Classic sandwiches with a modern twist

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, March 15, 2016

The story goes that John Montagu was such an inveterate gambler that he did not want to leave the gaming tables even to eat. So he called for meat to be brought to him between two slices of bread; that way, he could eat at the table and keep his fingers clean, thus saving the cards.

Montagu was more than just a dedicated gambler. He was also the Fourth Earl of Sandwich. Two hundred and fifty years later, we still gobble up the gustatory creation that he created and that bears his name.

Where would we be without the sandwich? How would culture be different? If nothing else, McDonald’s would never have been so popular just selling ground meat patties on a plate. And we would never have known the extraordinary sensation of eating peanut butter and jelly on bread, quite possibly the closest mankind has ever come to achieving perfection.

To celebrate the great gift that Montagu gave us, I decided to try new variations on classic sandwiches.

Instead of a hot open-faced roast beef sandwich, I gave mine a French flair and made it easy to cook, too. I gussied up a traditional grilled cheese sandwich. I took the concepts of shrimp salad and shrimp cocktail and combined them. And instead of a BLT, I made an LGBT.

That is to say a lettuce, guacamole, bacon and tomato sandwich — it’s just a BLT with guacamole and a trendy name.

What difference could a little guacamole make? Quite a lot, actually. It entirely changes the sandwich’s complexion, providing a cooling counterpoint to the bacon’s smoky salt.

The guacamole also adds more of the creaminess that is typically provided by mayonnaise, only it brings with it that wonderfully rich taste of avocados, the faint bite of red onions and just a hint of garlic.

It’s that garlic that is the secret to my guacamole, by the way. Usually when you use raw garlic, no matter how finely you mince it you still run the risk of swallowing an overpowering mouthful of garlic. But I was at a great Mexican restaurant in New York many years ago that eliminated that problem by putting garlic powder in their guacamole. I’ve been using garlic powder ever since.

For my next dish, I began with an American classic and then took a detour to France. I’m calling it a Hot Roast Boeuf Sandwich.

At heart, it is still a hot, open-faced roast beef sandwich, a dish served at one time in every diner in America. The difference is in the cooking of the beef.

Inspired by boeuf bourguignon, I simmered the meat in red wine, which I mixed with Dijon mustard (after all, Dijon is in the dish’s native region of Burgundy). I added a bit of celery, somewhat more carrots for a touch of sweetness, and quite a lot of onions because I wanted it to be a beef and onion sandwich.

The result is a familiar meal with a deliciously unexpected taste.

Devising the grilled cheese recipe was easy. Cheddar cheese goes particularly well with apples. Both apples and cheddar cheese go well with walnuts. I put it all together with bread, smeared on a little more Dijon mustard, which is also a good foil for the apples and cheese, and grilled it in a pan.

It’s definitely a winner. I don’t see a reason to make an ordinary, boring grilled cheese sandwich ever again.

Finally, I made my version of a shrimp salad sandwich. I chopped up cooked shrimp and stirred in a little mayonnaise (I don’t like too much in my shrimp or chicken salads). Then I made a batch of my own cocktail sauce — you could use a commercially available cocktail sauce if you want, but homemade is better — and stirred in just enough to flavor the mayo.

The sandwich was intriguing and irresistible. The cocktail sauce gives it more bite than ordinary shrimp salad, and also more flavor.

I am certain that John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, would approve.