Although peanut butter and jelly goes a long way, you can do a lot more with bread by using some sandwich and spread recipes. The recipes on the following pages can turn your leftover turkey or pot roast into a masterpiece.
Sandwich Lore
The sandwich has a noble, or slightly ignoble, pedigree. It is named for John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, although it surely predated him. It is said, variously, that he popularized the sandwich because he would eat them while playing cards - other forms of food not lending themselves to being tidily eaten one-handed, or that he was such a busy administrator that he would eat them at his desk. The gambling story, of course, is the one that gets the widest circulation.{{middleTemplate}}
Whatever the background of the name, even the Earl couldn't have imagined how far sandwich and spread recipes have come.
Handy Food
There's no denying that in its most prevalent form - meat between two slices of bread - the sandwich is a handy food, easy to eat on the run or while doing other things. Thus, the sandwich has found a permanent home in our multi-tasking lives.
Today, it doesn't even have to involve two slices of bread to qualify as a sandwich recipe. Hamburger or hotdog buns, sub or kaiser rolls, pita bread or a biscuit, all make a great base for sandwich and spread recipes.
Knife and Fork Sandwiches Pair Well with Sandwich and Spread Recipes
While the 'platter sandwich' that must be eaten with a knife and fork rather defeats the purpose of convenience and one-handed eating, knife and fork sandwiches can be excellent sit down at a table meals.
The diner favorite roast beef sandwich complete with a scoop of mashed potatoes and covered with brown gravy is a favorite comfort food of many. And the 'pulled pork barbeque' sandwich, in which the sauce makes the underlying bun a gooey mass much too dangerous to pick up, is one of the best ways to enjoy barbeque.
Sandwiches, once for lunch, are now perfectly acceptable for breakfast (sausage, egg and cheese on a biscuit, anyone?) and dinner.
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