Father of Six

I ran across this idea of open face sandwiches whereby each diner would create and name a tasty and visually appealing food item.

The Smørrebrød (originally smør og brød, meaning “butter and bread”) is a Danish word for the sandwich, and I’ve read that is an art form there.

The idea I had was to buy all the potential ingredients, do a little preparation, set up an assembly line, the send every one through with the goal of creating contrasts in color, flavor and texture in a single sandwich.

So the whole dinner was planned, I told the story to everyone to get the enthused about the event, and to get the creative juices flowing.

So I boiled a few red potatoes and thinly sliced them. I also had some sliced Granny Smith apples, shredded carrots, chopped red onion, sliced Roma tomatoes, and a sliced red bell pepper. Here is the “veggie” area of the assembly line.

For the bread I remembered making my own croûtons once where I sort of fried the chunks of bread in bacon grease. This time, I cooked six pieces of hickory smoked bacon and use the grease to quickly “toast” our bread. We used Country Potato or Pumpernickel.

So starting with your slice of bread, add some mayo, Dijon mustard, or vegetable cream cheese spread, then add a selection from the meat plate - turkey, roast beef, ham, bacon, salmon, or tuna.

Move down the line adding lettuce or spinach. (And something from the previously mentioned veggie station.)

Next stop is the cheese island. We had Havarti, Cheddar, Swiss, and Parmesan.

Salt and pepper to taste, then put it under the broiler to melt the cheese.

Grab yourself a nice winter ale, and you’re all set for a meal fit for a viking.

So that was the idea, preparation, and process. Here we are going over the rules.

On to the creations.

#1. Amanda made the BAMMF. (Bacon, Apple, Melted, Meat, Fun.)
Potato bread toasted in bacon grease, mayo, bacon, turkey, ham, lettuce, apple, cheddar, and swiss cheese.

#2. Becca made the Freak Your Freak. (Because this is weird?)
Potato bread toasted in bacon grease, ham, turkey, roast beef, lettuce, shredded carrots, apples, Havarti, cheddar, swiss, and Parmesan cheeses.

#3. Danielle made the Home-wrecker. (I’m clueless.)
Pumpernickel toasted in bacon grease, veggie cream cheese, turkey, bacon, spinach, apple, tomato, salt/pepper, Parmesan cheese.

#4. Nana made the 5-B’s (Big, Beautiful, Bountiful, Bouncy, Breadly) (Now that’s weird.)
Potato bread toasted in bacon grease, veggie cream cheese, turkey, ham, potatoes, red onion, Havarti, cheddar, carrots, mixed salad.

#5. Tami made Death by Bacon, with cheese.
Pumpernickel toasted in bacon grease, mayo, bacon, turkey, ham, roast beef, potato, salt/pepper, apple, carrots, red peppers, cheddar, swiss, and Parmesan cheeses.

#6. I made two. The first one is Popeye’s Power.
Pumpernickel toasted in bacon grease, veggie cream cheese, salmon, spinach, potato, carrots, red onions, crumbled tuna, Havarti, tomato, and a generous amount of fresh ground black pepper.

#7. My second one was a Mini Roast Beef Radish.
Half a slice of Pumpernickel toasted in bacon grease, Dijon mustard, roast beef, radishes, carrots, red onions, apple, Havarti, Parmesan, and a generous amount of fresh ground black pepper.

We all had a great time. Even the Snownun Amanda made after she finished her sandwich.

Some of you might be asking about Boomer and his sandwich. Alas, he didn’t make one as he is feeling a little under the weather. Not to worry though - he did find time to sit at the table with us and be a good little Nordic boy.