Review: 'wichcraft

[persimmonfrost]

The sandwich is a creature born of convenience, and a certain amount of negligence, a Just-slap-it-on-a-slice-of-bread-and-I'm-outta-here mentality. So when someone comes along and raises the lowly sandwich to a work of art, it's worth a look. Tom Colicchio and Sisha Ortúzar have done just that with “'wichcraft” a beautiful book that takes sandwiches to a higher level.

The book is broken down by the sort of sandwich you might want to create: Breakfast, cold sandwiches which are particularly well-suited for lunches, and hot sandwiches which are heartier. There is also a section on sweet sandwiches which range from sandwich cookies to towers built of cake slices, ice cream and fruit. While there are some familiar sandwiches such as BLTs, most are either new takes on other dishes such as Salad Lyonnaise or very new concoctions such as the beer-braised beef short ribs with pickled vegetables, sharp cheddar and horseradish. There are also sections on sandwich information: The history of the sandwich, good sandwich architecture and so forth. There is even a section on the sandwich as a meal, and how less is more when it comes to piling the food on the plate. Excellent advice.

If I have a problem with this book, it's a minor one, but still worth discussing. Many of the sandwiches require a number of special ingredients. Now granted you can make many of these yourself; the recipes are included. But it almost pre-supposes that you're cooking for more than one or two people. And leftovers are often good for a week, which means you'll either be eating the same sandwich all week, or throwing a lot of relishes and garnishes out. I don't think this will keep many people from creating the sandwiches in the book, but it might mean they'll make them less often, or substitute other ingredients.

On the whole, though, I think that if you're a sandwich lover as I am, this book will set you to imagining all the amazing sandwiches you might whip up. It might provoke you to entertain more!