Po' boy
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Infobox prepared food
A po' boy (also po-boy, po boy derived from the non-rhotic southern accents often heard in the region, or poor boy) is a sandwich originally from Louisiana. It traditionally consists of a filling, which is usually roast beef, ham, or fried seafood such as shrimp, crawfish, fish, oysters, or crab on a New Orleans French bread roll cut lengthwise. This "po' boy bread,"Template:Sfnp is known for its crisp crust and fluffy crumb.
PreparationEdit
A po' boy may contain a wide variety of fillings including roast beef, ham, fried shrimp,Template:Sfnp fried crawfish,Template:Sfnp fried catfish,Template:Sfnp Louisiana hot sausage,Template:Sfnp fried chicken, alligator, duck, boudin, and rabbit listed among possible ingredients.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
"Po' boy bread" is a local style of French bread traditionally made with less flour and more water than a traditional baguette, yielding a wetter dough that produces a lighter and fluffier bread that is less chewy. The recipe was developed in the 1700s in the Gulf South because the humid climate was not conducive to growing wheat, requiring wheat flour to be imported and thus less available.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
A "dressed" po' boy has shredded lettuce, sliced tomato, sliced pickles, and mayonnaise.Template:Sfnp Fried seafood po' boys can be dressed with melted butter and sliced pickle rounds. A Louisiana-style hot sauce is optional. Non-seafood po' boys will also often have Creole mustard.
Aside from meat and seafood, cheese has also been a recognized ingredient since the Great Depression,Template:Refn the sandwich's inception occurring at the beginning of that period (year 1929).<ref name=cohen1950/>
The fried oyster po'boys are also referred to by the distinct name "oyster loaf", and apparently have a different and older history.Template:Sfnp<ref name=times-picayune/>
In a New Orleans "sloppy roast beef" po' boy, thick cuts are served with gravy,<ref name=widmer/>Template:Sfnp or for the "CrockPot tender" type the beef is stewed down until melded with its sauce,Template:Sfnp while in a third style, thinner slices are dipped in beef jus.Template:Sfnp Garlic is an optional seasoning.Template:Sfnp Roast beef po' boys are commonly offered with "debris" (pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}}), which is bits of meat that fall during cooking and are rendered into a near-gravy.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
EtymologyEdit
In the late 19th century, fried oyster sandwiches on French loaves were known in New Orleans as "oyster loaves", a term still in use. A sandwich containing both fried shrimp and fried oysters is often called a "peacemaker" or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}.<ref name=times-picayune>Template:Cite news</ref>
A popular local theory claims that the term "poor boy" (later "po' boy", etc.), specifically referring to a type of sandwich, was coined in a New Orleans restaurant owned by Benjamin ("Benny") and Clovis Martin, former streetcar conductors originally from Raceland, Louisiana.
The Martins established their eatery in 1921. In 1929 the bakery of John Gendusa first baked the bread used for this sandwich.<ref name="cohen1950" /><ref name="nyt-20091111" /> In 1929, during a four-month strike against the streetcar company, the Martin brothers served their former colleagues free sandwiches.<ref name="nyt-20091111" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The Martins were interviewed on record regarding the origins of the sandwich. Benny Martin reminisced that they jokingly referred to an incoming diner as "another poor boy" if he turned out to be one of the strikers.<ref name="nyt-20091111" /> The Martin brothers were asked the question of whether the name was inspired by some French or French patois word such as Template:Wikt-lang, but they denied that was the case.<ref name=cohen1950/>
One New Orleans historian finds the Martin claim suspicious for several reasons, starting with the fact that it was not described by the local press until 40 years after the strike, and that prior to 1969 the story from the Martin brothers themselves was that they had created the po' boy for farmers, dock workers and other "poor boys" who frequented their original location near the French Market. The Martin brothers wrote a letter, reprinted in local newspapers in 1929, promising to feed the streetcar workers, but it referenced "our meal" and made no mention of sandwiches.<ref name=NOLA-02-05-17>Template:Cite news</ref>
New OrleansEdit
New Orleans is known for its grand restaurants (see Louisiana Creole cuisine), but more humble fare like the po' boy is very popular.<ref name="rhinehart">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Po' boys may be made at home, sold pre-packaged in convenience stores, available at deli counters and most neighborhood restaurants.<ref name="rhinehart" /> One of the most basic New Orleans restaurants is a po' boy shop, and these shops often offer seafood platters, red beans and rice, jambalaya, and other basic Creole dishes.<ref name="rhinehart" />
The two primary sources of po'boy bread are the Leidenheimer Baking Company and Alois J. Binder.Template:Sfnp There is fierce competition between po' boy shops, and resident opinions of the best po' boy shop varies widely.<ref name="competition">Template:Cite news</ref>
Each year there is a festival in New Orleans dedicated to the po' boy, the Oak Street Po'Boy Festival.<ref name="festival">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is a one-day festival that features live music, arts, and food vendors with multiple types of po' boys. It is held in mid-November along a commercial strip of Oak Street in the city's Carrollton neighborhood.<ref name="festival" /> The festival gives "best-of" awards, which gives the chefs an incentive to invent some of the most creative po' boys.<ref name="competition" />
VariationsEdit
Authentic versions of Louisiana-style po' boys can be found along the Gulf Coast, from Houston through the Florida Panhandle. The term "po' boy" has spread further and can be found in the South Atlantic States and in California, where it may instead refer to local variations on the submarine sandwich.Template:Citation needed
Houston has its own variety of the po' boy, with chowchow added to ham, salami and provolone cheese, created in the 1960s and popularized by Syrian and Lebanese restaurateurs.<ref name="Lomaxrisefall">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=Huynhdigest>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Stephen Paulsen of the Houston Chronicle said the sandwich was "in the city’s food DNA, the Shipley Do-Nuts of sandwiches."<ref name=Paulsenstrange>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was first created by Lebanese American Jalal Antone, owner of Antone's Import Company in the Fourth Ward, in 1962 after his brother-in-law warned him that area residents at the time would not be accustomed to Levantine cuisine and the business should focus on something more familiar.<ref name="Lomaxrisefall" /><ref name="Paulsenstrange" />
John Lomax of Houstonia described the 1970s and 1980s as the height of their popularity and that the growth of chain sandwich shops that operated across the United States, the introduction of banh mi, and the poor quality of similar sandwiches in gas stations resulted in a decrease in popularity for the variety.<ref name="Lomaxrisefall" />
Vietnamese immigration to the Gulf South, including New Orleans, since the 1970s has led to some crossover between po' boys and bánh mì.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
See alsoEdit
- 1929 New Orleans streetcar strike
- List of American sandwiches
- List of sandwiches
- Louisiana Creole cuisine
- Muffuletta