The ultimate sandwich tournament
Readers narrow field down to Final Four
More than anything we eat, sandwiches are loaded with lore and even sanctimony. Humans have been eating meat with bread since the Neolithic Era, yet it’s commonly asserted that Hillel the Elder invented the sandwich in the Age of Augustus about the same time he enunciated what would become known as The Golden Rule. Since then, most of our favorite sandwiches have been served unto others with conflicting stories about how they were invented and especially about how best to make them.
Iowa and Indiana fight over which state created the first pork tenderloin. (Iowa did.) Several cities, on different continents, argue about where the first hamburger was served. In Elkader, Iowa, people debate whether they should be served “mit or mit-out” — “mit” being German for “with” and sautéed onions being the object in question. Some sandwiches have become beloved icons of entire states. North Carolina’s smoked pulled pork, Texas’ smoked beef brisket, West Virginia’s pepperoni rolls, Louisiana’s po’ boys, and Oklahoma’s chicken fried steak are all better known, and loved, than all those state’s birds, trees, flowers and Congressmen combined. Some sandwiches represent smaller regions like Monroe County Kentucky’s sliced pig shoulder, Hatch Valley New Mexico’s slopper (burger smothered in red and green chilies) and northwestern Nevada’s roast mutton. ...Read More>>
