14.070 Meatball Subs

Cycle 14 – Item 70

16 (Thu) March 2023

Meatball Subs

2.0

by me

(with bread from Good Bread)

at home

-Changgok, Sujeong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-

with the Family

Good Bread is a bakery.  While the signage claims establishment in 2004, perhaps in another location, I can’t recall seeing it before.

I encountered the place yesterday, while I was having lunch in Itaewon.

Located in the same back alley across from the Hamilton Hotel.

The literalness of the name reminds me of “Super Kitchen (see generally 14.068 Banchan),” though a bit more modest.

Sold individually (1,500 won) or in packages of 3 (4,000 won).

What struck me were the sandwich rolls displayed in the window.  Sandwich rolls are still not sold at mainstream retail bread stores in Korea (see generally 11.263 A Zep, a Large), for the simple reason I suppose that Koreans don’t eat long-form sandwiches – i.e., hoagies, heroes, subs.  Although the fast food chain Subway remains popular, so I don’t know why the form hasn’t caught on more broadly.  Makes sense that sandwich rolls would have a following in Itaewon, likely among expats.

Definitely hand-made, as evidenced by the different shapes and shades.

The rolls being quite large, I decided to make them into meatball subs, which require a lot of ingredients that tend to overflow in a smaller roll.

Meatball subs, which I might’ve eaten 5 times in my entire life, have been featured on GMTD twice: once by me (see 7.138 Meatball Sub Destrux), once from a deli (see 7.290 Meatbal Hero Sandwich), neither of which had turned out very well.

Too bad I don’t keep IKEA meatballs on hand these days (see for example 11.185 Spaghetti & Allemansrätten Meatballs).

The sandwiches consisted of packaged meatballs by Ottogi + tomato sauce + mozzarella cheese + Mexican cheese + tomatoes + lettuce + mayonnaise.  Once assembled, the rolls were closed and zapped in the microwave for a minute (even better after an additional minute) to melt the cheese and soften the bread.  Each sandwich was cut in half.

At 30 cm, the roll was the same length as the bread from Subway, but wider and thicker, making it seem double in overall size.

Hit and miss.  The bread was excellent – squishy and delicious, just right for this kind of application.  The meatballs, however, were dry and flavorless, and the sauce was too sweet.  The other toppings were fine.   A respectable net outcome.

More importantly, I know where to get sandwich rolls now.

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

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