"hoagie" news and stories

Happy Eat a Hoagie Day!

Declared the official sandwich of Philadelphia, the hoagie is thought to have originated during World War I in Philly's Hog Island shipyard, where Italian immigrants were notorious for their gigantic lunchtime sandwiches, so massive that the workers were nicknamed "hoggies," which eventually led to the term "hoagie" in reference to the meal. Yet another story claims the sandwiches were popular with children skipping school; "on the hoke" led to "hokey" and then "hoagie." Hoagie expert Howard Robboy admits there are numerous takes on the origins of the sandwich, but "My hunch was, when Italians came over, people were thrown into factories, and the sandwich allowed them to take their culture with them to work. You had your Italian roll, your meats and cheeses, all wrapped in a newspaper."

Stories circulating about the hero's origin are about as numbered as the infinite ingredient combos possible -- but traditionally, the hefty sandwich is piled high with Italian cold cuts, cheese, spices, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, peppers and oil. Check out Gourmet's hoagie recipe for specific guidelines, keeping the true beauty of this sandwich in mind: It's open to personal preference and interpretation.



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Happy National Hoagie Day!

The monster truck of lunchtime sandwiches, the Philadelphia hoagie is a built-to-order hero sandwich typically encompassing a mass of Italian cold cuts, Provolone, shredded lettuce, tomato, pickle and a sprinkling of oregano-vinegar dressing for bite.

Competing with the Philly Cheese Steak for popular portable meals in the City of Brotherly Love, the hoagie's origins are inconclusive. According to one legend, the brimming sandwich was named for the Italian immigrants dubbed "hoggies" who worked in Hog Island, the local Navy Yard. Another legend stipulates that the sandwich takes its name from another shipyard worker by the name of Hogan, who would pay his Italian coworker to have his wife bring him an extra sandwich each day. Lastly, jazz musician and entrepreneur Al De Palma once noted that one would have to be a hog to devour the sandwich -- and opened up a shop devoted to it during the Great Depression, when jazz work was harder to find.

Though historical records mark the sandwich as being referred to as "hoagie," "hoggie," "hoogie" and a "hogie," one thing remained constant: the Italian-inspired sandwich is a satisfying meal in itself.

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• Bill Cosby would be so jealous: The Inquirer hunts down the perfect hoagie and finds 10 contenders. The top spot? It goes to Paesano's.
• Philly bartenders get swept up in the alchemy of alcohol with notable mixologist Junior Merino and share some notable cocktail recipes.
• Twelve Steps is more than just sobering therapy: It's also a subterranean space offering tasty drinks and "astonishingly" good bar food.
• Economic woes be damned! The Fountain Restaurant at the Four Seasons sticks to luxury and "old-school decorum."
• Kanella offers great Greek fare like Cyprus calamari and spit-roasted meats turning over an open-air charcoal fire.
• The Market Basket investigates water bottle-friendly ice tubes.
• The lowdown on Philly restaurant openings and revamps.

A few months back, I posted about a map that showed regional names for soft drinks: pop, soda, etc. Well, I recently came across a similar map designed to show how people in different parts of the U.S. refer to their long sandwiches. The map is part of a larger project called the Dialect Survey, created by a linguistics professor at Harvard. Other regional food pronunciations include caramel (do you use three syllables or two?), mayonnaise (man-aze or may-uh-naze?), pecan (pee-cans are for truckers), and lots more. I also found the alternate names for milkshakes pretty interesting (cabinet? velvet?).

[Via Fark]