30 Gourmet Sandwiches #25: Roast Beef with Horseradish and Cucumbers

We're really in the place to be for a roast beef, horseradish and cucumber sandwich. It's not really a go-to sandwich recipe for me, but maybe it should be...?

We got that traditional german pumpernickel/rye, roast beef, cucumber, a red onion, rocket/arugula, mayo, and I couldn't be bothered to buy a whole jar of horseradish when i have a tube of wasabi, which is basically the same thing!

Like for real, most wasabi in the uk is secretly horseradish dyed green. Anyway is this a good ratio? i have no idea. We'll just find out.

Since I already got that loaf of rye for the smoked salmon one, I figure thats close enough for "seedy wholegrain" bread. It's quite a crumbly and brittle bread for a sandwich though.

 

Now I can just chop a bit of the onion and cucumber for the sandwich. Red onion is a good one to use raw, the brown onions are a bit too.. yknow, oniony.

Like a pair of beef curtains... hmm thats making me extra hungry...

The crunchy veg...

And lastly, the aroogla. irregular. amoogus. leafs.

*****

Damn this is hittin... the dry beef, peppery horseradish and onion, and crunchy vegetables are so perfectly balanced. I think i did this one just right. Even the bitter, seedy bread feels like a good match. This is a good sandwich. 

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #24: Bistro Baguette

 This ones sounds conventional. The first challenge was finding a beef skirt cut, but morrisons came through.

Beef skirt steak looks nice, (its cheap too!) a sweet white onion, tomato, watercress, and since it didn't specify the mustard I thought i'd mix it up a bit with this swedish mustard, which is kind of a wholegrain and ground mix.

I'm caramelising the onions with a bit of olive oil on one side, and cooking the steak with a bit of butter on the other side. I always think butter just kinda adds something with steak, I dunno. Should I have seasoned this? probably but it didn't say to... well maybe ill add the tiniest pinch of salt and pepper.

Chopped the tomato and pulled out the watercress pieces from the mixed salad bag. Yeah I know my leaves. Like a druid.

Chunk of baguettes sliced and ready. I think i'll spread mustard on the top side, so its next to the onion.

Trouble with white onions is I can't really tell when its peeled enough, so it looks like theres some harder bits in there, they become obvious when cooked.

w-cress is in, and ive tried to slice the steak diagonally. There's plenty of it, i think im maxing this sandwich out again. Is the hungry instinct taking over?

Tomatoes and onions are in.. can we squeeze it shut without spilling it everywhere?

***

It's good yeah. The steak really is a nice cut for a sandwich, its lean and not tough or chewy. I liked the mustard and onions with the steak. I dunno, its a bit boring? What if it had some like hot sauce or blue cheese sauce or something.

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #23: Smoked Salmon and Dill on Pumpernickel

The classic gravlax combination sandwich. Gravlax, didn't i fight that wyvern in monster hunter?

I've got pumpernickel/rye bread, smoked salmon, cream cheese, a big bag of frozen dill, and a bit of lemon.

So I just learned that american and german rye bread are different? American style is sweeter and a bit more, well, bread-like in texture. This traditional german pumpernickel is dense and seedy, almost like an unsweetened muesli bar. Still, its fit for purpose. I'll slather plenty of cream cheese on it.

And smoked salmon, ive tried to bunch it up a bit to get some height in this sandwich, its gonna be really flat.

As for the lemons, it suggests to put in whole slices! I'll slice them as thin as i can manage, and cut the peel/rind off.

And the dill! I don't have big sprigs of this, but its actually quite a strong flavoured herb so i think this light sprinkle will be plenty.

***

Its ok... quite bitter... quite sour... the lemon pieces are way too strong, you should just squeeze some juice on the fish. Some black pepper or something would have helped this. And maybe bagel or tiger bread, something chewier.

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #22: Sushi Sandwich

The most controversial sandwich yet, surely!

Rice crackers, soy sauce, wasabi, pickled ginger.. somethings missing...

There it is! Yeah I can probably purchase a large volume of sashimi from a specialist fishmonger, but I figured it might just be simpler at this point to treat myself to some takeout. I got some good looking tuna sashimi, and some other stuff for later... looks like this came with all the condiments I need, so ill put these extras away for now.

Cracker.

The sushi-grade tuna!

It sure looks like a huge glob of wasabi mayo on the reference image, but according to the text its wasabi paste, soy sauce and ginger (and seaweed but i didnt have it). Nice and fast!

**

The sashimi is a bit tough to be eaten this way... i guess because its not sliced so thin, the tuna can't be bitten off easily. A pointless effort, but its a classic flavour combination and the rice cracker is pretty similar to rice so it tastes nice because I like sushi. Barely a sandwich.

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #21: PB, B&B

PB, B&B stands for "Peanut butter, banana & bacon." A bold combination of sweet and savoury.

Grilled up some bacon. Smells good.

Sliced up one banana, its a fairly long one so thats plenty of banana.

It says to toast some white bread, ill give it a nice light toast.

Gotta stir up this big tub of natural peanut butter like its a can of paint! I think it is generously slathered.

And now it says to "build layers until the sandwich is a hunk a burnin' peanut-butter love" ok dude. So like 2 layers?

Yeah i'd say its hunky. Then it says "hit the gym youll need to work this one off" yeah ill just get on the treadmind your own business machine how about that.

**

Honestly? Not that great. I feel like I'm eating MASCULINE CULTURE: THE SANDWICH. It's the ladbible of sandwiches. Its sugary, but not sweet. It's salty, but not savoury. It's dense, sticky, cloying and unrewarding. It's got that forced baconification fetish applied to the beigest of foods. Like chicken & waffles with neither syrup not hot sauce.
Also I got curious and measured the calories on a website, it should be about 700-800 calories. So calm down.

30 Gourmet Sandwiches #20: Pork Sandwich with Red-Onion Relish

 After that slightly sad processed turkey in the thanksgiving sandwich, I felt like maybe i haven't been putting in as much effort, and getting more sliced ham instead of a proper roast pork wouldn't do for this one.

So I am going... for it!!! I bought a whole-ass roasting pork joint. only £7.50 actually, pork has gotten really cheap here. It's a workday so I sneakily pop this in the oven a couple hours before I finish work, one of the many perks of work from home eh. Bit of red valkyrie lore for ya.

Still, it would be a crime to do all this and not give it some season. I've got a drizzle of olive oil, a splash of red wine vinegar (more on that later), paprika salt (mostly just salt at this point) and some chilli flakes. And then some fresh sage leaves from my herb planter!

A couple hours later and I've finished up at work, time to complete the dinner... I've got a big loaf of sourdough bread, red onions, olive oil and red wine vinegar, and some... ketchup for this? really?

I'll thinly slice 2 onions, thatll probably make me plenty.

I've already done a later recipe where i had to caramelise onions, and i cooked them too hard and fast and burned them a bit, so now im gonna try really hard to do it low and slow. They're sauteeing in some olive oil and then when they've softened I add in the red wine vinegar.

A nice chunky slice of the sourdough will do. I think sourdough is a bit overrated, this bread looks a little dense and cakey. Never seemed worth the hassle to maintain all that starter stuff, just to make a slightly worse and more sour bread than yeast can do. Still better than any bread ive ever made.

These are looking much better! And as for the pork?

That's looking great! I've tried to slice it as thin as I can.

Nicely proportioned and smells so good.

The onion relish goes on top, there'll be plenty of both for leftovers.

And lastly. perhaps controversially.. I must admit, even as a big ketchup kid this wasn't my first thought to pair with pork and onions! But i love sauce on my sandwiches, i couldn't help but want to try it. Is that a good idea though...?

*****

This is sooo good. It's mainly the roast pork that tastes soooo goooood. It pairs surprisingly well with the sourdough, and the ketchup really doesn't clash with the vinegary onions after all. I should definitely make roast pork loin more often, sandwich or otherwise.