Peanut Butter and Jelly - The Sandwich

[Qwerty]

All right everyone, I'm calling it. eGullet has officially run out of ideas. Everyone go home, nothing to see here. The site had a good run, really. There has to be a self destruct button under a "Break in case of intense PB&J discussion." You've exhausted everything else there is to talk about. 

[Anna N]

3 hours ago, Qwerty said:

All right everyone, I'm calling it. eGullet has officially run out of ideas. Everyone go home, nothing to see here. The site had a good run, really. There has to be a self destruct button under a "Break in case of intense PB&J discussion." You've exhausted everything else there is to talk about. 

NEVER. 

 

[Tri2Cook]

5 hours ago, Qwerty said:

All right everyone, I'm calling it. eGullet has officially run out of ideas. Everyone go home, nothing to see here. The site had a good run, really. There has to be a self destruct button under a "Break in case of intense PB&J discussion." You've exhausted everything else there is to talk about. 

Yeah, what we need is a hearty discussion on precisely how many dots of sauce should be placed around the edge of the plate and the precise size ratio between each dot in descending order.  I'm going to suggest that there are far more people in the world eating PB&J sandwiches than there are people tossing dinner in the sous vide tank or deciding which type of gellan to set dessert with and on that basis alone it is fully worthy of discussion... not that I feel any justification was needed in the first place.

[Alex]

9 hours ago, Qwerty said:

All right everyone, I'm calling it. eGullet has officially run out of ideas. Everyone go home, nothing to see here. The site had a good run, really. There has to be a self destruct button under a "Break in case of intense PB&J discussion." You've exhausted everything else there is to talk about. 

 

A sense of humor is a terrible thing to lose.

[Toliver]

10 hours ago, Qwerty said:

All right everyone, I'm calling it. eGullet has officially run out of ideas. Everyone go home, nothing to see here. The site had a good run, really. There has to be a self destruct button under a "Break in case of intense PB&J discussion." You've exhausted everything else there is to talk about. 

Which reminds of the time I was a subscriber to Martha Stewart's "Everyday Food" magazine. 

They actually published a recipe for a grilled cheese sandwich.

Really? 

What's next? A recipe for ice? 

Needless to say I let my subscription lapse after that.

[Katie Meadow]

Only last week I said to the host of a cocktail party,"You call this ice?"

[Toliver]

This topic also reminded me of the difference between a PB & J made for future consumption (like made in the morning and packed in your lunch) versus PB & J made for immediate consumption. 

The biggest difference? For immediate consumption you can make the sandwich with hot toasted bread. When you make a PB & J with hot toast (which, as I previously posted, I will slather with butter), it heats up the PB and makes it quite unctuous, almost melting it. Plus, the toast (bread) becomes part of the equation, as opposed to just being a room temperature slice of bread which is nothing more than a delivery system for the PB & J.

Give me a couple slices of a whole-grain oat-y type bread and toast it before making my PB &J, please. 

 

[dcarch]

https://www.amazon.com/Peanut-Polymer-Fake-Food-Earrings/dp/B01G5ZSCPI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502391360&sr=8-1&keywords=peanut+butter+and+Jelly+earrings

 

dcarch

[weedy]

Some comedian once said of Martha Stewart that she probably buys oxygen and hydrogen to make her own water. 

[Arey]

I liked Everyday Food magazine.  When they stopped publishing it, they substituted Martha Stewart Living  to finish out Everyday Food subscriptions.  I couldn't help wishing they'd send it in a plain brown wrapper.

[Martin Fisher]

Back in the day we were latchkey kids—the late 70s and early 80s—we ate a heck of a lot of PB&J sandwiches when we got home from school.

My mom's or grandma's homemade jams or jellies (wild grape, wild strawberry, wild blackberry, wild raspberry, currant, etc.) on fresh homemade bread.

 

I also love, love, love a good PB&J made like a good grilled cheese sandwich. Crisp on the outside, warm and gooey on the inside!!! MMMmmm!!! 

 

In later years I made 'PB&J' a hella lotta different ways. Different breads made from various grains. Different nut butters. Different jams and jellies—cherry jam, pepper jelly, tomato jam, groundcherry jam, boysenberry jam, blueberry jam, etc.

 

Lately I've had to restrict my carbohydrate intake severely—so none of that stuff anymore. 

Edited August 10, 2017 by DiggingDogFarm (log)

[weedy]

Peanut butter and jelly is on my dressing room rider... it's always there, all round the world. 

When we had blues legend Charlie Musselwhite playing with us, he would usually make a sandwich to take back to his room or the bus after show to have for breakfast the next morning. 

One thing (amongst many!) Charlie and I agree about is that "peanut butter is good with just about everything and anything"

[gfweb]

1 hour ago, weedy said:

Peanut butter and jelly is on my dressing room rider... it's always there, all round the world. 

When we had blues legend Charlie Musselwhite playing with us, he would usually make a sandwich to take back to his room or the bus after show to have for breakfast the next morning. 

One thing (amongst many!) Charlie and I agree about is that "peanut butter is good with just about everything and anything"

 

I know who Charlie  is...

[weinoo]

19 hours ago, Toliver said:

Which reminds of the time I was a subscriber to Martha Stewart's "Everyday Food" magazine. 

They actually published a recipe for a grilled cheese sandwich.

Really? 

What's next? A recipe for ice? 

Needless to say I let my subscription lapse after that.

 

18 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

Only last week I said to the host of a cocktail party,"You call this ice?"

 

You think that's weird??!!  Last week, I brought my own ice to a cocktail party!  (along with my own PB & J canapes).

[kayb]

12 hours ago, weedy said:

Peanut butter and jelly is on my dressing room rider... it's always there, all round the world. 

When we had blues legend Charlie Musselwhite playing with us, he would usually make a sandwich to take back to his room or the bus after show to have for breakfast the next morning. 

One thing (amongst many!) Charlie and I agree about is that "peanut butter is good with just about everything and anything"

 

I love Charlie and will go hear him at any opportunity. If he's a PBJ fan, so much the better. Hope he's doing well...know he's getting on up there.

 

[weedy]

Here we are last year backstage about to eat dinner. 

NOT peanut butter 

Edited August 12, 2017 by weedy (log)

[Katie Meadow]

North of Bend and Round the Bend

 

This thread is toast,

Long may it lie.

From the ashes a ghost

On white or rye,

For what is dead 

may never die.

My way north I make

to see the eclipse

What shall I take?

Do you have any tips?

Dragon glass for road rage

and an ice chest of ale,

a portable potty

from an Amazon sale.

A serrated bread knife 

of Valyrian steel,

a home made loaf

to keep it real.

Tart raspberry jam

and crunchy PB to spread,

and maybe a little something 

to feed my head.

 

Or not. I think I'm pretty much cooked already. 

 

 

 

 

[Alex]

2 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

North of Bend and Round the Bend

 

This thread is toast,

Long may it lie.

From the ashes a ghost

On white or rye,

For what is dead 

may never die.

My way north I make

to see the eclipse

What shall I take?

Do you have any tips?

Dragon glass for road rage

and an ice chest of ale,

a portable potty

from an Amazon sale.

A serrated bread knife 

of Valyrian steel,

a home made loaf

to keep it real.

Tart raspberry jam

and crunchy PB to spread,

and maybe a little something 

to feed my head.

 

Or not. I think I'm pretty much cooked already. 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll have what she's having.

[kayb]

Two of 'em.

 

[Qwerty]

I'm not sure of you all are aware but you're still doing it...

[Thanks for the Crepes]

31 minutes ago, Qwerty said:

I'm not sure of you all are aware but you're still doing it...

 

Yup, you stirred up quite the storm of interest again, didn't you? even evoking some pretty good poetry from @Katie Meadow about PB&J. 

 

Get over it, please. 

 

My husband loved PB&J's. I didn''t even keep any of the ingredients in the house until he asked for them. I was flabbergasted, after having to eat too much ultra cheap food during my orphan experience. To this day I do not eat PB&J, bologna or hot dogs.

 

I made an exception for this thread to have a half of PBJ a while back, but did not post because I was sort of embarrassed about it. Now I'm not, so I'm going to admit it, and you know what? it wasn't bad. This was made with creamy off-brand Clover Valley peanut butter and Smucker's Concord Grape jelly on Nature's Own White Wheat bread. I might just have another one just to bug you, because I'm almost never up to poetry. 

Edited August 16, 2017 by Thanks for the Crepes (log)

[teonzo]

5 hours ago, Qwerty said:

I'm not sure of you all are aware but you're still doing it...

 

Please consider there aren't only US members in this forum. I'm from Italy, never ate a single PBJ sandwich in my life and don't know anyone here who did. So what you find boring can otherwise be interesting to people from other cultures.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[Alex]

4 hours ago, teonzo said:

I'm from Italy, never ate a single PBJ sandwich in my life...

 

Ah, we're going to have to figure out a way to remedy that. Is commercial pb available at all by you? I assume you can buy dry-roasted whole peanuts, yes?

 

The only problem, such as it is, is that you can see how many opinions there are about a perfect PB&J: store-bought vs. homemade pb; smooth vs. crunchy pb; a lot vs. a little pb; salt vs. no salt (bleah); toasted vs. untoasted bread; squishy vs. substantial bread; jelly vs. jam vs. preserves; what kind of "J"; etc., etc., etc.

[teonzo]

I tried peanut butter something like 20 years ago and did not like it. Same reaction with all the Italians I know that tasted it for the first time in their adult life. Maybe it has something to do with our eating habits and psychology. More probably it's because it's hard to find peanut butter here, you find it only in some specialty shops, so I'm pretty sure we get low quality products (just like happens with maple syrup, tahini and so on).

I guess it's time to give another try, this time starting from whole peanuts. I have a lot of homemade jams, so finding a new use for them would be very welcome.

Little personal curiosity. First time I crossed the wording "PBJ" was when I bought "Chocolates and Confections" by Peter Greweling, where there is a PBJ chocolate bonbon (if my memory is right it's a dual layer with peanut butter ganache and raspberries pate de fruits, @Chris Hennesmade a step by step thread years ago). It took me ages to understand that PBJ was referred to the sandwich and it was a food staple in the USA.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[weedy]

Peanut butter is America's great gift to the food world.