A Super Upsetting Cookbook About Sandwiches, by Tyler Kord. I don’t know Tyler Kord. I was gifted this book several years ago. It’s the only cookbook I’ve read that made me laugh out loud, and I have done so over and over while re-reading it.
I suspect that Tyler Kord is far too smart for his own good or for this industry, kind of like David Foster Wallace, but hopefully with a far happier ending than David Foster Wallace found. There are techniques and combinations in this book that are so succulent and mouthwatering that I ate at Tyler’s No. 7 Sub Shop two days in a row when I was in Manahattan a few years ago, despite the myriad fancy places I was ‘supposed to’ have lunch.
Sandwiches in general are underrated. They might be my favorite food, and these sandwiches are apex gastronomic experiences. I include this cookbook recommendation in my lesson about dealing with the press because Tyler Kord clearly doesn’t give a f___ about anybody—again, in a good way—and his singular approach to writing this book makes it stand out from the crowd. The pictures are of the food, not the chef. The humor is found by looking in the mirror. The prose is outstanding, the recipes are exact, and you can feel the drumbeat of authenticity as you read through this book.
Again, I don’t know Tyler Kord, but he clearly possesses the culinary and intellectual prowess to have been offered a great many temptations that were laid before him by this industry and the press, but he chose a different path. I realize that I am speculating and projecting and all sorts of other things but hell, it’s just a fantastic cookbook.