Between Bread🔗

How do you distinguish burger and sandwich? Is it beef patty or dome-shaped bun the definitive feature of burger? I've seen chicken in-between dome-shaped bun called chicken sandwich. I've also seen beef patty in-between two slices bread called patty melt (aka sandwich). AnYYwAYY, who doesn't like between bread handheld deliciousness?

Just for the presentation of this post, I draw the line between burger and sandwich by whether it has a dome-shaped bun. More specifically, whether it uses my proud homemade bun. Those using store-bought bread are categorized as sandwiches.

Burger🔗

Burger with homemade bun and juicy beef patty has always been high up on my parents' drooling list. They have a soft spot for fluffy soft bread. Unlike sourdough bread I more often make, yeast bread with optional moisture sponge (either sweet potato or Tangzhong, i.e. cooked dough) baked at lower temperature (350F-400F) makes an airy crumb and soft crust. The style is closer to what they normally have and like.

As bun making and patty cooking techniques have been covered several times (refer to list for more details), here I will only give a gallery of the final products.

1. Veggie patty
   This is one of the hotel meals in the first week. It's made of my now copyrighted eggwich patty and frozen veggie patty. Both are prebaked and then stacked onto buns with cheese in between as glue. It's pack and delivery friendly as no juice no mess. However, it's still plenty moist within egg patty and from guac as sauce. I wrap it with aluminum foil to keep warm and squeeze layers tight, a trick borrowed from burrito. For those want ideas for summer picnic, this is a solid choice. Just like quiche, this sandwich can also be served cold.
2. Beef patty x3
   I didn't go crazy on sauce and topping this time. We had 3 times and all are OG (thicck cut tomato, mustard sour cream sauce, cheese)
3. Eggwich (w/ bacon and onion)
   This is probably the early prototype of now in release eggwich. You can't go wrong with bacon, onion and egg.

Sandwich🔗

Consider building a sandwich as picking elements from a set where an element corresponds to a layer that includes one or more ingredients of great matching property. Then my set contains at least the following elements.

1. ham & cheese x2
2. apple & sour cream
3. acocado & pickle
4. bacon & egg

Note that I didn't include elements like "tomato & mayo" as I consider them as supporting layers that's not enough as the sole layer but good as additional.

For 1-3, I've made mix & match.

For 4, it's the prototype of eggwich.

Mexican🔗

I started a Mexican series before our SD trip to get my parents familiar with the cuisine. Prior to the trip, if you ask me what makes Mexican, I'd say lots of guac. Now my appreciation of Mexican food goes beyond the bountiful avocado. I've discovered freshly made tortillas are as comforting as freshly baked bread. (spoiler: homemade corn and flour tortilla coming). I've made pork my go-to choice of protein (al pastor vs carnitas, still don't know which is braised and which is fried but both are good). (spoiler: slow braised pork shoulder roast coming).

Back then without all the authentic Mexican elements, Mexican is a very functional quick meal option involving some kind of wrap to encase some kind of goodness. Burrito is a Mexican sandwich. Quesadilla is Mexican pizza. This analogy delivers the idea very well to my parents.

Burrito🔗

Burrito is never my first pick for Mexican. Maybe it's too functional. It doesn't have the fun tapas bite size style as taco, nor the ooey-gooey cheese pull as quesadilla. But it has always been our go-to hiking lunch, exactly due to its functionality. Not until very recently did I appreciate a really good burrito perfected in every component. During my parents' stay, I've only made one burrito. Mainly to use up some ground beef and veggies. It has none of the traditional ingredients (other than sour cream and avocado). However, like always, the mashup suits our taste and makes a regular.

The fillings make a great combo consisting of protein, veggie, starch and cheese.

• ground beef
• zucchini
• sweet potato
• mozzarella

Quesadilla🔗

Quesadilla is like grilled cheese sandwich and pizza having a baby. As you may have guessed, it's my favorite Mexican food to make at home. Whenever there is some leftover in the fridge and some tortilla at hand, crispy and cheesy quesadilla is not far.

You can use any cooked meat as long as it's diced to small pieces. Frozen veggie is a great option as it's usually in small dices already. For fresh veggie options, I'm very fond of zucchini. It's soft and juicy, subtle and sweet. Season with garlic and mix with enough cheese, top with guac and sour cream, that's the best flavor profile. You won't be missing meat options, at least in the context of quesadilla. I've even made a dessert version with red bean paste as filling yogurt granola as topping.

1. shrimp - use up your leftover
2. zucchini - deserves to be the star of the show
3. red bean - makes a good dessert
4. avocado corn - makes a good side
5. mushroom bacon egg¹ - breakfast champion
6. chorizo Comté egg² - chorizo very dominant, overpowering Comté. Next time use a more generic cheese rather than fancy French cheese

Mexican at AnYYwAYY is far from authentic. But what's important is how my family and me like it. Customize a new cuisine to your liking is the best way to appreciate it. Hope my exploration in Mexican food brings you some inspirations.

To be continued!

¹ made in SD, tortillas from Las Cuatro Milpas

² made in SD, tortillas from Las Cuatro Milpas