Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Oh, man, I thought I had blocked out my Gatorade Gum cravings!

if you want authentic cuban then just have two slices of miscellaneous white bread, a thin slice of ham, some sliced cucumbers, and maybe there's mustard involved.

i spent three months in havana this year. none of the 'wiches i tasted came with a mojo sauce and pickles were beyond impossible to find. you should have seen how excited i was the day i found one little pickle in one of my sandwiches.

I had my first and best Cuban Sandwiches in Miami, both at real deal cuban barrio joints and a slightly touristy (but still authentic) cuban sandwich mega-restaurant (forget the name)

They're awesome and I've had plenty since then at restaurants, bars, gastropubs (even made them myself / put them on menus as a line cook) and nothing really "takes me back" to the real thing... they use soft cuban bread that doesn't really exist up north (as far as I know) and a plancha sandwich press.

If you don't get the details down it just ends up coming out like a grilled ham & cheese or a panini with pickles, not that there's anything wrong with that.

Reviving the thread...before she got feeble, my mom fixed a "typical" dinner one night...green beans cooked with streak 'o lean, corn on the cob, sliced fresh homegrown tomatoes and cucumber, homegrown cantalope...there may have been some "fried cabbage" (grated cabbage cooked in an iron skillet with butter, salt, pepper, a pinch of sugar and a bit of water), fried potatoes, cornbread. A po' folks' supper since it had no meat. And lots of love...I miss mama.

I realize this post is a bit old, It seems to me that turkey could make a reasonable substitution for the chicken. I've got some leftover turkey that I roasted in my BBQ sitting in the freezer. Anybody have any input before I try it and possibly ruin it? Thanks!

I really hate pickles on a chicken sandwich period, no matter who makes it! I always pick them off!

A brief tribute to the chief lunchlady at my school from grade 4-12. Mrs. Harwell fed about a hundred hungry kids every day. (towards the middle seventies she supervised two locations)

Almost all of the food was prepared onsite from fresh ingredients. NO surplus cheese or bunk food. Our school district was very small and had the benefit of being well funded. We paid a nominal fee for lunch.( I think it was fifty cents my senior year -1976). Potatoes arrived in a sack, were peeled and cooked from scratch.

In her kitchen the only thing that came out of can was condiments. She would come out into the lunchroom with a big pot under her arm of whatever was leftover about 20 minutes after everyone was seated and got many takers. The food was simple wholesome and fresh.

Pinto beans and cornbread from her kitchen was a feast I still remember.

I grew up with the worst bagged lunches ever (unsalted PB with no jelly on 50-grain bread, unpeeled carrots, etc) so I take extra care that the lunches are yummy AND healthy. However, without any heating facilities available in elementary school, and a thermos unlikely to survive a week, there are limitations. I tend toward a lot of fruit and sliced veggies, cheese sticks, sandwiches of tuna, cheese, or turkey. DD hates PB. I would like some good suggestions for non-sandwich items that don't need any heat.

When I was in high school my mom always packed me a turkey sandwich with honey mustard. Sometimes it would be chicken salad or tuna salad if I was in the mood. The fun part was the bread because she would switch it up. Sometimes Portuguese rolls, sometimes grainy bread, potato bread, etc. I'd also take along fruit or veggies, a small bag of Smart food popcorn, sometimes a couple of cookies, and granola bars. When I had the cross country and track seasons, I'd have to take some extra food with me to eat before practice. Usually a Power Bar or energy bar - kids think that stuff is fun to eat because it makes you feel like a pro athlete but the nutrition is not bad either.

Lately, I have been packing Bento style lunches for my daughter. She loves it, all of the different little packages of foods she enjoys.

The sandwich thing never really took off with her, but now and then she'll ask for one.

Another thing that she has been enjoying are the sunkist create your own tuna salad packages, comes with tuna, mayo, relish, crackers, a spoon and a mint.

With the Bento style lunches, I have been asked by numerous of her classmates parents about them and what sorts of things have worked well. It's amazing what a little creativity and about 15-20 minutes will come up with. When I send her with this style lunch, I try to get most of it done the night before so the morning is more relaxed.

Alan

A dietician had an article in my paper today discouraging lunch meat in kids lunch boxes. The nitrates or something.

for some reason, i actually embrace my hangovers; it means that there's a ton to discuss with my girlfriends the next morning! we'll typically cruise over to a local burger joint and get their saturday special (huge greasy cheeseburger, thick-cut fries, and a large soda... i always opt for water instead of the soda). if they're not around, i'll brew some coffee, and then pick up a huge plate of pad thai, which is so big that i'll snack on it throughout the day.

cheers!!