A Minnesota-ism

[vakkotaur]

Or at least I never heard it before moving to Minnesota. Take a hot sandwich, such as turkey or roast beef, put mashed potatoes on top, and then cover that in gravy and what do you have? I'd call it a mess, or maybe inedible, and certainly unnecessary. Yet that is what gets called a commercial here. Turkey Commercial, Beef Commercial, and I don't know what other variations there are and I'm not sure I want to.

Comments

[jmaynard.livejournal.com]

The rest of the world calls it a "hot roast beef sandwich" (or "hot turkey sandwich"), like The Ranch does. It's yummy no matter what you call it.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

If I order a sandwich, of any temperature, and there's gravy on it, it's getting sent back for being criminally defective. Potatoes belong on the side, and gravy belongs in a waste treatment facility.

[yakko.livejournal.com]

If they put the mashed potatoes and gravy on the side, -then- I'd call it a sandwich.

I'd find the meal as described to be weird, but not inedible (unlike various cabbage-based products I could name)

[aedifica]

We used to get them occasionally at school lunches in Ames; I can't remember at the moment what they were called, but I know it wasn't that. I think it was "hot roast beef sandwich".

I haven't seen any since I moved to Minnesota; if I do, I'll be sure to ask the name.

[kelloggs2066.livejournal.com]

Sounds like it *could* be good, but I wouldn't try to pick it up with my fingers...

[kinkyturtle.livejournal.com]

Ew!

Never heard of it either. What's the deal with putting muck on top of a sandwich? The point of a sandwich is that you can pick it up with your hands. This sounds like you'd need a knife and fork!

[kiwihunter8.livejournal.com]

I think that may be why they have run out of favor.

We used to do that with leftover turkey and gravy - but not the mashed potatoes. That sounds icky to me!

[rillifane.livejournal.com]

Its sort of a bastardized cottage pie when you think of it.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

For those who, like myself, need to look that up (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&oi=defmore&q=define:cottage+pie).

Trenchers

[michaelmink.livejournal.com]

They're moderately common here in the Northeast. A lot of New York City diners, including the one across the street from where the a-e lives, serve these kinds of platters. They're usually referred to simply as a "hot open faced sandwich," though I see the version without the potato more often than I do see the potato.

This is actually a throwback to medieval times. Usually, food was served on a slab of bread known as a "trencher," hence referring to someone who likes his food as a "trencherman." The sammich as we know it is a late 18th century innovation credited (perhaps falsely) to the Earl of Sandwich, who wanted (so it is alleged) a meal on the go while he was gambling at cards. So KT, above, is right in one sense, in that this doesn't jibe with what we call a sammich today.

Personally, I like hot open faced sammiches.

Off Topic: Sammich?

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

Sammich? That's jarring. Granted I have heard it "sa-meech" a time a or two. I guess it's one of those things like "veggie" that are common but jarringly wrong to me. Sandwich. Vegetables (whether 'vej-e-tah-bles' or 'vej-tehbles). Perfectly good words. Maybe it's that 'veggies' and 'sammich' sound too much like how some folks saccharine talk to the very young that I don't much care for them.

Re: Off Topic: Sammich?

[michaelmink.livejournal.com]

I've seen it more often used as a jocular shorthand for sandwich, rather than baby-talk. Similar to the UK/Irish slang ref to a "meat and two veg." dish. "Coke" eventually became common usage, in spite of the fact that the folks at Coca-Cola initially *hated* the slang usage. (They hated the expression "dope with cherry" for a Cherry Coca-Cola even more, for obvious reasons.)

I've also seen it/heard it used as diner slang, when giving orders to the cook. Probably a way of shortening the phrase for quick information.

Startoons, when it was still around, had a bizarre little thing on its site, that revolved around an anthrop sandwich, named "Tuna Sammich." I think it was done as a joke, but one never knows.

Re: Off Topic: Sammich?

[kinkyturtle.livejournal.com]

My guess is, it's how people talk when they're in a hurry. Quickgimmeasammich, Igottagetbacktadagummintoffice.

Re: Off Topic: Sammich?

[foolscap001.livejournal.com]

/sam' ich/ sets my teeth on edge, too. I make a point of always enunciating "sandwich" clearly.

As for stress, that changes with time and place, vide the Anglicism of /luh bor' a tor ee/ versus American /lab' ruh tor ee/. I recall reading about changes in stress in line from Shakespeare (Hamlet?) where "'tis sweet and commendable in thy nature" had the fourth word originally pronounced /com' end uh ble/ where we now say /com end' uh ble/.

Cabinets and such

[michaelmink.livejournal.com]

As an aside, I'd note that very often you'll see odd local variations on something that is known by another name somewhere else.

Po'boy/hoagie/grinder/sub being one. In Rhode Island, milkshakes are known as "cabinets," allegedly because the first machines for making them came in fancy wooden cabinets.

Where MN would have received the idea for a "commercial" is something of a mystery, since it isn't obvious.

[timmowarner.livejournal.com]

I'd call it a hot turkey sandwich, except that somebody has put mashed potatoes on it too, which is sort of odd. I think it sounds good though. I'll probably try it out and proclaim to all that it's "A commercial!"

[kinkyturtle.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's called a "commercial" because it's nauseating and makes you want to see what else there is. :}

[ginafae.livejournal.com]

Back when I ate meat at all: This was the perfect resolution to the Thanksgiving leftovers. I loved it. The gravy would make the bread go kinda soppy and mushy... *drool*

But we called it an "Open-faced sandwich".

Yuuuummmmmm.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

And here I thought an "open-faced sandwich" simply didn't have the upper layer of bread. Though come to think of, it usually would have some sort of sauce (or gravy, if I was unfortunate - I know it's odd to many, but for me a sauce is a tolerable thing and a gravy is an abomination). But potatoes, if any, would be on the side. Or am I remembering things as I wish they had been rather than how they were?

[foolscap001.livejournal.com]

If I might ask, what's the difference between a sauce and a gravy? I think Alton Brown may have covered that on Good Eats, but if he did, I totally forgot.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

Gravy, generally, is made of meat by-product - the stuff that drips away and such, while a sauce is something mixed up from ingredients separate from the dish on which it is to be used. At least that's my definition. I know there is "sausage gravy" or "milk and flour gravy" which should escape the gravy definition, but such gets used in a form of biscuit abuse that renders the biscuits looking like they were produced by a canine with a stomach complaint, which is most unappetizing.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

Ewww. What a revoltng thought, no matter which way you approach it.

[jmaynard.livejournal.com]

"Hamm's, the beer refreshing..."