#61: Meatball Sandwiches
Sandwiches are undoubtedly my favourite category of food.
Also, please note that while I love tacos with my whole heart, they are not a food that falls under the category of sandwiches (please don’t show me that bullshit graph that somehow deigns to list Pop Tarts and burritos as arguable entries for the title of ‘sandwich’ – there’s no time for that nonsense).
I think the reason that sandwiches are so perfect is that they give you an acceptable vehicle from which to consume copious amounts of sauce/condiments, which is kind of the best part of all food: the sauce. Plus, a saucy sandwich is a great sandwich, assuming it’s eaten fresh and not as a soggy garbage pile. Meatballs subs fall under the rare type of sandwich that gets an excessive slathering of sauce, yet still avoids becoming over-drenched mush. And while this talent means that meatball subs will never be as camera-worthy as some of their cohorts, they are the queens of ugly-delicious foods.
The two meatball sandwiches before you today are different mainly in preparation, though not as much in ingredients. Both demand not one sauce, but two (pesto + marinara) along with a blanketing of cheese and the hug of a crusty bread. My own recipe is (naturally) more labour-intensive, because I’m fussy and unreasonable like that. The meatballs are made from scratch (and they are, by the way, at least in my opinion, the best homemade meatballs), and the pesto has not one, not two, but three types of greens in it. It’s such a good sandwich, holy shit, it really is. BA’s is certainly a speedier version (made more accessible through the use of sausage meatballs and a simpler marinara and pesto). It’s also a damn delight, of course. Super melty, saucy, and crusty…uhhhhhhh. Make both. That’s definitely the only sane solution here.
