the most iconic American sandwiches

[LennG]

Since someone thinks there are too many movie threads, I am scouring around looking for different content that might be befitting the Front Porch.

Saw this today and decided, hey we all like to eat and what is more American than a favorite sandwich.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/recipes/what-are-the-most-iconic-american-sandwiches/ss-BB1g5N0G?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=9228017d70b84bf38431d62bfaa591aa

Personally, I think most of these sandwiches won't be people's favorites, so what is your favorite sandwich? Is it YOUR creation or just something that you have always loved?

Myself, I would have to say my all-time favorite sandwich is something you can only get at a Jewish Deli--Hot Pastrami on fresh rye bread with some great deli mustard. My own take on this is I add a nice scoop of sauerkraut on top of the pastrami. My mouth waters for this. AND there is a huge difference between the pastrami one gets at a Jewish deli compared to any other deli or supermarket.  Don't know why but there is.

For my own creations, I am a HUGE fan of grill cheese sandwiches. I love to try assorted cheeses. Don't know why, but I think my favorite cheese is Havarti. My wife loves to make fresh bread and my favorite is a white/dill bread. When she makes this, I take two huge slices, and then the magic happens.
Instead of putting butter on the bread, I do this sort of spicy mayo on the outside. I also --sometimes- try and jazz up the sandwich with a nice slice of Bermuda onion or tomato on the inside and let it cook on a very low flame until the bread has that crispy look and the cheese is melted.

OK guys let's hear it.

[MightyGiants]

I love love love sandwichs hot and cold

You can never go wrong with the classic Italian sub-  ham, salomi, and provolone with lettuce, tomato, onions, salt, and pepper


So of my favorites that I make myself

using a broiler, I create a sandwich that I first heard called "a Roma".  It's sliced beef or steak topped with mozzarella cheese and the top of the role I use butter and garlic bread sprinkle on a roll

using a Panni press-  I love making patty melts.  That is a burger topped with Swiss cheese, swiss cheese under, and fried onions on rye bread

using a broiler I love to make meatball parm sandwiches where again I make the top of the role a garlic bread roll on an Italian roll

using a broiler I love to make leftover white meat chicken, sandwich pickles, cheese (varies depending on my mood), and BBQ sauce on a roll

using a broiler I will put sliced pot roast or thinly sliced chop meat patties, topped with swiss cheese, and the top of the roll slathered with brown gravy on a roll

I can also go for a good Ruben or a French Dip

another favorite wet mozzarella, roasted sweet peppers and ham (or similar combination with the cheese and roasted peppers)

[Ed Vette]

A good Roast Beef like the one Kelly's in Ma. sold is one of my favorites. Harold's deli makes huge kosher style sandwiches but not the best. Nothing like a Corned Beef or Pastrami on rye with melted swiss. If you like toasted panini, try Breaded Chicken Cutlet, fresh Mozzarella, prosciutto with salt, pepper and extra virgin Olive Oil. 

[Jolly Blue Giant]

If I'm buying a sandwich, my favorites are (depending on where I am)

Boston or Maine (or northeast) my favorite by a mile is a good Lobster Roll
In NYC, I have to go with Hot Pastrami on Rye w/ Russian Dressing
If I'm in Buffalo or Rochester, it's Beef on Wick
In Binghamton, it's a Lupos Chicken Spiedie sandwich or sub
In Filthydelphia, it's a Philly Cheese Steak dripping with saut

[Ed Vette]

Try that hot Pastrami or CB with a smear of chopped chicken liver.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MightyGiants]

The best sandwich shop was a little hole-in-the-wall place in the town I work in.   It was an old-fashioned Italian deli run by an old lady (her husband had passed).  The mozzarella was made by them and they ordered their bread from Calandra's bakery (some of the best bread I have ever had).

I put on like 5 or 10 pounds when I discovered the place


Sadly, at the beginning of Covid, the old lady broke her hip and the place closed up.  I don't think I will ever have sandwiches as good as what I got from there 

[LennG]

The best sandwich shop was a little hole-in-the-wall place in the town I work in.   It was an old-fashioned Italian deli run by an old lady (her husband had passed).  The mozzarella was made by them and they ordered their bread from Calandra's bakery (some of the best bread I have ever had).

I put on like 5 or 10 pounds when I discovered the place


Sadly, at the beginning of Covid, the old lady broke her hip and the place closed up.  I don't think I will ever have sandwiches as good as what I got from there 

Some of the best food around usually comes from those 'little' places that know how to do things right.

[Jolly Blue Giant]

Some of the best food around usually comes from those 'little' places that know how to do things right.

Ain't that the truth. My brother in law in Israel took me to a hole in the wall in Haifa for Falafel - he said it was the best around. Interestingly, it was a very small run down place that could only hold about 8 - 10 people inside waiting for their order. When we got there, there was a line down the sidewalk waiting to get in and place their order. Took about 20 minutes just to get inside. What made me laugh was that there was a brand spanking new restaurant across the street with gleeming stainless steel and big glass windows and a sign that said Falafel. There was no one inside and the owner just stood inside looking out his window at all the people waiting to get inside the old run down tiny "hole in the wall" on the other side of the street. People who know food, know what they like and where to go.

My sister took me to a run down little joint near Hadara called "The Blue Bus" for what she called, the "best humus in the world"...and it was really good. She wasn't wrong. Again, the place was packed and from the outside it looked like a run down shack. I have some pictures at "The Blue Bus" with my sister that I'll share, but the point...the best places to eat are often little holes in the wall

Here's the outside where you enter





My sister and I inside

[WesternNY]

Tough call.

Is Reuben a bad word in the NYC metro? A pastrami on rye with sauerkraut, Swiss and Russian is a Reuben in most places. Saw a lot of people above allude to this sandwich. The deli or butcher pastrami is always better than a store or chain. Great sandwich. That said I would have to think that somewhere in central or eastern Europe a similar mix has been done for a while.

Italian assorted also good. I have a place that uses imported Mortadella and Prosciutto. Again, can see someone in Italy making a similar sandwich.

Thanks for the Beef on Kimmelweck shout out! That is a form of a French Dip though at the end of the day. The Genesee Brew House makes a good one in Rochester, but Buffalo makes them a bit better.

I would have to go with the cheesesteak. Only in the USA would you mix roast beef with cheese whiz and top it with a mix of peppers/ onions and mushrooms. Having lived in Philadelphia I have had the good/ bad and ugly of cheesesteaks. If you find yourself in Philadelphia you can go to Jim's, Pats or Geno's, and they are good, but I would recommend going a bit out of the way for Tony Lukes at 39 E Oregon Ave. Great cheesesteak and grab a beef and broccoli rabe with provolone too. The classic cheesesteak is on an Amoroso roll with whiz.

The turkey club should get a shout out too. It is a bit dainty, but turkey is a North American bird, and of course we paired it with bacon!

[squibber]

I often tell my waitress I want a rubber band sandwich and make it snappy!

It usually gets a laugh.

[LennG]

Tough call.

Is Reuben a bad word in the NYC metro? A pastrami on rye with sauerkraut, Swiss and Russian is a Reuben in most places. Saw a lot of people above allude to this sandwich. The deli or butcher pastrami is always better than a store or chain. Great sandwich. That said I would have to think that somewhere in central or eastern Europe a similar mix has been done for a while.

Italian assorted also good. I have a place that uses imported Mortadella and Prosciutto. Again, can see someone in Italy making a similar sandwich.

Thanks for the Beef on Kimmelweck shout out! That is a form of a French Dip though at the end of the day. The Genesee Brew House makes a good one in Rochester, but Buffalo makes them a bit better.

I would have to go with the cheesesteak. Only in the USA would you mix roast beef with cheese whiz and top it with a mix of peppers/ onions and mushrooms. Having lived in Philadelphia I have had the good/ bad and ugly of cheesesteaks. If you find yourself in Philadelphia you can go to Jim's, Pats or Geno's, and they are good, but I would recommend going a bit out of the way for Tony Lukes at 39 E Oregon Ave. Great cheesesteak and grab a beef and broccoli rabe with provolone too. The classic cheesesteak is on an Amoroso roll with whiz.

The turkey club should get a shout out too. It is a bit dainty, but turkey is a North American bird, and of course we paired it with bacon!

As I said in my OP, that pastrami sandwich with the kraut is my favorite. Since we observe the Kosher dietary laws, the swiss cheese is a no-no, but since I've never had it, and probably never will that way, I don't miss it.

I was discussing this with my wife as to what we loved when we were growing up and if it is still with us.

As a kid, my MOm, I hate to say it, wasn't the best of cooks, but she made a mean meatloaf. There was always leftover and when we went to the beach on the summer days, we carried a nice slice of meatloaf on some fresh club bread (or Italian), smeared with Heinz ketchup, with some great kosher dill pickles fresh out of the barrel (no jar pickles allowed in our house). There was a place on the boardwalk where we bought a bottle of cream soda, and that was our mid day meal. Why I had forgotten about this, I don't know, but it was yummy.

[jimv]

A favorite sandwich of mine that I still make for myself is liverwurst on rye with Gulden's mustard & a slice of onion.  Yummmmmmmm!

[Sem]

In Binghamton, it's a Lupos Chicken Spiedie sandwich or sub

Funny, just yesterday we checked our cupboard and noticed we were down to our last bottle of Lupo's Spiedie marinade. Thanks to an online order we have eight more bottles heading our way. And while we were at it a few bottles sent to our son in Minnesota, and a few to our daughter who lives a couple hours south of us. Summer is upon us after all. Time to make the neighbors jealous. 

[DaveBrown74]

Great thread! I love sandwiches of all kinds.

My absolute favorite for decades is a fairly simply one, but I just love it:

Roast beef with lettuce, tomato, and Russian dressing. That's it. Very simple but so good. I like it on a hero, but on a kaiser roll it's perfectly good too. When all the ingredients are high quality and fresh, to me this is the ultimate. I have enjoyed this sandwich since I was a kid. I remember ordering it in a deli once, and I never got away from it.

I like a variety of others though too. I love a good quality triple decker turkey club, I like any sort of classic Italian combo (with Italian cuts), and if we're being truly indulgent I certainly would not say no to something like a chicken parm or meatball parm hero. I also love a tomato/mozzarella/basil hero when the ingredients when everything is very fresh.

If I could have a sandwich for lunch 6 or 7 days a week for lunch without gaining weight I'd do it. Alas, that is not the case, so I have to be a bit more sparing about them, which is why I like to make them worth it when I do it. I would never bother with a crappy, middle of the road caliber sandwich unless I had no other options that day.

[Sem]

I don't have a favorite, there's just so many I absolutely love..

Tuna salad, fresh sliced tomato, and cheese
Meatloaf and ketchup
Grilled ham and cheese
BLT or BLAT
Spiedie on fresh baked (Battaglini's or Roma's) Italian bread
Thinly sliced roast pork, broccoli rabe and provolone cheese on a hard roll
Scrambled egg and roasted red pepper
A couple shops around here do fantastic thinly sliced tri-tip sandwiches

Countless others depending on where I am and what's available.