Customer Reviews

Roadfood Sandwiches: Recipes and Lore from Our Favorite Shops Coast to Coast

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've been a fan of Jane and Michael Stern for 20+ years. I read all their articles in Gourmet up until Gourmet became nothing but a shill for the advertisers. "Roadfood Sandwiches" is nothing but a re-hash (no pun intended) of their last edition of "Roadfood". The new info in "...Sandwiches" is minimal at best. I suggest you skip "...Sandwiches" and instead buy "Roadfood". It contains the bulk of "...Sandwiches" and much more. They really skated on this one.

Sandwiches are one of my favorite things in the world, so when I heard that the professors of roadfood were writing a sandwich book, I was thrilled. Like "Roadfood", however, I was disappointed. There are NO pictures at all in this book. What kind of a cookbook has ZERO pictures in it??? Now that they are successful authors (book and magazine, btw), I would expect something a little more upscale from the Sterns.

I love cookbooks, especially books on foods I can actually make, like sandwiches. I know of the Sterns through their website, and TV appearances and previous books and picked this one up because the cover was appealing. I was very disappointed. There were tons of recipes and for each recipe a little story about its origins and where the Sterns had eaten it, but no pictures. I know, you don't need a picture to make a recipe, but I have to say if you are going to do a cookbook on sandwiches you have found throughout the nation wouldn't it be nice to see the establishment? Or even the sandwich itself? Also the color of the pages threw me off, and they were very hard to read. The Sterns have made a living on Roadfood, but I think their journey needs to end if this is what we are getting for their efforts.

Like other reviewers said the lack of photos made the sandwiches listed in the book a lot duller and less tasty than they should have been.

But my main complaint is with the sandwiches themselves.

Does anyone really need two bacon and egg sandwich recipes (one with cheese, the other without?) It boggles the mind that they couldn't find more interesting sandwiches to list in this book. There were very few that I hadn't actually tried myself in my years of sandwich eating and so I was left disappointed and hungry for more!

Worse than that, some of the sandwiches had ingredients that would be impossible to find, the rolled, giant bologna for example. I don't mind doing a little searching for ingredients, but I can't see how else that bologna sandwich could be made. At the least the authors should have listed substitutions that would work even if they wouldn't be as good as the real thing.

The authenticity of ingredients was suspect too; thousand island dressing on a reuben instead of Russian dressing and the salami in the cuban mix sandwich (the correct name is a medianoche, midnight snack). The salsa was missing lime juice and the roasted green chile was missing cotija, maybe a fried egg even, odd to say the least, I could go on.

I was hoping for some new ideas, some strange combos that I could add to the rotation and sadly there was only one sandwich recipe that I could see adding and that was for the muffaletto, the olive salad sounds delicious.

This is a good cookbook for people, like myself, who enjoy reading cookbooks. Each recipe has a back story and trivia preceeding it. I really like the variety of recipes included in this book and that there are so many regional specialties, such as hot browns and bierocks. I have only made a few of the recipes so far, but we have enjoyed the ones we've tried. My husband especially enjoyed the ham po' boys.

The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because several of the recipes call for ingredients that you have to order from the restaurant. Since I don't plan to order tons of ingredients from the various restaurants, I'll either have to find some sort of comparable substitute or not use those recipes.

It took me a while to decide to buy this book. "Do you really need a cookbook to make sandwiches?" I was asked more than once. Well, just to make sandwiches, no. But this book is so much more. It really is a book about regional differences, which so many critics like to insist are all but dead. I am originally from Pennsylvania and now live in Alaska and have travelled widely all over the country for a job, and I can tell you that America's regions are alive and well, and moreover, are eating widely different things. Since I am interested in what those things might be and why they eat them, I find this sort of collection fascinating. This book did not disappoint me. Although I agree with the other reviewers that pictures would have been nice, we are talking about sandwiches here. Presumably, they will not look all that different. It would have been nice, but for me it is not a dealbreaker.

This book, quite obviously, features sandwiches - and a wealth of them! It is a recent publication (May 2007), but the design harkens back to eateries from the `50s and `60s. It truly reads as if you are sitting with a good friend while they tell you about all the best sandwiches they've ever eaten while traveling North America. The authors paint a vivid picture that more than makes up for the missing photos.

You get the history of the diner, the sandwich, or the proprietor, plus the recipes to recreate them at home. We thoroughly loved the Ham and Pear Crisp from Hell's Kitchen in Minneapolis MN. I've earmarked the Hoosier Tenderloin, the Green Tomato BLT, and Old-Fashioned Beer Battered Brains (just kidding on that last one!). Since it is easy to search the book by location, the next time I travel, I'll use it to seek out the best food.

I borrowed this book form the library and I too was disappointed that it didn't have picture. Like so many other people I enjoy eating with my eyes. I tossed it aside at first. In a bored moment, i went back to it. Not only did i find the stories entertaining, I could see potential in the recipes as well. Since I have made several of the sandwiches from it and they have turned out wonderful. You do have to spend a bit of time reading the recipes in the beginning to familiarize yourself with it, but like myself, you will quickly find ones that you will make again and again. Some of the recipes I find fascinating but no way in h*ck would I ever make it (think fried brains sandwich).

I have bought J & M's books for years. Very disappointed that this had no photos.

This really would have been a fabulous book if they'd have put PICTURES in it! I wanted to know right off the bat where the recipe was for the sandwich featured on the cover, (that looks like a sandwich I wanna try!) -and couldn't find it. I'm thinking it may be the "Will Special" on page 229. At least on the back cover, (two pictures there)it references the name and page numbers.

Other than no pictures, it looks like a good book. For each sandwich recipe, it gives you a little information about it and where it's from. There are condiment recipes.

There are several things I'm going to try from the book. Pictures would have made the book much easier and more pleasant to use.