FOOD 25 Forgotten Sandwiches

Doc1 said:
My father lived through the Great Depression. Fortunately, his father was always employed, but money was still tight and my grandmother was always looking for meals which were filling, but inexpensive.

A favorite she'd make for Grampa, my dad and my uncle's lunches was onion sandwiches. These were the essence of simplicity; they consisted of a single, large slice of raw onion, two slices of white bread, a generous slathering of mayonnaise and a sprinkling of salt and pepper.

Dad told me about these when I was a kid and I said that they sounded awful! He made me one for lunch and I was amazed at how good it was. It wasn't something I'd want every day, but it was much, much better than I'd expected.

As a practical hint, I wouldn't advise eating one before you went on a date!

Best
Doc
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Onion, tomato, radish sandwiches were a staple when I was a kid. Not all together, each one was a separate sandwich made with mayo or butter

The sugar sandwich someone else mentioned as well as the bread cereal. I've had those as well
 
markshere2 said:
When I was just starting out, I could afford a loaf of bread. I liberated catsup packages from local fast food joint and had ketchup sammiches.

Not all that good, but better than stealing.
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Er, "liberating" catsup packages from restaurants is also stealing...

Best
Doc
 
Several mornings growing up really poor we had nothing but milk toast in the morning for breakfast.

As long as I had a teaspoon of sugar to sprinkle on top... it was breakfast.

Even better was a bowl of hot white rice with milk, sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon, then use the buttered toast as a dipping tool to soak up the milk...

Good stuff
 
StarryEyedLad said:
Starting when I was around four years old, my mom would let me help make fried eggs over easy for my dad's lunch sandwiches to take to work. She let me flip them, put them on the bread, and wrap them up. I learned so much about cooking very early in life, from both parents.

My dad used to regale us with stories of the sandwiches that he grew up eating as a kid born later toward the end of the depression, and during the war, like just plain mayonnaise on bread, or with peanut butter added. Tomato & mayo, too. He would also tear up slices of bread, put them in a bowl of milk, and eat it like cereal! :kk1: My mom ate potted meat with mayo on sandwiches.
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We had milk toast when we were sick in bed as kids.
 
Fairwillows said:
Oh, geez, we musta been poor. My mother gave us real butter and sugar sandwiches! And miracle whip between 2 slices of bread and for a treat.....liverwurst and mustard. I didn't know I was poor, I liked them!

My brother was 14 years older than me. When I was about 6 I was eating a miracle whip sandwich under the grape arbor. He said whatcha eating, I held it up, he said oh, man, do you see those red specks in there? I said uh huh....he said those are crushed up spider mites.....I threw up immediately, and ran to my mother crying....ah, he teased me until the day he died. He was the orneriest man I ever met. I loved him dearly :rs:
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Yep I remember those butter and sugar slices of bread.
 
Great Northwet said:
Isn't Liverwurst like Bruan Schwieger? I bought a "loaf" last year and made sandwiches out of it. It's kind of like Spam in consistency and goes fine with mayo and dijon, maybe sliced tomato and lettuce. I wouldn't add cheese though. the flavors don't meld properly.
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Liverwurst can be cut into rounds like other lunchmeats. One difference is usually it can be spread, it might not be as salty depending upon the brand and the taste is different as its primary ingredient is liver not meat scrapes. Liver gives it a strong flavor some might not like.
 
Since we're also bringing up a plethora of home-made sandwiches, I'd like to add one of my simple creations when I was a kid growing up in Austria.
Bread, Bauernbrot, was a daily staple. Bread in Europe is way different than the bread in the US, and in my opinion, tastes better also.
Suffice it to say, I created a mustard sandwich. Basically smear some spicy brown mustard on one side of the bread and cover it with another slice. Simple, cheap and tasty.
Then we had left-over bacon grease congealed in the reefer and we spread that also on a slice of bread. Schmalzbrot. Probably not healthy, but damn, it was good.

NVBB
 
Doc1 said:
My father lived through the Great Depression. Fortunately, his father was always employed, but money was still tight and my grandmother was always looking for meals which were filling, but inexpensive.

A favorite she'd make for Grampa, my dad and my uncle's lunches was onion sandwiches. These were the essence of simplicity; they consisted of a single, large slice of raw onion, two slices of white bread, a generous slathering of mayonnaise and a sprinkling of salt and pepper.

Dad told me about these when I was a kid and I said that they sounded awful! He made me one for lunch and I was amazed at how good it was. It wasn't something I'd want every day, but it was much, much better than I'd expected.

As a practical hint, I wouldn't advise eating one before you went on a date!

Best
Doc
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My DM used to talk about having nothing to eat but onion sandwiches! She was born in Philly in 1922. I don't think she enjoyed those sandwiches :-)
 
I don't know if anyone has tried a Limburger Cheese sandwich. I haven't but I have been in the same house with them. For some unknown to this day reason my Grandparents would end up with a small packet of Limburger. It was treated like a found Treasure. They would smear it on bread and load it with raw onions. The stench was near unbearable and I would have to leave the house. Didn't matter the weather out I would go. That stuff has a real smell but they loved it and it effects lingered.
 
Growing up on a very poor, rural farm, there wasn't a lot of variety in the foods we ate, and growing and raising a lot of what we ate resulted in a lot of veggies, tomato sandwich's, and since we had several chickens, one of my favorites, the fried egg sandwich. Mom and dad could buy two day old bread from a nearby town for 10 cents a loaf, so we made sandwich's from anything we could.

When it wasn't a bread sandwich, for a snack, it was those government saltines with either mayonnaise or mustard between for flavor, or when we had it, peanut butter.
 
Bubble Head said:
I don't know if anyone has tried a Limburger Cheese sandwich. I haven't but I have been in the same house with them. For some unknown to this day reason my Grandparents would end up with a small packet of Limburger. It was treated like a found Treasure. They would smear it on bread and load it with raw onions. The stench was near unbearable and I would have to leave the house. Didn't matter the weather out I would go. That stuff has a real smell but they loved it and it effects lingered.
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I often wondered how do you tell if the stuff has gone bad?
 
Bubble Head said:
I don't know if anyone has tried a Limburger Cheese sandwich. I haven't but I have been in the same house with them. For some unknown to this day reason my Grandparents would end up with a small packet of Limburger. It was treated like a found Treasure. They would smear it on bread and load it with raw onions. The stench was near unbearable and I would have to leave the house. Didn't matter the weather out I would go. That stuff has a real smell but they loved it and it effects lingered.
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My father ate those. He swore it was the best cheese. The rest of us left the room.

:lol:
 
Well, this thread has grown legs and it's really interesting to read about all of the variations that I have never thought of. Dad used to make a sardine sandwich which I thought was weird when I was a kid until he gave me half of one once. It was just 2 slices of bread with mayo, lettuce on both, and sardines from a tin in the middle. But it had a different flavor than I expected - his secret ingredient was anchovy paste on one of the slices of bread instead of mayo. I've tried to re-create it but just can't find the right bread to use.
 
I do remember when they could afford it, one of mom and dad's sandwiches was made from beef Souse meat. Usually made from beef tongue, head or other lesser parts with spices, Souse meat at one of the local stores was rather cheap, but made a decent sandwich. I do recall as a kid it took me some time to acquire a liking for it due to its tangy, vinegar flavor and the gelatin texture.
 
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