Shooter Sandwich

I have high standards for the contents of this blog, but for the best sandwich ever, as prepared by my husband Eric, I was willing to cede the floor. Here is his report.


The Edwardian gentleman's "shooter's sandwich" was recently named best sandwich in the world by The Guardian (UK).  It looked perfect for a joint Guillemin/Johnson labs holiday potluck get together, and a change of pace from the multitude of (delicious) beans in our household.  It was fun to make and looked good on a platter. I think the 'best sandwich' is still open for debate, but it was quite tasty!

First I took a large steak, peppered,

mushrooms and shallots,

and some potato rustica bread, hollowed out.

I seared the steak and placed half into the hollowed out bread.

Next I cooked the mushrooms and shallots, adding some red wine, pepper, and red pepper flakes.

I piled the mushroom mixture on the steak,

added parsley and the second half of the steak,

smeared with horseradish and mustard,

then compressed overnight in the fridge and at room temperature for a few hours before the party. Then sliced and ate.

Shooter Sandwich

1 large top sirloin steak.  Probably the suggested ribeye would have been better, but I was reluctant to double the cost.  

2 pounds mushrooms. This sandwich used a mixture of shitake and brown crimini.

Parsely.

salt, pepper, red pepper, Worcestershire sauce, red wine.

Horseradish and mustard

I started in the late evening, and while the steaks were searing chopped the mushrooms and shallots and carved out the bread loaf.  While the mushrooms were cooking I tucked the steak (just salted) into the bread.  It took a while to reduce the mushroom liquid and red wine and Worcestershire sauce to a syrupy thickness, so I chopped the parsely.  The mushroom mixture piled onto the steak, and at this point had filled the bread loaf.  But I forged ahead and piled on parsely and then capped the mountain of ingredients with the other half of the steak, smeared on horseradish and mustard, and then squashed it down with the top of the bread loaf.  

I wrapped it in foil and plastic wrap, put it on a cookie sheet in case it leaked, then put a heavy cutting board on top, some cast iron pans, flour, more cast iron.  Since it was going to compress overnight, I put it in the fridge with just some of that stack on top, then resumed the heavy compression at room temperature a few hours before the party.  Just before the party I unwrapped it, sliced it and arranged on the platter.