I wasn't sure how to celebrate National Peanut Butter Day. I could put up a bunch of recipes that include peanut butter (and I will, after the jump), but I also wanted to ask one of the more important questions of all-time.
How do you make your peanut butter and jelly sandwich?
I mean, what type of bread do you use? What type of peanut butter? Do you spread the jelly on top of the peanut butter or on the other slice of bread? Do you cut it or eat it whole? What do you drink with it?
I use a soft but hearty bread, like a Canadian White or Pepperidge Farm (Wonder Bread is way too flimsy and lame). I use crunchy Jif, and I spread the peanut butter and jelly on separate slices. I eat it whole, with a glass of fat free milk.
I've learned three things about making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches over the years:
1. Creamy and chunky are both great. 2. They taste terrible with a Diet Coke. 2. Never use Wonder Bread. It tears too easily.
November is National Peanut Butter Lover's Month. Here's a bunch of facts about peanut butter (did you know the average kid will eat 1500 PB&J sandwiches by the time they graduate high school?). Skippy has a bunch of crafts and games for the kids, while Jif has some interesting peanut butter recipes, including Peanut Butter Muffins and Chicken Peanut Mole.
Also check out PeanutButterLovers.com, a site for people who...well, you know, love peanut butter.
It sounds strange, sure, for when is there ever an occasion that you'd be sitting down to a white-clothed table laid out with the finest silverware, crystal, and china holding a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? If you're in Chicago, you would have found the "PB&J" as part of the multi-course tasting menu at Grant Achatz's Alinea, a single peeled grape coated with peanut butter and wrapped in the thinnest toast wafer. And paired with it? Sercial "Charleston" Madeira from The Rare Wine Company. The Chicago Tribune's Food and Wine section this week has a selection of additional wines that pair with the classic sandwich.
The crust of the bread is the best part as far as we are concerned, but for some reason, there are a lot of kids who don't like crust on their bread. Is it the taste, the color or is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich just more fun without a crust? While philosophers ponder the question, you'll probably be cutting the crust of the sandwiches for your kids or for yourself, since there are plenty of adults who like to eat their sandwiches in this slightly nostalgic way.
Put down that knife and check out the Crust Cutter. The stainless steel cutter measures 4"x4" and is designed to remove all crusts with one swift motion. It also folds flat, for easy storage. The only downside is that once you've made it easy to remove the crust from the bread, you might never get Junior to actually give them a try. At least he'll be able to cut the crusts of his own sandwiches. Price: $3.95.
Some foods are meant to go together. In fact, many of them pair so well that they have become the most
classic comfort foods. In an effort to bypass the well-known, I first set out to collect the 8 worst food pairings, but
was so disgusted by the idea of pickled herring and cheesecake that I was forced to stop. I realized that it is for good
reason that some foods get paired: they taste great together and make such good combinations that it is hard to think
of one without the other. These are definitely a few of the best:
Peanut butter and jelly
Macaroni and cheese
Fish and chips (or burgers and fries)
Bacon and eggs
Milk and cookies
Pancakes and syrup
Gin and tonic
Spaghetti and meatballs
Salt and pepper is, arguably, the ultimate combination, though they are seasonings and not exactly
"food". Here are some of the runners up from the list above: Butter and toast, cupcakes and sprinkles, tomato
soup and grilled cheese, cheese and crackers and Ben and Jerry’s.
I know there are lots of others. What are we missing?
When I was little and made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every day to take in my lunch, I hated it when peanut
butter would get in to the jar with the jam, or vice versa. I also didn't want to have to wipe off or wash the knife
halfway through making my sandwich because it seemed inefficient and, to maximize my sleeping time, I wanted a fast
sandwich. As a result, I tried to use the exact amount of peanut butter or jelly, so as to have none left on the knife.
At 8 years old, I thought this seemed pretty clever, but having one of these dual-sided peanut
butter and jelly spreaders would have solved my problems completely. The color-coded sides enable you to dip to your
heart's content without mixing the contents of the jars. They're $11.99
and, to justify the expense on the silicone kitchen tool, you can use them for anything from buttering toast to
spreading frosting on cupcakes.