50 States Sandwich Challenge: Indiana

 We're going to be sticking primarily to the midwest for the next month or so, so get ready for some gluttonous sandwiches.  This week, Indiana.  I've spent exactly (1) weekend in the state of Indiana for a really lovely wedding in South Bend (if you don't know that's where Notre Dame is).  I woke up that Saturday morning, turned on the TV at the Marriott, and you'll never believe what was on; Rudy.  I couldn't believe the coincidence of the story of an undersized man who fought his way onto the field for a legendary college football program was on TV the same day I was only steps away from the campus.  Then I dug a little deeper.  I searched my local listings back home for the same station and saw they were playing terrible Taylor Kitsch action movies all day.  So that means, every Saturday morning, in South Bend only, the local cable system shows Rudy on TNT.  Just a fun fact for you on a Friday.  Now to the sandwich.  The pork tenderloin sandwich (similar to the Weiner Schnitzel) is incredibly popular with the highly Germanic immigrant groups that originally settled in the midwest.  Instead of pan-fried, the pork is deep-fried (America, baby!) with cracker crumbs instead of the traditional breadcrumbs you'd typically fry with.  Founded in 1908, Nick's Kitchen in Huntington, Indiana (hometown of former Vice President and comb-over specialist Dan Quayle) claims to have made the original and from what I've seen in my 10-minute research, no one disputes it.  Without further ado, here is the Hoosier Pork Tenderloin Sandwich. 

Ingredients: 

2lbs of center-cut boneless pork tenderloin

2 eggs

2 cups buttermilk

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 sleeves of saltines

2 cups of instant flour 

Oil, for frying

Hamburger rolls

Mayo

Yellow mustard

Iceberg lettuce, shredded

1 tomato, thinly sliced

Sliced pickles

1. I bought my pork tenderloins already cut and thinly sliced because I'm lazy.

2. Whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, garlic, 1 teaspoon of salt and pepper, cayenne in a shallow bowl, and place the pork inside.  Marinate that overnight or at least a few hours.

3. Pulse the crackers in a food processor or just crush them all up in a bag with a mallet, whatever it takes.  Pour the flour in one dish and the saltine crumbs in another. Dredge the pork in the flour, back in the marinade, and then coat with the crumbs.  If you've been making chicken cutlets for years you know what to do. 

4.   Heat oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat until the thermometer reaches 360 F.  Fry your pork in batches, about 3 minutes per side, and then let it drain on a paper towel.  

5. Spread both sides of your bun with mayo and mustard.  Layer the bottom bun with lettuce, tomato, and pork.  Put some pickles on top and there you have it.  

PEC Challenge: Grateful Deli

 You may have noticed a drastic downtick in my PEC posts and that is because around 4-5 weeks ago I caught COVID. (I've used instacart to deliver my groceries for my 50 states sandwich challenges)  I didn't really want to make a big deal of it and honestly wasn't even going to mention it.  I guess the feeling surrounding catching this thing at this point nine months into it is "you aren't being careful enough."  Well, fuck that.  Here was my experience with it.  I didn't really get much sleep the weekend of November 13th.  I drank outside at my friends barn and then proceeded to play golf in 50 degree weather Sunday and Monday morning.  Predictibly, I was pretty worn out Tuesday but felt more fatigued than usual.  Weird.  Took my temperature and had a fever of 100.4.  Sweet, that's what I get for hanging out outside in the cold three days straight.  This continued for three days until I lost smell and taste over the weekend.  An extra garlicky pasta and meatball Tupperware dinner on Sunday night dropped off by my mom started to restore these functions and my fever was gone.  Still felt weird through Thanksgiving and then got two negative tests in a row exactly two weeks after my symptoms presented.  Other than being gripped by anxiety over long term effects on my cardiovascular system or committing mass murder upon leaving the house, I felt pretty back to normal three weeks after symptoms. And now I'm back on the pork roll beat and will be posting three this week starting with this one. So I guess I should be grateful that my immune system was able to handle COVID.  But this deli is not grateful in the way you think.  It is entirely committed to paying tribute to the band The Grateful Dead.  Pictures of the band and fellow dead heads are all over the walls.  It's off the beaten path, right outside the Asbury city limits in Loch Arbour about 4 blocks from the beach.  It's a solid spot and would highly recommend.  What I would not recommend is catching COVID.  0/10 on the experience both mentally and physically. Being stuck inside all winter might be for the best but the minor inconvenience of staying in and watching Netflix is taking away the thing I love to do most; living.  So you might see me make some outrageously long trips for pork rolls in the coming weeks to so I can keep some semblance of my sanity. Buckle up because its about to get real weird. 

Bread Rating: 7.2/10 (A pretty standard hard roll.)

Pork Roll Rating: 7.6/10 (Pretty thick-cut slices here and a ton of it.  Flavor was good, maybe needed another minute on the grill)

Egg Rating: 6.9/10 (Very cheesy egg, but unfortunately not much of it.)

Cheese Rating: 7.4/10 (A lot of cheese in this one as you can see, in between the slices and mixed in with the egg.)

Sandwich Composition: 7.1/10 (A standard composition with the egg on top of the mountain of pork roll.  Will never complain about extra cheese. A little ketchup heavy.)

Overall: 7.24/10 (Solid PEC spot right next to Deal Lake, about 4 blocks from the beach.)

Price: $5.75

Grateful Deli is located at 541 Main St, Loch Arbour, NJ 07711

50 States Sandwich Challenge: Illinois

 Here's a sandwich that might be a little familiar from a previous state.  But instead of a French Dip, today's sandwich is an Italian Beef, the pride of Chicago, Illinois.  Like the French Dip, Italian Beef is a simmered chuck roast served with provolone BUT instead of French bread, it is put on Italian bread.  And, because Italians like to add a little extra flavor to everything, we're going to put some hot giardiniera (Italian relish) and pepperoncini pepper slices.  Full disclosure that should come of no surprise to anyone, but I loved this sandwich.  The exact origin is unknown, but its believed to be created by Italian immigrants who came to Chicago to work in the slaughterhouses of the early 1900s.  (Not every Italian in Chicago is linked to Al Capone).  Because Italians were the new, fresh immigrants to treat like shit, the factory bosses would send them home with the tougher, less desirable cuts of beef sold by the company.  To make the meat better to eat, it was slow-roasted in Italian-style spices and herbs.  It rapidly grew in popularity and eventually became one of Chicago's most famous ethnic foods (at the time): the Italian beef sandwich.  The recipe was popularized by Pasquale Scala who started small beef stands in Chicago and in 1938, the now-famous Al's Beef opened where 70 years later was named "the best sandwich in the Midwest" by Adam Richman (who has probably eaten more sandwiches than me).  Anyway from now on if you refer to this sandwich as just a roast beef sandwich or cheesesteak I will be writing to the American Italian Anti-Defamation League.  Here's the recipe I used:

Ingredients:

3lb chuck roast

1 envelope of Zesty Italian salad dressing mix

8oz pepperoncini pepper slices

8oz Giardiniera (Chicago-Style Italian sandwich mix)

14.5oz can beef broth

Provolone

Italian bread (I got mine at Livoti's because they make the best bread in the world)

1.  Put your roast into a crockpot and season with the salad dressing mix.  Add about half the pepperoncini peppers, a splash of the juice from the jar, Giardiniera, and the beef broth.  Cook on low for 9 hours. 

2. Put the beef on your Italian bread and add provolone cheese.  Top with pepperoncini peppers and Giardiniera.  

50 States Sandwich Challenge: Idaho

 Idaho may be known for their potatoes, Napoleon Dynamite, and boasting a college football field with entirely blue turf (Boise State) but none of those things factor into their state sandwich.  I, admittedly, know next to nothing about Idaho.  It's a mystery land, I think purposefully, rich in an outdoors culture that would seem pretty foreign to most of my East Coast Metropolitan followers.  A common sight in the mountains of Idaho is huckleberries, so popular in the state that in 2000 they were named the state fruit.  The huckleberry is considered a finicky fruit, as it only grows between 2,000 and 6,000 feet and can take up to 15 years to yield mature berries for consumption.  Idahoans (and the substantial bear population of the region) have been loading up on the fruit every July and August (huckleberry season) since humans first arrived in the area 14,000 years ago.  Multi-day huckleberry festivals happen in almost every town and city in Idaho, usually in the first or second week of August, and are a component of many foods and drink from pies to cocktails.  Today, however, we will be using a huckleberry jam (which I had shipped from Idaho, no big deal) to make the classic American sandwich, the peanut butter and jelly (in this case peanut butter and huckleberry jam). This summer treat has been gracing lunches since the original Lewis and Clark expedition came through Idaho in 1806 so I guess you can call it a pretty iconic sandwich to Idaho.  I don't really know, I did about 30 minutes of research on this so if anyone from Idaho wants to chime in, now is your shot.  Another really easy sandwich for those still following along. The huckleberry jam was a little sweeter than your typical jelly you'd find in a PB&J but ultimately, this tasted like a regular PB&J to me.  Not the sexiest sandwich but still a classic.

Ingredients:

Wonder Bread

Peanut Butter

Huckleberry Jam 

1. Spread peanut butter on both sides of the bread.

2. Spread the huckleberry jam on both sides of the bread.

3. Put the bread together and now you have a sandwich.