Pennsylvania and New Jersey’s Best Sandwiches Ever Created
Every state has their own special sandwiches that either originated in that state or somehow rose to popularity in that state, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey are no exceptions. There’s a sense of pride behind these sandwiches that, yes, you can perhaps find them in other states, but having one if this particular state makes them that much more special. So, what’s the best sandwich to try in Pennsylvania and New Jersey?
Top Pennsylvania and New Jersey Sandwiches
The food experts at Taste of Home have put together a tally of the best sandwiches in every state. “One of the best things about the sandwich—aside from your first bite—is its versatility,” they note in the article. “It can be as simple as a PB&J, or you can put everything in your refrigerator on a ciabatta bun and create an epic mountain of sandwich goodness.”
So, what’s the best sandwich in Pennsylvania and New Jersey? According to Taste of Home, for Pennsylvania, it’s the Philly Cheesesteak. Would you expect anything less? “The Philly cheesesteak is so iconic to the City of Brotherly Love that I really have no choice here,” David Nilsen of Taste of Home notes. For New Jersey, it’s the Taylor Ham, Egg & Cheese, which gets the vote over the state’s popular Italian hoagies “because it’s traditionally made with Taylor ham, a variety unique to New Jersey.”
Now that we know the region’s best sandwiches, let’s look at the history of the legendary food item. Per In Mama’s Kitchen, “The first recorded sandwich was made by the famous Rabbi, Hillel the Elder, who lived during the 1st century B.C” They add that Hillel the Elder was “a poor man, but a great scholar, he began the Passover custom of sandwiching a mixture of chopped nuts, apples, spices, and wine between two matzohs to eat with bitter herbs.”
One of the most famous sandwiches of all time, if not the most famous, is the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. As for the history of that delicious combination, per History, “The first known recipe for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich appeared in 1901 in The Boston Cooking School Magazine of Culinary Science & Domestic Economics.” They add that, “during the 1920s, companies began to mass-manufacture peanut butter in the United States and targeted children as potential new consumers.” So, peanut better and jelly sandwiches became a regular for school lunches. As a vegetarian, I certainly enjoy a good P&B. There’s something about eating it that makes you feel like a kid again in the best possible way.
