Customer Reviews

'wichcraft: Craft a Sandwich into a Meal--And a Meal into a Sandwich

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is important to understand the type of book you're purchasing when you choose this one. I work full time and usually bring a lunch. Bored of ham and cheese sandwiches, I picked this up in hopes that I would find some inspiration for better lunches. I did not. The book offers recipes that, while delicious sounding, are too complicated to make the night or morning before work. Many of the recipes include slow roasted meat (sandwiches with leg of lamb, pulled pork, braised short ribs), over the top ingredients (for my purposes anyway) like sushi grade tuna, or involved condiments like homemade lemon confit. Plus, the biggest portion of the book is dedicated to warm sandwiches, which don't work for work. I love to cook and do not shy away from involved techniques or recipes, it's just this doesn't suit my purposes when I need something quick.

If you entertain a lot, and want casual but impressive meals that can be semi-prepared in advance, you will find this more useful. The book offers a few breakfast recipes, a collection of cold sandwiches (ie, salami with marinated cauliflower; smashed chickpeas; mortadella with grilled raddicchio and pistachio vinaigrette), and a large chapter on warm sandwiches (ie, gruyere with caramelized onions; mozzarella and provolone with olives and roasted tomato). There are also a few dessert sandwich recipes, as well as a section with condiment recipes, which mostly include variations on mayo and vinaigrette.

The book is beautifully presented, with great pictures of each sandwich, and a smartly formatted table of contents that displays a thumbnail size picture of each sandwich. There are pages in between recipes that detail sandwich architecture (like I said...takes the sandwich seriously!) bread types, oil types, and advance prepping. Overall, it is a high quality book, but for the money, make sure it's recipes you'll actually use.

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!

I don't know about you, but when I want to cook something deliciously decadent, expensive, and time-consuming...I don't want to make a sandwich. I'm happy to spend hours on hearty stews, proteins, pastas, pastries...but I'm not really interested in putting all that hard work into a sandwich.

I was hoping "Wichcraft" would be similar to Bobby Flay's latest book on burgers, fries, and shakes: semi-professional comfort food for the home cook. However, "Wichcraft" is semi-professional comfort food for a gourmet chef. I don't have the money to buy ingredients such as white truffles (NOT truffle oil...which is expensive enough, but actual truffles), nor do I want to spend the time to slow roast meats and poach pears to stack them on a sandwich.

I wish I could recommend this book because the pictures are vibrant and the layout is beautiful. But, honestly, it is one of those high-brow, fussy cookbooks that will sit on your bookshelf for years. You might make two or three recipes but, realistically, the work involved in each recipe will probably turn you off...especially since we're only making...sandwiches.

If you want to make gourmet-like sandwiches with many steps and many ingredients, then this is the cookbook for you. If you, like me, enjoy sophisticated (yet easy) recipes from the likes of Ina Garten or Bobby Flay, check this book out before buying...it's definitely in a different realm of cooking.

All in all, I found this book to be pretentious and too-fussy for any kind of mass market appeal. Unless you consider yourself gourmet, I definitely recommend flipping through this book in a store before ordering or buying...

This book begins by describing a sandwich as something you can create in a short amount of time, something you put together with whatever you happen to have on hand, etc. -- pretty much what we all think of when we think "sandwich." These recipes are interesting, creative, tasty, but they are not things you can make with what you just happen to have around the kitchen. The book turns a sandwich into a meal for sure, a meal that can be quite complex to make, with several ingredients you need to prepare in advance (and then you'll have them on hand).

This is currently the most-used cookbook in my collection. Sandwiches are far and away my favorite food, mostly because of the many layers of flavor they deliver in a single bite--and the recipes in this book do not disappoint. The authors' philosophy that a sandwich should contain all the delicious ingredients of a well-balanced meal has made their recipes and ingredient combinations bright, exciting, and totally original. All the people I've served these sandwiches to have been amazed at the unique, delectable ingredient parings.

I've made fourteen of the sandwiches in this book...and every one has been a winner. I'm twenty-one and have only been cooking seriously for about a year, but I didn't find any of the techniques or ingredients daunting or complicated in the least. It is true that the sandwiches in 'wichcraft take more time to prepare than spreading jam and peanut butter on two pieces of bread and slapping them together, but that's what makes them fabulous: they really are an entire meal unto themselves, simply stacked onto bread rather than plated.

My only qualm with these recipes are that some tend to be quite heavy-handed in terms of how much oil they call for, but the amounts of oil can be cut dramatically without sacrificing flavor.

Some particular recommendations are: slow roasted pork with red cabbage, jalapenos, and mustard; chicken breast with roasted peppers, mozzarella, and spinach-basil pesto; roast beef with grilled red onions, radish slaw, and black pepper mayonnaise.

This is not a book for someone who thinks making a sandwich is simple. This book requires a lot of extra steps. Each ingredient is prepared at it's finest. I mean, you are making marmalades, roasting onions, making relishes. Each sandwich has several steps to it. Making mayonnaise and pestos. This is what makes his sandwiches so amazing. So if you want to put some time into making a gourmet sandwich, this is the perfect book for you. Don't get me wrong, it would totally be worth the extra effort.

This book has a suprisingly amazing dessert chapter. So if you like to bake and cook, definitely check it out.

so far I've made a half dozen of the sandwich recipes in the book. While some were fine, others in my opinion were simply not worth the effort taste-wise and one was down right bland. Definitely a niche thing.

Yes, this is a book of sandwiches. No, they are not something you can just throw together on the spot, but most of these sandwiches can turn great leftover meats and ingredients into a great second night's dinner. All you need is a little pre-planning. I often have leftovers when I make short ribs,turkey, or steak and they work perfect with this book. Also, many of the condiments that are prepared for these sandwiches keep for several weeks and can be utilized in many other types of meals. I have really enjoyed this book and have not found it too daunting for a weeknight meal
and leftover lunch. If you enjoy cooking and really like sandwiches then this is a great book for you.

If your idea of a gourmet sandwich is to press a ham and cheese sandwich with an iron, don't buy this book. If you don't have access to a decent gourmet supermarket or the internet (for ordering) then don't buy this book. I think Tom is great and when I met him last year in Aspen, he was very personable (as a Jersey Boy should be).

The sandwiches in this book are mini projects that yield sandwiches that are unbelievable. I've only cooked 3 so far but wow are they good. Some ingredients won't be available if you live in BFE, but not many. If you like making masterpieces, this is a great book. I learned how to make the most incredible mayonnaise from scratch, mmmm. When I spoke to him, he said most of the sandwiches can be served off of the bread. I tried one of the tuna sandwiches sans bread and it rocked.

If you are looking for a book to make simplistic sandwiches out of Buddy-Lee cold cuts, this is out of your skill level.

This cookbook provides a lot more than variations on a ham and cheese sandwich. For example, the peanut butter and jelly provides a homemade jelly recipe.

I have made a few of the sandwiches, and they have all been good. I especially liked the meatloaf sandwich. Some of the ingredients are not things that most people would have in their pantry (i.e. truffle oil), but a lot of the recipes have pretty standard ingredients. I especially enjoyed the onion marmalade. It is as tasty as I hoped it would be.