This week's sandwich roots were noble, and complimentary again towards the city of Buffalo. For the second week in a row I decided that I would pay homage to one of the best food cities in the country, but this time I chose to construct a Beef-on-weck sandwich... Much lesser-known to those outside of the city of Buffalo, but certainly not less important.
The beef-on-weck, to those unfamiliar, is a very simple sandwich that has German roots, but was ultimately invented in Buffalo. It's simplicity is in that it is roast beef, thinly sliced, placed on a kimmelweck roll... Horseradish is also acceptably thrown into this for those who feel adventurous. When made properly, this is a wonderful sandwich, both in it's taste and in it's unapologetic simplicity.
Something I had not counted on was the fact that this is almost primarily a Western New York delicacy (did you not read that Wikipedia article I linked?!?), and therefore when I purchased the kimmelweck rolls at my local Wegmans in Lanham, MD, I was disappointed in the very un-Wegmans like staleness of the rolls -- This was not a bread product that they normally sold a lot of. Determined not to let this get to me (and driven by the promise of giant sandwiches filled with meat), I decided to make the sandwich happen anyway. The following is a chronicle of the next 4 days of lunch.
Monday: Though fairly stale, the insides of the roll prove to be surprisingly fresh. The roast beef is very rare (perfect for this sandwich), and the week's 'Potential Lunch Enjoyment Outlook' (PLEO) is scoring off the charts.
Tuesday: The rolls are rock hard already... Very un-Wegman's like. I decide to take a 'wait-and-see' approach to the rest of the week's sandwiches. Still very good... I decide to soften the roll up in the microwave, and although it's mostly in that weird partially-hard-partially-soft-definitely-too-hot-in-that-microwavey-sort-of-way, I eat the sandwich anyway. Hard to knock this sandwich, even though it's less than ideal.
Wednesday: This is the day that I set the kitchen on fire. Attempting to soften the roll for a second day, I toss it in the microwave for a 30-second soften, and leave the kitchen to retrieve the camera (for those all-too-important blog screen shots)... I return to see the microwave on fire from the inside out... I have set the roll on fire. There is something primal to human beings when it comes to fire. There's nothing more exhilarating than creating fire where there was none before, and equally there's nothing more terrifying than accidentally creating fire when there was never intent to do so. That's why I shrieked like a little girl. In probably the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me at work (the setting of the fire, not the shriek... Although that didn't help), I created a lasting impression both in the minds of my co-workers, and more notably in the kitchen at CPI -- That shit smells terrible, and remains to this day.
Thursday-Friday: I bring regular bread. This is the part of the story that's not interesting.
So yea, rough week on the sandwich front. On a brighter note (followed quickly by another disappointing retrospective negative note), we have a 70 mile ride coming up after being unable to complete last week's ride because of a rainout. We've got 3 weeks left of training before the century ride in West Virginia... Pretty crazy that it's all happening this quick.
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