50 States Sandwich Challenge: Connecticut

Yes, it's true.  Fried Clam Rolls did originate in Massachusetts.  In fact, fried clams are mentioned as early as 1840, and are listed on an 1865 menu from the Parker House hotel in Boston (For 40 cents USD).  The modern deep-fried, breaded version is credited to Lawrence Henry "Chubby" Woodman in Essex, MA.  He allegedly created the first batch on July 3, 1916, in his roadside clam shack (still open, by the way, Woodman's of Essex).  So why is this being used as Connecticut's state sandwich? Well, other than being known for Lyme's disease and women's basketball, Connecticut also has more clam shacks per capita than anywhere else in the country.  And do you know what they serve at clam shacks?  Fried Clam Rolls.  So, sorry Massachusetts, you've been swagger jacked by Connecticut, but I'm sure another New England state would never do that to you.  Fried clams are not just an iconic food to Massachusetts but to all of New England.  So like every southern state has its own barbecue (that we will visit throughout this project), every New England state has its own version of a fried clam roll. (And lobster roll.  And hot dog.)  The recipe, I'm using today features clams soaked in buttermilk and spicy pickle dressing instead of tartar sauce, so buckle up because this sandwich has the most ingredients to date.  

Ingredients

Clams and Peppers:

8 ounces fresh clam bellies

1/2 cup pickled peppers, such as B and G, sliced

1 cup buttermilk 

Sauce:

1/2 cup mayonnaise, preferably Japanese, such as Kewpie

1/4 cup drained pickles, chopped 

1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice 

1 tablespoon chopped capers 

1 tablespoon finely minced fresh parsley

Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Sandwiches:

4 cups shredded romaine lettuce

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 

2 quarts neutral oil, for frying 

1 cup fine cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour 

1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano 

1 teaspoon garlic powder 

1 teaspoon Spanish paprika 

Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper 

4 hot dog buns or brioche long rolls 

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1. Put the clams and peppers in a bowl.  Add the buttermilk and let soak, refrigerated for at least 8 hours or overnight. 

2. Make that sauce: Combine the mayo, pickles, lemon juice, capers, and parsley in a bowl.  Season with salt and pepper.

3. Toss the shredded lettuce with the vinegar and set aside.

4. Heat the oil in a large, deep pot until you get the oil to 360 F.  Line a plate with paper towels (for draining).

5. Combine the cornmeal, flour, parmesan, garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper.

6. Scoop the clams and peppers out of the buttermilk and toss in the flour mixture to evenly coat.

7. Fry the clams and peppers in the hot oil until brown, about 2 minutes.  Then drain on the towel-lined plate. 

8. Toast those buns!

9.  Spread the sauce on both sides of the buns and top with lettuce, fried clams, and peppers. 

50 States Sandwich Challenge: Colorado

 Known for its idyllic mountains, beer cans that turn blue, and legalized marijuana; Colorado is the most popular of the "continental divide" states leading to the West.  Why? No, it wasn't the perfect snowboarding conditions or the Rocky Mountain oysters that did it.  It was the transcontinental railroad from Chicago to San Francisco, which ran right through Colorado, that originally brought settlers, not only from the midwest/east but from the west as well.  And that is where their iconic sandwich, "The Denver Sandwich" was born. The ingredients seem simple; a western omelet on toast, but where did this derive?  Denver restaurateur Albert McVittie claims ownership of the Denver Sandwich in 1907 but many historians believe the sandwich predates that to railroad workers constructing our great link between the coasts.  Many Chinese immigrants arriving in San Francisco searching for work found it in building the railroad from the west, connecting with the railroad already being built from the east.  These two met in Colorado.  The western omelet is said to likely been derived from the Chinese dish egg foo young, a recipe from Guangdong.  The dish is prepared with beaten eggs with minced ham and various vegetables; the "western" version of this being green peppers (likely from Mexican migrants from neighboring New Mexico) and onions.  Following the American tradition of putting everything on toast (and copying the Asian student's work), the Denver Sandwich was brought to diners across Denver, and eventually the entire country as the Western Omelette.  The more you know.  Anyway, I know I keep sounding like a broken record every week but this was yet another very easy sandwich to make.

Ingredients:

6 eggs

2 tablespoon of butter

1/2 cup of cubed ham, cooked

2 green onions, minced

1 green pepper, minced

4 slices of toast

1. Cut up your cooked ham, green onions, and green pepper.

2. Beat the eggs (you can add some milk and melted butter here), and add the ham, pepper, and onions.

3. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter on a frying pan and pour the egg mixture into the pan.

4. Make an omelet how you like it, and then put it on toast. Voila!

 

PEC Challenge: Jersey Shore Deli

 No real captivating story behind this place.  It sits on the corner of an interesting little "commons." Interesting, how? Well, the architecture of this "strip mall" is more akin to what you'd find in Florida or maybe the Carolinas in that the buildings are in a more circular fashion rather than just a rectangle block of stores you would find typically in New Jersey.  And that's talking architecture. I'd do more research but I am slammed at work until a certain day in early November (Election Day) so here's a simple "bodega" PEC this week from Jersey Shore Deli in Tinton Falls.  

Bread Rating: 6.8/10 (A pretty standard bodega roll, had some nice toast at the top from sitting on the griddle.)

Pork Roll Rating: 6.9/10 (Snappy pork roll on this, might have been on a griddle a minute too long.  Still tasted good.)

Egg Rating: 6.6/10 (Nothing special about the eggs, maybe cooked a little long.)

Cheese Rating: 5.5/10 (Not a very good cheese ratio with the eggs as they were almost non-existent)

Sandwich Composition: 6.6/10 (Standard SPK placement with the meat and eggs sandwiched in between the roll.)

Overall: 6.5/10 (About as expected for a bodega PEC, nothing will blow your socks off but it's also not an insulting PEC by any means.  It gets the job done.)

Price: $4

Jersey Shore Deli is located at 613 Hope Rd, Tinton Falls, NJ 07724

50 States Sandwich Challenge: California

 You'll be surprised to know that avocado is not involved with today's sandwich at all.  No avocado? In California? What? Well, turn your heads vegans because you're about to go on a trip down memory lane to the turn of the 20th century when meat sandwiches were a popular lunch in Los Angeles.  Before Hollywood influencers and would-be tech titans came to California, it was a land of outdoor adventurers from all over the world, looking for land and gold to create their American legacy.  One of these people was Philippe Mathieu, a French immigrant born in 1877 who started out working at a deli in Southern France before moving to Algeria to work as an apprentice cook.  Once he saved enough money, he immigrated to the U.S where he cooked his way across the country in lumber camps and hotels before landing in Los Angeles in 1903.  He bought a deli for $150 (seriously what?) at 617 Alameda in LA and opened Philippe's Restaurant in 1908 where ten years later, the French Dip was invented (according to legend).  Again according to their website, one day in 1918 while making a roast beef sandwich, Mathieu inadvertently dropped the sliced french roll into the roasting pan filled with the juice that was still hot.  The patron said he would eat it anyway and like most American things, this accident became a popular meal for the many police and fireman who would frequent Philippe's restaurant during all hours.  Today, the restaurant still stands at 1001 North Alameda St, and has been rebranded "Philippe The Original."  Truth be told, the only thing "French" about this sandwich is that it was made by a French guy in California and although California has seen many food trends become popular in American lure, the French Dip is perhaps the oldest and most enduring of them all.  And why wouldn't it be? Slow-cooked roast beef with melted provolone broiled on a french bread dipped in its own juice.  Who says no to that? Anyway here's the very simple recipe I followed. 

Ingredients

4 pounds bottom round roast

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 large onion, peeled, halved, and sliced thin

3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

14.5 ounce can of fat-free beef broth or homemade beef stock

1/4 cup light soy sauce

3-4 dashes Worcestershire Sauce

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 Bay Leaf

3 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme

6 hoagie rolls

2 teaspoons softened butter optional

12 slices provolone cheese

1. Season your beef roast with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder (duh). 

2. Put beef, sliced onions, garlic, beef broth, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, dijon mustard, bay leaf, and thyme in a crockpot.  Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 7-8 hours and let the magic engulf your entire house.  Shred beef when done. 

3. Time to prepare.  If you want to, spread some butter on each slice of the bread. Lay a slice of provolone cheese on each side of the bread and cover with your shredded roast beef.  Time to broil it up.  

4. Turn your broiler on high and put the assembled sandwiches on the third rack from the top of the oven for 35 seconds. 

5. Once toasted, remove from oven and serve with the juices leftover in the crockpot. (The fancy term for this is au jus.) 

PEC Challenge: Tinton Falls Deli

 I pulled up to Tinton Falls Deli this morning, one of two cars in the parking lot.  A man at the register took my order (and two guys in front of me) and went back to make our sandwiches, unaware of the onslaught of customers that were about to walk in.  As I walked past a couple of empty fridges and unstacked poultry shelves, I realized this bodega might only operate as a sandwich operation.  But with the number of people coming in that morning, it seems the people in the neighborhood still frequent the store, unfortunately now undermanned and understocked.  This didn't take away from the quality of sandwiches you'd find here and the place is still obviously popular.  It just took me about 40 minutes to get a breakfast sandwich, which was a little frustrating but understandable.  Businesses are hurting, and this guy running the register and cooking probably had to lay off all of his employees just to keep his deli afloat.  Another sad coronavirus case.  Anyway, the PEC here was a good, local sandwich that is a good go-to for anyone living around Sycamore Ave.  

Bread Rating: 7.2/10 (A pretty good, soft deli roll.)

Pork Roll Rating: 7.9/10 (About five thick slices of the salty good stuff. The flavor off of the griddle was excellent, it frankly made the sandwich.)

Egg Rating: 5.8/10 (Almost non-existent egg, which isn't necessarily bad because the pork roll was so good.  Just can't grade the egg well.)

Cheese Rating: 6.8/10 (Plentiful melted American cheese draped over a single egg. Heavy pepper application, again not a bad thing.)

Sandwich Composition: 7.3/10 (A lot of pork roll on this sandwich which is the main event. Good ketchup placement on the top and bottom of the rolls but it wasn't overwhelmingly ketchup-y.  Pepper application on point as it really brought out the pork roll flavor.)

Overall: 7/10 (I know, round score, but numbers don't lie.  This is a solid PEC from a neighborhood deli.)

Price: $5

Tinton Falls Deli is located at 1191 Sycamore Ave, Tinton Falls, NJ 07724

50 States Sandwich Challenge: Arkansas

Arkansas.  Home of Walmart and sexy sax President Bill Clinton.  Honestly, I don't know much about Arkansas except that Little Rock is always battling Camden, NJ for the most dangerous city in the U.S. and that it's one of those weird "West of the Mississippi/Southern States."  Is it the West or is it the South? Only the Missouri Compromise could tell. (In 1820, Maine was admitted as a free state, while Missouri was admitted as a slave state.  This exact line of thought was used again in 1836 when Michigan was admitted free and Arkansas a slave state.)  Verdict: Arkansas is the South. The next question most people might be asking about Arkansas is "why is it pronounced differently than Kansas? Why is it not AR-Kansas? (New model of assault rifle hitting Walmart shelves  Christmas 2021!) Well, because the original tribe who settled the area was the Quapaw which was phonetically translated by the French (who claimed the area as part of their colony in America) as Arkansea, hence the pronunciation Arkansas with a silent 's' at the end.  So you can blame the French for that.  Today, Arkansas is home to the Walmart corporation, which is the world's largest company by revenue ($514B) and the largest employer in the world (2.2M employees).  Surely, all this revenue is spread around the state and the ancestral home of the Clintons would give us a rich, southern-style sandwich, right? 

WRONG. 

We're doing a bologna sandwich today, folks.  Fried bologna.  Just like in 1836. There's absolutely no history as to why this is the state sandwich so let me just make the very rude assumption that Arkansas is "historically poor" and bologna is cheap. Some people say bologna is similar to pork roll, and to those people, I say "how dare you." I have to say I did really enjoy bologna sandwiches growing up so I'm excited to try this "grown-up" version of frying the bologna first. Ok, let's jump in.  

Ingredients:

2 Slices Wonder Bread

4 Slices of your favorite bologna

1 Slice of American Yellow Cheese

Spicy Brown Mustard 

1. Spread some spicy brown mustard on the wonderbread.  

2. Oil up your pan and hit it on medium-low.  Place some bologna on there. 

3. When you flip the last bologna slice.  Put on some white American cheese. 

4.  Take the bologna and cheese and put it on that wonderbread.  Put it in the toaster for a light toast and there you have it folks, the state sandwich of Arkansas. 

PEC Challenge: Rick's Breakfast House

Closed out summer officially by celebrating two superstar sister's birthday's in Sea Isle City all weekend.  What that meant is we all survived being subjected to blog life.  Yes, I did follow up this pork roll, egg, and cheese with a bacon-wrapped hot dog on Friday.  We also washed that all down with roughly a million bud lights, and we're still standing. (Barely). I was given the tip that Ricks Breakfast House was one of the best on Sea Isle, so that's exactly where I went this time around.  It's a quaint little diner right next to the Acme on the main street (Landis Ave), with a handy take out window installed on the side (there was a wooden board you had to stand on to pick up and I fell right off of it when I turned to leave). Anyway, breakfast at Rick's is a must-have if you're visiting Sea Isle and the pork roll reflects that.  

Bread Rating: 7.7/10 (A really soft roll but with a nice toast.)

Pork Roll Rating: 7.8/10 (Layers of medium cut pork roll lightly griddled.)

Egg Rating: 7.9/10 (Two over-hard eggs with a bonus egg whites in between the pork roll pieced.  Cheese mixed in, which is always a plus.)

Cheese Rating: 8.4/10 (White American cheese melted perfectly into the eggs and pork roll slices.)

Sandwich Composition: 7.5/10 (No SPK but when I cut into this sandwich I saw exceptional layering and some of the best cheese melting I've seen.

Overall: 7.86/10 (Very, very solid PEC on the beach.)

Price: $7

Ricks Breakfast House is located at 6112 Landis Ave East, Sea Isle City, NJ 08243.

50 State Sandwich Challenge: Arizona

 Back in the continental U.S today and with an extremely different climate than the frozen rivers of Alaska.  Today, we trek the deserts of Arizona for what some people might call a controversial "sandwich" take.  The age-old question, "Is a hot dog a sandwich?" is about to be explored here.  With strong ties to Mexico, it's only natural for Arizona's sandwich to be a mix of Mexican and American classics that mix together in a beautiful blend known as the Sonoran Hot Dog.  No one is sure who exactly came up with the Sonoran Hot Dog but the popular theory is that this regional hot dog began as a 1940s ballpark meal in Hermosillo, the state capital of Sonora. (That's in Mexico.)  By the 1980s Sonoran hot dogs became a very popular item on the University of Sonora's campus, as vendors set up stands all over the university.  Many of these vendors traveled north of the border to Tucson, where the trend has stuck with thousands of hot dog stands lining the streets, making not finding a Sonoran Hot Dog nearly impossible.  Daniel Contreras owns the most popular hot dog spot, El Guero Canelo, and three other restaurants after first opening his hot dog stand in 1993.  You're probably wondering what differentiates this from a regular hot dog.  Let's find out.

SONORAN HOT DOG

• 4 all-beef hot dogs
• 4-8 slices bacon
• 4 hot dog buns, preferably Bolillo buns
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup pinto beans, warmed
• 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
• 2 tablespoons jalapeño salsa (above)
• 2 tablespoons pico de gallo (above)
• 2 tablespoons shredded cheese
• Grilled banana peppers, for garnish
• Grilled large scallions, for garnish

1. Wrap the hot dogs in bacon. 

2. Heat grill to medium-low and slow cook the bacon-wrapped hot dogs.  Turn once is crispy, about 4-5 minutes. 

3. Heat the pinto beans on low. 

4. To assemble: Add a thin layer of mayo to the bun.  Follow this with a scoop of warmed pinto beans and your bacon-wrapped hot dog. Top off with yellow mustard, jalapeño salsa, pico de gallo, and shredded cheese. Serve with grilled banana peppers and scallions.

Happy Friday!

PEC Challenge: Anna's Kitchen

So about that debate the other night.  JUST KIDDING, we are not talking about that shitshow.  In other news, I saw my first bit of professional live entertainment last night.  Bill Burr absolutely murdered at the Blu Grotto talking about all of his new 2020 complaints of which there were many.  An hour of uninterrupted laughter and comedy is just what the doctor ordered.  Thank you, Bill, come back soon.  Anyway here's another backlogged pork roll.  Why am I backlogged and why don't I blog earlier in the week?  Good question.  You see, the $25 USD I've made on weird-ass ads just isn't going to cut it for rent on the Navesink River so I need a real job, and now is the busiest time of the year, specifically the beginning of the week. (Bet you can't guess what my day job is.) So enjoy this pork roll that I ate in August.  Anna's Kitchen is in the same strip as Jughandle Brewery, which I highly recommend. You are allowed outside food there so grab a pork roll from Anna's and hit up Jughandle to wash it down.   

Bread Rating: 7.7/10 (Nice and soft kaiser roll that was able to support all of the layers on this sandwich nicely.)

Pork Roll Rating: 8.1/10 (Three thick slices that had a bit of a snap to them.  Must be Case's, which is an excellent brand choice if you have thicker cuts on your breakfast sandwich.)

Egg Rating: 7.3/10 (A couple of jumbo fried eggs in between pork roll slices. I'd rate them as slightly above average due to size.)

Cheese Rating: 7.1/10 (This place gives you a few options for cheese which is cool.  For consistencies sake, I selected yellow American as it's what's typically on these.)

Sandwich Composition: 8.3/10 (The layering on this sandwich was incredibly balanced with excellent SPK ratio and meat to bread ratio.  

Overall: 7.7/10 (An incredibly solid breakfast sandwich.)

Price: $5

Anna's Restaurant is located at 4057 Asbury Ave, Tinton Falls, NJ 07753