toastabags -- little bags made out of a special material that you can use to cook a grilled cheese in a toaster. Of course this made her think of me. They looked interesting enough, but I wasn't quite ready to order them online. Fortunately for us all, fate dealt me a lucky hand as I navigated the lesser-occupied pre-storm areas of my local Safeway and found my very own set of Toastabags!
I decided for my first trial run I didn't want to get too crazy, so I went with some old standbys-- grated cheddar on Pepperidge Farm sourdough. In the spirit of a little fun I did use some butter to stick some Parmesan to the outside of the bread a la our Grilled Caprese sandwich. So after assembling my sandwich I carefully shimmied it into the bag so as to try and not lose the cheese filling.
Despite what this photo appears to indicate, it was a relatively tight squeeze, but it worked well. I can safely conclude that you could fit just about any average-sized sandwich bread in here.
Now it was time for the toaster. I use my toaster pretty rarely (I didn't even have one until I looted a freebie from my friend when she was selling virtually all of her possessions), so I didn't really know what to go for in terms of ideal darkness setting. Oh well! Trial and error, right? So I just set the dial to about the mid-point and stuffed the sandwich into the toaster. This was DEFINITELY a tight squeeze, so even though most breads will fit in the bag, make sure your toaster will actually accommodate 2 slices of bread plus filling in one slot.
The Toastabag didn't actually go all the way into the toaster, so there was a good little piece peeking out for the duration of the cook time.
I realize that the lever is up in this photo, but I assure you that the sandwich really looked no different whether the lever was up or down. At a point it was just too fat to fit anymore of the bag into the toaster.
Once the toasting was done I decided to show the top part of the sandwich some love and flipped it over to toast the portion that was formerly exposed during the toasting process. I didn't allow this side to toast quite as long as the first run-through though, because I didn't want to burn the middle of the sandwich. A few seconds/minutes later...
Voila! Mixed results (one side lightly charred, the other not so much). The cheese inside was definitely melted and the outside of the bread was toasted, so our primary objectives were achieved, but it wasn't quite the same as your standard grilled cheese. Even though I had put a little butter on the outside of the sandwich (which apparently isn't even necessary), the bread still felt a little dry-- like... well, toast! Not to say that's a bad thing, just different. It gives an overall lighter feel to the sandwich. That's really the only key taste differential.
I think the real focal point here is the actual preparation process. What was that infomercial with the tag line "Set it and forget it!"? Well, that's basically what you can do here. Instead of standing at the stove constantly flipping/covering/uncovering/flipping/recovering your sandwich, you just pop it in the toaster and get on with your life (for the next two minutes or so). It's the lowest maintenance grilled cheese I've done (but then again, I don't have a panini press which I imagine involves a similar order of operations to the Toastabags). The only clear logistical downside is the inability to fit too much filling/crazy ingredients into the sandwich. We all know I've done some fatty sandwiches in the past (i.e. The Onion Ring Grilled Cheese, The Brunch Grilled Cheese, and The Pulled Pork and Fried Pickles Grilled Cheese to name a few), and clearly none of those would have been possible in my small-ish toaster. So you either need to manage your expectations there, or get a big toaster.
All in all I'd say these are handy in a pinch on those days that you don't quite feel like putting all the effort in to make a grilled cheese, or for bringing with you to make a grilled cheese on the go. Could I have finally found the key to office grilled cheeses?! YESS!
I decided for my first trial run I didn't want to get too crazy, so I went with some old standbys-- grated cheddar on Pepperidge Farm sourdough. In the spirit of a little fun I did use some butter to stick some Parmesan to the outside of the bread a la our Grilled Caprese sandwich. So after assembling my sandwich I carefully shimmied it into the bag so as to try and not lose the cheese filling.
Despite what this photo appears to indicate, it was a relatively tight squeeze, but it worked well. I can safely conclude that you could fit just about any average-sized sandwich bread in here.
Now it was time for the toaster. I use my toaster pretty rarely (I didn't even have one until I looted a freebie from my friend when she was selling virtually all of her possessions), so I didn't really know what to go for in terms of ideal darkness setting. Oh well! Trial and error, right? So I just set the dial to about the mid-point and stuffed the sandwich into the toaster. This was DEFINITELY a tight squeeze, so even though most breads will fit in the bag, make sure your toaster will actually accommodate 2 slices of bread plus filling in one slot.
The Toastabag didn't actually go all the way into the toaster, so there was a good little piece peeking out for the duration of the cook time.
 |
Once the toasting was done I decided to show the top part of the sandwich some love and flipped it over to toast the portion that was formerly exposed during the toasting process. I didn't allow this side to toast quite as long as the first run-through though, because I didn't want to burn the middle of the sandwich. A few seconds/minutes later...
Voila! Mixed results (one side lightly charred, the other not so much). The cheese inside was definitely melted and the outside of the bread was toasted, so our primary objectives were achieved, but it wasn't quite the same as your standard grilled cheese. Even though I had put a little butter on the outside of the sandwich (which apparently isn't even necessary), the bread still felt a little dry-- like... well, toast! Not to say that's a bad thing, just different. It gives an overall lighter feel to the sandwich. That's really the only key taste differential.
I think the real focal point here is the actual preparation process. What was that infomercial with the tag line "Set it and forget it!"? Well, that's basically what you can do here. Instead of standing at the stove constantly flipping/covering/uncovering/flipping/recovering your sandwich, you just pop it in the toaster and get on with your life (for the next two minutes or so). It's the lowest maintenance grilled cheese I've done (but then again, I don't have a panini press which I imagine involves a similar order of operations to the Toastabags). The only clear logistical downside is the inability to fit too much filling/crazy ingredients into the sandwich. We all know I've done some fatty sandwiches in the past (i.e. The Onion Ring Grilled Cheese, The Brunch Grilled Cheese, and The Pulled Pork and Fried Pickles Grilled Cheese to name a few), and clearly none of those would have been possible in my small-ish toaster. So you either need to manage your expectations there, or get a big toaster.
All in all I'd say these are handy in a pinch on those days that you don't quite feel like putting all the effort in to make a grilled cheese, or for bringing with you to make a grilled cheese on the go. Could I have finally found the key to office grilled cheeses?! YESS!
Friday, November 2, 2012
Barbeque Sauce Grilled Cheese
This week's sandwich borrows some familiar elements from last week's sandwich, but puts a totally different spin on them. Behold, the barbeque sauce grilled cheese:
But I'm getting ahead of myself with this sneak preview-- let's rewind and start from the beginning.
Ingredients:
* Pepper Jack
* Cheddar
* Red Onion
* BBQ Sauce of choice
* Pepperidge Farm sourdough
* Butter
If you tune in every week then by now you know that I have a thing for caramelized onions. Something about being able to enjoy that sweet but tangy onion flavor without worrying about super stinky raw onion breath puts a smile on my face (and a growl in my tummy). So step one was, of course, to thinly slice my red onion and plop it in a pan with about 2 Tbsp of butter.
I alternated stirring a bit and cooking covered for a bit and in about 10 minutes we were all set.
That was pretty much all of the advance prep we needed! Well, aside from grating half of each brick of cheese. I love quick and easy prep work because it means I'd actually be likely to make this sandwich again on an average week night. Anyway, on to sandwich assembly. First I put about 1 Tbsp of barbeque sauce on each of two slices of bread.
Looks sort of like jelly, am I right? Next came a few handfuls of cheese. I had pre-mixed the cheddar and pepper jack together so I got a nice even application of both cheeses over the entirety of the sandwich.
Next up were the caramelized onions:
Followed by the remaining cheese:
From there it was the usual sandwiching the pieces together, buttering the outside of the bread, and grilling (covered) until browned nice and evenly on each side. In a few short minutes-- voila!
Seeing that perfectly charred Pepperidge Farm bread just never gets old for me!
Taste Review:
We could smell the onions and cheese before taking a bite, which I think is a somewhat natural side effect of cooked onions on the sandwich. The purple onions combined with the BBQ sauce gave the sandwich a dark overall appearance that was pretty unique (save for a similar look to the not well liked Dutch Grilled Cheese). The BBQ sauce was the main player in my first bite-- probably because that's the only ingredient I had applied all the way to the very edge of the bread. The first thing we both observed about the sandwich was how creamy it was. The BBQ sauce, soft onions, and melted cheese make for a very creamy and smooth sandwich. But it's not as if it's so creamy it's soft-- the onions and bread give a subtle crunch that helps to counterbalance the gooier elements of the sandwich.
Surprisingly we didn't taste a lot of spice from the pepper jack cheese. Usually for someone like me (who is extra sensitive to spicy food) even a little bit of spice does not go unnoticed, but in this case sweetness of the BBQ sauce and onions really overrode the spice. So in reality, the BBQ sauce was the dominant flavor-- the onions didn't have a distinct taste, they just gave a subtle sweetness to enhance the sandwich. So if you make this sandwich, be sure you choose a BBQ sauce that you LOVE because it will dictate the flavor of the rest of the sandwich.
We found the sandwich above average, but not by a wide margin. It was good, and I'd make it again, but it wouldn't be my first (or second or third) choice.
But I'm getting ahead of myself with this sneak preview-- let's rewind and start from the beginning.
Ingredients:
* Pepper Jack
* Cheddar
* Red Onion
* BBQ Sauce of choice
* Pepperidge Farm sourdough
* Butter
If you tune in every week then by now you know that I have a thing for caramelized onions. Something about being able to enjoy that sweet but tangy onion flavor without worrying about super stinky raw onion breath puts a smile on my face (and a growl in my tummy). So step one was, of course, to thinly slice my red onion and plop it in a pan with about 2 Tbsp of butter.
I alternated stirring a bit and cooking covered for a bit and in about 10 minutes we were all set.
That was pretty much all of the advance prep we needed! Well, aside from grating half of each brick of cheese. I love quick and easy prep work because it means I'd actually be likely to make this sandwich again on an average week night. Anyway, on to sandwich assembly. First I put about 1 Tbsp of barbeque sauce on each of two slices of bread.
Looks sort of like jelly, am I right? Next came a few handfuls of cheese. I had pre-mixed the cheddar and pepper jack together so I got a nice even application of both cheeses over the entirety of the sandwich.
Next up were the caramelized onions:
Followed by the remaining cheese:
From there it was the usual sandwiching the pieces together, buttering the outside of the bread, and grilling (covered) until browned nice and evenly on each side. In a few short minutes-- voila!
Seeing that perfectly charred Pepperidge Farm bread just never gets old for me!
Taste Review:
We could smell the onions and cheese before taking a bite, which I think is a somewhat natural side effect of cooked onions on the sandwich. The purple onions combined with the BBQ sauce gave the sandwich a dark overall appearance that was pretty unique (save for a similar look to the not well liked Dutch Grilled Cheese). The BBQ sauce was the main player in my first bite-- probably because that's the only ingredient I had applied all the way to the very edge of the bread. The first thing we both observed about the sandwich was how creamy it was. The BBQ sauce, soft onions, and melted cheese make for a very creamy and smooth sandwich. But it's not as if it's so creamy it's soft-- the onions and bread give a subtle crunch that helps to counterbalance the gooier elements of the sandwich.
Surprisingly we didn't taste a lot of spice from the pepper jack cheese. Usually for someone like me (who is extra sensitive to spicy food) even a little bit of spice does not go unnoticed, but in this case sweetness of the BBQ sauce and onions really overrode the spice. So in reality, the BBQ sauce was the dominant flavor-- the onions didn't have a distinct taste, they just gave a subtle sweetness to enhance the sandwich. So if you make this sandwich, be sure you choose a BBQ sauce that you LOVE because it will dictate the flavor of the rest of the sandwich.
FINAL
RESULTS:
|
Sandwich:
|
Barbeque Sauce Grilled Cheese
|
|
Gooey-ness:
|
3.5
|
|
Aroma:
|
2.5
|
|
Appearance:
|
Uniquely dark filling.
|
|
Taste:
|
B |
|
Gooey Scale
|
Aroma
Scale
|
| 1
= still cold/hard |
1 = can’t smell a thing
|
| 2
= slightly melted but still firm |
2 = tender waft
|
| 3
= melted evenly |
3 = makes
your stomach growl
|
| 4
= melted and slightly runny (starting to get those cheese strings between your
sandwich and your mouth when you take a bite) |
4 = strong scent
|
| 5
= runny |
5 =
overpoweringly pungent
|
| 6
= sloppy mess! |
We found the sandwich above average, but not by a wide margin. It was good, and I'd make it again, but it wouldn't be my first (or second or third) choice.
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