KITCHENER, ON – April 22, 2014 – Breadbaron Sandwiches is the newest addition to the Kitchener Market, offering a rotating selection of goodies. Its chefs, Nick Hatten and Mike Lurz, apply their culinary training from the Stratford Chef School to designer sandwiches, soups and various other fare; the results are yummy indeed. If you’re looking for ham and Swiss on rye, you won’t find it here. What you will find is the “porksgiving” or “b.b. squash,” showcasing locally raised bacon and mouthwatering chèvre from Monforte Dairy, respectively. Those who think the better it tastes, the worse it is for you have another think coming!
1. Ingredients – Buying local produce and livestock is a win-win – the ingredients are fresher and more nutritious from minimal (if any!) shipping, and you help your local economy by putting your money in the pockets of local food producers. Breadbaron buys and grows local produce, sourcing their meat from trusted farms that treat their animals humanely and without antibiotics or hormones.
2. Bread – Sandwiches would be nothing without bread, but it’s important that the bread doesn’t overpower or out-bulk the filling. The Breadbaron team knows what labour and love go into a good loaf of bread. Breadbaron uses square loaves from Waterloo’s own Grainharvest bakery. For the gluten-sensitive, a hardy leaf of savoy cabbage provides a more healthy and delicious platform than a gluten-free bread.
3. Flavour and texture – This goes hand-in-hand with ingredients above. Source quality ingredients and let them do the talking, but don’t be afraid to cook them and combine them inventively. Moisture balance is key – nobody likes a dry sandwich. The brown butter squash sandwich, for instance: roasted butternut squash puréed with salt, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, and goat’s cheese; carrots peeled into strips and lightly pickled; brown butter; fresh sunflower sprouts and a seven-grain loaf from Grain Harvest bakery. These ingredients combine to offer a sweet, sour, smooth, crunchy and fresh experience.
4. Ease of eating – A sandwich can be made or broken by the tender loving care it gets when it’s built. Most sandwich bread benefits from toasting, not just for that extra bit of flavour, but for a protective crunch layer that adds stability. Simple things are important: physical construction (a careful lettuce cut to make just the right even bed) or alternating hot and cold ingredients so the sandwich tempers itself and doesn’t get soggy when wrapped. Flimsy ingredients such as thinly sliced pear do best on an even platform of, say, thick bacon slices, and a sharp bread knife delivering a clean diagonal cut is a must.
5. Ingenuity – Sandwiches sometimes get a bad rap, confined to memories of a lukewarm platter of picked-over egg salad wedges, but they don’t deserve it. A little inventiveness goes a long way, and sandwiches provide an almost limitless platform for interesting flavour and ingredient combinations. We owe it to the progenitor of our craft – the Earl of Sandwich himself, who first used his bread as a plate for his food – to elevate it to the highest heights possible. Why not try a kimchi-and-braised beef cheek sandwich today?
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