I don't remember exactly when I began eating this oddity, but it was more than a decade ago and I've been lunching happily on peanut butter and cabbage sandwiches during the week ever since. I'm a raw cabbage fanatic and attribute my virile good health to consuming several pounds of it each week when I'm at home working. It's filling, has a satisfying crunch, is almost entirely fiber. A spread of peanut butter seasons it and provides just enough fat to make the meal satisfying. I add some carrots for salty sweetness.
We all love dinner. Many argue that breakfast is their favorite meal and of course it's "the most important meal of the day" (who came up with this slogan?—I do fine on coffee and Crest), but no one ever talks about lunch. It's the afterthought, the stepchild meal. In America, at least. When I spent three weeks with a family in France, the family all returned home for a feast at midday--truly civilized. Europe, bless them, still believes in naps.
My cabbage sandwich made me curious. I posted a while back on staple meals. What are your staple lunches? Lunch specific dishes, that is, that are not obvious (ham and cheese sandwich) or based on leftovers microwaved at the office. The more eccentric the better. It seems to me that eccentricity should flourish at lunch.
I have to admit it looked a little strange, but maybe it does taste ok. How did you ever conceive the idea?
Omg....seriously,i ve been eating peanut butter and cabbage since i left home...awesome, people think i m off my rocker, but its nice to finally hear, i m not alone in my taste for adventure. While you re fumbling for flavor, you might try peanut butter, banana and bacon...An Elvis favorite
yes, people look at me like I'm crazy when i describe the sandwich
Whenever there's leftover pasta (usually spaghetti with red sauce), I butter two giant slices of bread, heat the pasta up, and make a sandwich of it. My grandmother got me doing this when I was 8 or so and have kept it up ever since.
Hard to beat your PB and cabbage, Michael...I don't see that becoming a "haute" trend. Staple lunches in this economy go the way of cheese for me, grilled to be specific. At LEAST four slices on wheat including cheddar, provolone, swiss, american, pepperjack, mozzarella...Basically, anything deli-sliced makes it between my buttered bread. Got some sliced ham? Hell yeah it's going in. Low and slow heat in the skillet allows all of the slices to melt. Add some potato chips and sour cream and you got something there, son!
Working downtown, I don't really have a staple lunch. I either bring leftovers or go out to one of the few decent places to get lunch downtown. However, this winter in particular, I would say the Pig Mac at Crop has been a big staple lunch for me. It's unusual so I thought I'd mention it. A take off on the Big Mac of course, this sandwich features a big, buttery bun topped with black sesame seeds and layers in between of thin-pounded pork tenderloin, pulled pork and bacon, with some layers of small chopped onion, special sauce and cheese. It is huge, filling and perfect on a Cleveland winter weekday. I think that and a beef hot pot from Seoul Hot Pot have been my staple lunches all winter. With the hot pot, they break a fresh egg into the top and you stir it into the blazing hot mix of meat, veg and rice (don't forget the crispy bits of burned rice at the bottom, very tasty), and it's served with a dazzling array of small, pretty and tasty sides, mostly vegetables so all very healthy. Very filling, hot and tasty.
At my last job the company provided 'free snacks' that was restocked once or twice a week. Every day there was a group of us that took it upon ourselves to take these 'secret ingredients' as a culinary lunch challenge.
One of our favorites was to take a cup 'o noodle packet, rinse the noodles (to remove all the salty flavorings), add v8 juice and then microwave with dried herbs we found hiding in the back of a cupboard. We topped this 'tomato noodle soup' with chunks of string cheese. Sometimes we even managed to scavenge olive oil or past their prime salad greens that we added for more flavor.
My father and I have eaten many peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches over the years. As far as I am concerned peanut butter is perfect with anything, lettuce, deli meats, and tomatoes are also excellent choices...
Anything leftover. Gumbo, or some sort of ethnic type dish I make for dinner. The spices have time to meld and often while it was good for dinner, it is even better for lunch. Indian, Lebanese are two of the best. Also a good meatloaf is hard to beat too.
Soup! I work at home -- and once every couple of weeks I'll make a batch of soup -- ham and bean, black bean, minestrone, or in the spring when the garden gets going I eat a lot of puree'd greens soup. A bowl of soup, a piece of toast and a glass of the good milk I buy from a local rancher.
Since I am attending a University full-time, my lunches are usually leftovers. On test days, however, nothing gets me revved up more than a monster bowl of Pho from Bona, with plenty of fish sauce, bean sprouts, and jalapenos.
My favorite is some good cured meat with pickled veggies, baguette(or saltines), a variety of cheeses, good mustard or hummus, a glass of milk and a cold beer. It's the best!
mine is similar. but rather i enjoy the benefits of cabbage after it's been fermented. so. . . right now my fav is homemade sauerkraut, horseradish mustard and peppered turkey on rye.
just finished a batch. it was half white and half red. still has a great crunch, slightly salty, and superb tang!
http://therads.com/DSC_0009-2.JPG
I'm going to have to try this. At first I thought it was weird, until I remembered that one of my favourite snacks as a kid was a spear of celery filled with peanut butter. Sounds like this would be similar.
I gotta say...soup or leftovers that I made the night before...
I'm not much of a lunch person...
I'm somewhat intrigued by your sandwich : p
I totally agree with the coffee and Crest mentality. On hundred percent. Most people are so hurried with breakfast it is almost always something borne of convenience, which usually reads as something pretty boring, unless of course you are slapping cabbage on a peanut butter sandwich.
Lunch? Oh, I’m all about the Hot Pocket.
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Don't tell Jeffrey Steingarten you eat a lot of raw cabbage.
In "The Man Who Ate Everything," his essay "Salad the Silent Killer" says this...
Some studies blame high cabbage consumption in the Midwest among German and Eastern European immigrants and their families for the high incidence of goiter there... Goitrogens are largely broken down by cooking.
At least you're not eating raw beans or chick peas.
One of my favorite lunches during peak tomato season is sliced tomatoes with cottage cheese. I like lots of salt and pepper on the tomatoes, and I always use whole milk cottage cheese. My parents have been eating this lunch for years and only until recently did I start to appreciate it.
When I was in Hawaii I fell in love with Spam Musubi. Prepared sushi rice sandwiched in 2 slices of fried spam and wrapped in Nori. I have it about once a week for lunch and although they thought it was weird at first I have gotten several people that I work with hooked on that as well as other types of sushi.
Fried egg sandwich, with cheese and mustard... and and ice cold beer.
Noodles with Cottage Cheese (Friendship Dairies 2% Pot Cheese, if I can get it, otherwise Friendship 1% Cottage Cheese - no other brand will do!), butter and lots of fresh cracked black pepper. I recently learned that adding caramelized onions to this dish makes it into the Polish dish called Halusky (little did I know this was an official dish!) and the onions add a great touch, though I usually don't have them in the office.
Lately it's been goat cheese and cucumber sandwiches...I have to admit I'm curious about the cabbage and peanut butter though. A bit worried about the after effects of the cabbage thought I must admit...not all of us have the privilege of working in a solitary situation!
I completely agree about breakfast (though Colgate tastes better). Lunch is time to use up the odds and ends in the fridge. They usually turn into a soup or a salad. On a good day I supplement with a can of sardines or a leg of duck confit.
I'm glad to see a photo of the sandwich. I never would have guessed the enormous quantity of cabbage otherwise. I'm going to try this today; I have all four components.
I'm another one of those "takeout or leftovers" lunch people, though sometimes I'll make really elaborate salads to bring to work. But I have to say this: HOLY MOLY, that's like half a head of cbabage on that thing! I don't think my mouth opens that wide...
No wonder eating that keeps you fit - between the peanut butter and the raw cabbage, you probably have to chew each bite a hundred times!
I agree with the peanut butter commenter, it goes with everything in my opinion. Even shrimp! That would be my unusual staple lunch if I had my druthers.
Rockandroller, that dish you get from Seoul Hot Pot sounds so delicious! My go to lunch this winter (if I actually get out that is) has been Pho' (pronounced Fa). We have a huge Vietnamese community here in Oklahoma City and that has provided us with some incredible asian markets and restaurants. Hot steaming pho' with some thin slices of raw beef to poach in the broth is so delicious.
I like to make a hoagie early in the morning, heavily slathered with Italian dressing. Then I wrap it up and pop it in the fridge and by lunch time the dressing has moistened the whole thing into a sopping good mess.
The public school system here in Evansville, Indiana always served a half peanut butter sandwich with chili for lunch. I grew up dipping the sandwich in the chili. I thought it was 'normal' until college when my friends from elsewhere were so grossed out by it. I still love it though!
Nothing too bizarre here. I usually eat my leftovers from the night before (bacon explosion on sourdough this week).
I did work for a company for a while that had a really nice cafeteria. They grew produce on site, used Niman Ranch meat, and had actual chefs making real food for a reasonable price. During that time, I would eat a dinner-sized lunch and then just have a small meal or snack at night. Definitely a change of pace, but I'm convinced that's the way to eat during the week.
If only all companies had a cafeteria like that... (It helped me to forget how little they were paying me.)
Wow. This is interesting - your sandwich AND all the comments. I'm not a huge breakfast eater, just a huge cup of tea - except for Sunday mornings when I eat one egg, two pieces of bacon, and one piece of whole wheat toast buttered with raspberry preserves. I do like to eat some yogurt and fresh fruit around 10:30 a.m., but I don't think it counts as breakfast since I get up at 5:00 a.m.
In a perfect world if I did feel like breakfast, I would choose to eat half a small baguette, some cheese, and a little cured meat - so that would be right up your alley. I hate anything sweet in the morning, so Danish or pancakes with syrup are out.
But lunch. I hate dealing with lunch because I don't pack leftovers, and there's nothing really great near my office in West Chelsea, except for one place that makes ridiculously huge sandwiches. I usually stop at Pret a Manger on the way to the subway and get half a vegetable or tuna sandwich and a cup of fresh fruit salad. But it's not like a huge hamburger and french fries at Barney's would be, which I splurge on once a year.
Cabbage? With Peanut Butter? Are you mad? Peanut butter should be eaten only with kosher dill pickle slices. Everyone knows that!
My three favorite lunches on Earth are (in no particular order): Grilled swiss cheese and tart apples on rye; Brown rice with a spicy Thai coconut broth, veggies and baked marinated tofu (which I used to buy at the noodle shop down the street until I figured out how to make it myself); and fried (over-medium) eggs and sun-dried tomatoes on baguette.
Boring, I know. But tasty.
I love lunch. Breakfast is usually eaten in a rush on my way out the door; supper has to account for the tastes of my husband and kids (to a certain degree -- I'm no short-order cook over here); lunch is just FOR ME. Lunch is where I experiment with stuff I like, with no regard for whether anyone else will touch it with a 10-foot pole.
That being said, I don't actually have any staples. It kind of depends on the season. Right now I'm all about soup. I'm convinced the black bean soup I've been eating for lunch all week -- heavy on the garlic and hot peppers, completely devoid of dairy -- cured my rotten head cold. AND it was fun to make.
This is frickin' awesome Michael. I cannot wait to try a peanut butter/cabbage sandwich.
For lunch, one of my very favorites is the humble tuna fish sandwich. It is one of the most versatile and nutritious (?) quick lunch foods around. There are hundreds of ways to make a good tuna sandwch and I have been seriously considering writing my own recipe book of recipes for some time now.
@Vivian, it is definitely a big bowl of very hot goodness. The pot itself is cast iron and served on a wooden board, with a big spoon for scooping up crunchy goodness at the bottom and chopsticks for the little table bites. I was a bit squeamish about the egg at first, I really like my eggs cooked through and these are just barely even sunny side up, plus I am expecting and you're supposed to stay away from runny eggs, but everything in the pot is so hot that it completely cooks through in stirring it around. They have big sqeeze bottles of unidentified hot sauce that you can squirt in to make it spicy to your desired level. Plus it's just a huge amount of food, with the pot and the sides. I'd much rather have a huge lunch than a huge dinner (another thing Europe is great about).
One year after my family butchered and processed a pig for winter meat, there was this bucket of lumpy lard left. My Grandmother mentioned that, as a kid on her parents farm, they often ate Lard Sandwiches...which doesn't sound all that bad if it's spread on homemade bread...especially if times are tough. My parents decided that we could use that for a sandwich spread for school lunches...only they put it on wonder bread (wonder why they call it 'bread') After we wouldn't eat it that way they mixed it with applesauce...on the third day, the babysitter, who was so grossed out, took pity on us and purposefully dropped the whole bowl on the floor!
I'm imagining that the cabbage and PB sandwich might taste similar to cabbage rolls with a peanut sauce? I can see how that would be tasty!
My lunch favorites are:
slices of avacado and tomato with olive oil and minced red onions
or
co-jack cheese on a cinnamon raisin bagel with mayo and tomato
Dude, that is one weird food predilection.
Tell me, how does the wife feel about this. Does eating all that raw cabbage bring out the gas masks from time to time ?
This can put a strain on a marriage.
When I worked from home it was sardines on saltines with a whole grain mustard dollop. High in protein, calcium and omega vitamins. Yum. Now that I work downtown, I bring dinner leftovers or buy soup.
My favorite lunches are a hodgepodge of unassembled individual bites. In college I used to bring pistacios, cubes of cheese, grapes, crackers/roll, and a square of good chocolate.
Currently I'm obsessed with cold fresh mozzarella, which goes with everything. Accompanied with cold ratatoile and a chewy end of a loaf, is my kind of heaven!
Growing up, we ate avocado smeared on bread and sprinkled with pepper.
One of my favorites is canned tunafish and cream cheese on whatever bread is at hand. I know it sounds like an odd combination, but it does taste great to me. It came about out of necessity one day when I was in first grade. My mother would make my lunch to take to school and one of my favorites was regular tuna salad (w/mayo). I would have this at least twice a week. One day, however, it seemed to taste a bit different, more richer/thicker. I couldn't quite put my finger on the difference but I did like it...A LOT. That night, my mother asked me if lunch was OK and I told her I had liked it better than ever before. I asked her to please make the tunafish salad the same way as that from now on, so she admitted to me that she had not realized we were running low on mayo until that very morning when she was preparing my sandwich and so, to augment it, she decided to add softened cream cheese. So, for a while, the sandwich was made with mayo, cream cheese and tuna. However, over time, I gradually eliminated the mayo altogether and found I PREFERRED it with just cream cheese. Thus it has remained since then. When I tell my friends about it, they give me funny looks and usually refuse to even try it. Their loss...
Oh, and by the way, another guilty pleasure when I was growing up was another odd combination that my mother put together. Are you familiar with Malta? This is a sort of Spanish root beer type of drink. Tastes great all by itself, but my mother would sometimes also combine it with a couple of tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk and stir it very hard so that it would froth at the top (much like a milk shake). It was sweet and cold and hit the spot! Even as an adult, I will occasionally indulge in this on a hot summer night (only nowadays I make it with Coke).
Lunch is my favorite meal period of the day!
I will try your sandwich-- I like everything that goes into it, so why not..?
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We take sushi rolls and dump them in boiling water to make congee and serve it with chinese pickle and gluten chunks.
When my Mom was pregnant, she used to eat pickle and mayonnaise sandwiches. I eat them myself once in a while.
I'm a fan of muenster cheese and grape jelly sandwiches for lunch. My husband thinks it's vile, but I love it love it love it.
I'm a big fan of leftovers, but there are some dinners I make specifically so I can have the leftovers for lunch the next day. Flank steak is my favorite of these. Marinate it in whatever, broil it medium rare, then cut leftovers into bite-sized pieces.
Next day, put choice of lettuce, veggies, cheese that would work with a salad (feta, blue, etc) together. Keep meat separate. I heat up the meat until just warm and throw on the rest of the salad, which I bring in a larger than needed container. Then I give it a good shake so that the juice from the meat is the salad dressing. Yummmmm.
Sliced tomatoes and buffalo cheese marinated in olive oil and fresh basil or oregano on top of sliced filone bread in olive oil. I keep the ingredients at work and at home so I can have it anytime.
My staple weekend lunch is fried eggs on toast: farmhouse bread, eggs with runny yolks that soak into the buttered toast, all topped off with a squirt of Heinz Organic Ketchup. Yum.
At least a couple times a week I have a peanut butter, horseradish, cheese, and dill pickle sandwich. It sounds weird, but it has all the sweet, hot, salty and savory going for it.
Fried yam slices, peanut butter, and dijon mustard on rye. Alfalfa sprouts optional.
Cold apples with nut butter and bucheron. I don't think that cabbage and peanut butter is weird, I just can't fathom how you fit it in your mouth.
A version of the "peanut butter is good on anything" story -
Basically a BLT, subbing crunchy peanut butter for the mayo. Iceberg is good; arugula is divine! However, since I work at home, leftovers and large pots of soup made expressly for me rule the roost. (Yesterday I combined leftover spicy french onion soup with leftover minestrone - absolutely AWESOME!)
I grew up with a master pancake/crepe maker dad, so leftover were plentiful. Still to this day, I love sandwiches made from both, specifically anything with peanut butter and lately whole cranberry sauce from a can. Or take a crepe, fill with favorite cheese and a good layer of spinach. Oh and don't forget to warm up a bit on a cast-iron griddle.
For my staple meals I usually wind up snacking on a nice Swingline.
Anything hot...I cannot stand cold lunches. Actually, except for the middle of summer, I prefer hot food for every meal over things that are cold. Hence, oatmeal for breakfast, grilled cheese for lunch, etc. (I'm OK with adding a cold salad to a warm meal...or maybe soup with a sandwich.) Cold things on their own make my stomach hurt.
Orange and hard boiled egg with olive oil, salt and pepper on focaccia - I'm hooked!
This sandwhich trumps anything I've cobbled together for lunch. My only question how do you manage to keep the cabbage together while your eating it?
I would love to try this, I'm just so afraid that one bite into that bad boy would create a cabbage avalanche that would land in my lap.
btw (everyone knows that extra sharp cheddar and peanut butter makes the best sandwich)
Peanue Butter and Cabbage? This is the first I have ever heard of that. I think I will stick with the classic PB AND J.
@beanie, Your are right! PB and dill pickles are the only way to go. Have you tried PB and bananas? That's good too.
The best sandwiches involve bacon.... Peanut butter and crispy bacon on some kind of seedy bread... Turkey and Granny Smith apple with cranberry sauce and crispy bacon... Open-faced sandwiches with bacon, wild mushrooms and either blue cheese or old Cheddar, maybe a little mustard...
We were able to go home for lunch from our elementary school, so Mom got creative with sandwiches.
What used to be called a "European Breakfast" at Miracles Cafe, in San Diego (since shut down) I now eat for lunch:
Buttered baguette with any kind of fruit preserves topped with Swiss Cheese. As is, not melted in any way.
It's the perfect lunch. Perfect.
I tried the sandwich. Um ... am I on one of those prank tv shows? Am I being punk'd?!
On the positive side, I feel like I don't need to eat again for a loooong time. 😉
This sounds like a cry for help. Have you been checked for pica?
ok michael - that is totally new to me...
peanut butter with bacon is pretty awesome. they were common in nyc luncheonettes in the 70's. i used to get them on occasion.
my go to lunch is good pita bread - slightly warmed in the microwave and then topped with soft goat cheese, harissa, sliced green olives and a healthy drizzle of honey.
it's my thing.
man, i'm reading these comments and so many of the combinations are AWESOME. ideas for many future lunches...
Favorite is a nice cup of french onion soup with a grilled swiss cheese sandwich, or some Laughing Cow cheese spread on some whole grain crackers if I'm out of real swiss.
This winter especially, I've become a big fan of making a big pot of soup on Sunday and taking it for lunches during the week. In the summer, I'm all about tuna loaded up with pickles, radishes, tomato confit, tarragon and capers - either on a sandwich or mixed with leftover pasta. When I'm at home and it's lunch time, it's time for grilled cheese (American and bleu cheese) and tomato soup.
Hopefully as more people start to brown bag their lunches at the workplace, horizons will also expand beyond frozen meals and sandwiches on fluffy white bread. I've actually worked with people who commented it was "weird" when I was doing something like waiting to put my tuna on to my crusty bread until right before eating, or cooking things at different times/temps before combining them.
Breakfast is always french press something (and Colegate is the truely superior morning condament). Baked bean sandwiches on wheat bread with strong mustard and cold fried chicken have been a clasic in my family forever.
I mostly go in for bringing leftovers to work; one of my favorite lunches otherwise is good bread, gruyere and a tomato.
You must be a joy on long car rides. No wonder Bourdain got a convertible for the Vegas show (was it Vegas? I can't remember...). Anyway...
Definitely cheese toast. Crusty bread and any cheese that is very salty and a little bit grainy (Swiss - not French - Gruyere, etc) or dense and smelly (Raclette). Side of pickles, preferably Japanese (the bright green cucumber ones or the purple eggplanty things), and occasionally some tomato/red pepper soup. Then a small chunk of dark chocolate. Solitude, and a good book.
Mmmmmmm....
my grandmother got me hooked on toasted mayo & peanut butter sandwiches....not exactly healthy...but with homemade mayo....it's hard to beat.
Mary Lynn,
Peanut butter and bananas is tasty (or is that are tasty?), but
1) It tends to feel dry in my mouth, and
2) I can't eat it without imagining that I'm Elvis.
Someone above stole one of my favorites already: pickle and mayo sandwiches. If you want to jazz it up, though, add a slice of sharp cheddar and some good lettuce. Yum.
My newest favorite is black beans/black eyed peas/green pepper/onion/a little Italian dressing, eaten on corn chips. Very filling and tasty. I suspect this could be really good on a baguette, too. I have yet to try it.
Also, I love to saute peppers, onions, pine nuts and mushrooms, then dump the whole mess onto butterleaf lettuce with some balsamic vinagrette. Awesome. Even better with feta cheese.
Thanks, Michael! So many great new ideas....
Well... our favorite pantry lunch with peanut butter is this: a heaping tablespoon of pb, preferably crunchy, another heaping TB of miso, a tsp. red curry paste, boling water and ramen noodles... sometimes I eat this for days... and cabbage added makes it more complete, or spinach, bok choy.. whatever is left in the fridge.
Oh, Michael...
Fuck me. This exercise is a bit juvenille yet I do love it!!!
The give away is that you are still married and that Donna has not yet punched you in the throat.
She still may and I support her in that.
The answer to your question is yes, you now have enough influence to lead us in any direction you want.
I attribute your virile health to Donna's patience and our gullibility -- not cabbage.
Sans the cabbage, I will buy any book you write.
I'm pretty boring and prefer to stick with the classic Peanut butter, banana and bacon on toasted 12 grain bread.
I am convince this is a joke. Ruhlman's bored, and he's trying to see what sort of ridiculous stuff he can get folks to eat. Peanut butter and cabbage sandwich? Pure shenanigans. I'm not buying it.
Peanut butter and cabbage are two of my favorite things, but this, sir, is too hard to swallow.
Hard boiled eggs and raw green beans (chilled). I skip the yolks unless I'm famished. I'll try the C&B though - sounds interesting!
Ribbon sandwich, a 1940's Ladies magazine recipe. 4 slices of bread, ham salad, egg salad, peanut butter and Cheeze Whiz! Cut into four long strips. We were raised on these Ladies bridge food and still crave them today.
One I picked up from my late grandfather was slices of cold venison sausage with homemade wild grape jelly between two slices of bread. Sounds weird, but it's actually pretty good.
it's not a joke. peanut butter and celery is a time-honored combo. it began in summer camp--i didn't like pb&j--too sweet. so I threw some head lettuce on there for moisture. when i began to eat cabbage regularly, it was a natural progression. keller has his oysters and pearls, i have my peanut butter and cabbage sandwich.
thanks for all those who noted their own eccentricities...
I don't have anything to contribute lunch-wise, but you've got me thinking that a cabbage/carrot slaw with some sort of spicy peanut dressing would be good.
Peanut butter is a great vehicle for spices.
Here is my quick and dirty version--which is in accord with my conviction that the time limit for making a peanut butter sandwich is 30 seconds:
Spread one slice with pb and the other with chili garlic sauce.
Half Cabbage with Peanut Butter between two pieces of bread?! I´d never think about it without your blog, crunchy and buttered is classic! I´ll try!
Thanks a lot Ruhlman!
Jeff,
I, too, have dabbled in the "instant ramen noodles cooked with tomato soup or V-8" category of fine dining. However, what you and your coworkers dubbed "tomato noodle soup," I came to call "ghetto spaghetti."
Your name would probably do better on a menu, but mine has some nice consonance...
Michael, I apologize. I looked at this, thought for a moment and was SURE you were taking a piss and conducting some kind of social anthropological study.
Good on ya. Very weird, yet very nutritious.
I love making grilled sharp cheddar cheese sandwiches with sliced dill pickles placed between the slices of cheese. Once they are golden, brown and delicious I dip each bite in ketchup. Awesome!
On the weekends my staple lunch is usually sauteed kale with a fried egg on top and some capers. During the week it's leftovers.
Edward L. Bernays helped start the American idea of a huge breakfast being crucial for health and well being. Before he got his hands on us, we breakfasted as many Europeans do. It was bacon people who hired him.
I don't know that this is particularly eccentric, but practical, yes.
I measure and pre-package my cooked chicken tenders; rice; already frozen stir fry veggies. Each morning, I grab one of each and some sort of sauce (peanut, stir fry, etc). It’s usually thawed by lunch so I’ve got a complete meal in 2 microwave minutes.
I have a vacuum sealer - it works great!
Where were you when Elvis needed you???
If I didn't know you better, Ruhlman, I would have thought this was an April Fool's post. Do you really put THAT MUCH cabbage between two slices of bread?
As a profesional this is an embaressing admission this and the origins are hazy, but take left over white rice, cover with munster cheese, salt and microwave. When done mix the melted cheese into the rice, add a little of each sriracha, ketchup, and mayo and mix till its paste like. You can reheat it and "spread" it on white bread or add a raw egg and mix that in or wheat or whatever-pork confit!- but i promise you its delicous.
Ha. Lunch is my favorite meal.
My Dad used to say, "The only reason I go to work is to go to lunch. Otherwise, I'd never make it."
In Japan, they do this with miso instead of peanut butter, ohhh so good!
Ruhlman, you're scaring me. Do we really need to know about your love/need for fiber? Please tell me that this past Cleveburg winter has not turned you into the proverbial grumpy old man.
Top ramen with leftover meat thrown in and a beaten egg added to it to make "egg drop soup".
Toasted cheese and pickle sandwiches
Zataran's jambalaya with a good smoky sausage thrown in
Scrambled eggs with leftover's thrown in.
toasted tunafish (made with pickles and onions added) and cheese sandwich
Quesadillas with cheese and leftover meat
i recently just starting having a great relationship with sweet potatoes and butternut squash and all winter squashes. I love cooking them, I love eating them, I love trying different combinations of ingredients with them, once I got over how big and ugly and cumbersome they are. I don't have a great relationship with cabbage. When I lived in Japan and ate country food I ate a lot of cabbage. I think how great sweet and sour cabbage is but somehow cabbage intimidates me, it is the slicing and cleaning. Your sandwich has piqued my curiosity, time to get to know cabbage better!!!!!
Try this....slice of pizza with the red sauce and any kind of toppings. It's got to be warm. Fry an egg over easy and put it on top of the pizza, poke it and let the gooey yellowness drip all over the pizza. Once you try this you will crave it. Here's one more excellent combo...Cottage cheese drizzled with maple syrup.
Both of these make fine lunches when no one else is watching.
Cottage cheese and salsa burrito.
Sounds gross, but delicious and nutritious.
I've whisked natural PB (or almond butter) into an oil & vinegar dressing (with garlic!) for coleslaw before- its super-tasty! There's something about the sweet crunch of the cabbage that goes quite well with the nut butter.
Similar to another commenter, I have also spread natural PB on a freshly baked sweet potato, sprinkled it lightly with salt, freshly ground pepper, a dash of cayenne and served it with cilantro and just a touch of fresh squeezed lime juice. The PB melts and becomes sort of like a dressing.
i was seriously disappointed when i realized that the thick white filling in that sandwich was cabbage! at first glance, it looked like cream cheese.
inspired by this post, i crunched my way through half of a red cabbage last night before dinner. i feel lots more virile already! wow! {too bad i'm a girl, though.}
surprisingly, i didn't have any of the GI issues you'd normally expect after a bouffe des choux, at least not while i was awake. although i did notice that the cat, who usually sleeps glued to my side, was MIA this morning, and didn't come when i called.
i've been following the vegan and whole grain diet that mark bittman recommends in his new book, so lunch these days is sunflower seed butter or hummus on whole grain bread and a giant container of cut up veggies. usually it's carrots, bell pepper, fennel, jicama, cucumber, stuff like that.
boring, but effective -- i've dropped six pounds in three weeks.
I don't usually eat lunch and now that I've seen what you eat, I know I'm on the right path. Wow, that's funky brother. The belches that result from the ingestion of peanut butter and raw cabbage must be really interesting.
🙂
dude...
I always eat doctored leftovers for lunch. I also work from home so I can get creative. Rice is the best thing to start with. I heat it up with cheddar cheese. I add whatever veggies I have - corn, zucchini, mushrooms - and top with bbq sauce or salsa. Leftover chicken is also a good addition. If I have corn tortillas I scoop it up with those.
I'm going to try your sandwich. I'm also a big fan of raw cabbage.
A quart of whole milk. When I am rushing out of the door in the AM, and have a long day ahead of me of auditions and real estate appointments in NYC, I find a quart of milk to have good protein, carbs and nutrients to keep me going. Needless to say, on a hot summer day - "milk is a poor choice" - to quote Ron Burgundy.
my girlfriend jumped all over this when she saw it on my blogroll. she's a raw cabbage lover too. We do neglect lunch here in America as evidenced by the dozens of people who heat up frozen meals from the freezer aisle EVERY day at my office. It's truly a shame. These days I've been packing lunch - I love simple rice, pickled korean vegetables, and maybe some dumplings.
After I read this post I double checked my calendar to make sure it's not April 1.
However, my husband eats a fresh jalapeno with peanut butter every weekday morning.
Wow, I am loving all the ideas in this thread! Love the cabbage and PB sandwich...I think I'd add siracha sauce to it, to give it that spicy asian twist.
When I'm at home, my favorite lunch is grilled peanut-butter and cheddar cheese. So good. The cheese and PB melt together in a salty sweet combo that can't be beat.
Great sourdough bread toasted, buttered with two soft-medium poached eggs, kosher salt and pepper. Or great bread with tomatoes that have been dressed with olive oil, kosher salt, some garlic and pepper and let sit to develop a delicious juice to be sopped up with the bread.
Lunch for me is usually leftovers from home, or since I work in the downtown part of my city with lots of restaurants around, whatever I'm in the mood for that day. I love peanut butter and bacon sandwiches, but have never even thought about peanut butter and cabbage. I may have to try that out.
Breakfast is my eccentric meal. Sometimes I have bacon and eggs, but usually have either ramen noodles or homemade soup. I like the warm comfort of soup and it sure is tastier than oatmeal or cold cereal.
I agree with whomever said he/she had no idea how this fit in your mouth. That looks like half a head of cabbage in your sandwich there!
My staple starts with the no. 3 combo pho from my favorite local Vietnamese restaurant (rare brisket, tripe, tendon). I save the broth and top it off with new rice noodles and new bean sprouts for a few days. I know it sounds gross but honestly, I don't care. It's economical, and I'm unemployed.
Some of these sound fantastic and Justin, that egg sand. is something I want right now at almost 11:00 at night! But, I have to admit to leftovers as well for lunch. My one gulity and disgusting pleasure is leftover salad with good olive oil and red wine vinegar from the night before that wasn't finished. All of the lettuce and vegetables limp with the marinade and a good hunk of tough crusted artisan bread to soak it all up with. Throw in a piece of hardcore dark chocolate for dessert grated on the bread and I'm ready to finish the afternoon.
i'll try this but probably in a corn tortilla. we eat about 15 a day in the restaurant. maybe with some fish sauce in a rice flour pancake!
Its so nice to meet someone else who is a cabbage head like myself :-).
I must admit that you top me with that combo. We eat a lot of cabbage because it is rich in calcium, and is a great substitute for my kids who don't drink milk.
My lunch staples, because I work at home are fast and easy, like a microwaved backed potato, with a tuna topping or salad (cabbage maybe), or a pepper with cottage cheese inside, or just good old left overs.
PB & mayo sandwich! YUM!
I'm BAAaaacccckkkk....mine is not so eccentric except that it began only a year ago: Peanut butter and sliced banana sandwiches or open faced accompanied by a cup of coffee...
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Why stop there?
Be a man and make a smoothie out of it.
My staple lunch is brown rice with marinated tofu that I've seared off and a green veggie. This week it's chinese cabbage and organic kale that I braised in homemade chicken broth with some chipotle chile powder added.
Whenever we cook (stir fry or scallop) cabbage I always have to cut up a third more than we need as the snacking from the raw cabbage pile is epidemic in the household. Going to try this sandwich for sure.
Mine? Toasted wheat bread, skimmed with mayo, lots of onion bedded in the mayo with a pinch of salt and many grinds of pepper and sardines, almost as thick as that cabbage slice up top.
Cream cheese with olives. Preferably very salty, green ones, stuffed with pimientos. On party rye. I was a skinny fussy eater as a kid, and my Mother tried all sorts of things, including leftovers from their "card evenings." Hence the cream cheese and olives. Peanut butter and bacon is also a favorite...but also a food crime, too, now that I'm not a skinny kid anymore.
I will never again say my PB and tomato sandwiches are strange!
I'm really glad to hear that I'm not the only one who eats raw cabbage. Hmm, I'll have to try that peanut butter cabbage sandwich thing. Sounds interesting. I recently did a post on my blog about a quick lunch made of canned beans. If you give 'em a good rinse and doctor 'em up with some onion and seasoning, they're not bad. Also, I like to take some good olive oil, heat it up and infuse it with red pepper flakes, some sliced garlic, and pour it over warm pasta and you've got a tasty lunch.
Soup Soup Soup and Soup for lunch! With good bread. Second choice - leftovers from dinner.
And peanut butter and cabbage? Hmmm. My mom has sworn by peanut butter, mayo and lettuce since her childhood. She still eats it today :
Sarah, I thought I was the only other person in the world who grew up eating grilled peanut butter with chili. I made it for my son and his Frat house the last time I visited and they all loved it. My favorite lunch would be a BLT, a cup of soup and a big glass of un-sweet tea.
This is good stoner food. Are you sure you didn't come up with this in college? 🙂
Something about this really made sense to me. I often snack on cabbage, brussels sprouts, or broccoli while cooking. I had one of these sandwiches for lunch this weekend with fresh homemade oatmeal wheat bread spread with about a tablespoon of organic Maranatha peanut butter on each slice, a 1" thich slice of cabbage, some thin carrot slices, and fresh red cherry chiles. I dipped it in sriracha. The heat from the chiles and sriracha combined with the textures and flavors coming out of that sandwich made for a really satisfying lunch. Thanks for sharing the idea.
Part of me thinks you're messing with us. Sort of like conducting your own little social experiment to see how many actually make this strange sandwich. I did start salivating when I read your description of it. I am Pavlov's dog. You got me.
"Good Stoner Food" Ha!
Oh, man...somebody said Grilled Cheese and Pickle Sandwich. Where's my frying pan? Oh, snap! I'm at work!
My three-year-old's favorite lunch is plain yogurt with chopped fresh or frozen fruit mixed in, and granola sprinkled on top. Sometimes he doesn't want the granola and prefers goldfish crackers in his yogurt. I stick with the granola.
I tend to wake up hungry so not eating breakfast is not an option for me.
One of my favs is my Marinated Steak and Portobello Mushroom Sandwich.
Made with leftover steak (or freshly grilled), it's delicious in any bread, especially warmed pita pockets or tortilla wraps.
Ingredients:
1 pound thinly sliced grilled or broiled steak
1 or 2 large portobello mushrooms, sliced, sautéed or grilled
1 medium tomato, thinly sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1/4 cup balsamic vinaigrette
lettuce leaves
your choice of bread
Preparation:
Place the first 4 ingredients in a bowl or heavy plastic bag. Add balsamic vinaigrette. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Place lettuce leaves on bread and top with the steak, mushrooms, tomato and pepper mixture.
More often than not, I serve it with freshly made cole slaw.
Growing up, my grandfather Ernie used to make us peanut butter and mayo sandwiches. The mayo had to be Helman's. The combination was famtastic. It wasn't until I started to bring the sandwich to school, and the other kids were grossed out by it, did I realize it was a weird combo.
Peanut butter and marshmallow cream grilled on sourdough bread...yyyuuuummmm!
I work from home and a few times a week I make homemade ramen using chicken broth, rice noodles, soy sauce, hot sauce, carrots, frozen peas and an egg. It's quick, inexpensive and very satisfying.
Nothing beats a good old fashioned peanut butter and bacon sandwhich on toasted whole wheat bread. I've been doing this since I was a kid and I'm in my mid 40's now.
Greely
Two thick slices whole wheat bread, warmed but not quite toasted. Spread a half avocado over one like a paste, top with a few slices of crisped bacon, a medium handful of sprouts (alfalfa, mustard, etc.) and a generous couple of splashes of hot sauce (Tabasco or Cholula). Apply second piece of bread, slice in half, voila. The only problem is if I eat too fast there's another half avocado just waiting . . .
I am intrigued by this. Big raw cabbage fan myself. If my family has cabbage with a meal, I always request mine uncooked.
What's the red stuff in the bottom of the sandwich? Doesn't quite look like carrots to me. . .
In Russia, cabbage is unbelievably cheap, the perfect thing for a grad student's diet and wallet. At the market, you can get a giant head of cabbage and a kilo each of onions, carrots, potatoes, and five bulbs of garlic for under $4. This is enough for soup for about two weeks--and soup's great three times a day! (of course, those three times are: lunch, dinner, and 2 a.m.--with a time schedule and diet like that, breakfast never sounds appealing anyway)
I bring my lunch every single day, mostly because I don't want to plunk down $10 for a mediocre meal that I have to go fetch and also for health reasons (reason #1 being is I don't want to gain 50 pounds eating out every meal!). Most days it's just a combo of leftovers from the night before, but sometimes it's a raw onion sandwiches. I Love Raw Onion Sandwiches!
The best version is made with 2 slices of thick, white, Japanese toast, a liberal spreading of Kewpie mayonnaise (ONLY Kewpie will do) and a few slices of thick cut, rinsed sweet onions & a dash of black pepper. Of course if I'm lucky enough to have any carmelized onions left over to make a sandwich, I'd make one with those and a slice of gruyere on nine-grain toast, but I love onions in any form.
PS. I'm a cabbage lover myself, but my body makes, er, quite a bit of noise everytime I eat it. It certainly isn't due to any lack of fiber in my daily diet (I never met a veggie I didn't like) but cabbage really sets me off. Sorry to be so frank, but how to do avoid that? That's a big hunk of cabbage there!
@Vivian
@Rockandroller
I think what rockandroller is describing would be bibimbap. A korean staple. and i'm craving for it for days now! YUMM!!!
This is more of a kiddie clubhouse i created when i was little for afternoon snacks, but would occasionally have for lunch nowadays when it's just me.
toasted bread
peanut butter
sliced banana
strawberry jam(i prefer raspberry now.)
toasted bread
mayonnaise(i use yellow mustard now , whenever we have it)
scrambled egg
sweet ham/spam or whatever other deli meat we have)
ketchup
toasted bread
If I'm not too hungry, I omit the center toast and pile the scrambled egg, and ham when available, in after the banana.
i used to get EWWs from my elders. but it's great! And then, on some hot summer days and we kids didn't like to eat much, they allow us to eat mangoes or chips with rice. or stir ketchup into rice and eat it with fried fish.
--> trying to post this again... crossing my fingers. thanks, michael!
Well, peanut sauce makes a mighty fine topping for shredded cabbage, so why the heck not? If Elvis could do peanut butter, fried eggs, and Fluffernutter, you should be able to eat that cabbage-crazy sandwich above. 😉
Your sandwich made me think of my dad, who introduced me to peanut butter with liverwurst and mayo (we're southern--every sandwich gets the mayo treatment) when I was too young to think it was odd. I still love it today, though I've never been able to get my own kids to try it.
Wow...I certainly would never have thought of this combination. I certainly would have no clue as to why these two would taste good together; but, hey, I'm game. I'll give it a try. Do the two blend well in the stomach?
A can of sardines in olive oil, a stack of saltines and a wedge of lemon. Perfection.
I'm usually pretty open to new ideas. You lost me on this one Ruhlman...
I'll just have to take you word on it 🙂
Ruhlman,
That sandwich is terrifying you are totally insane.
Sincerely,
Tim
P.S. Peanut butter banana and honey is where its at, it was the King's sandwich of choice.
Ever have one of those days where you rush to morning meetings all day and come lunch, you're starving and just need to get the heck out of the office?
That's when my go-to lunch comes in - it's a dish from our local Vietnamese restaurant - steamed rice, Romaine lettuce, pickled and julienned carrots with daikon radish, sliced cucumbers, your choice of soft pork skin or sauted shrimp, two thinly sliced pork chops, fish sauce infused with red pepper flakes - and the best, glorius part . . . this super crispy, egg-over-easy on top.
A few weeks ago, I got up the nerve to ask them to forget the pork chop and just give me an extra egg. The yolk just melts into the sticky rice and is wonderful with the fish sauce.
I'm sure you would't want to get your cholesterol checked after this. But it's hot, creamy, cool, crunchy, sweet, sour and salty all at the same time.
I'm so addicted, I even make it for myself at home on the weekends.
The last couple days have been leftover sticky rice. Nuke the rice in a freezer bag, roll it into balls and dip it into a sauce of Lea & Perrins, sembal olek, soy sauce, fish sauce, and a modest squirt of honey.
After the rice is gone and a bit of the sauce is left, mix the remaining with a heaping spoonful of peanut butter for a salty/sweet dessert!
There is something satisfying about rolling sticky rice into bite sized balls and dipping them into an Asian inspired sauce with ones fingers--popping them in to your mouth and licking your salty/sweet fingers. The feeling is akin to rolling a huge snowball through fresh snow to make a snowman... especially when your nose is running from the heat of the sembal olek. Its just like the runny nose that accompanied a cold snowy afternoon outside.
Salmon, white rice and dill pickles. Add a touch of soy. There is something about pickles and rice that I love.
I make lamb broth soup with tomato paste, celery and carrot and onion... then I add some kind of small pasta (little stars - the finer the better)... not so crazy I guess but I always precede the meal with fresh garlic sliced on buttered toast.
One of my quick night time meals is a pizza made with a souvlaki wrap for the base (which I always have on hand in the freezer), a whole can of crushed peeled tomatoes, big dollops of yoghurt (and of course basil). Variations include pancetta, mushrooms and zucchini and a bit of any strong cheese I might have on hand. (Goats, blue, parmezan, fetta). I would never make this for anyone else but I loooove it.
PS: I think your c and p sandwich looks spunky.
My boyfriend makes a sandwich from odds and ends we always have around... this is a real Philadelphia concoction!
One Termini Brothers raisin tea biscuit, split and toasted in butter;
Two slices bacon fried crisp and crumbled;
Ricotta cheese smeared on one side of the biscuit;
And very spicy hummous spread on the other.
Mash together and eat lunch.
banana, milk, cocoa powder,and peanut butter swirled in a blender. honey or agave optional. I always drink it while cooking our main (3pm) meal. But I eat eggs and oatmeal everyday for breakfast so it doesn't need to be a lot.
My mom regularly ate peanut butter, Miracle Whip and iceburg on toast as a lunch sandwich. >ack< My visit to this side of the tracks: triscuits, sharp cheddar and my homemade bread and butter pickles. mmmm, trashy.
imitation crab meat, banana peppers, lettuce and tomato on whatever bread i have lying around. i LOVE it.
Growing up on my grandma's farm, in the summer we had summer sausage with grape jelly sandwiches on white bread. Still to this day, when I buy cured meats, I still have a craving for something sweet to spread on it!
Deli turkey and avocado on cinnamon raisin bread!
Or avocado, apple, goat cheese, and alfalfo sprouts on walnut bread...
yum!
one of my favs is what I call Oeuf Cocotte.
In a ramekin spay or coat with oil/fat then a slice of bread to shape if possible soak with a little 1/2 & 1/2 and if I feel fancy, vanilla. Then some pork product, par-cooked bacon, thin ham well season, of my fav procuitto. Put an egg on top throw in the toaster oven 350 F for 8 to 10 minutes.
Eggs pouched in diced onions tomatoes and basil.
Don't know about your cabbage with PB I think that would be too bitter. Maybe I will experiment with other greens on my sandwiches, baby spinach maybe.
Our family recipe for BLT's include peanut butter (no tomato...BLPB?). Kind of goes along with RyanJ's peanut butter mayonnaise sandwiches. They are reaalllyyy good
Have you ever tried peanut butter and sweet pickles sliced thinkly? Great lunch!
um you might laugh but I go for walks now the weather is nice an almost always find a few beer bottles two gives me twenty cents enough to buy a package of chinese instant noodles an I pick dandilion leafs on the way i chop the leafs up an toss in the cold water then add noodles when its boiling if i have a piece of fish or some meat left over add that basicly eating for free an I just love those noodles so quik to make
I tried your sandwich--it was awesome. The cabbage made the peanut butter taste even sweeter. I remember seeing a peanut butter and lettuce tea sandwich in a cookbook from around 1900 (Google Books), so this is not that far fetched.
Ha. Lunch is my favorite meal. Thank
I don't usually eat lunch and now that I've seen what you eat, I know I'm on the right path. Wow, that's funky brother. Thank
I just dropped by to tell you that I am snacking on cabbage with peanut butter today. Thanks....never would've put the two together had I not recalled this post when hungry and finding a small amount of leftover cabbage in the fridge!
Krema nut company in Columbus have a spicy peanut butter that might add an interesting twist
it's super late to comment on this, but i came upon it after making a discovery. tonight i was making cabbage soup, and i was munching on the cabbage in between boiling and stirring. i'd never tasted raw cabbage before (silly, i know), and the second i put the first bite into my mouth, i instantly thought "this needs peanut butter." i took a little wedge and smeared some on out of curiosity - i'm not one to deny unmistakable food instincts when they strike me - and IT WAS AWESOME. the cabbage is slightly sweet and nutty with a firm crunch, topped with peanut butter...amazing. i realize it's normal to make cabbage stir fries or slaws with asian peanut sauce, but something about the purity of the cabbage + peanut butter combo is really delicious.
can't wait to try this sandwich!!!