The sandwich principle: what new sandwiches are prepared by the capital's chefs
Many of us perceive a sandwich as an ordinary snack, designed to quickly satisfy hunger and devoid of any special gastronomic advantages. However, in recent years, complex sandwiches have increasingly appeared on restaurant menus, and sophisticated gourmets are ready to defend long queues in trendy street food establishments for them. Izvestia found out what new and unusual sandwiches are found in the capital today and from what culinary traditions they came to us.
Katsu sando
Today, the traditional Japanese katsu sando sandwich has become almost a mandatory item on the menu of projects working in the gastronomic tradition of the Land of the Rising Sun.
Katsu striploin
"For us, katsu sando is not just a sandwich, but the philosophy of the perfect snack, which came from old Tokyo coffee shops," Yaroslav Andreev, chef of the Japanese Amber restaurant, told Izvestia. — Their main difference from European sandwiches is the balance and texture. We don't use endless lettuce leaves, tomatoes, or mountains of cheese that overwhelm the taste. In katsu, sando is salted with meat, and milk bread and a special sauce accompany it.
According to our interlocutor, the classic varieties of sandwiches also directly depend on the choice of meat. The most canonical version of tonkatsu sando uses juicy pork with a mandatory thin layer of fat for sweetness. For tori katsu sando, chicken thighs are more often taken, which are then marinated in ginger and soy sauce. Gyu katsu sando is made from premium beef, while the meat is not beaten into a thin schnitzel, but fried with a steak, preserving the fiber structure.
The Mortadella sandwich
Katsu sando striploin in Amber is a kind of symbiosis of Japanese precision and Russian request for satiety. It uses a thin edge that has sufficient marbling and a bright beef flavor. The meat is deep—fried so that a golden crust of panko breadcrumbs forms on the outside, and inside it is medium-rare - pink, warm and tender. The sweet and fluffy Hokkaido bread in the sandwich is represented only by the flesh, and the dish is accompanied by a spicy and fruity katsu sauce, including applesauce, tomato paste, worcestershire and soy sauces, as well as mustard. As a final noble accent, a little truffle sauce.
Sando with wagyu and black caviar
At home, the first katsu sando should be tried with chicken or pork, advises chef Andreev. An important role in the sandwich is played by bread, which should be rich and with a dense crumb, like toast or milk brioche. Deep-fry the meat or in 2-3 cm of oil at 175-180 ° C, and then put the cutlet on the grill for 2-3 minutes. The steam must come out, and the breading must stabilize, otherwise moisture will make the bread porridge. If there is no ready-made tonkatsu sauce, mix three tablespoons of ketchup, two tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce, one soy sauce and a teaspoon of sugar and boil everything to a very thick consistency. Be sure to cut off the crusts of the finished sandwich, and then slice it across like sushi. Press it lightly with a board so that it is compressed, becomes monolithic, and then the cut will be perfect, as in a restaurant.
Croc-monsieur
Croc Monsieur is a French upgrade of an ordinary sandwich. Its name comes from the word croquer, which translates into Russian as "to crunch", and this verb accurately conveys the meaning of the dish — hot, with stringy cheese and ham, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
Croc men
"More than a hundred years ago, such a sandwich was invented by the owner of the Paris cafe Michel Lunark, so that his visitors from among the theater audience would have a comfortable and satisfying snack before riding the omnibus," Oksana Kuznetsova, the concept chef and co—owner of La Poste bakery, shares historical details. — There are many varieties today: classic croque monsieur, croque madame — with fried egg or poached egg on top, croque mademoiselle - light vegetarian version, monte cristo — fried in egg batter. The most modern interpretations are prepared with fish, pastrami, avocado, caviar and various sauces.
La Poste makes its own crispy version of the sandwich with elements of both French and Russian gastronomy and calls it croc-men. It is made from artisan campani bread (or porridge), and beef pastrami with a signature cocktail sauce based on mayonnaise and ketchup is used as the filling.
Anyone who would like to cook croque monsieur at home, our interlocutor advises choosing high-quality artisan sourdough bread with a rich taste as a base. At the same time, it is important that it is not completely fresh, but yesterday's bread, since too fresh bread gets very soaked from the sauce. The meat for the filling should be soft, so it's better to opt for pastrami, turkey or chicken (including soured or baked). It is also important not to skimp on cheese, as it will bind everything together and give the very stickiness. If desired, you can add an egg to make a croque madame. The main thing is to keep the crispy sandwich idea alive.
Croissant Bikini
For several years now, the classic croissant has become an object for a wide variety of gastronomic experiments, which relate not only to the shape, but also to the filling of popular pastries in our country.
Croissant Bikini
"In Moscow, with its special lifestyle and difficult climate, we are used to eating more thoroughly, even if it is not a full meal consisting of the first, second and third," says Anton Tikhy, brand chef of Multiculture restaurant. — Therefore, even in an ordinary airy and crispy croissant, we want to put something extra.
The croissant sandwich in our interlocutor's project appeared as a reference to the popular bikini sandwiches in Spain. There they are made with toasted bread and a variety of fillings, then grilled to melt the cheese inside, and cut diagonally, so that in the end you get delicious triangles resembling bikini trunks. Ham and cheese were chosen to fill the filling in Multiculture, and this is already an appeal to the tastes of classic sandwiches familiar to us since childhood. Croissant bikinis are lightly fried before serving so that the cheese inside becomes soft and stringy.
To make a similar sandwich at home, our interlocutor suggests buying frozen croissants, semi-finished products. They are easy to bake in the oven and then fill with the filling that you like best. It can be low-salt salmon (which is perfect, for example, goat's milk cream cheese and fresh cucumber), turkey ham or prosciutto cotto, as well as fresh tomatoes, lettuce leaves and necessarily Dijon mustard. You can also lightly fry a croissant cut lengthwise in butter, putting it inside down in a frying pan, and then add your favorite jam on top.
Chicharron sandwich
In Spain, as well as in Latin American countries, the chicharron dish, which is made from fried pork flanks, is very popular. The skin is cleaned of fat, cut into small pieces, then dried in the oven or deep fried. In Peru, it is customary to make sandwiches with chicharron.
Chicharon sandwich
"In the classic version, these sandwiches consist of a regular bun, fried pork, lots of crispy red onions and sweet potatoes," Vlad Suchkov, chef of the Peruvian Alpaca bar, explained to our publication. — We added potato ciabatta to our dish, and added smoked chili glaze to the pork, so we got a richer and juicier version.
According to our interlocutor, sandwiches are absolutely appropriate in restaurant gastronomy, including because it is a convenient and understandable food format for guests. In addition, not all fast food can be prepared at home by yourself. The same chicharron sandwich, despite its apparent simplicity, is unlikely to work well with an amateur cook. The main component for it is pork on the skin will have to be stewed for at least three hours and glazed in oil, which may certainly require professional skill and special equipment.
Halabrod
In the Russian capital, the word halabrod is commonly used to refer to sandwiches on hala (special bread with additives, such as sesame or poppy seeds) with various fillings: schnitzel, falafel, baked vegetables, hummus and pickled cucumbers. This dish is found in establishments offering modern Israeli cuisine, and is essentially a Moscow interpretation of sabih.
Halabrod with branded schnitzel
"Our halabrod is a tribute to modern Israeli street food, but in the author's interpretation, where we took the classics and supplemented them with our domestic specialties," Konstantin Borisov, brand chief of the Israeli cafe chain Dizengof/99, shares the details. — So, in addition to the challah, the sandwich also includes hummus, schnitzel, Jewish pickled cucumbers, pickled red onion and Russian sauerkraut. And it combines everything together with shug-aioli sauce made from mayonnaise, garlic, coriander, fresh lemon, salt and hot pepper.
Speaking of atypical sandwich ingredients, our interlocutor highlights hummus. Chickpea paste is good not only as a source of protein, fiber and vitamins, but it is also a very functional product that goes well with meat, fish and vegetables. In addition, hummus has the property of enhancing the taste of other ingredients in dishes.
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