Ah, behold the notion of a grinder. What’s a grinder? Bad question to ask… there’s more names for a submarine styled sandwich than you could ever know, but “grinder” is one that’s particular to most of Connecticut. In fact, I’ve found that most people out this way are more protective of their sandwich names than they are over the debate of Coke being “soda” or “pop”. Which sandwich are you?
Like I said, in Connecticut it’s grinder, but this also extends to most of New England – rumor has it that some parts of California also call their foot long sandwiches this, but I can’t say I’ve noticed. Maine goes a different way and calls it an Italian sandwich, but they are usually more concerned with lobsters anyway. In the southwestern most corner of CT, it’s actually a wedge which comes from Manhattan, and is ironic to me seeing as the sandwich is not wedge shaped. The rest of New York thinks it’s a hero, which I dispute because a grinder doesn’t wear a cape. Pennsylvania claims it’s a hoagie for reasons I can’t begin to fathom. Floridians call it a Cuban sandwich… I never did like FL.
New Jersey dubbed it a torpedo, as in “can one torpedo help clean up the coast line” I’m sure. I’ve also read that they refer to it as a zep, whatever that is. Given that they also made it illegal to pump your own gas, yet always seem to have understaffed stations, its obvious that they can find a way to screw up anything. And lastly, there’s the south with the Poor Boy, or as the natives say, Po’boy. I’ve got no gripe with this one because some of the grinders that I had in New Orleans were phenomenal… their high quality of food overrides the screwed up name that they’ve given the sandwich, to be blunt.
Anyone know what a grinder is to the rest of the states? Just a submarine sandwich?
And for the record, Coke is soda… pop died out in the 50’s when “soda pop” was no longer trendy.
Well, having spent the majority of my time “elsewhere”, I know a grinder to be a huge sandwich filled with large quantities of all manner of meat.
And to get a good representative sample of this type of Grinder, head over to The Nooner on 20th in Bellevue, just a hop skip and a jump away from Microsoft.
We’ve got the sub here in columbus ohio… but then we also have a sub shop called Grinders, and a number of various stores that sell hoagies.
In my opinion, these are all coloquialisms and equally correct, but in my travels I have found that each incarnation of the sandwich has thier own unique things that separate them from other sandwiches.
Me? I’ll stick with the sub: 2 foot long, 6 inches wide, 3 or 4 inches tall, 7 or 8 layers of meat, cheese, veggies, condiments, etc.
Ya, I was raised with it as a Grinder – obviously – but in all honesty, I don’t care what they’re called… just so long as I can get them. It seems that a lot of the deli’s around here have just flat bread… a few have panini bread but very very view have the grinder-type roll. I mean, Subway, Quizno’s and Schlotzski’s (sp?) do, but it’s not too posh with a number of independents… probably the Lo-Carb thing again :)
Being from Kansas, it is a sub and a pop. But of course we are behind times here in Kansas. Damn Yankees always changing things. The first time I ordered a pop in the cafetiria, the lady had no idea what I was talking about in CT. And then again, I had to ask what a grinder was when I was told we were ordering them for lunch.
On another note, I am going to be moving back to CT.
That could be because “pop” is just wrong? :D
Grinder? So where’d that name come from? Where I’m from we call ’em PO-BOYS. When I moved to the frozen north, it took me months to figure out what Grinders were? Not an inviting name, is it?
Kathleen
Torpedo and zep (as in zepplin) I could understand, because they have similar shapes to a submarine. Altough I’ve never heard a sub referred to by those terms, maybe down the shore somewhere in southern Jersey. Hero is by far the most popular term in northern Jersey. (According to my relatives.) Not sure where you got your information from. Online dictionary?
But where does grinder come from? Maybe refers to a meat grinder? I’d have to agree with Kathleen, that does not sound appetizing at all.
Just out of curiosity, what is CT most well known for?
Poking around online with Google and talkin to ppl around the country, actually… amazing how many people you can bump into. Of course, that’s one of the benefit to being in CT is that you’re close to New York City, Boston, NJ, PA, and RI. And aside from Foxwoods (the largest casino in the world) that’s CT’s claim to fame, I think. There’s other things too, like Mark Twain having lived there, and it’s where the Frisbee, Wiffle Ball, Pez and Subway were created… but in the here and now, I consider it to be a suburb between two cities.
Learn what a real Cuban sandwich is…
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Sandwich/CubanSandwich.htm
The Cuban is a pressed grilled sandwich that has specific items; pork, ham, swiss cheese, mustard, and pickles on cuban bread.
Well i lived in New Hampshire all my life, but i recently moved to Missouri and i said grinder they tell me to go to lowes for like a screw, and then i explain to them its a sandwhich and they give me wierd looks
I am originally from CT and grew up eating grinders. Now that I’m in Southeast, I have not been able to find one or a close version of it. It’s much different from the subs and po’boys that are prepared down here. Grinders taste much better.
From a show on Discovery, “grinders” were the italian sandwiches that were sold to the guys working on the new high-rises that were popping up in New York – those guys did a lot of grinding in their metal-work, hence the name “grinders.”
I too grew up with CT grinders, now live in the UP of Michigan and had an amazing sandwich today that made me say – “This is a grinder, not a sub!” The meat and cheese were thick sliced, there was plenty of lettuce and italian seasoning and oil. Yum!!!
I grew up in New London, CT, the birthplace of the Grinder. The sandwich invented at Capaldo’s market and deli, was extremely popular during WWII at the Electric Boat shipyards where they made submarines. The welders and the people who did the weld and rivet grinding (known as grinders) bought them by the thousands each day from Mr. Capaldo’s sandwith cart on the way into the shipyard. They came to be known as Grinder’s sandwiches, then shortened to Grinders.
By the time I was eating them growing up in the 50s and 60s, the Greek pizza shops made the best Grinders. A “regular Grinder” is simply grinder roll, olive oil, provolone slices, cotto salami slices, (then toasted if desired), then tomato slices, a layer of shredded lettuce, then lots more olive oil saturating the lettuce. The final trick is the right amount of salt and ground black pepper on the lettuce/olive oil top layer.
From that basic formula, people will add peppers, onions, etc. And other more traditional sandwiches like tuna, hot meatball, etc, in a grinder roll will still be called a grinder (e.g. hot meatball grinder).
Anyway, I love these things and have finally duplicated them in Ohio having missed them for years.
Chiefley
Well, I am from Kansas City area also… and we do say POP, not soda…
From my experience, I thought grinders were basically sub rolls that had the inside hollowed out (ground out) and were stuffed with sauce, meatballs, cheese, italien sausage, etc.
That might be – the grinder thing I mean… pop is simply incorrect *smirk*
But grinder wise, it’s hard to say. I know that an type of sub roll sandwich in CT is a grinder. I did see a place out here (WA) selling grinders but I don’t know if they’re hollowed out or not – I didn’t order it there, b/c their pizza is pretty decent. Relatively speaking of course. :)
Having lived in the Westport, CT area in the mid to late ’60’s, I recall “ginders” as essentially an Italian-style meatball sandwich with pizza or some variation of tomato sauce and provolone or mozarella cheese on a sub-style bun. They were very messy and tasted great. Have not found anything quite like them anywhere else.
I was asked by a customer last night at a pizza restaurant where the name Grinders came from. As I googled this morning, I found two different answers, one that it started in NY and the other in New London, CT. I want to lean towards the CT answer, since I live close to New London, but I want to know if anyone out there knows for sure. The NY story is said to come from a program on the Discovery Channel. Anyone out there know how I can find out, the customer is coming back and it is a challenge he got me to agree to. Debbi
I’m not sure where it started but I know that it settled squarely in CT. NY went with the Hero; NYC (and a far east as Stamford) uses Hero or Wedge. CT uses Grinder.
“I never did like Fla”
What a typical cow town idiot statement. A cuban sandwhich is totally different than a generic sub sandwhich you backwoods retard.
God I hate living in this backwards state of Kansas.
Moo.
Cuban sandwiches are nothing like grinders from Connecticut. As a matter of fact I’ve never found grinders anywhere except in my native CT. There’s really nothing like them, maybe quiznos is the closest thing now. I lived in Miami for 9 years and cuban sandwiches are good but grinders are the bomb. They come in all types: ham, tuna, bbq pork, meatball, roast beef etc., and are typically hot done in a pizza oven so they’re nice and toasty. Now that I’m living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and pregnant, I’ve been missing them more than ever so I tried my hand recently at making them and was successful. The trick as far as I’m concerned is sprinkling dried oregano on the sandwich. My favorites almost always had to have oil and vinegar, sweet peppers and oregano. I posted a message on my local expat group but everyone thought I wanted Subway…blech the thought of it.
Grinders are the best sub type sandwich there is. The secret is the fresh baked rolls. The Terrace Bakery in New London CT make the best but her hours are strange, from 10am-3pm. The only type I know are the originals with cotto salami, provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato, pepper and lots of olive oil. The oil must drip a lttle while eating. I try to make them at home, but the bread is what makes it good.
in pittsburgh, pa, they are called hoagies
Re: Grinders
My Father was a machinist at Electric Boat sub yard in New London Ct during the early years of WWII before entering the Army. He and the residents in the vicinity referred to these submarine (sub) shaped sandwichwes as a “grinder”
The sandwich filling was made with finely shredded raw cabbage (like stringy cole slaw)rather than lettuce and the primary bread used was French rather than Italian; although that was also used The sandwich meats ranged from todays Italian assorted ( various cold cuts)to other combinations— sliced thin for flavor, drenched in olive oil with tomato slices etc if desired Most were not toasted and wrapped in butchers paper tied with string.The filling of the sandwich was very generous– at least 1/4 -1/2 the thickness of the total bread height (meat alone 1”high).
The name does indeed originate from East Coast shipyards. However historical information also suggests the Grinder was created on a fresh oven toasted roll utilizing crude oven convection to finish the sandwich. Meats and cheeses were applied pre-convection and lettuce, tomatoes, and onions applied in a post convection application. This application gave the finished product a unique textural characteristic.
heh! Sounds like Quiznos!
Being a native Maine-iac who is living in Connecticut at the moment, I can tell you that there is absolutely zero comparison between any of those others and an Italian (also known by many as simple an “IT”). They’re all long, the similarities stop there.
An IT is Ham or Salami, American cheese, Tomatoes, Greek olives, sour pickles, green peppers, and chopped onion . All this on a soft sub roll for which there is no substitute outside of Maine. The others cannot compare to the Maine Italian sandwich.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/86/224109795_f5751b8e30.jpg?v=0
Thanks to Google image search for a good shot of an IT. It’s making my mouth water just looking at it. Time for another trip back to Maine. Now why did I move again?