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Amighetti Special Amighetti's is a landmark sandwich shop in St. Louis' Italian neighborhood, known as the hill. Leading the menu is one called the Amighetti Special, which is ham, roast beef, salami, a couple of cheeses, a spill of hot pepperoncinis, and – the kicker – Amighetti's tangy-sweet house dressing. The dressing is great on almost any hearty cold-cut sandwich, and can be refrigerated for several days (although it loses its punch over time). This recipe, which we believe pretty well duplicates Amighetti's proprietary one, makes about 1 cup. That should be enough for 3 or 4 foot-long heroes.
Antipasto Salad Chicago likes big salads, especially big salads that have lots of ingredients not normally found in a typical bowl of rabbit-food greens. This one includes virtually all the meats and even cheese from an antipasto platter, plus greens. Make sure all the ingredients are diced very fine. Your goal should be to have nearly some of everything on every forkful.
Bacon & Egg Breakfast sandwiches are ubiquitous, and it's rare to find one that's really bad. The combination of buttery eggs with bacon or sausage and perhaps cheese can't go wrong. Some of the best breakfast sandwiches you will eat anywhere are in New York, at a street cart called Tony's, which parks at Nassau and Wall starting about four am, Monday through Friday. The difference between Tony's sandwich and most others is that it's bigger and the bread is better than an ordinary hard roll. A hard roll can be relatively fluffy; but the nature of a New York-style long-roll sandwich depends on a tubular length of bread that has real muscle: less a matter of crust than of chew. That kind of character is needed to absorb all the juiciness of this luscious breakfast.
Baked Oatmeal This gives the appearance of a cake, but is far less sweet. Just as it is named, it is truly baked oatmeal, delicious served warm & topped with cream or whole milk.
Baked Pancake A baked pancake is testimony to the rising power of an egg. Similar to Yorkshire pudding, but without the savory beef infusion, baked pancakes can be served simply, with a dusting of powdered sugar and a few squeezes of lemon, or they can be effulgently dopped with fresh fruit or fruit compote. Seeing as how this must be served and eaten immediately after being cooked, the only practical way to make several is to have several pans, one for each pancake.
Basic Risotto Risotto was virtually unknown in America until a few decades ago, but it has become one of the most popular items on fine Italian restaurant menus. It is also called Arborio rice, and it differs from ordinary rice in that it is always slow-cooked with flavored broth (and sometimes other ingredients) until it attains a thick, creamy consistency and the rice is saturated with the flavors of its cooking media.
Bierock We've heard all sorts of explanations for the name bierock, including the fact that one of these pocket sandwiches tastes great with beer. Historically, the bierock, like the trademarked Runza, goes back to the Volga Germans who settled on the American plains about a century ago. The portable meals (similar to the Upper Midwest's pasties) were a favorite lunch among farm workers; and today they are ubiquitous at Church suppers and fund-raisers throughout Nebraska and Kansas.
Braised Lamb Shank "Everyone's favorite," is how chef Sissy Hicks of the Dorset Inn describes braised lamb shanks. "They look a little barbaric with the shank hanging out of the bowl, but they make a stupendous meal!" She suggests serving them with white beans.
Buckwheat Cakes The Courtesy Coffee Shop of Winchester, Indiana, is long gone, but when we came across it in our travels back in the 1980s, we managed to secure its recipe for buckwheat cakes. The ladies of Winchester like them broad and elegant-textured. If you like them thicker, simoply reduce the amount of buttermilk you add. (Note: buckwheat flour is available at most organic or natural grocery stores.)
Butter Burgers Milwaukee's great flavors include wursts and sausages of every kind, dreamy custard, fish fries, and wondrous German, Czech, Polish, and Serbian dishes found in few other cities in America. Milwaukee also happens to be hamburger heaven, its unique specialty the butter burger. This recipe calls for 6-8 tablespoons, but as the accompanying picture (of a butter burger -- with cheese -- from Solly's Grille) shows, there is no such thing as too much butter on a Milwaukee butter burger.
Buttermilk Pancakes Blessed with smoke houses, artisan bakeries, and excellent maple syrup, Vermont is a fine place to eat breakfast. The Dorset Inn is especially great. These are chef Sissy Hicks' simple and perfect buttermilk pancakes.
Caesar Salad The reason many restaurants make Caesar salad as a tableside event is that it never should be mixed in advance. If not served immediately, Caesar salad can get watery and its romaine leaves limp. Caesar dressing is customarily made in a large wooden bowl that serves as a kind of mortar for crushing the garlic and anchovies together. It is also possible to make the dressing separately and combine it with the lettuce just before serving.
Cheddar Corn Pancakes Cheddar corn pancakes are a delicious legacy of Gail's Station House of West Redding and Ridgefield, Connecticut. They are sweet and savory and even more delicious when blanketed with warm maple syrup.
Chicken Caesar Wrap The Sand-Wege is a small storefront near our house with a big sandwich menu. One of its most popular items is a chicken salad in a tortilla wrap of spinach, tomato, southwest spice, honey wheat ,or plain. These are big ones, over a foot across, and we've noticed that one of the things distinguishing them from other versions is just how tightly they are rolled. Even the messiest sandwiches – and this one can be pretty messy – tends to hold together as nicely as a hand-made cigar.
Chicken Divine Having a party? Here's a dish that serves many and needs only a salad or relish to complete it. The recipe for Chicken Divine can be cut in half and is a perfect meal to make when you find yourself with leftover chicken (or, for that matter, turkey) and/or broccoli. It's a great combination of ingredients, but the secret that brings them all together, of course, is that casserole-chef's favorite flavor-enhancer, crumbled Ritz crackers.
Chicken Fried Steak Our chicken fried steak recipe is based on a meal served to us at the home of the all-time greatest rodeo champ, Jim Shoulders, and his wife Sharon. They're in the cattle business, touting the health benefits of their extra-lean Salorn cattle. However, even the leanest cut of cow is not going to transform this gravy-topped luxury dish into a meal that is virtuously Spartan.
Chicken Tetrazzini It has an Italian name, but chicken tetrazzini – named for internationally famous Victorian-era coloratura soprano, Luisia Tetrazzini, reassures eaters around the globe. It combines those twin mainstays of the comfort food pantheon, chicken and noodles; plus – in this case – creamed soup and Cheez Whiz, too.
Chicken Vesuvio Harry Caray's is "The Official Home Plate of the Chicago Cubs," a great place to have some brews while watching games and an even better place to plow into great steaks, Italian fare, and a dish that is unique to Chicago, Chicken Vesuvio. Not too many restaurants in the Windy City offer it, but of those that do, this is by far the best version. It is a deliriously satisfying meal of chicken baked to utmost succulence encased in a red-gold crust of lush skin that slides from the meat as the meat slides from the bone. For garlic lovers in particular, it is sheer ecstasy.
Chivito The chivito is a flabbergasting hot Dagwood that combines the triple joy of a BLT, a cheese steak, and a ham and cheese sandwich all on one bun! Fernando Peryera, who was inspired to offer this sandwich at his restaurant, The Olive Market, in Georgetown, Connecticut, recommends serving the monumental creation with French fries; but chips are perfectly appropriate.
Cincinnati Chili Bearing no resemblance to any Southwestern-style “bowl of red,” Cincinnati chili often is called five-way because there are five separate layers in its full configuration. No Cincinnati chili cook will give out his recipe, but this one comes pretty close to the superlative five-way served at our favorite Queen City chili parlor, Camp Washington. Oyster crackers are the traditional garnish, and the proper companion beverage is a milk shake or sweet soda pop.
Clam Hash We've not seen clam hash on a menu other than at Pat's Kountry Kitchen, but it has deep roots in Yankee cookery. Founder Pat Brink told us that her recipe was developed when her kids accidentally threw away the broth retrieved from a batch of clams that were destined to become clam chowder. Without the broth, there could be no chowder; and so Pat improvised and created hash. This recipe is not hers, but comes pretty close.
Country Ham Biscuit Vandyland was a counter-and-booth sweet shop near Vanderbilt University in Nashville; a staff member once told us that its name came about when the owners bought what was then called Candyland and wanted to change signs with minimal expense. It was the ham biscuit that first won our hearts to this place, which finally closed its doors in 2006: classic buttermilk biscuits sandwiching sizzled pieces of quarter-inch thick country ham, each slice rimmed with amber fat.
Crab Cakes The secret of great crab cakes is to use the most amount of crab and as little binder as you can get away with to hold the cake together. Of course, the quality of the crab meat crucial. Fresh-picked Chesapeake Bay crab or Dungeness crab is best.
Crab Louie Crab Louie can be made with any good fresh crab meat (or, for that matter, with cooked shrimp instead of crab), but tradition demands it be made with Dungeness crab from the Pacific Northwest. We concocted this recipe based on the Louie we found long ago at a downhome restaurant called Jerry's Farmhouse in Olema, California. It makes four very large whole-meal portions or 6 modest-size ones.
Crab Melt The better the crabmeat, the more delicious the sandwich. At the Cottage in LaJolla, California, rock crabmeat is preferred. Dungeness crab would work fine, too. If using canned crab, be sure you rinse it well and drain away any excess water.
Croque Monsieur Food historians believe the croque monsieur originally was served early in the 20th century in a Paris cafe. Since that time it has became a favorite quick, inexpensive hot meal for students, travelers on a budget, and goopy cheese lovers.
Dakota Burger Junellia Meisenhoelder, chef and proprietor at the Sport Bowl Cafe didn't tell us why this delightfully simple beef sandwich is known as a burger, but there is no point quibbling about labels. Since getting the formula from her, we think of Dakota burgers any time we have leftover roast beef or, better still, pot roast. The more tender the meat, the better! While it is possible to make a Dakota burger on an interesting bakery bun or even a Portuguese roll or small foccaccia, we highly recommend using supermarket-bought hamburger rolls. This is a case where you want bread that is little more than a soft muffler for the meat inside. And the fundamental gentleness of the beef precludes using bread that would require serious chewing.
French Toast The Dorset Inn serves three meals a day, but we like breakfast best. It's such a cozy, friendly place to start the day. Chef Sissy Hicks' French toast is unusual in that it is made with baguette bread that is lightly browned in a pan but then baked, resulting in a nice crunch to the outside and creamy character within.
Fried Bologna There us balogna, then there is balogna. At G&R Tavern in Waldo, Ohio, the house-made lunch meat is sliced thick and is seriously flavorful stuff, a pork and beef blend that is garlic-scented and fatty enough that when it sizzles in a skillet, it develops a wickedly savory crust enveloping the moist meat within. G & R loads it into a sandwich with sweet pickles and onion (a great condiment combo), or your choice of mustard, mayonnaise, or tomato. Fitting side dishes include a variety of deep fried vegetables and curly fries.
Fried Chicken Bon Ton There is no printed menu at the Bon Ton Mini Mart because everyone comes to eat one thing: chicken. Located in a former convenience store / truck stop, this out-of-the-way treasure is an unlikely place indeed to find fine food; but in fact this chicken is some of the best you ever will eat: salty, spicy, moist and bursting with flavor. The spice mix used for Bon-Ton chicken is a closely-guarded secret, but cook Donna King shared with us its fundamental ingredients as well as the basic principle of a long marinade – at least twenty-four hours. During that time, she explained, blood seems to be drawn from the meat, allowing a briefer frying time, resulting in the juiciest possible chicken with flavor insinuated into every fiber. She also told us that the pieces must rest five or ten minutes and "get doughy" after being dredged in spiced flour, and that pure vegetable shortening will insure it is grease-free. Remember: Begin marinating the chicken the day before you plan to cook it!
Fritos Pie The Five and Dime General Store, on the Plaza in Santa Fe, is the only place we know that still serves Fritos pie in a Fritos bag. You'll find this inspired mix of chips, chili, and cheese throughout the Southwest, and legend says that it was invented on the Plaza, when this place used to be the old Woolworth's. You don't want to use a sophisticated or overly hot chili in this dish. It is lunch-counter fare, and should be accessible to all taste buds.
Green Tomato BLT Of all the variations on the classic theme of the BLT, the Loveless Cafe's version, layered with crisp fried green tomatoes, is one of the most beguiling. The tang of the tomatoes and their brittle crunch provides extraordinary balance for the savor of bacon and gentle notes of mayo and lettuce.
Grilled Ham & Cheese At the S&S Dugout, ham and beef are sliced to order for every sandwich, and they are available either cold or hot. We definitely recommend the latter. A key element in making a ham sandwich the S&S way is to slice the meat ultra-thin and mix it up well. Reminiscent of the chip-chopped ham of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the pale pink leaves must not be layered flat, but should be clumped together like the petals of a rose.
Grilled Salmon Salad One of the great experiences we've had as food writers is working with John and Laura Wolfe, proprietors of The Cottage in LaJolla, on a book called "Southern California Cooking from The Cottage." The restaurant and the food it serves are California at its best: fresh, outdoorsy, unpretentious, and eminently healthy (but not preachy about it). This is Laura's recipe, about which she noted, "It can be made ahead and assembled right before serving, which makes it great for home entertaining." Be sure to make the dill dressing first! That's Step 6 in the following recipe.
Ham & Beef & Cheese Double Decker While lesser known than chili outside of Cincinnati, the double decker is every bit as big a deal to Queen City chowhounds. As the name suggests, it is a variation of the club sandwich: three slices of bread interleaved with multiple ingredients, almost always constructed in such a way that the sandwich is taller than it is wide, defying the most wide-open jaw. Ingredient choices for double-deckers range from bacon and egg to hot ham and cheese, turkey, beef, and bacon, all generally piled in with lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard, pickle, etc. We are especially fond of hot ham, which is sliced thin and loaded into the bread in moist clumps, and generally paired with American cheese.
Heroes' Hero Throughout the mid-Atlantic states, no self-respecting hoagie shop is without a wall of fame where pictures of famous clientele gaze down on sandwich-eaters. Several years ago, at a Philadelphia eatery called Ragozzino's, we spent an afternoon studying the sandwich makers' art and came up with the following blueprint for the archetypal hero sandwich. Of course, the ingredients can vary, but the roster listed here are what many sandwich menus refer to as the "Italian classic." More important than the specific list of cold cuts and/or cheeses included is the bread itself. Bread makes or breaks a hero sandwich. Spongy cotton loaves cannot be redeemed by the finest capicola and Provolone. You want a fresh, crisp-crusted, brawny-crumb, full-flavored torpedo that is sturdy enough to contain a double-dose of oil and vinegar condiments.
Hoosier Tenderloin Nick's Kitchen lists its tenderloin on the menu with a challenge that's ironic considering its culinary history: "Bet You Need Both Hands". Two hands are barely adequate for hoisting the colossal sandwich, which is built around a wavy disk of audibly crunchy pork that extends a good two to three inches beyond the circumference of a five-inch bun, virtually eclipsing its plate. Please note that prep time is only ten minutes, but that the tenderloins should marinate in the refrigerator overnight before preparation.
Hoppel Poppel If you are looking for a really big breakfast in Wisconsin or Iowa, find a place that serves hoppel poppel. At Benji's deli in Milwaukee it is part of a large menu that includes such traditional Jewish fare as corned beef and fried kreplach. It is listed as a Benjy's special, and customers have their choice of regular hoppel poppel, which is browned potatoes, salami, and scrambled eggs, or super hoppel poppel, which added green peppers, mushrooms, and melted cheese to the formula. This recipe makes 4 very large servings or 6 modest ones.
Hot Lobster Roll While the typical hot lobster roll comes with the meat already gilded with melted butter, the Maine Diner's version is even simpler than that: plain, warm lobster piled into a toasted bun, presented with a cup of drawn butter on the side. Proprietor Dick Henry explained, "We found that if we served the meat already buttered, the bun fell apart." So it is eater's choice: either pour all the butter all over the sandwich, risking bun disintegration, or simply pick chunks of meat and shreds of toasted bread from the plate and dip them in the cup of butter as you wish. While not essential, New England split-top hot dog rolls with flat surfaces on each side are by far the best kind of bun to use. They are made for grilling … in butter, of course!
Hot Pork Ann Sather is best known for breakfast, but its reprtoire of comfort-food lunch and supper is impressive. This hot roast pork sandwich requires some serious preparation and demands sitting down with a knife and fork.
Italian Beef Just like the hero and hoagie shops of the Delaware Valley, the Italian beef stands of Chicago display pictures of celebrities who love them. At the original Al's #1 Italian Beef in Chicago, the wall holds an 8x10 of Jimmy Durante standing with his arm around Al Ferreri, inscribed by The Schnozola, "To Al's and Baba [Al's nickname]: Jink-a-dink-a-doo. What a beef sandwich!" Surrounding that are a picture of prize fighter Michael Spinks grinning with a gleaming set of dentures and a glamour shot donated by a local beauty queen. Several proprietors of beef stands have told us about celebrities who like the razor-thin, garlic sopped beef so much that they have it Fedexed to them overnight. An alternative is to make your own.
King Ranch Casserole King Ranch casserole is ubiquitous in Texas Junior League cookbooks, but a relative rarity in restaurants. It is said that there are as many recipes for it as there are Lone Star cooks, but the basic elements usually are canned soup, cheese, tortillas (flour, corn or just chips) and chicken. How a chicken casserole got named for a famous cattle ranch is anybody's guess.
Local Hero Before K.C. Scott opened up Magnolia's in April, 1999, it took a long while to come up with the right name. Then one day, standing in her kitchen, she found herself looking at one of the antique signs she had collected … for Magnolia Dairy Products. "I like Magnolia because it has a slow, Southern feel," she explains, noting that her goal in starting this seductive little restaurant was to create a place that provided quality food at a reasonable price in a setting that was as relaxed as a friend's kitchen. Her "Local Hero" sandwich, named for a movie she likes, is made on Magnolia's focaccia and dressed with Magnolia's vinaigrette, but if you are not quite that industrious, these ingredients can be store-bought.
Matzoh Brie In case you aren't familiar with Old Testament cuisine, matzoh is the unleavened bread made by Jews when they beat a fast retreat from Egypt and had no time to wait for yeast to work. You'll find fried matzoh, aka matzoh brie, in many Jewish delis and breakfast restaurants from coast to coast. It ranges from scrambled eggs with a few bits of matzoh to matzohs barely bound with a bit of egg. Our version is dry enough to eat pieces of it with your fingers, but also perfectly suitable as fork food. You can adjust the number of eggs and amount of sour cream to vary its moistness.
Meaty Chili and Cheddar Sandwich Clementine is a neighborhood bakery-cafe in the Westwood/Century City part of Los Angeles that celebrates Grilled Cheese Month (April) with a festival that features a different grilled cheese sandwich every day. Chef Annie Milar's favorite is meaty chili and cheddar, variations of which sometimes include a hot dog and go by the name of Coney Island Grilled Cheese. She describes the sandwich as "gooey, sloppy, and delicious." She also noted, "This recipe makes enough chili for about 6 sandwiches, so that is what I have made the rest of the recipe for, but you could make fewer sandwiches and just freeze the leftover chili for future use."
Migas Migas is a Tex Mex breakfast dish in which eggs are scrambled with tortillas and usually some breakfast meat and cheese. The tortillas soften when they cook with the eggs, creating a wonderful texture to the dish. Be creative and add whatever ingredients you might think of putting in an omelet. This recipe makes one serving. Double or quadruple it for more.
Mighty Ity As its name suggests, Super Duper Weenie is primarily a hot dog place. But it is also a great source for cheese steaks as well as for a superb Mighty Ity Italian sausage sandwich. When chef Gary Zemola gave us the recipe for that one, he said that he felt the key to making it great – beyond using excellent ingredients – is time. "Don't rush anything when making a Mighty Ity," he said. "Let the flavors meld."
Monte Cristo The Monte Cristo sandwich arrived in America from France considerably some time in the 1930s. Most historians agree that it was based on the croque monsieur, a French sandwich made of Gruyere cheese and ham and fried in butter. It first appeared on menus and in cookbooks as the "French sandwich," and it is believed that it got its name, Monte Cristo, some time in the 1960s in Southern California. This recipe is from Bakers Cafe, in Charleston.
Muffaletta The name "muffaletta" once referred only to the bread, a chewy round loaf turned out by Italian bakeries. New Orleans grocery stores that sold the bread got the fine idea to slice it horizontally and stuff it, and the muffuletta sandwich was born. It has become a signature dish of The Big Easy, but, like the po boy, has become known nationwide. It depends on good bread and cold cuts, but the soul of a muffaletta is its olive salad. This is the recipe used at the wonderful All-Star Sandwich Bar in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
New Joe Special I won't get into the complete genealogy of the New Joe Special (because I cannot; it's too confusing), but the most credible tale of its origin is that it was invented late one night at San Francisco's New Joe's Restaurant to feed a hungry musician who ordered a spinach omelet but asked the chef if he could add anything to make his eggs more substantial. The chef said he had some hamburger meat left over from dinner hour. Now, all around the Bay Area, you will find menus that list Original Joes, New Joes, Baby Joes, and just plain Joes, all of which are a variation of the skillet meal that includes ground beef, spinach, and eggs. We like it at Original Joe's in San Jose (since 1956), where it is called the Joe's Special and the menu alerts customers, "We are not associated with any other 'Joe's' restaurants."
Potato and Onion Soup Cooking potatoes in beef stock gives the starchy vegetable a savor that all carnivores will appreciate. A sprinkle of Parmesan on each serving adds just the right zip.
Real Italian Sandwich Colucci's Hilltop Market makes two kinds of Italian sandwich: a "real Italian," which means salami and provolone topped with tomato and green pepper, pickles, onions, olives, and oil; and a regular Italian, which features ham and American cheese. The big issue among Portlanders is not so much lunch meat or seasoning, but bread. Unlike hero sandwiches of the Mid-Atlantic states, Portland's Italians are made on soft white loaves similar to the kind of bun that traditionally encloses a lobster roll … but about four times the size.
Rodger's Big Picnic Michigan is farm country, a source of superb fruits and vegetables from spring berries through autumn apples. One of the best places to get to know the Michigan bounty is the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market on Detroit Street, open every Saturday throughout the year on Wednesdays, too, May through December. Here you will find farmers selling fresh-picked produce as well as maple syrup, jams and jellies, eggs and cheese. Rodger's Big Picnic is Zingerman's Deli's vegetarian ode to the market from which many great sandwich ingredients can be bought. Specifically, this sandwich depends on good asparagus, preferably Michigan asparagus. Zingerman's Ari Weinzweig says, "I love roasting (as opposed to steaming) asparagus because it concentrates the flavors so nicely."
Roque's Carnitas "Carnitas" usually means little pieces of fried pork or beef. At the edge of the Plaza in the heart of Santa Fe, New Mexico, it means a delicious lunch. Roque's Carnitas Wagon parks here between Easter and Halloween and dishes out a hefty sandwich of grilled beef in a tortilla. It tastes best if you can cook the beef on a tight-knit grate over an open fire, but a hot skillet will do fine. Make the salsa in advance, as you want to eat this sandwich good and hot. Note also that the meat needs at least an overnight marinade before being cooked.
Sautéed Fresh Calf Liver Many otherwise adventurous eaters put calf liver on their short list of inedible dishes. But for those of us who love it, there's none better than served at the Dorset Inn of Dorset, Vermont. Chef Sissy Hicks explained its popularity on the menu by saying, "No two people in a family like calf liver, so it is rarely cooked at home." Thus, when liver-lovers dine at the Inn, it is their opportunity to indulge.
Sheboygan Brats Beyond top-quality sausages, preferably those made in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the fundamentals of a brat sandwich include good hard rolls and a grill with white-hot charcoal briquets or hard-wood charcoal. Some time back The Sheboygan Press suggested that the sausages be boiled in doctored-up beer before getting grilled, as suggested in this recipe.
Shrimp de Jonghe Shrimp de Jonghe is unique to Chicago. Its essential ingredients are shrimp, garlic, bread crumbs, and butter; variations around the city range from shrimp swimming in a pool of melted, flavored butter to casseroles in which the bread crumbs form a crunchy lid atop the fish. Our recipe is between the extremes -- moist, but edible by fork. The goodness of this dish depends on top-quality shrimp.
Surf and Turf The big lobster tails called for in this recipe tend to be very pricey, more so even than prime filet mignon; but that’s the point of surf and turf. It is essential to any topflight steakhouse menu because it is the height of luxury – two of nature’s richest foods combined on a single plate.
Tomato Basil Soup Tomato and basil: from soup to sorbet (yes, sorbet!), these are the most-paired ingredients in the Italian kitchen. Onions and carrots add a deep vegetable sweetness.
Tuscan Sausage and Bean Soup The silk-smooth texture of cannelini sings excellent harmony with rugged sausage in this recipe from Chicago's Harry Caray's
Veal Chop with Peppers and Onions The big veal chop is king of meat in Italian restaurants. Harry Caray’s serves massive one-pounders that are so tender that a knife seems to fall through them when applied to the surface.