Thanksgiving Po-Boy!

 

Last week my food calendar and my menu miraculously synched, on Throwback Thursday.  It was appropriate because of so many different things that went into this dish.

1.  Obviously it has been a few months since Thanksgiving!  I mean after all; this is May and Thanksgiving was in November. 

2.  The weekend before, I read an article about Po-Boy sandwiches.  While the article did not get in depth about the origins of the Po-Boy sandwich it was a good article.  It caused me to think on the origins and versatility of the Po-Boy. 

3.  I was in need to making some hoagie buns.  I try to keep some breads in my freezer and one of those is the hoagie bun. 

4.  A deep dive into the freezer, earlier last week, had uncovered a lone package of frozen Roasted Turkey and Dressing from last November.  This discovery coupled with having a small amount of jellied cranberry sauce in my refrigerator triggered the idea of having a thanksgiving meal in May!

I should state, I vacuum pack leftovers, where appropriate, and freeze them.  The vacuum packing prevents freezer burn and extends the frozen life of the item.  

I use a very thick vacuum bag and have a decent chamber vacuum machine.  It was a semi-expensive investment but has paid for itself in terms of how much it gets used, coupled with food and time saved.

So, where did the Po-Boy sandwich come from?  The common story behind the origin of the sandwich is that a restaurant in New Orleans was feeding the streetcar workers, for free, during a transit strike in 1929. 

The restaurant supported the strikers.  Whenever a striking street car worker would come to the restaurant for food, the employees would say: “here comes another Po-Boy”.  The Po-Boy of this time, was a piece of French Bread with French Fried Potatoes and gravy with some pieces of roast beef in it.

Today, in my area, we think of the Po-Boy as being made with fried shrimp or fried oyster.  The sandwich will usually come “dressed” with lettuce and tomato.  I have even seen some vegetarian Po-Boys. 

Contrasting these versions of Po-Boys with the original gives us some idea of the versatility of the sandwich.  In essence, today, we are only limited by what makes sense! 

Even as I type this I am thinking of my next rendition!   I can’t wait!  But you will have too!

My Thanksgiving Po-Boy was made on a warm, buttered hoagie bun.  The butter acted as a moisture barrier and flavor component.  Its use is absolutely synonymous with Thanksgiving.  The buttered bun was topped with sliced turkey, slices of sage corn bread dressing, gravy and slices of jellied cranberry sauce.

All in all, this was a delightful dinner.  Unfortunately, we may have to wait until after next Thanksgiving to do this again.

#LifelongLearning #LifeLongTeaching #FamilyFood #Thanksgiving #RoastTurkey #SageCornbreadDressing #CranberrySauce

 I hope you enjoyed this article.  As always your questions or comments are welcome.

Until next time,

Bon Appetit Y'all!

Leslie Bartosh