Food For Thought: The Avraham Karadi Sandwich
Are you a bizarre sandwich lover? Even though you might not make them or eat them, you can still be a sandwich lover and its nice to know that there are people like us, who simply love sandwiches. Lets take for example the “St. Paul”, ever heard of it? It is usually found in St. Louis, Missouri in certain old time Chinese restaurants. It is a egg foo young, lettuce, tomato, mayo and sometimes a slice of American cheese all on white bread. How about the “chow mein sandwich” a common menu option in Southern Massachusetts on Route 195. Other bizzare sandwiches include the peanut butter and onion sandwich, the peanut butter and pickle sandwich, the peanut butter, jelly and crushed potato chips sandwich and many more. There are no shortages of bizarre sandwiches out there!
Included in the list might be one of the most bizarre, the “Avraham Karadi” sandwich (A.K.A. Avi Karadi sandwich). It seems like it may have been created as a gourmet sandwich as it involves a tremendous amount of time and effort to gather and prepare the ingredients. I simply could not see anyone actually enjoying the resulting sandwich, but that’s just me as there has been talk that it is popular in some locations. Here is the list of ingredients:
An old Roman sweet wine sauce, Passum, is made by boiling the must, newly pressed whole fruits which include the stems, seeds, leaves and all. And then you would add in honey to thicken it.
Garum, a salty fish sauce from ancient Rome, approximated today by combining passum, oregano and fish paste.
Pine nut sauce, an old Roman stand by, this is made by combining pine nuts, vinegar, honey and some lovage and some pepper.
Finally, spinach, onions, along with lettuce and tomatoes as desired, with rye bread being the usual, though black Russian bread seems to be a distant second favorite. Egg paste, such as found in egg salad, is sometimes used as well. Pastrami or roast beef are favorite meats to use. There are a few variations on the recipe, but they all use most of these ingredients. Curiously enough, I could not find out where the nickname of this sandwich, the “Avraham Karadi” or “Avi Karadi” came from.
1. The Passum: Reducing it to one-tenth its volume, start by cooking the grape juice. Feel free to add honey to taste.
2. The Garum: Add two full tablespoons of fish paste to the Passum. Then add a pinch of oregano.
3. The Pine Nut Sauce: For three hours, in vinegar, soak the pine nuts. Now mix with honey, while adding dashes of pepper and lovage.
Step Four: Building the sandwich. Spread egg paste on your rye bread (or your black Russian bread if that was your choice). Now add on the meat (Pastrami or Roast Beef) and add vegetables. Pour on the Passum, Garum, and Pine Nut Sauce as desired.
There you have it an “Avraham Karadi” (aka “Avi Karadi”) sandwich, enjoy!
