Slate.com has had a continuing discussion in letters-format about the
Sopranos. (Not sure how long they've done this; I've been reading only this
season.) Brian Williams (yes, the TV news anchorman) has been participating
lately.

In an earlier post, Williams mentioned that the Lincoln Log sandwich on last
Sunday's The Sopranos brought back memories for him. Timothy Noah (one of
the other correspondents) asked what it was and went into a funny riff with
speculation about the symbolism of the sandwich. I recommend Sopranos fans
read the whole set of posts -- it's good stuff.

At any rate, here's Williams on the Lincoln Log sandwich in particular and
the food of his childhood in North Jersey in general (warning--there's a
small plot spoiler at the end):

"...Would that my mother were here to defend herself. She went to her reward
years ago, and with her went the Lincoln Log recipe. During what has been a
painful day of culinary reminiscence on my part, all I can recall were Oscar
Mayer "frankfurters" (as my dad still calls them, I believe in deference to
the Supreme Court justice) split suggestively down the middle (I never
watched that part, because as with lobsters, I was never really sure they
were dead) and then slathered-in our version-lengthwise in mayonnaise. I
know. How do you think I feel? That was my life in north Jersey. They made
for a handy, portable heart attack on a bun. Enough aggressively bad food in
a fist-size package to give the eater/victim instant angina (and this was
years before he got voted off American Idol) if not worse. I remember we had
to get a certain kind of bun-the Pepperidge Farm "New England cut"-so that
when splayed open it presented more like a double-thickness slab of Wonder
Bread. On the dog would go copious amounts of mayo-and in some houses, cream
cheese. Always Breakstone's. My mom later developed some tsoris over the
quality of the Oscar Mayers, so we switched to Hebrew Nationals.

"Message: We didn't eat well. We enjoyed aerosol cheese, and served it to
guests with Triscuits. My mother once took a vacuum pouch of Carl Buddig
thin-sliced turkeylike lunch meat; flattened the watery, gooey, scattershot
sheets as a "steak"; and warmed the mass in a frying pan. It was served,
this flattened collection of 15-or-so slices in pretend solid form, as
"we're having turkey!" Yes, it was bad in the kitchen where I grew up ...
and not exactly flush with cash ... or cooking skills. So does anyone blame
me somehow for not remembering each pinch in the recipe for Lincoln Logs? I
merely remember they never seemed time-sensitive. They were better than the
sandwiches my mother sometimes packed for my school lunch: butter, sprinkled
with sugar, on white bread. Oh ... and she always used to gently take the
dull point of a pencil and draw a heart in my banana, just to optimize the
chance that the guys on the football team would go all Coco on me during
recess."

Anny

Anny Middon wrote:


> "Message: We didn't eat well. We enjoyed aerosol cheese, and served
> it to guests with Triscuits."

Heh. I know what he means. One of the things we used to eat when I was
a kid was hotdog sandwiches. Two pieces of white bread. A boiled
Oscar-Mayer wiener (there actually is a difference between wieners and
franks to them, franks are their all-beef dogs), split lengthwise,
placed on the bread, and Velveeta, sliced thick, smeared on the cut
surface to melt a bit, then topped with the other piece of bread.

What can I say, I liked them.



Brian

--
If televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who
won't shut up.
-- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com)

In article >,
says...
> Anny Middon wrote:
>
>
> > "Message: We didn't eat well. We enjoyed aerosol cheese, and served
> > it to guests with Triscuits."
>
> Heh. I know what he means. One of the things we used to eat when I was
> a kid was hotdog sandwiches. Two pieces of white bread. A boiled
> Oscar-Mayer wiener (there actually is a difference between wieners and
> franks to them, franks are their all-beef dogs), split lengthwise,
> placed on the bread, and Velveeta, sliced thick, smeared on the cut
> surface to melt a bit, then topped with the other piece of bread.
>

I wonder if we'll hear from those people who thought that this mystery
Sopranos sandwich was a delicious and authentic bit of Italian cooking.


--
Peter Aitken

"Peter A" > wrote

> In article >,
> says...
>> Anny Middon wrote:
>>
>>
>> > "Message: We didn't eat well. We enjoyed aerosol cheese, and served
>> > it to guests with Triscuits."
>>
>> Heh. I know what he means. One of the things we used to eat when I was
>> a kid was hotdog sandwiches. Two pieces of white bread. A boiled
>> Oscar-Mayer wiener (there actually is a difference between wieners and
>> franks to them, franks are their all-beef dogs), split lengthwise,
>> placed on the bread, and Velveeta, sliced thick, smeared on the cut
>> surface to melt a bit, then topped with the other piece of bread.
>>
>
> I wonder if we'll hear from those people who thought that this mystery
> Sopranos sandwich was a delicious and authentic bit of Italian cooking.

Right after you point out where anyone said that.

nancy

"Nancy Young" > wrote in
:

> Heh. I know what he means. One of the things we used to eat when I was
>>> a kid was hotdog sandwiches. Two pieces of white bread. A boiled
>>> Oscar-Mayer wiener (there actually is a difference between wieners and
>>> franks to them, franks are their all-beef dogs), split lengthwise,
>>> placed on the bread, and Velveeta, sliced thick, smeared on the cut
>>> surface to melt a bit, then topped with the other piece of bread.
>

I'd roll up my freshly boiled still warm dawg in a slice of homemade
bread...Way better than store bought hot dog buns...with sweet relish and a
good dollop of cheese whiz. But that wasn't a sandwhich...that was just
common sense.

--

The house of the burning beet-Alan

It'll be a sunny day in August, when the Moon will shine that night-
Elbonian Folklore

"hahabogus" > wrote

> "Nancy Young" > wrote

>> Heh. I know what he means. One of the things we used to eat when I was
>>>> a kid was hotdog sandwiches. Two pieces of white bread. A boiled
>>>> Oscar-Mayer wiener (there actually is a difference between wieners and
>>>> franks to them, franks are their all-beef dogs), split lengthwise,
>>>> placed on the bread, and Velveeta, sliced thick, smeared on the cut
>>>> surface to melt a bit, then topped with the other piece of bread.
>>
>
> I'd roll up my freshly boiled still warm dawg in a slice of homemade
> bread...Way better than store bought hot dog buns...with sweet relish and
> a
> good dollop of cheese whiz. But that wasn't a sandwhich...that was just
> common sense.

That wasn't me, but we had bologna sandwiches, 2 slices of
Oscar Mayer on Wonder Bread with mayo. Sometimes 1 slice
would be replaced with a slice of American cheese, the good kind
from the waxed box. Hot dogs? They were on Wonder Bread, too,
only with ketchup.

nancy

hahabogus wrote:

> "Nancy Young" > wrote in
> :
>
> > Heh. I know what he means. One of the things we used to eat when I
> > was
> >>> a kid was hotdog sandwiches. Two pieces of white bread. A boiled
> >>> Oscar-Mayer wiener (there actually is a difference between
> wieners and >>> franks to them, franks are their all-beef dogs),
> split lengthwise, >>> placed on the bread, and Velveeta, sliced
> thick, smeared on the cut >>> surface to melt a bit, then topped with
> the other piece of bread.
> >
>
> I'd roll up my freshly boiled still warm dawg in a slice of homemade
> bread...Way better than store bought hot dog buns...with sweet relish
> and a good dollop of cheese whiz. But that wasn't a sandwhich...that
> was just common sense.

As a lad, we were much more likely to have sliced bread than buns, so I
ate a lot of hotdogs and hamburgers that way, but not on homemade bread.

My grandmother (they lived on the farm) did used to "make bread", in
that all the bread for sandwiches or whatnot she made. When my mother
made bread, it was essentially a starch dish, we ate it hot with butter
until it was all gone. We had eight kids in the family.




Brian

--
If televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who
won't shut up.
-- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com)

In article >,
says...
> >> Heh. I know what he means. One of the things we used to eat when I was
> >> a kid was hotdog sandwiches. Two pieces of white bread. A boiled
> >> Oscar-Mayer wiener (there actually is a difference between wieners and
> >> franks to them, franks are their all-beef dogs), split lengthwise,
> >> placed on the bread, and Velveeta, sliced thick, smeared on the cut
> >> surface to melt a bit, then topped with the other piece of bread.
> >>
> >
> > I wonder if we'll hear from those people who thought that this mystery
> > Sopranos sandwich was a delicious and authentic bit of Italian cooking.
>
> Right after you point out where anyone said that.
>
> nancy
>

That's a "yes" to my question, thank you.


--
Peter Aitken

"Peter A" > wrote

> says...

>> > I wonder if we'll hear from those people who thought that this mystery
>> > Sopranos sandwich was a delicious and authentic bit of Italian cooking.
>>
>> Right after you point out where anyone said that.
>
> That's a "yes" to my question, thank you.

Oh, so you're specifically saying I said the sandwich was a delicious
and authentic bit of Italian cooking.

You can't back that one up. Feel free to try.

nancy

Thanks for posting that, Anny. When she said Lincoln Log sandwich, I
had no idea what she was talking about.

Becca

THANK GOD!!! I haven't been able to sleep for the past two nights due to
pondering this enigma!

On May 23, 3:05 pm, "Anny Middon" >
wrote:
> Slate.com has had a continuing discussion in letters-format about the
> Sopranos. (Not sure how long they've done this; I've been reading only this
> season.) Brian Williams (yes, the TV news anchorman) has been participating
> lately.
>
> In an earlier post, Williams mentioned that the Lincoln Log sandwich on last
> Sunday's The Sopranos brought back memories for him. Timothy Noah (one of
> the other correspondents) asked what it was and went into a funny riff with
> speculation about the symbolism of the sandwich. I recommend Sopranos fans
> read the whole set of posts -- it's good stuff.
>
> At any rate, here's Williams on the Lincoln Log sandwich in particular and
> the food of his childhood in North Jersey in general (warning--there's a
> small plot spoiler at the end):
>
> "...Would that my mother were here to defend herself. She went to her reward
> years ago, and with her went the Lincoln Log recipe. During what has been a
> painful day of culinary reminiscence on my part, all I can recall were Oscar
> Mayer "frankfurters" (as my dad still calls them, I believe in deference to
> the Supreme Court justice) split suggestively down the middle (I never
> watched that part, because as with lobsters, I was never really sure they
> were dead) and then slathered-in our version-lengthwise in mayonnaise. I
> know. How do you think I feel? That was my life in north Jersey. They made
> for a handy, portable heart attack on a bun. Enough aggressively bad food in
> a fist-size package to give the eater/victim instant angina (and this was
> years before he got voted off American Idol) if not worse. I remember we had
> to get a certain kind of bun-the Pepperidge Farm "New England cut"-so that
> when splayed open it presented more like a double-thickness slab of Wonder
> Bread. On the dog would go copious amounts of mayo-and in some houses, cream
> cheese. Always Breakstone's. My mom later developed some tsoris over the
> quality of the Oscar Mayers, so we switched to Hebrew Nationals.
>
> "Message: We didn't eat well. We enjoyed aerosol cheese, and served it to
> guests with Triscuits. My mother once took a vacuum pouch of Carl Buddig
> thin-sliced turkeylike lunch meat; flattened the watery, gooey, scattershot
> sheets as a "steak"; and warmed the mass in a frying pan. It was served,
> this flattened collection of 15-or-so slices in pretend solid form, as
> "we're having turkey!" Yes, it was bad in the kitchen where I grew up ...
> and not exactly flush with cash ... or cooking skills. So does anyone blame
> me somehow for not remembering each pinch in the recipe for Lincoln Logs? I
> merely remember they never seemed time-sensitive. They were better than the
> sandwiches my mother sometimes packed for my school lunch: butter, sprinkled
> with sugar, on white bread. Oh ... and she always used to gently take the
> dull point of a pencil and draw a heart in my banana, just to optimize the
> chance that the guys on the football team would go all Coco on me during
> recess."
>
> Anny

Only the sandwiches Carmela made were with cream cheese, not mayo.
You can distinctly see the Philly Cream Cheese container if you look.