US West to East - One Sandwich at a Time Quiz

Answer: Bread

The French dip sandwich (sometimes called a beef dip) was invented in Los Angeles, but there are two places that claim this sandwich as their own invention: Philippe the Original and Cole's Pacific Electric Buffet. The sandwich is popular in southern California where just a few blocks north of Balboa Park and Downtown San Diego, a stone's throw from the I-5, there is an innocuous little diner called the Big Front Door that serves the a very good version. In its most basic version, this is a hot sandwich comprising thinly sliced roast beef on a "French roll" which is really a baguette. Most modern versions are served au jus which means "with juice". This is a dip of beef broth from the cooking process. Sometimes beef stock, gravy, or consommé is substituted. However, the dip component was not part of the original recipe. This particular San Diego version also has Swiss cheese and onions, which is a popular combination.

What a great meal to start our long road trip! We are just a few blocks from the I-5, which connects us to the I-8 to take us east into Arizona.

This question was dipped into the quiz by Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1.

Answer: The bread is fried or deep-fried

Frybread is a flat dough bread that can be fried or deep-fried in oil, lard, or shortening. Created this way, frybread is both fluffy and crispy, and can be served with sweet toppings such as chocolate, honey or jam, or more savory toppings such as the green chili fry bread that Phoenix, Arizona's Fry Bread House specializes in, adding beef, cheese, and lettuce to make an entire spicy sandwich with the frybread.

Frybread has a fascinating history involving the Navajo Native American tribe being forced to make a 300-mile journey called the "Long Walk" by the U.S. government in 1864. Frybread could be made with staple ingredients that did not rely on cultivating vegetables and beans, which proved difficult to support in the Navajo people's relocated land in New Mexico.

As we drove east along the I-8, which merged into the I-10, we were fortunate to find the Fry Bread Restaurant just off the I-10 within the Phoenix city limits.

This question was fried and fed into the quiz by Rizeeve.

Answer: Green

We head north out of Phoenix on I-17 until it hits the I-40, then it's a long drive east before we hit downtown Albuquerque, six hours later, ready for a sandwich.

The Albuquerque turkey hot sandwich at Relish Gourmet Sandwiches contains honey roast turkey, Havarti cheese, green chile, tomatoes, and chipotle mayo on toasted sourdough. All their sandwiches come with a side and a pickle spear.

The peppers used to prepare green chiles are picked while green and unripened. They are then roasted and skinned. If left on the vine to ripen, red chiles result after being dried in bundles known as "ristras". It might seem that red chiles would be spicier, but in fact red become sweeter as they ripen. Other factors such as plant variety and growing conditions also play a part in determining how hot a chile is.

Phoenix Rising's psnz toasted this sandwich question for the quiz, igniting the red versus green chile debate.

Answer: Brisket

Brisket is a cut of meat from the breast or lower chest of beef cattle, which contains a lot of sinew - so it requires tenderising. It is the meat of choice for slow smoking barbecue in Texas. At Dyer's Bar.Be.Que, a block off the I-40 in Amarillo, they do a very nicely smoked brisket sandwich on a milk roll with plenty of sides. Just the meal to fill the long distances of Texas and the long drive ahead on I-40

This question was smoked into the quiz by Phoenix Rising team member JAM 6430.

Answer: The steak is breaded and deep-fried in a similar manner to how fried chicken is cooked

It's a long eight-hour drive due east on the I-40 to reach Oklahoma City. One of many places that cook this Southern staple, the Savoy in Tulsa, Oklahoma (just off I-44) features chicken-fried steak on their extensive menu. Resembling Wiener schnitzel, and based on round steak, it is topped with a creamy milk gravy. In contrast, the pan-fried version of this dish is called country-fried steak.

Common side dishes include mashed potatoes - plain or with garlic and Parmesan cheese, mashed sweet potatoes, and a variety of mushroom-based sauces.

This question was fed into the quiz by MikeMaster99.

Answer: It is open-faced

The Gerber sandwich was created in 1973 by a gentleman named Dick Gerber, the owner of a tire store located next door to Ruma's Deli in the Covington Manor strip mall. A regular customer, Mr Gerber created the sandwich in the deli's own kitchen (which he was allowed to use), and the owners were so impressed that they immediately added it to their menu. Named "Gerber Special" after its creator, the sandwich quickly became a St Louis institution, and can be found on the menus of many of the city's restaurants - in spite of attempts from Ruma's owners to retaliate against what they considered trademark infringement.

The Gerber sandwich is made with a half-section of Italian or French bread. Each half is spread with garlic butter, then topped with ham and Provel cheese - a white processed cheese, produced in St Louis, a combination of Cheddar, provolone, and Swiss, with a low melting point and gooey texture. Before toasting, this hearty concoction is sprinkled with a bit of paprika; it is served hot, though not with jam or any other sweet stuff. At Ruma's Deli, which has since added another couple of locations to the original one, the Gerber sandwich can be ordered in two sizes, 6 and 10 inches.

This rather cheesy question was concocted by LadyNym, who does not really see the point of processed cheese.

Answer: Pork tenderloin

The pork tenderloin sandwich is ubiquitous in Indiana. It appears to be called the Hoosier sandwich outside of the state. It is a simple recipe which is remarkably consistent across the state: a thinly pounded, breaded, and deep-fried portion of pork, which must hang over the edges of a bun that must be toasted enough to catch all the grease.

The original dish came out of Nick's Kitchen in Huntingdon, 40 miles south of Fort Wayne. Nick Freienstein was born there in 1876 to German immigrants. He began selling sandwiches and burgers based on Wiener schnitzel (veal) from a cart downtown. There wasn't much veal in northern Indiana at that time, but pork was plentiful. He also added pickles and onions to his sandwich. He was successful enough to open Nick's Kitchen in downtown, and the diner celebrated its 110th anniversary in the same building in 2018.

Nick's recipe is unchanged and copied by Indiana diners throughout the state: pork loins are sliced into individual portions (bigger than the bun), and then tenderized and marinated overnight before being washed in an egg and milk mixture, then dredged in flour, breaded with saltine cracker crumbs and deep-fried. We haven't got time to drive that far north, so we settle for a perfectly respectable sandwich at Billy O'Neal's Pub & Eatery near downtown Indianapolis.

This question was thinly sliced before being inserted into the quiz by Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1.

Answer: Raw onions

The Polish Boy was invented in Cleveland by barbecue aficionado Virgil Whitmore in the 1940s. The kielbasa on the sandwich is typically grilled, though it is sometimes deep fried. Today, you can order one of these delicious sandwiches from Virgil's grandson, Larry Turner, who owns Mt. Pleasant BBQ on Kinsman Road in Cleveland. Another excellent restaurant serving the Polish Boy is Seti's Polish Boys. Before you leave town, be sure to also try a Polish Girl, which is a kielbasa topped with cheese, chopped pork, and coleslaw.

This question was sandwiched into the quiz by Phoenix Rising team member Chiroman.

Answer: Cured meat

It's a seven-hour drive from Cleveland to New Jersey all along the I-80. Just before it terminates at the I-95, we veer off into Hackensack, known as an area with a rich Italian-American heritage. The most popular sandwiches are Italian hoagies or submarines. At Cosmos' they are listed by popularity. Their most popular, #1, is a mixture of cured meats (ham, capicola and soppressata), cheeses (mozzarella and provolone), and sweet peppers. Some versions contain lettuce and tomato, but purists claim these ingredients are not authentic. Soppressata is a type of salami. It is made with leaner cuts, but coarsely ground; also it is pressed after it is stuffed into the casing. It is raw, not cooked. The "pressing" lends itself to the oblong (rather than cylindrical) finished shape, and also gives the salami its name. The meat is hung to dry for 45-60 days.

We have eaten so many sandwiches, we are way behind schedule. We now have a five-state dash straight up the I-95 to our destination, four hours away in Boston.

This question was pressed into the quiz by Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1.

Answer: Ciabatta

While sandwiches in Italy tend to be rather simple affairs - relying mainly on the quality of the bread and cured meats or cheese - the Italian-American submarine sandwich is a scrumptious concoction, packed with cured meats, cheese, olives, and fresh and pickled vegetables, and drenched in olive oil. These mighty sandwiches - allegedly created in 1903 by Giovanni Amato, an Italian baker who lived in Portland, Maine - go by different regional names (see Q.9). In Boston, whose North End neighbourhood is home to a sizable community of people of Italian ancestry, the local version of the Italian sandwich bears the unique name of "spuckie", a shortened form of "spuccadella", an Italian-American word (probably derived from the Italian "spaccatella", meaning "little split one"), referring to a long bread roll with a pointed shape. In various Boston restaurants, however, the spuccadella roll has been replaced by ciabatta, a flattish bread roll with a crisp crust and chewy interior, whose name means "slipper".

Nebo Cucina Enoteca, opened in 2005 by two sisters of Italian descent, is located in Atlantic Avenue, on Boston's Waterfront. Their spuckie menu includes such delights as "Autostrada" ("highway" - a perfect fit for our quiz), filled with various cured meats, tomatoes and peppers, and "Teramo", with fried meatballs in gravy and cheese.

The three wrong answers are all kinds of bread rolls, though not from Italy: baguette is from France, bialy from Poland, and concha (which is a sweet roll) from Mexico.

This question was split, toasted, and abundantly filled by LadyNym.