There's more to sandwiches than a couple of slices of meat and some cheese!
There's more to sandwiches than a couple of slices of meat and some cheese!
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Find episode transcript here: https://the-best-thing-i-ever-ate.simplecast.com/episodes/between-bread-ft-michael-symon-guy-fieri-and-anne-burrell
[MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER 1: People ask me all the time--
SPEAKER 2: Where do you like to eat?
MICHAEL SYMON: What's your favorite food?
SPEAKER 3: What's the best thing you've ever eaten?
SPEAKER 4: That's why we're here now.
SPEAKER 5: Not only to tell you what we love to eat--
SPEAKER 6: But where you can go get it.
MICHAEL SYMON: It's the perfect thing to have in between two pieces of bread. Just the greatest thing you could eat. Look at that.
ANNE BURRELL: Two pieces of bread can be the perfect vessel for just about anything.
MARC SUMMERS: It's the best sandwich ever.
AARON MCCARGO JR: Oh my God.
CHRIS COSENTINO: It's tart, it's sweet.
GUY FIERI: Is there anything wrong with this picture?
[LAUGHTER]
MICHAEL SYMON: There's all different things that you can make in between bread and every region has its specialty. In New York, you've got the great delis with the pastrami and the corned beef. In Philadelphia, they have their cheesesteaks.
But you know what, they can have all those sandwiches because in Cleveland, we have the Polish Boy. Nothing tops it, not even your silly Philly cheesesteak. I just say silly Philly.
SPEAKER 7: Yeah totally.
MICHAEL SYMON: The Polish Boy is a classic Cleveland sandwich. Sausage, hot sauce, coleslaw, fries. I get them all the time in Cleveland, but nothing touches Seti's. What makes the Polish Boy at Seti's the best is they're getting a great piece of sausage to start with.
And they throw it in the fryer, which makes it crispy and crunchy on the outside and keeps it juicy in the middle. Then you have a slaw that just has a hint of mayonnaise barely holding it together. Very crunchy slaw with a good amount of vinegar in it. Have a thicker cut fry that's fried till it's extra crunchy.
And then to set it all off, its top hot sauce on the top. You wrap the whole thing up and you go to work.
SPEAKER 8: I think the main reason my Polish Boys stand out is because, even though I'm fast and I pay close attention to what I'm doing. That's one Polish Boy.
MICHAEL SYMON: And I think it may be bred into Clevelanders from a young age on how to eat a Polish Boy correctly. There's a technique. You give it a little wrap with the foil. Got to stick your butt out, just a little bit, in case something falls. And then you just hit it and you're done.
Juicy, nice acid sourness of the slaw, sweetness of the sauce. Five bites max. Just the greatest thing you could eat. If it takes you more than five bites to eat a Polish Boy, you're not from Cleveland. It's the perfect thing to have in between two pieces of bread.
ANNE BURRELL: When it's done well, two pieces of bread can be the perfect vessel for just about anything.
AARON SANCHEZ: I think the best thing that I've ever had between two pieces of bread--
ANNE BURRELL: Best thing I ever ate?
AARON SANCHEZ: The pork chop bahn mi.
ANNE BURRELL: The classic bahn mi sandwich at Little Nicky's.
AARON SANCHEZ: At Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwich Shop in--
ANNE BURRELL AND AARON SANCHEZ: New York City.
ANNE BURRELL: I think, quite honestly, Aaron Sanchez is copying me. This truly is an outstanding sandwich. It's all about the perfect combination of so many textures and flavors.
AARON SANCHEZ: One thing that's really amazing about this sandwich is the fantastic bread.
ANNE BURREL: So perfect.
AARON SANCHEZ: It's toasted goodness.
ANNE BURREL: Just the way it squishes together, you just can't wait to take another bite. Aaron Sanchez likes the pork chop version. I am a classico all the way. Why mess with something that's perfect already? It's ground pork and pork pate.
SPEAKER 9: The taste is the most important thing but that's what all the flavor's coming up.
ANNE BURREL: Then you have the crunchy vegetables that make the whole thing sing.
AARON SANCHEZ: What's awesome about this place is it's close to my house and coincidentally, next door to where I get my haircut. So as my hair grows, so does my desire for this sandwich. It's a sandwich with a French baguette roll--
SPEAKER 9: Nice and hot.
AARON SANCHEZ: On top of that is the grilled pork chop.
SPEAKER 9: Delicious, marinated pork chop. Daddy's recipe. Lay a thick slice of cucumber.
AARON SANCHEZ: I never thought about putting whole leaves of cilantro with the stems that have all that great flavor in them. Slices of jalapeno. It really sort of touches upon all the most amazing aspects of your palate and it just works.
ANNE BURREL: It's all about the pork pate.
AARON SANCHEZ: I don't like to mess around with no pate in my sandwich. It sounds a little bit weird, and please educate me on that, because maybe I'm missing something really special here.
ANNE BURREL: Maybe if Aaron and I go together.
AARON SANCHEZ: I know and it looks-- I know it looks good--
ANNE BURREL: Look at you, are you ready for a sammie?
AARON SANCHEZ: Absolutely.
ANNE BURREL: He could have his pork chop and I can have my classic. And then we'll have one more classic that we'll split.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
I'm right. I'm right. Mine's the best.
AARON SANCHEZ: All right, Anne. [LAUGHTER]
ANNE BURREL: Great, get it in there.
AARON SANCHEZ: The pate has that little gaminess, which is nice. Anne has her take on the sandwich, I have my take on the sandwich.
ANNE BURREL: I'm a huge fan of a pork chop. But in this case, at the end of the day, it's a great sandwich. Perfect.
AARON SANCHEZ: Loving life.
ANNE BURRELL AND AARON SANCHEZ: Bahn mi.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MARC SUMMERS: OK, we've heard about some good sandwiches. Now let me tell you about the best sandwich you could ever eat anywhere. What I know is, the best thing between bread is a steakburger at Steak N' Shake. It's the best sandwich ever. People often say, how do you get a good burger at a chain.
I will tell you. When you say Steak N' Shake, we're not having a steak, we're having a steakburger. It means they take actual steak-- they take t-bone steak, they take sirloin steak and they take round steak, and they grind it up to make the best burger patties you have ever had in your entire life.
SPEAKER 10: Shake N' Shake started in 1934.
MARC SUMMERS: Growing up in Indianapolis, I remember it when there used to be car hops and the guys with the paper hats. And so it puts me back in the childhood, warm and fuzzy feeling. I like that, number one. But number two, all the burgers they serve at Steak N' Shake are steakburgers. I mean, they wouldn't do anything less. Why would they?
SPEAKER 11: The steak burger is cooked on a hot grill and we smash them. The steakburger would be caramelized across the top, bringing the flavor out of the meat.
MARC SUMMERS: The flavor is not to be believed. I mean you taste steak, but yet you taste burger. But I got to tell you, you want to go back to that childhood feeling? Vanilla Cokes.
SPEAKER 11: Add all natural vanilla syrup.
MARC SUMMERS: Unbelievable, will send you to the moon. They drop off the steakburger with the fries and the vanilla Coke all at one time. Where do you go first? Well, for me, it's always going to the burger first. You get that first bite there, your mouth explodes when you bite in the first time.
Then you wash it down with a little bit of vanilla Coke, then you go right into the fries. Lots of ketchup over there in the corner, dip the fry. And for whatever reason, whether it's a childhood fantasy that I want to relive over and over again, it's my favorite burger in the country.
ADAM GERTLER: I'm a fan of turning just about anything into sandwich. I've turned lasagna into a sandwich. It's messy but it can happen. This is just to say that I love sandwiches. Arguably, the best sandwich I've ever had is the number 19 hot pastrami sandwich from Langer's Deli in Los Angeles, California.
It is the pinnacle of sandwich perfection. What's more flavorful than beef? Beef that's been cured and smoked and seasoned and steamed. So pastrami is like the most flavorful form of beef you can possibly fathom. Therefore, i.e., ipso facto, pastrami makes the ultimate sandwich filling.
I'm sorry New York, forgive me, but Langer's deli is the ultimate. What Langer's does that's a little different is they will steam that pastrami for at least four hours. It makes it more tender and that tenderness is what allows you to slice it thick.
SPEAKER 12: We pride ourselves on a hand cutting it, which is a lost art. It requires a lot of manual dexterity and a lot of people are not capable of that today.
ADAM GERTLER: The meat on the sandwiches is phenomenal to be sure. But the rye bread is like the unsung hero of the sandwich. They double-bake the bread.
SPEAKER 12: Our rye bread is baked approximately 80%-85% from the bakery. We finish it in our oven for approximately 30 minutes. It gives it a crunchy crust and a soft tender center that is very, very moist.
ADAM GERTLER: And the first thing you come in contact with is that crust, and then it just shatters. So your teeth are free to sink into the very soft bread. And then the Swiss cheese, the Russian dressing, coleslaw.
You feel the pastrami and you just-- kind of just the whole thing just melts in your mouth. Sometimes I like a little bit of privacy with my number 19, so let me be alone with the sandwich. I need to be alone with the sandwich, please. It's a religious experience to be sure.
CHRIS COSENTINO: I just want to talk about a very simple sandwich. Sometimes the simplest things are the best. Bacon and marmalade sandwich. Prune, restaurant in Manhattan on 1st and 1st. Really good, tart and sweet marmalade, bacon, nice, crunchy bread.
It's perfect. It's absolutely perfect. It's the combination of flavors between the three components. They work very well together. It's balanced. You have to have the balance. It's not too much marmalade but it's just enough.
The bread has the right texture. The bacon is just smoky enough, just crispy enough. When it's that simple, attention to detail is there. All they want to do is make it perfect.
SPEAKER 13: Start by toasting pumpernickel bread.
CHRIS COSENTINO: The bread itself, it's a nice thickness.
SPEAKER 13: The next thing is to butter the toast, edge to edge, corner to corner. And now, this is bitter orange marmalade.
CHRIS COSENTINO: It's tart, it's sweet, and it's floral.
SPEAKER 13: This is going to go on one side and act as the cement that holds the bacon into the sandwich.
CHRIS COSENTINO: I like bacon. I like pig, I like a lot of pig.
SPEAKER 13: This is an applewood smoked bacon. We'll do five strips. Six was too many but then there might be one for the cook, leftover. So maybe I will do six.
CHRIS COSENTINO: The old saying was, Italians eat everything but the oink. And if they could catch the oink, they would figure out a way to cook that too. The bacon's not too thick, slightly on the crunchy side. It's got nice body to it.
But that marmalade is just really right. You want that orange blossom scent to come through your nose and that's a really important part about it. It's just a great, great, simple sandwich.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
AARON MCCARGO JR: This is so heavy. I'm going to do my curls first. It's a man's meal. It was awesome.
GUY FIERI: Ask Duff. Let's call Duff. Yo, my homie. How off the hook was the number 52 sandwich at Chaps Pit Beef?
AARON MCCARGO JR: When I'm talking about the best thing between bread, I'm talking about the cheesesteak. But the problem comes when I'm trying to figure out the best cheesesteak I've ever had because I'm torn between two-- Carmen's in Belmar, New Jersey.
But then there is another spot, the Yellow Submarine in Maple Shade, New Jersey. If I had to go before the judge and I had to do 10 years to life or choose between the Yellow Submarine and Carmen's, get the shackles out, because I just can't choose. Can I get three years parole or something?
Now when people think of cheesesteaks, they always think of Philly. You come to Jersey, we like to give you a little bit more variety. When I go to Yellow Submarine, I get a pepperoni cheesesteak.
SPEAKER 14: We start off with sirloin steak, marinated. Sliced thin so we can get it nice and chopped when we get it on the grill. We do believe that a chopped up steak is a better steak. When you get a cheesesteak, that's just the start. You get pepperoni, hot peppers, fried onions. Anything you want on a cheesesteak, we'll put it on there for you.
AARON MCCARGO JR: Oh, you hear a "ching, ching, ching, ching, ching." When you hear that sound, you know that you're getting the right sandwich. You don't make the noise, you're not doing it right. Something about their cheesesteaks that's just rocking people's minds with. And then when you go to Carmen's, it's amazing.
SPEAKER 15: When you say skirt steak, compared to a lot of places, they like ribeye. We just feel the skirt steak is a little juicier, more tender.
AARON MCCARGO JR: And they're going to "ching, ching, ching, ching, ching." It's like a melody there. So you get a difference of the music. I like the hip hop on this side, I like the smooth jazz on that side. When I go to Carmen's, it's a real, authentic Italian lunch meat shop.
Bro, you know what I saw earlier that caught me? That big daddy. You know--
SPEAKER 15: Cheesesteak, fried onions, hot cherry peppers and--
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
AARON MCCARGO JR: Yes, yes.
SPEAKER 15: I named it after the master. That's yours.
AARON MCCARGO JR: Is that love? I go to Carmen's because they make nice, hearty sandwiches. It's a man's meal. This is so heavy. I'm going to do my curls first. Carmen's had that crusty Italian roll. When I go to Yellow Submarine, party time baby. It's just done right. It's a softer roll, it's just like the perfect mouth size for it. I love them both.
MARY SUE MILLIKEN: Well there's a guy who loves two sandwiches. And here's two gals who love one sandwich.
SUSAN FENIGER: We're talking about the godmother sub from Bay City Italian Deli right here in Santa Monica. This sandwich is spectacular. It's so fabulous.
MARY SUE MILLIKEN: They are addictive.
SUSAN FENIGER: We love sandwiches. We love big, messy, powerful sandwiches. This sandwich, the godmother, is exactly that. The people are waiting out the door for these sandwiches.
MARY SUE MILLIKEN: The reason I love the godmother is that you just order the godmother. They've already figured out how to make the best sandwich. This submarine sandwich starts with really good bread.
SPEAKER 16: We make our bread here from scratch. We make between 500 and 800 loaves of bread a day.
SUSAN FENIGER: And then there are layers of salami, mortadella, capicola, prosciutto, and then some baloney. Don't forget the baloney.
MARY SUE MILLIKEN: I think you're thinking of mortadella, to tell you the truth.
SPEAKER 16: I get some mortadella--
SUSAN FENIGER: Damn, I thought it was baloney.
MARY SUE MILLIKEN: Oh, baloney.
SPEAKER 16: It's kind of like the Italian version of baloney.
SUSAN FENIGER: They have sliced tomatoes in there, shredded Romaine lettuce in there. Fine, fine, fresh, fresh, onions.
MARY SUE MILLIKEN: Provolone. And then of course, it has an incredible sauce.
SUSAN FENIGER: And it's everywhere.
SPEAKER 16: Most people like extra salt, put a little extra.
MARY SUE MILLIKEN: But the best part, of course, is we always get extra pickled peppers.
SUSAN FENIGER: And you can get it small or large.
MARY SUE MILLIKEN: Two godmothers.
SPEAKER 16: Small or large?
MARY SUE MILLIKEN: Don't get those small.
SUSAN FENIGER: Large. Large-- wait no, I'll have a small. Well no, I actually got the small the other day. And I thought, boy, how did I ever used to eat the large?
SPEAKER 16: Two small godmothers.
MARY SUE MILLIKEN: They're all taking care to make sure every bite has every single component.
SUSAN FENIGER: That's what makes a great sandwich.
MARY SUE MILLIKEN: Bar none the best sandwich I've ever had.
GUY FIERI: So you see, folks, you've gotten to see the seven big hits of best things between two pieces of bread. But when it really comes down to one of the best that I've ever had, well it ended up in Baltimore and it's a long story.
And I'd like you to pull up a blanket and get a hot cocoa and listen to this story about meat fest at Chaps Pit Beef. The name says it all, doesn't it? Pit beef.
Sounds exciting.
Every time I talk about this, I start to drool. I'm in Baltimore, I'm hanging out with my boy Duff from Ace of Cakes.
[LAUGHTER]
And we're talking about going to have pit beef. So I take Duff there. So Duff and I are shooting. This was just a recommendation we come down, so we had to bring him.
SPEAKER 17: Our restaurant is known for pit beef, which is slow cooked. Like a roast beef, but over charcoal. It's not something you're going to find everywhere, it's a Baltimore thing.
GUY FIERI: And they're roasting hunk o' meat. They're doing ribs and they're doing beef and ham and turkey. And the grill is like King Kong grill, it's humongous. They have 50-pound bags of charcoal.
SPEAKER 17: Gives you that good, smoky flavor.
GUY FIERI: Everything is going crazy on this big grill. This guy grabs the hot meat right off the grill, puts it on the slice, goes "bam bam bam bam," slice it up. And you know what, there's something, the key, the kicker? How thin they slice it. They slice it so thin, only has one side.
SPEAKER 17: Thinner is better. Because after we slice it, then it'll go back over the charcoals and we can pick up a little more flavor.
GUY FIERI: I really thought, wow, this is fantastic. He says, "If you think good, let me make you the number 52." Corned beef-- which I love-- ham-- come on-- and pit beef.
SPEAKER 17: That's for one sandwich.
GUY FIERI: Just take a minute. It was so good. So much flavor. It was awesome. Ask duff, let's call Duff.
DUFF GOLDMAN (ON PHONE): Yo.
GUY FIERI: Yo, my homie. How off the hook was the number 52 sandwich at Chaps Pit Beef?
DUFF GOLDMAN (ON PHONE): [INAUDIBLE] beef and muscle.
GUY FIERI: It was a festival of meat and muscle. Yeah, that's pretty good.
DUFF GOLDMAN (ON PHONE): [INAUDIBLE] meat. Then you got just enough bread to soak up all the juice from all the meat.
GUY FIERI: I think you just handled my interview for me. So you got it from the Duff-inator himself. Every time I've been to Baltimore, I go back to this place. It's killer. I brought the meat fast, I got you Duff on the phone. What else could you even want to talk about?
[LAUGHTER]
[MUSIC PLAYING]