Home At Last! with Patty Gironda

This is a favorite Gironda family recipe for the holidays. A Coca-Cola and apple juice brine penetrate a whole raw picnic ham-studded with juicy gloves of garlic for three days, before a gentle smoking in a new "gently-used" gas smoker! 8 hours at 190 degrees, and, finally, two hours in a slow oven with a baste of honey water. Look out buttermilk biscuits, here we come!

This was one of those sandwiches that was on every Florida restaurant menu in the 70's! Yacht clubs, country clubs, department store restaurants . . . it was really that popular! To me, the success of the sandwich depends on great bread! The bread must hold up to the egg -mustard mixture and a slow grilling. I found recipes calling for a deep fried sandwich but I don't remember ever seeing a deep-fried version. For our simple sandwich I used all the tradional ingredients-thinly sliced Black Forest ham, lean turkey breast and a baby swiss cheese. I piled up the meat and cheese on an English toasting bread, pressed it and placed it very carefully in the egg mixture-flipping it to ensure an even coating on both sides. Once the excess drains away the sandwich was placed in a pre-heated pan with Olivio. We served it very traditionally with the strawberry preserves and powdered sugar! For Two Sandwiches 4 pieces of hearty toasting bread 2 thinly-sliced pieces of Bla...