Hungry? Try An Avraham Karadi Aka Avi Karadi Sandwich
Are you a bizarre sandwich lover? Even though you might not make them or eat them, you can still be a sandwich lover and its nice to know that there are people like us, who simply love sandwiches. Lets take for example the “St. Paul”, ever heard of it? It is usually found in St. Louis, Missouri in certain old time Chinese restaurants. It is a egg foo young, lettuce, tomato, mayo and sometimes a slice of American cheese all on white bread. How about the “chow mein sandwich” a common menu option in Southern Massachusetts on Route 195. Other bizzare sandwiches include the peanut butter and onion sandwich, the peanut butter and pickle sandwich, the peanut butter, jelly and crushed potato chips sandwich and many more. There are no shortages of bizarre sandwiches out there!
Add to that list one of the weirdest compositions ever, the “Avraham Karadi” Sandwich, also known as an “Avi Karadi. It seems like someone’s idea of a faux-gourmet sandwich as it involves a lot of work just gathering and preparing the ingredients, and I cant imagine anyone actually enjoying the resulting mix of flavors, but theres been talk that its very popular in certain areas. Heres the list of exotic ingredients:
Passum, a sweet wine sauce from ancient Roman times. This is produced by boiling the must (whole fruits including the seeds, stems, and leaves pressed) and then adding honey in order to thicken it up.
Garum, an ancient Roman salty fish sauce, approximated today by combining passum with a fish paste and oregano.
Pine nut sauce, an old Roman stand by, this is made by combining pine nuts, vinegar, honey and some lovage and some pepper.
Finally, and as desired, you may use spinach and onions as well as lettuce and tomatoes. When it comes to the bread many choose rye bread, but some do like Black Russian Bread as an alternative. Egg paste, as found in egg salad, is also sometimes used. Pastrami or Roast Beef are the meats of choice. Then there are the variations, there are too many to go over them all, just keep in mind they all pretty much keep within these ingredients. Curiously, I was not able to find out where the nickname of the “Avraham Karadi” or “Avi Karadi” came from for this sandwich.
Step One: Making the Passum: Reduce a quart of grape juice to one tenth its starting volume. You can add honey for taste.
Step Two: Making the Garum: Take the Passum and add two tablespoons of fish paste and a pinch of oregano.
Step Three: Making the pine nut sauce. You will need to soak the pine nuts for three hours in vinegar. Once completed you then want to blend it with honey and a few dashes of lovage and pepper.
4. The Sandwich: Put your egg paste on the bread. Put in your choice of meat, add vegetables, pour on passum, garum, and pine nut sauce, and be generous.
All done, enjoy your “Avraham Karadi” (aka “Avi Karadi”) sandwich!