[Sca-cooks] OT/OOP NYT Article on Math Formula For the Perfect Bacon Sandwich...

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Apr 21, 2007, at 11:32 PM, Stefan li Rous wrote:

> They did mention using "streaky bacon". Isn't that "American" bacon?

In the UK, bacon can take all sorts of forms, but while flat-cured  
loin bacon can vaguely resemble American belly bacon in the most  
superficial sense (rashers of back or loin bacon have an "eye" of  
lean meat, and a longish tail of stripey, fatty-lean meat). In short,  
American belly bacon is streaky, but not always streaky bacon.

>
> <<< I'm sure you can get a corned beef sandwich in
> the UK, but it probably isn't the monstrosity you routinely get at
> Katz's Deli. I'm not sure where, in the meat-to-bread ratio, a bacon
> butty falls. >>>
>
> Why are you calling this a "monstrosity"?

Based on weight of filling, primarily, generally about a pound or  
more, at least in the old days. It's a little intimidating for many  
people to pick up, let alone eat.

> I thought there was only
> two Katz' delis.The original one here in Austin and one his son
> opened up in Houston. They've never sounded like a chain, although
> they do talk a lot about their food being New York style. Is there a
> NY Katz's deli the one here is based on?
>
> And I like the Katz' deli corned beef sandwich, although I like their
> Rueben even better.

Wow, you folks really _do_ believe everything comes from Texas, don't  
you? ;-)

Seriously, though, I don't know if there's any relation between any  
Texas-based Katz's Delis in Austin and Houston, and the one in New  
York, except to note that there's one in Houston, and the one in New  
York is on Houston (pronounced House-ton, BTW) Street and Second Avenue.

However, a little web digging indicates that at least one of the  
Texas branches of Katz's opened in the ancient and venerable year of  
1979, no clue about the other one, and then we have the New York  
version which opened in 1888, and could make a fairly serious claim  
to being the One True Kosher Deli for the planet. I don't know if  
they'd "win", but their claim to planetary preeminence would be very  
hard to dismiss or ignore. I do know that the New York Katz's doesn't  
advertise itself as being a real Houston-style deli, so there are  
some natural inferences to be drawn from that...

It's featured in the deli scene in the movie "When Harry Met  
Sally" (I think... I've never seen it...). They also became quite  
famous around the US when they began shipping things like Kosher  
salamis [a very old, very faded sign is still up over the cashier's  
both, AFAIK, reading, "Send a salami to your boy in the Army," which,  
when read in a proper Lower East Side of New York accent, is a  
rhyming couplet].

Incidentally, I have to wonder about the claim that the Texas Katz's  
biggest sellers after corned beef and pastrami sandwiches is the  
Reuben sandwich, which, while tasty, cannot, by most definitions, be  
called Kosher. I don't think the NYC Katz's would sell such a thing.  
I suspect their biggest sellers are, in order, pastrami, corned beef,  
brisket, and tongue sandwiches (hot), various Kosher cold cuts,  
burgers and Kosher hot dogs, various knishes, steak and eggs, and  
salami and eggs. For fish or dairy dishes you'd go to Ratner's (or  
would have, had they not had a fire, closed down, and reopened under  
the aegis of some large corporation who installed new management, a  
new menu, and a lot of franchises).

Incidentally, IIRC, the NYC Katz's makes no claim to being anything  
more than "Kosher-style": they don't sell any obvious treif or mix  
meat and dairy, but they also don't claim to necessarily be a good  
place for really conservative Jews to eat at in good conscience.

Adamantius (who prefers corned beef or the brisket)



"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la  
brioche!" / "If there's no bread, you have to say, let them eat cake!"
     -- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,  
"Confessions", 1782

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
     -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry  
Holt, 07/29/04