The Elvis: peanut butter, banana & honey on multigrain. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books. |
Mama and "the girls" from the bank went down to the Capitol at lunchtime in hopes of catching a glimpse of The King. She was in the crowd as it surged forward around him, and she swears she touched Elvis. Her hand touched his hand. She's sure of it.
And what does this story have to do with sandwiches, you ask? Well, I like to tell my Mom's Elvis story, but I also wanted to deepen the connection between the King of Rock and Roll and the Baron of Bam. That's right, as I'm cooking my way through Emeril Lagasse's new cookbook (on sale now!), "Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches," I found a recipe for Emeril's version of The Elvis. The classic Elvis sandwich is a peanut butter and banana sandwich that's fried in butter. The recipe, in many variations (some variations add crispy bacon) appears in many books. Nigella Lawson writes about it in "Nigella Bites," in the chapter (ironically, I hope) titled "Trashy." I don't think the Elvis is trashy. I think it's the kind of food that mamas, maybe in particular Southern mamas, will make their baby boys. (And I think we can all agree that the King was a classic Mama's Boy.)
Back to sandwiches: Emeril does the Elvis right, swapping out the white bread for some blood-sugar-diffusing multi-grain and adding a drizzle of honey to the pb and banana. If you're a choosy Mom, go with a pb that's noticeably salty for that sweet-salty vibe that's so 2011.
The recipe is officially titled the Peanut Butter-Honey-Banana and it's grilled to ooey-gooey drippiness. My peanut butter-loving daughter and husband inhaled them.
Here's my mom about the time she met Elvis, in her favorite car, and no, her daddy gave it to her, not Elvis.
Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books |
This post is part of #SeriousSandwich, a blogalong sponsored by Morrow Books marking the publication of |
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Great story! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAnd I think was one of my favorite sandwiches ... it will most like be made weekly in my house now!
Very cool that your mom met Elvis :) And that sandwich looks delish!
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