I want to learn how to make a couple of British sandwiches

[barnowl]

The first is a bacon and banana. Early on in Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse, a guy walks into a coffe shop and the clerk suggest a bacon and banana sandwich. So he buys one, but never comments (if I remember correctly) on how good it tastes.

In The Importance of Being Earnest, the central character and others sit around and talk while eating cucumber sandwiches. I think the sandwiches are eaten in Pygmalion ( and My Fair Lady), too.

Both of these sound scrumptious. How do you make them, please?

[pianolist]

Cucumber sandwiches British style:
https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~bcohen/cucumbers/recipes/english_sand.html

One of the secrets of old-style English sandwiches is the thinness of the slices, both of the bread and of the filling. I used to visit the former piano roll critic of the Musical Times, in the late 1970s, when he and his wife were in their eighties. They made the most wonderful tomato sandwiches, with really thin slices - they were almost as refreshing as a cold drink.

I've never been into a coffee shop in England and found bacon and banana sandwiches. They sound rather American to me! We do have more sandwich varieties here these days, and in some motorway (turnpike) rest areas you need a mortgage to afford them. Traditional British sandwiches with thick bread are sometimes known as "doorsteps", and a fairly typical British sandwich menu can be downloaded in pdf format from:
https://www.doorstepsplymouth.co.uk/menu.pdf

Google suggests that Elvis loved peanut butter, bacon and banana sandwiches, but I wouldn't want to follow in his shoes. Google also provided me with 847,000 results for "bacon and banana sandwiches", so there's quite a choice! I would guess that the bananas should be mashed, but not everyone seems to think so. If you want to drool, click here:
https://static.flickr.com/4/4483880_e351c2bdf5_b.jpg

[letters]

you can also get a thing called a ploughman's lunch in most pubs and this is basically some really nice crusty thick bread, cheese, some meat if you like, and some salad (eg tomatoes and cucumber etc).



 The english are quite good at cress sandwiches but i have never tried one (although i am english!). Cheese and pickle is quite popular too.

[thalbergmad]

you can also get a thing called a ploughman's lunch in most pubs and this is basically some really nice crusty thick bread, cheese, some meat if you like, and some salad (eg tomatoes and cucumber etc).



 The english are quite good at cress sandwiches but i have never tried one (although i am english!). Cheese and pickle is quite popular too.

Ohh arrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhh, you can geet those straight from the farmmmmmm.

[jas]

Bacon and banana sounds quite nice, actually. Probably because the sweet and the salty balance each other. Have you ever tried tuna and banana pizza? It's like chips and chocolate sauce: it shouldn't work, but somehow it does.

Cucumber sandwiches sound like the kind of thing you should eat only if you're on one of those weirdo diets where you have to cut out red, yellow, orange and purple vegetables, meat, dairy, caffeine, sugar, salt, protein, fat, and just flavour in general. Get a bit of meat on there!

.Ohh arrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhh, you can geet those straight from the farmmmmmm.

Yes, one little-known fact about rural England is that it's overrun by sandwich-loving zombie farmers. It sounds like they got thalbergmad...

Jas

[barnowl]

Here's one of my favorites:

Tear a slice of white bread in half. Lay 5-6 french fries on it. Salt 'em. Roll the whole thing into a cylindrical shape and start munching. Delicious.

Anyway, I had 2 Bacon and Banana sandwiches for lunch today. Good, but it would have been better had the banana been riper, which would have heightened the taste. Give this sandwich a try.

[barnowl]

Cucumber sandwiches British style:
https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~bcohen/cucumbers/recipes/english_sand.html

One of the secrets of old-style English sandwiches is the thinness of the slices, both of the bread and of the filling. I used to visit the former piano roll critic of the Musical Times, in the late 1970s, when he and his wife were in their eighties. They made the most wonderful tomato sandwiches, with really thin slices - they were almost as refreshing as a cold drink.

I've never been into a coffee shop in England and found bacon and banana sandwiches. They sound rather American to me! We do have more sandwich varieties here these days, and in some motorway (turnpike) rest areas you need a mortgage to afford them. Traditional British sandwiches with thick bread are sometimes known as "doorsteps", and a fairly typical British sandwich menu can be downloaded in pdf format from:
https://www.doorstepsplymouth.co.uk/menu.pdf

Google suggests that Elvis loved peanut butter, bacon and banana sandwiches, but I wouldn't want to follow in his shoes. Google also provided me with 847,000 results for "bacon and banana sandwiches", so there's quite a choice! I would guess that the bananas should be mashed, but not everyone seems to think so. If you want to drool, click here:
https://static.flickr.com/4/4483880_e351c2bdf5_b.jpg

In Gtmo (Cuba) back in the 50's I found a little Cuban restaurant that served sliced green tomatoes over which I'd pour vinegar. Yum Yum!

Bacon and Banana sandwiches are probably a British innovation. After all this appeared in an Agatha Christie book, like I said in the OP. And I think she called the place a cafe, not a coffee house - if that makes a difference.

And finally, thank you for your great links, Piano List. I saved the cucumber sandwich recipe and will try it this week.

[ilikepie]

Here's one of my favorites:

Tear a slice of white bread in half. Lay 5-6 french fries on it. Salt 'em. Roll the whole thing into a cylindrical shape and start munching. Delicious.

Add gravy perhaps?

[ada]

Here's one of my favorites:

Tear a slice of white bread in half. Lay 5-6 french fries on it. Salt 'em. Roll the whole thing into a cylindrical shape and start munching. Delicious.

That must be the single grossest carb-laden nutrition-void thing I have ever heard of 

Let me guess. Are you American? Only a yank would eat that.

And don't worry about all this British crap. Everyone knows the poms are the second most clueless nation in the world (next to Americans) when it comes to culinary matters.

Have a vegemite sandwich instead.

[henrah]

Cucumber is ridiculous imo. It's just a really powerful water taste, and I think it overrules any other flavours in the sandwhich.

On the subject of bacon, try maple syrup on it. Jesus Christ will ride on a bicycle when you do, and you'll be amazed.

On the subject of sandwhiches, paninis are way, way better! Any kind of meat (chicken in a sauce preferably, say coronation or tikka) with mozzarella and tomatoes panini-ed is simply awesome!!!
Henrah


Oh yeah, for those that don't know what a panini is, it's simply a long baguette sandwhich grilled whilst being flattened at the same time. Whack a bit of oil along the bread to make it fry a bit better to.

[ahinton]

Here's one of my favorites:

Tear a slice of white bread in half. Lay 5-6 french fries on it. Salt 'em. Roll the whole thing into a cylindrical shape and start munching. Delicious.

That must be the single grossest carb-laden nutrition-void thing I have ever heard of 

Let me guess. Are you American? Only a yank would eat that.

Probably only a Yank would know that there are infinitely more gross carb-laden nutrition-void things available and eaten in America than the above, but let's not get racist about this.

And don't worry about all this British crap. Everyone knows the poms are the second most clueless nation in the world (next to Americans) when it comes to culinary matters.

Then "everyone" doesn't know his/her arse from his/her elbow; this may have been true in the past, but the culinary ignorance of the Brits is a declining trait these days and arguably has been ever since that most remarkable woman Elizabeth David began publishing books some half a century ago; even the omnipresent influence of the worst excesses of American dietary habits, whilst undeniable, has never quite succeeded in defeating decent food production and consumption in UK - and things seem generally to be improving on that front. The problem has been that, unlike the French and the Italians, the Brits have, in general, tended to forget - or at least undermine - the value and quality of the best of what they can produce for the table; this has largely been due to the aftermath of rationing in the wake of the end of World War II. Even Raymond Blanc, on of France's greatest living chefs, has chosen to operate out of an address near Oxford for some two decades and has upset the French some while ago by declaring that organic Aberdeen Angus from the Duke of Buccleuch's Estate is the finest beef in Europe. There is a growing movement in UK nowadays in favour of eating locally produced food - and the organic movement remains a growing success story over here. Of course there are rubbisky restaurants in UK - but so there are in France.

Have a vegemite sandwich instead.

I had long thought of Marmite as one of the most revolting creations ever packaged for intended consumption by humans until an Australian friend gave me some Vegemite, a product whose name I barely even utter without inducing pangs of nausea. Each to their own, however...

Best,

Alistair

[barnowl]

Balderdash!

I'm not lashing out at anyone, I simply felt like using that word. Never did - even verbally.

Anyway, eat a cucumber sandwich on pita bread. It's quite good.

And try to be less preachy—all of you—and less verbose.

[jas]

I had long thought of Marmite as one of the most revolting creations ever packaged for intended consumption by humans until an Australian friend gave me some Vegemite, a product whose name I barely even utter without inducing pangs of nausea. Each to their own, however...

I thought they were the same thing. Marmite is like ... the opposite of ambrosia. I remember once when I was very young, my mum accidentally got a bit of Marmite on my sandwich. I took a bite and started crying.

Scarred for life.

[barnowl]

I thought they were the same thing. Marmite is like ... the opposite of ambrosia. I remember once when I was very young, my mum accidentally got a bit of Marmite on my sandwich. I took a bite and started crying.

Scarred for life.

Ah, but have you tried soy based pasta? My wife and I did. We took one mouthful and nearly vomited, and both had to spit it out (as classily as possible, of course).

[henrah]

Ah, but have you tried soy based pasta? My wife and I did. We took one mouthful and nearly vomited, and both had to spit it out (as classily as possible, of course).

Into a scented napkin?

[barnowl]

Into a scented napkin?

But of course! lol

Ah but I'm here primarily to comment on my cucumber sandwiches.

Bought the cukes and small size pita bread. Tore one "loaf"  in half and laid thinly sliced and medium salted cuke rounds into the pocket. Okay, but nothing to write home about.

Then I made another sandwich with the other pita half and layered a little horseradish over the salted rounds. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. The little bit of horseradish I used was not the least bit overpowering, and it certainly added taste and zest. Try it!!

[barnowl]

Cucumber sandwiches British style:
https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~bcohen/cucumbers/recipes/english_sand.html

One of the secrets of old-style English sandwiches is the thinness of the slices, both of the bread and of the filling. I used to visit the former piano roll critic of the Musical Times, in the late 1970s, when he and his wife were in their eighties. They made the most wonderful tomato sandwiches, with really thin slices - they were almost as refreshing as a cold drink.

I've never been into a coffee shop in England and found bacon and banana sandwiches. They sound rather American to me! We do have more sandwich varieties here these days, and in some motorway (turnpike) rest areas you need a mortgage to afford them. Traditional British sandwiches with thick bread are sometimes known as "doorsteps", and a fairly typical British sandwich menu can be downloaded in pdf format from:
https://www.doorstepsplymouth.co.uk/menu.pdf

Google suggests that Elvis loved peanut butter, bacon and banana sandwiches, but I wouldn't want to follow in his shoes. Google also provided me with 847,000 results for "bacon and banana sandwiches", so there's quite a choice! I would guess that the bananas should be mashed, but not everyone seems to think so. If you want to drool, click here:
https://static.flickr.com/4/4483880_e351c2bdf5_b.jpg

I should have asked earlier...

Are there still piano roll critics?  I think there's been a surge of interest in player pianos so just maybe...

[thalbergmad]

And don't worry about all this British crap. Everyone knows the poms are the second most clueless nation in the world (next to Americans) when it comes to culinary matters.

Interesting comments.

How was the kangaroo steak this evening??

Thal

[ahinton]

Interesting comments.

How was the kangaroo steak this evening??

Thal

Ah suppose that one oughta have one 'roo blue - true?

By the way, I once went into an Australian restaurant in Hong Kong. It was called "Ned Kelly's Last Stand". Being somehat tired and feeling like making a silly remark, I failed to resist saying to the fellow behind the bar (a white guy, incidentally) "why is this place called that when it is perfectly possible to sit down to eat?".  He replied - in an Australian accent that sounded faintly false -  "if you hadn't said "perfectly possible" I'd have had you marked out as a smart-ass Aussie - and we don't serve too many of them in here if we can help it; as it is, I guess you're what those smart-ass Aussies call a "Pom"". I said "no, I'm not a Pom, I'm a Scotsman; so where are you from, then?". "Veet-naam, mate", came the swift reply; "and before you say anything else, I know I don't look it - my grandfather and father were born there and I was raised there; my great-grandfather came from Saskatchewan - so I ain't no Pom neither". I said "so why do you speak with some kind of - er - Australian accent?". He retorted "what's the name of this b****y restaurant?". I think that he'd made his point - whatever it was - so  I shut up and sat down to enjoy what was supposed to be "Australian cuisine" served by a Vietnamese Canadian and which had been prepared by a chef who, on enquiry, turned out to be from La Rochelle in the Charente (France) - and who, of course, knew what a "pomme" really was....

Best,

Alistair

[ada]

Interesting comments.

How was the kangaroo steak this evening??

Thal

I didn't have roo steak, I had stir fry. And it was very good, thankyou.

Should you ever grace us with your presence down under Thal I will personally make you a double kanga banger sanger.

[ahinton]

a double kanga banger sanger.

"Kanga" (Skaila) - a harpist; "Sanger" (David) - an organist. "Banger" is English slang for a sausage. If this Dalí-esque combination is a representative example of authentic contemporary Australian cuisine, I have to admit that - since the notion of incorporating harp strings and organ pipes into a saucisson does not especially appeal to my palate - whilst I can't speak for Ned Kelly, I reckon that one of those would signal my own "last stand", for sure. I still suspect that it would be preferable to Vegemite, though...

Someone once told me that the Australians' least favourite food is kiwi fruit. An Australian I know also told me that he was most relieved to discover that boeuf wellington did not originate in New Zealand...

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

I didn't have roo steak, I had stir fry. And it was very good, thankyou.

Should you ever grace us with your presence down under Thal I will personally make you a double kanga banger sanger.

I may well visit one day.

It is every Englishmans duty to visit the old colonies.

Thal

[ada]

"Kanga" (Skaila) - a harpist; "Sanger" (David) - an organist. "Banger" is English slang for a sausage. If this Dalí-esque combination is a representative example of authentic contemporary Australian cuisine, I have to admit that - since the notion of incorporating harp strings and organ pipes into a saucisson does not especially appeal to my palate - whilst I can't speak for Ned Kelly, I reckon that one of those would signal my own "last stand", for sure. I still suspect that it would be preferable to Vegemite, though...

Best,

Alistair

Al, Al, Al....

kanga=as in roo; banger=snag; sanger=sambo

Is that clear?

And all you philistines who don't appreciate vegemite have no idea what you are missing out on. I am munching on my vegemite toast as we speak.

sublime.

[ada]

I may well visit one day.

It is every Englishmans duty to visit the old colonies.

Thal

'oo roo old chap

[pianolist]

I should have asked earlier... Are there still piano roll critics? I think there's been a surge of interest in player pianos so just maybe...

Only just spotted your reference...

Well, the nearest you would get would be in the odd society magazine, I suppose. The Nederlandse Pianola Vereniging occasionally reviews new rolls, though you never get a bad review - everyone is so grateful to find new rolls of any sort. What is sad is that so few people are interested in player pianos for the music. It's nearly all mechanical fascination, or perhaps nostalgia. Jazz and ragtime are popular, but nearly always played double fortissimo. I'll see if I can post something non-classical on my Editing of Piano Rolls thread https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,20511.0.html, to show that it can be musically played.

If you are interested, and if you haven't done so, look at www.pianola.org. I've tried to make the site accurate and detailed, incomplete as it still is. I haven't got around to Nancarrow yet, though I wrote something for my own site a while ago - www.rexlawson.com. As I have said elsewhere, this is not an effort at self-publicity - pianolas are simply my life, and I try to let people know how wonderfully musical they can be.

By the way, Ada, I used to be married to an Aussie in the 1980s. But a double kanga banger sanger - Bill Archie Houda! 

[brewtality]

Here's a good one: Vegemite and Nutella. Or Vegemite and cheese. Or Vegemite in your weetbix mate.

[ahinton]

Al, Al, Al....

kanga=as in roo; banger=snag; sanger=sambo

Is that clear?

Of course it was and is! Just joking!

And all you philistines who don't appreciate vegemite have no idea what you are missing out on. I am munching on my vegemite toast as we speak.

sublime.

As I wrote - each to their own. And, after all, there are those who do not enjoy caviar and champagne. In my case, it's not that I don't "appreciate" Vegemite per se - more that my system automatically rejects it so violently that I almost feel the need of a brown paper bag before me even to say the word - but then I feel pretty much the same about any kind of beer, yet I do at the same time "appreciate" that there are some very fine real ales in the "old country", for those that enjoy such things...

Best,

Alistair

[pianolist]

In the 1980s we used to go to West Australia House in the Strand to get Vegemite, because they had an Aussie gift shop there. I think I prefer Marmite, which I seem to remember is stronger. Neat Marmite spread thickly on toast is wonderful to wake you up in the morning. Eating it with a spoon is deliciious, though you need to suck the spoon like a lolly. It would do as an alternative to sucking lemons in front of horn players.

[ahinton]

In the 1980s we used to go to West Australia House in the Strand to get Vegemite, because they had an Aussie gift shop there. I think I prefer Marmite, which I seem to remember is stronger. Neat Marmite spread thickly on toast is wonderful to wake you up in the morning. Eating it with a spoon is deliciious, though you need to suck the spoon like a lolly. It would do as an alternative to sucking lemons in front of horn players.

Can't abide either of 'em! I'd sooner suck lemons in front of any instrumentalist you care to name than have to endure as much as a mg. of either-mite...

Best,

Alistair

[ada]

In the 1980s we used to go to West Australia House in the Strand to get Vegemite, because they had an Aussie gift shop there. I think I prefer Marmite, which I seem to remember is stronger. Neat Marmite spread thickly on toast is wonderful to wake you up in the morning. Eating it with a spoon is deliciious, though you need to suck the spoon like a lolly. It would do as an alternative to sucking lemons in front of horn players.

marmite is disgusting. No Aussie worth their salt would go within cooee of a jar of that sludge

This is where we sort out the purists from the pretenders 

And Al, I'll happily go some caviar and champagne as well, as an appetiser to my $210 pan seared wagyu steak with shaved truffles and wasabi jus 

[pianolist]

Sludge? Sludge? Get a grip on yourself, woman. This is the inside of my Marmite jar. There'd be more, but I've had a hard day, and I couldn't resist a couple of tablespoonfuls.

What are wagyus and wasabis? They sound prehensile to me. Do you eat them alive, like oysters?

[pianistimo]

next thing you know, she'll have you eating blowfish.

[ada]

Sludge? Sludge? Get a grip on yourself, woman. This is the inside of my Marmite jar. There'd be more, but I've had a hard day, and I couldn't resist a couple of tablespoonfuls.

What are wagyus and wasabis? They sound prehensile to me. Do you eat them alive, like oysters?

Wagyu is top quality japanese style beef characterised by its "marbling" of fat. Wagyu cattle are treated to massages, fed on beer and cereal that could grace our tables and played classical music. Some even spend their lives in harnesses so their meat remains tender.

Wagyu beef is highly sought after and ridiculously expensive. It is such good quality that it's often eaten raw.

Wasabi is simply a greenish and extremely sharp japanese horseradish usually used to accompany sashimi.

next thing you know, she'll have you eating blowfish.

Blowfish are very good. best served with vegemite jus.

[ilikepie]

Blowfish are very good. best served with vegemite jus.

Blowfish, when eaten as sashimi, is dangerous if made by an untrained chef. It is poisonous, and has killed some Japanese. Go figure.

[ada]

Blowfish, when eaten as sashimi, is dangerous if made by an untrained chef. It is poisonous, and has killed some Japanese. Go figure.

** grasps throat ... staggers across room**

choke...gasp...splutter

oh. it's just the vegemite jus 

[pianolist]

What's the history of Vegemite, Ada, me ol' sport? Is it old enough that Percy Grainger would have eaten it? I point Percy at the piano every now and then, because he comes back to do the Grieg Piano Concerto as a posthumous pianist. I need to make a life-size cardboard cut-out of him, so that the conductors next year can bring him on for his applause. Maybe I should have him holding a jar of Vegemite?

TTFN, the Beard.

[ahinton]

What's the history of Vegemite, Ada, me ol' sport? Is it old enough that Percy Grainger would have eaten it? I point Percy at the piano every now and then, because he comes back to do the Grieg Piano Concerto as a posthumous pianist. I need to make a life-size cardboard cut-out of him, so that the conductors next year can bring him on for his applause. Maybe I should have him holding a jar of Vegemite?

TTFN, the Beard.

But my dear fellow, Grainger was only half Australian - he was also half Scots (and please don't even think to ask which half was which - especially not in his case) - so if he had indeed been a vegemite consumer (which, given the age to which he lived, seems highly unlikely), he would presumably only have used it as a stuffing for haggis. Now there's an interesting idea. Now go clean up your computer keyboards, everyone...

Best,

Alistair

[alwaystheangel]

well, back to the sandwich topic....
Pita bread with cucumber would naturally taste good because that's just like the greek pita and tzaziki but without the yogurt.  Mmmm..tzaziki...

And maple and bacon are two things that go together like chocolate and strawberries.  In eastern Canada, particularly the good old province of Québec, you don't eat a roat ham unless you baste it with maple syrup as you cook it and douse it with maple syrup when you get it on your plate.  I have tried to get my western friends to try it, but they are cowards and don't recognize a good thing when they see it...  Oh well, more for me.

Another good treat:
Apple slices with a slice of cheddar cheese.  Or cheese melted onto apple pie.

And randomly, cheesies (the hard chrunchy kind) dipped in chocolate fondue.  Scrumptious.

What is vegemite actually made out of?

[brewtality]

jeebus, enough with the vegemite already. It's not that good (or bad). It's just a bloody spread people! 

Here's my favourite sandwich: chicken schnitzel with a slice of colby and some tomato sauce.

[ada]

What is vegemite actually made out of?

brewer's yeast. in other words, the by-products of beer making.

sorry brewtality (haha a pun) just answerin a question

[alwaystheangel]

thankyou, ada, but still how would anyone have come up with the idea of "hey, let's use the fecal matter of yeast and make it into a spread?"

[ahinton]

brewer's yeast. in other words, the by-products of beer making.

sorry brewtality (haha a pun) just answerin a question

So now it's presumably no wonder to anyone why I, as an inveterate (and lifelong) beer-loather in all its forms, cannot get on with vegemite.

I have not yet visited Australia, but I feel more than confident that I will find plenty of good things to eat there without indulging in vegemite - or even 'roo steaks (not that in have anything at all against them) - and there is, let's face it, not exactly a shortage of wine in Australia, is there?! Who needs the ubiquitous 4x when such substantial areas of south-western, south-eastern and most especially southern Australia (not forgetting Tasmania) are given over to wine production (the very best of which is pretty outstanding by anyone's standards). No fillet of 'roo en jus de vegemite accompanied by Grange for me, though - thanks all the same...

Best,

Alistair