Ham and cheese sandwich

A grilled ham and cheese sandwich, in a cast iron frying pan

The ham and cheese sandwich is a common type of sandwich. It is made by putting cheese and sliced ham between two slices of bread. The bread is sometimes toasted and vegetables like lettuce, tomato ordill pickle slices can also be included. Mayonnaise, butter, and/or mustard are also common.

Typical styles of cheese used in this sandwich are Cheddar (yellow or white), Swiss, Red Leicester or other medium-firm cheeses such as American.

Sliced bread, presliced cheese, and presliced cooked ham are very readily available in western supermarkets and as a result ham and cheese sandwiches are extremely quick and easy to prepare. They are a common component of a brown bag lunch (a lunch prepared in the morning, taken to school or work, and kept until lunchtime without refrigeration. This is reasonably safe, although without refrigeration, ham and cheese sandwiches will eventually spoil). In some American homes, ham and cheese sandwiches are a common element of hastily prepared, impromptu home meals. Thus, in a detective novel we read:

Bosch went into the the kitchen and got a beer out and made a ham and cheese sandwich. He stood by the sink eating and drinking and trying to organize things about the case in his head.

Ham and cheese sandwiches are ubiquitous in western culture. They are among the items one would expect to see offered in any situation involving a choice of a two or three kinds of sandwich: refrigerated vending machines that dispense prepared sandwiches, lunch trucks, airport food counters, etc. They are frequently included among assortments of sandwiches ordered, e.g. for a working lunch in a business conference room.

A variant sometimes served in cafes is the "grilled" ham and cheese sandwich. Both sides of the bread slices are coated in butter, and then the sandwich is assembled. The sandwich is then fried (rarely actually grilled) in a sauté pan, occasionally turning the sandwich over, until both sides are a golden-brown. Alternatively, toasted ham and cheese sandwiches can be made using a sandwich toaster. Known as a 'Toastie' in the United Kingdom, ham and cheese is the most popular filling after cheese on its own.

Similar to this sandwich is the ham-and-cheese quesadilla, which uses a tortilla instead of bread. The Monte Cristo sandwich is a ham and cheese sandwich that is made with Swiss cheese and then battered in eggs and fried. Similarly, the Croque Monsieur is a French version of the Monte Cristo, with any sort of cheese.

An unusual variant: a fried ham and cheese sandwich (served with potato chips)

As recalled by ballpark concessionaire Harry Stevens in a 1924 interview, in 1894 ham and cheese sandwiches were the only food items sold in New York baseball parks, frankfurters not being introduced until fifteen years later.

An Englishwoman, writing in 1923 of her passage through Ellis Island on a trip to the U.S., noted:

I was in fear and trembling, having heard so many tales of the abuse aliens receive there.... The attendants were very kind and not at all rough with us. It was the noon hour... in a little while porters came along with baskets of very good ham and cheese sandwiches and coffee for the grown-ups and milk for the babies.

Richard E. Byrd took ham and cheese sandwiches on his 1926 polar flight as did 1927 transatlantic fliersChamberlin and Levine.

Rachel sandwich

Origin information
Country of origin:	United States
Region or state:	Omaha, Nebraska
Creator(s) of the dish:	Disputed. Claimed by Reuben Kulakofsky (Omaha) or by Arthur Reuben (NY)
Dish information
Course served:	Main Course
Mainingredient(s):	corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese,Russian dressing or Thousand Island dressing and rye bread

Origins

A Reuben on a plate, with fries and various sauces in small cups.

The origins of the Reuben are disputed. One account holds that Reuben Kulakofsky (sometimes spelled Reubin, or the last name shortened to Kay), a grocer from Omaha, Nebraska, was the inventor, perhaps as part of a group effort by members of Kulakofsky's weekly poker game held in the Blackstone Hotel from around 1920 through 1935. The participants, who nicknamed themselves "the committee," included the hotel's owner, Charles Schimmel. The sandwich first gained local fame when Schimmel put it on the Blackstone's lunch menu.

Other accounts hold that its creator was Arthur Reuben, owner of the once famous but now no longer existing Reuben's Delicatessen in New York,^[3] who, according to an interview with Craig Claiborne, invented the sandwich around 1914. A version of the story is related by Bernard Sobel in his book Broadway Heartbeat: Memoirs of a Press Agent and claims that the sandwich was an extemporaneous creation for Marjorie Rambeau inaugurated when the famed Broadway actress visited the Delicatessen one night when the cupboards were particularly bare.

Rachel sandwich

The Rachel sandwich is a variation on the standard Reuben sandwich that substitutespastrami for the corned beef and coleslaw for the sauerkraut.

Grilled cheese sandwich

A grilled cheese sandwich, served with tomato soup

A grilled cheese sandwich is a grilled (actually fried) or broiled sandwich consisting of two slices of bread (usually buttered) with cheese melted in between, sometimes combined with an additional ingredient such as bacon, tomato or onion. It is a simple variation on the normal cheese sandwich, and is sometimes known by the latter's name without any qualification. In some regions, the sandwich is also known as acheese toastie or toasted cheese sandwich, and even toastie pie. History The grilled cheese sandwich began in the 1920s with the widespread availability ofsliced bread and processed cheese. It was originally made as an open sandwich, but the top slice of bread became common by the 1960s.The sandwich now has a dedicated following. At the Grilled Cheese Invitational cook-off (held annually in Los Angeles), contestants attempt to cook the best grilled cheese sandwich in various categories. On November 23, 2004, a grilled cheese sandwich containing a likeness of the Virgin Mary was sold at auction for $28,000.The 2008 winner of the Grilled Cheese Invitational was the "Cake and Mivens" a dessert grilled cheese sandwich that featured peeps. Preparation A grilled cheese sandwich can be made in a variety of ways, depending on both the region and personal preference. Ironically, none of the usual methods utilize an American style grill. In the United States, the outside of the assembled sandwich is usually buttered before being fried. The sandwich may be cooked with a griddle, pan, or cast iron skillet. When the bottom of the sandwich is golden brown, it is flipped and cooked on the other side. The sandwich is finished when both sides are toasted and the cheese has melted. In an alternative "pan method," butter or oil is first heated in the pan in which the unbuttered sandwich is then cooked. A second technique is to make the sandwich in a toaster oven. With this method, a slice of cheese is placed on each slice of bread, and the two halves are separately toasted. The sandwich is then carefully combined at the end, with the two separate slices of cheese bonding to hold the sandwich together. A regular oven or a sandwich toaster can also be used. This method is more common in the United Kingdom where the sandwiches are called "toasties."

Rggional Sandwich Style

A sandwich is a food item made of one or more slices of bread with one or more layers of a filling. The bread can be used as is, or it can be coated with butter, oil, mustard or other condiments to enhance flavour and texture.

History Of Sandwich

An earlier form of sandwich is attributed to the ancient Jewish sage Hillel the Elder, who is said to have wrapped meat from the Paschal lamband bitter herbs in a matzo (or flat, unleavened bread) during Passover.

During the Middle Ages, thick slabs of coarse and usually stale bread, called "trenchers", were used as plates. After a meal, the food-soaked trencher was fed to a dog or to beggars, or eaten by the diner. Trenchers were as much the harbingers of open-face sandwiches^[4] as they were of disposable dishware. The immediate cultural precursor with a direct connection to the English sandwich was to be found in 17th centuryHolland, where the naturalist John Ray observed^[5] that in the taverns beef hung from the rafters "which they cut into thin slices and eat with bread and butter laying the slices upon the butter"— explanatory specifications that reveal the Dutch belegde broodje was as yet unfamiliar in England.

The first written usage of the English word appeared in Edward Gibbon's journal, in longhand, referring to "bits of cold meat" as a 'Sandwich'.^[6] It was named after John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, an 18th-century English aristocrat, although he was neither the inventor nor sustainer of the food. It is said that Lord Sandwich was fond of this form of food because it allowed him to continue playing cards, particularly cribbage, while eating without getting his cards greasy from eating meat with his bare hands.^[7]

The rumour in its familiar form appeared in Pierre-Jean Grosley's Londres (Neichatel, 1770), translated as A Tour to London 1772;^[8] Grosley's impressions had been formed during a year in London, 1765. The sober alternative is provided by Sandwich's biographer, N. A. M. Rodger, who suggests Sandwich's commitments to the navy, to politics and the arts mean the first sandwich was more likely to have been consumed at his desk.

If it was initially perceived as food men shared while gaming and drinking at night, the sandwich slowly began appearing in polite society as a late-night meal among the aristocracy. The sandwich's popularity in Spain and England increased dramatically during the 19th century, when the rise of an industrial society and the working classes made fast, portable, and inexpensive meals essential.

It was at the same time that the sandwich finally began to appear outside of Europe. In the United States, the sandwich was first promoted as an elaborate meal at supper. By the early 20th century, as bread became a staple of the American diet, the sandwich became the same kind of popular, quick meal as was widespread in the Mediterranean

List of regional sandwich styles

• Banh Mi - Vietnam
• Barros Jarpa - Chile, melted cheese and fried ham
• Barros Luco - Chile, melted cheese and thin fried beef
• Bauru - Brazil, melted cheese and roast beef
• BLT -USA, bacon, lettuce, and tomato
• Breakfast Roll UK & Ireland
• Bun Kabab - Pakistan
• Butterbrot - Germany, Graubrot (grey bread)
• Caprese - mozzarella, tomato, fresh basil
• Cheesesteak - Philadelphia, sandwich made from strips of steak and cheese, sometimes with peppers and onions
• Chip butty - Britain, chips
• Chivito - Uruguay, steak, ham, and cheese
• Choripán - Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, grilled chorizo
• Club sandwich - USA primarily, variety of fillings
• Crisp sandwich - global, uses crisps/potato chips in situ
• Croque-monsieur - France, ham and cheese
• Cuban sandwich - Cuba/South Florida, ham and cheese
• Cucumber sandwich - England afternoon tea classic
• Dagwood sandwich - USA, distinguished by size more than contents
• Elvis sandwich - USA, fried sandwich containing peanut butter, bananas, and sometimes bacon
• Fluffernutter, New England variation on peanut butter and jelly
• Francesinha - Portugal, made with wet-cured ham, linguiça, other sausages and meat, covered with molten cheese and beer sauce
• Gyros-pita or Souvlaki-pita - Greece, meat in pita bread
• Hamburger - USA, ground meat patty in a round bun
• Hero sandwich - New York, sub
• Hoagie - Pennsylvania, South Jersey, Delaware, similar to sub, uses olive oil
• Horseshoe sandwich - Springfield, IL, an open sandwich topped with French fries and cheese sauce
• Hotdog - Sausage in an oblong bun (origins disputed)
• Italian beef - thin slices of seasoned roast beef, dripping with meat juices, on a dense, long Italian-style roll, believed to have originated in Chicago, where its history dates back at least to the 1930s
• Kummelweck - Buffalo, NY colloquially "beef on weck", Roast Beef and Horseradish on a Kaiser roll topped with pretzel salt and caraway seeds
• Manwich - USA, a sandwich characterized by meat that exceeds the size of the bread, usually made with some sort of beef
• Melt sandwich, Tuna melt, Patty melt, etc. - filling includes melted cheese
• Monte Cristo sandwich - USA, based on fried bread
• Montreal Smoked meat - Canada/Quebec
• Mother-in-law sandwich - Chicagoland fast food staple that features a Mississippi tamale nestled in a hot dog bun and smothered with chili
• Muffuletta - New Orleans, based on Sicilian bread
• Panini - Italy/USA, refers to type of bread
• Pastrami on rye - Classic of the Jewish deli
• Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
• Po' boy (literally "poor boy") - USA/New Orleans, similar to sub
• Reuben sandwich - USA, sauerkraut with Swiss cheese and corned beef or pastrami
• Roti john - A variation of sandwich that is very popular in Singapore and Malaysia
• Sandwich loaf - USA, a large multi-layer sandwich made to look like a cake
• Sandwiches de miga - Argentina
• Shawarma - a Middle Eastern-style sandwich usually composed of shaved lamb, goat, or chicken.
• Sloppy Joe - USA, based on ground beef and flavorings
• Smörgåstårta - Sweden, variety of "sandwich cake"
• Steamed Sandwich - USA/Kentucky
• Submarine sandwich or sub - USA
• Tea sandwich - small sandwiches for afternoon tea
• Toasted sandwich
• Torta - Mexico
• Vada pav - India

Some of these are distinguished primarily by the bread or method of preparation, rather than the filling. Another common misconception is that sandwiches don't need two pieces of bread, and can often consist of one piece of bread with toppings. Legally in the United States, a sandwich with only one piece of bread(also known as an open-face sandwich) is indeed considered a legal sandwich.

Gallery

Club sandwich	French bread sandwich with chips/fries.	Sandwich making	Panino
A Philly cheese steak, a type of submarine sandwich.