Sandwich historian brings unique flare to vintage recipes on TikTok

LOS ANGELES – Would you ever try an oyster sandwich? How about a mustard sandwich with butter on rye bread? Although they could possibly not be the 1st matter you imagine of when you walk into your community bodega, these have been fairly popular in a bygone period.

While there are many historic sandwich recipes that have been missing to time, one particular TikTok influencer is dusting off outdated historical cookbooks to carry what ever persons from the final century thought was appropriate to set amongst two slices of bread and showcasing it for today’s more youthful, hipper audience. 

Meet up with Barry Enderwick, who will work as a advertising and marketing director in California for his day career, and utilizes that advertising ability in correct “Mad Guys” fashion to ideally get folks intrigued in absurd but once well-known recipes from the 1700s to the early 1900s.

Even though he’s not normally prosperous at re-branding items like the mashed anchovy sandwich, his testimonials have amassed 3.2 million likes. 

“We really should have named this sandwich ‘harsh truth,’” Enderwick quipped in a video clip reviewing the notorious anchovy sandwich. 

That may well have appeared gross, but his adhering to reveals Enderwick is not below to chase any individual off. 

Enderwick states he’s been known as the “Bob Ross of sandwiches.” His voice is calm and normally produces a happy spin on even the most controversial sandwich recipes.

A key case in point of Enderwick’s operate is the French “pan bagnat,” which he has ranked as one of his favorites. The sandwich calls for two times of work. He starts off off by building a vinaigrette dressing to which he adds pink onions, tomatoes olives, cucumber, thinly sliced radishes and arugula. He provides that combination to a baguette with slices of challenging-boiled egg, and an anchovy filet, wrapped tightly in plastic and chilled in the fridge weighed down overnight. 

“Person! How arrive I have never created this in advance of,” Enderwick exclaimed as he rated the dish a 10/10. 

It’s content material like that which highlights the craft that goes into the video clips Enderwick will make. He isn’t just a person on the world wide web ingesting sandwiches in front of a digicam. He’s bringing his viewers on a journey by the essence of what is most most likely the magnum opus of human cuisine. 

Albeit, Enderwick ordinarily only makes half of the sandwiches he picks out of the cookbooks mainly because he states he “does not like to waste foods simply because some of individuals sandwiches aren’t excellent.”

Much much more than just two slices of bread

Despite some polarizing recipes, the bulk of the reactions to Enderwick’s written content has been praise and even satisfaction every time he showcases a historical sandwich from a certain society, like the Cuban sandwich.

“Men and women from these international locations see it and get extremely enthusiastic to see their region represented,” Enderwick explained. “I try out to be quite respectful of the language, of the heritage, the context of the society because I’m not here to mock everyone, I’m below to try out these sandwiches out and the global ones are perfectly acknowledged for a explanation.”

When you have a dish that millions of folks maintain so near to their coronary heart with so substantially pride for some thing — maybe their grandparents or mother and father have been building for them considering the fact that they have been a kid — there will constantly be clashing thoughts. 

“I just did the Cuban sandwich and positive adequate, I did not have access to Cuban drinking water bread and didn’t have time to make it so I applied a ciabatta roll and I’ve listened to from an individual who says ‘I’m Cuban and that’s flawlessly high-quality!’ to ‘it’s not a Cuban sandwich if you’re not making use of Cuban bread!’ but I really don’t thoughts the opinions like that because it just reveals they are passionate about sandwiches,” Enderwick discussed. 

Enderwick regarded Cuban sandwich lovers as some of the most renowned sandwich gatekeepers, and for excellent rationale. Sandwiches signify a ton to folks. 

“Each individual sandwich, which includes the Kentucky sizzling brown, the Cuban sandwich, the Bahn mi, everybody is fierce about how they working experience it, which is excellent, I’ll listen to about diverse variations that I’ve not heard of in advance of,” he provided. 

Sandwiches: Everyone’s Proustian madeleine

Proustian madeleine is an expression coined by the famed novelist Marcel Proust, who wrote in his most properly-acknowledged novel “Swann’s Way,” posted in 1913 about madeleine tea cakes. The odor and style of the cakes would overwhelm him with emotion bringing him back again to the days of his childhood when his mom would give him the identical snack evoking joyful and healthful reminiscences of his previous. 

Over time, the expression turned a well known way to explain when a little something like food stuff or even a spot provides forth recollections linked with that really thing. 

This is the specific affect that sandwiches appear to be to have on most men and women, according to Enderwick. He grew up ingesting a fried bologna sandwich. A easy dish he grew up having that he however loves to this day. 

That is the enchantment that has brought thousands and thousands to Enderwick’s channel. Thousands and thousands of folks, no matter if they know or not, have an curiosity in connecting with their previous by means of the magic of cooking. 

Enderwick states mass enchantment for the dish can largely be seen in its practicality.

“There’s a lot of choices. You can set anything involving two slices of bread, you can set any blend of factors in between two slices of bread, you can cross cultures in just those two slices of bread, so there’s a ton of likely there,” Enderwick mentioned. “It’s relatable, the richest person in the globe has had a sandwich and most likely the particular person who’s the very least properly off has had a sandwich of some kind, so it kind of spans courses and I consider people are just excited by studying about historic sandwiches.”