The Alphabet Sandwich
Back when I made the McEverything I mentioned that I'd come up with the idea a few years earlier, but just never really got around to doing it. This Alphabet Sandwich is similar in that aspect.
It's also similar in the fact that it ended up being WAY taller that I expected and almost toppled over at numerous points along the way. Luckily, at this point in my food blogging career I've become quite accustomed to dealing with adversity like this.
Anyway, the idea behind this was to create a sandwich that had 26 different toppings, each one starting with a different letter of the alphabet.
Now, I know that sounds simple enough, but do you realize how difficult it is to find a food that starts with the letter X? To solve that issue I eventually settled on xylocarp, which is defined as "a hard, woody fruit that grows on trees," or in other words, a coconut.
With some other letters I had the opposite problem, in that I had a tough time choosing which foods to use since I immediately came up with so many that started with the same letter. Take F for example, with that one I couldn't decide between French fries and fish sticks.
Eventually though it all came together and as you can see from the photo the Alphabet Sandwich turned out to be a gargantuan tower of food-related gluttony.
Curious as to what was all on my sandwich? Here's a rundown:
Avocado
Bacon
Cheese
Doritos
Egg
Fish sticks
Garlic bread
Ham
Italian sausage patty
Jalapeño peppers
Krispy Kreme doughnut
Lettuce
Macaroni and cheese
Noodles
Onion rings
Pepperoni
Queso blanco dip
Ramen noodles
Spinach
Turkey burger
Usingers bratwurst
Veal Parmesan
Waffle
Xylocarp (coconut)
Yams
Zucchini
How creative!! Though I'm not sure I would want to take a bite... 🙂
Yeah, it really wasn't very functional as an actual sandwich.
Maybe if you added a couple more pieces of garlic bread in the sandwich you could eat it in sections lol thats the only way i can see that it could be devoured
why was there a krispy Kreme doughnut as a filling
Because I needed something that started with the letter K....
Something I would definitely try. Just have to figure how to hit it in my mouth first. 🙂
Thats what she said
Great idea for language teachers
I might change Ramen noodles to Red tomato and Krispy Kreme to Kale:)
Here's one a bit more edible!
Avocado, Bacon, Cheddar Cheese, Dijon mustard, Egg, Feta, Garlic bologna, Ham, Iceberg lettuce, Jalapenos, Kale, Leeks, Meatloaf, New York strip steak, Onions, Pepperoncini, Queso Blanco, Romaine lettuce, Shallots, Turkey, Udon, Vinaigrette, Wasabi, Xavier steak, Zucchini
You are missing your Y food, may I suggest yellow peppers
Nope, I had yams on the sandwich, but yellow peppers would have been awesome as well!
I think Steve was referring to Jeff's list of sandwich ingredients.. seems his is also missing some kind of bread to make it a proper sandwich though..
"Quest Blanco"? Queso blanco, maybe?
Good catch! I just fixed it!
And you do realize that "queso" is just another word for "cheese", right? Seems a little redundant to have cheese on the list twice.
Wait, really!? It is!? Of course I knew that queso is another word for cheese, but it's queso blanco dip, which in my mind is at least a little bit different.
Regardless, there is never too much cheese. That argument is invalid.
I would not have fixed it. This is not a sandwich, it's a quest.
Brand names shouldn't count. Doritos can be replaced by donut, Kale for Krispy Kremes, and I assume Usingers is a brand name. Seems like te cheap way out...
Hmmmmm, I guess I'll have to do a follow up with either only brand names or no brand names.
Doritos are a unique food item so can probably work. Same goes for oreos.
Ok, so I stumbled upon your blog a few Months back when one of my Facebook friends posted your 100% cheese, grilled cheese sandwich and I've been hooked ever since...this amazing monstrosity had to be my favorite thing you've done since I've seen your McEverything concept! As a fellow Wisconsinite I am proud tip say I live in the same state as you, as a culinarian I am humbled by your creativity, and (embarrassingly enough) as a girl I think I'm getting a crush on your foodie personality that comes out with each story. All I have to say is, I truly hope I run into you during your quest for awesome food, and if you ever need any ideas I'd be more than willing to introduce you to some of my not-so-well-known favorites in the area!
Thank you for your constant entertainment
Thanks for all the kind words Steph! Yeah, if you've got any favorites in the area send them over! I go out a lot, but always just end up going to the same places over and over so I'm always looking for new places to check out.
G = Grilled Cheese Sandwhiches as in Grilled Cheeses for the top and bottom (a la triple bypass burger.)
and I chuckled at L = lettuce. Seemed rather pointless at that point.
I'd eat everything in that sandwich except for the avacado, jalapeno, queso, bratwurst, veal parmesan, yams and zucchini. I'd replace them with
applesause, jelly/jam, kiwifruit, quesadilla, tomato, and vanilla.
EW, what!?
This is a cool idea. There could be a spinoff version as a grilled cheese, a cheese for every letter:
Asiago, Brie, Camembere, Dubliner, Edam, Fontina, Ghouda, Harlech, Iberico, Jarlsberg, Kasseri, Limburger, Munster, Neufchatel, Oaxaca, Parmesean, (? For Q - Quark, Maybe), Reypenaer, Swiss, Taleggio, (? For U and V, although I guess you could technically say Vermont Cheddar as a V), White Stilton, (? For X, Y and Z)
It's a start...
OK, this REALLY needs to happen! I might need to give it a shot. I wonder if I could do it with all Wisconsin cheeses since there are tons of awesome cheeses here in Wisconsin.
Hmmm... Think that's prolly the ONLY good reason to be in Wisconsin!
Here's a start.. http://www.cheese.com/alphabetical/
I love cheese - I live for cheese - I am cheese - so there are always little bitty bits left at the end of the week. They all go in the mac and cheese. The bad part is I can never tell what's in there if it turns out to be the BEST EVER. Doesn't matter - there will be more...
I love this whole sandwich and I want to try it. If there is one change to make, fish sticks needs to replace with french fries. That's more of an appropriate F food. Other than that, I would take a bite of this bad boy.
M should be Mozzarella Sticks.
Minus the fish sticks. A-G sounds like a pretty good standalone sandwich!
Maybe you could do a pizza version of this sandwich? I think that might be more manageable to eat. 🙂 Oh, and I agree with Dave's comment above. Ultimate alphabet cheese pizza, anyone? 😉
It looks like the trifle Rachel made once (friends episode).
Why isn't it assembled A-Z?
That's a good idea, but I'm guessing that avocado would make a terrible base for a sandwich.
I bet Lettuce was the hardest choice for L!
The sandwich was really good.......dsahIEIRJCEHIADSUIO sorry, just had a heart attack.
Hi! I calculated how many calories are in this, and came up with 3169. You can see my calculations here: http://www.reddit.com/r/theydidthemath/comments/2o4lky/self_calorie_count_for_the_alphabet_sandwich/
That's awesome! Thanks for figuring it out!
Hi there, I read your blog on a regular basis. Your humoristic style is awesome, keep up the good work!