SC - Sandwiches

[Susan Fox-Davis]

Sounds yummy, but oddly familiar.  I've been hitting the books for an upcoming
French feasts, and this looks practically identical to the Nic,ois recipes I've
been reading.

To ask a big question:  When did the food along the Mediterranian Sea get so
homogeneous anyway?  It wasn't always that way.

Selene

lilinah at earthlink.net wrote:

> I sent this early this AM but got undeliverable messages, so i'm resending
>
> -------
>
> On Sun, 10 Dec 2000 10:48:52, Adamantius wrote:
> >LrdRas at aol.com wrote:
> >  > In a message dated 12/7/00 12:47:16 PM Eastern Standard Time, troy at asan.com
> >>  writes:
> >  >
> >  > > Probably the best sandwiches (apart from
> >  > > the Pan Bagnat I used to sell at La Colombe d'Or and elsewhere, which is
> >  > > the best sandwich in history)
> >  >
> >>  Recipe, please.
> >
> >There is none to speak of, only a description. The classic pan bagnat of
> >places like Marseilles and Nice (in fact the sandwich has often been
> >described as a salade nicoise on a baguette) is one of those sandwiches
> >-- there are Italian, French, and probably Spanish versions, although I
> >can't be certain of the latter -- which you make a couple of hours in
> >advance, wrap, and sometimes even place under a weight to allow the
> >flavors to blend. The most common pan bagnat involves rubbing the bread
> >with a cut garlic clove, brushing it with olive oil, and piling on tuna
> >packed in brine or in olive oil, sliced boiled eggs, sliced onion,
> >sliced tomato, red, green or yellow sweet peppers, anchovies, pitted
> >black olives (oil-or-wine-cured, not the canned travesties) and some
> >greens, often Cos or Romaine lettuce. Optional sprinkle of vinegar.
>
> -- snip Adamantius' description of his fabulous sandwich --
>
> Still catching up on back e-mail and i came across Adamantius'
> masterful pan bagnat - i used to eat them on occasion when i lived in
> Cannes, not as luxurious as Master A's, but inexpensive, tasty, and
> filling. Mmm-mmm i love anchovies.
>
> But his description also brings to mind one of the better meals i had
> in Morocco - in fact, my daughter and i went back the next day for a
> repeat experience.
>
> In Chefchaouen, in the Rif region, a rugged area in northern Morocco,
> right at the entrance to the medina is Sandwish [sic] Aziz. There
> were two glass cases at right angles, one by the grill full of raw
> meats and sausages (merguez, i'm sure - i regret not trying some) and
> the other full of "cold" stuff. Each sandwich was served on a
> sliced-open [sub or torpedo or poorboy sized] fresh baguette - they
> picked some of the bready part out to make room for the fillings with
> which they were quite generous. While the Moroccans ate theirs with
> meat - which was cooked to order - my daughter and i had vegetarian
> ones. - we told them what we wanted on ours - let's see if i can
> remember the options:
>
> sliced raw tomato, cucumber (peeled, seeded, cut in half then
> sliced), finely shredded raw carrots, shredded cooked beets, bell
> peppers cut about the same size as the cucumbers, deliciously cured
> pitted green olives, tuna, hard cooked egg, shredded lettuce, boiled
> potato chunks. There was probably shredded raw onion, but that's one
> food i almost always pass on - it's the one thing that hurts my
> stomach. And each sandwich was finished off with french fries
> (frites) right in the sandwich.
>
> For moistening there was mayo (we both passed on it) and liquidy hot
> sauce (not sure what was in it - tomato and chili and some other
> stuff) which was poured onto the filling after the sandwich was
> assembled. There may have been oil, too, but i don't remember.
>
> Then they wrapped the sandwich VERY TIGHTLY in white paper.
>
> There were only men in the shop eating, but sometimes kids came in,
> little boys and little girls, to get a number of sandwiches to go,
> probably for the women at home. The guys working in the shop were
> really sweet to the kids.
>
> If you're ever in Chefchaouen, i highly recommend Sandwish Aziz - oh,
> and they cost around 25 cents American without meat, under 50 cents
> with.