A Legendary Sandwich for an Infamous Earl Representing the Sandwich in Legend and Cookery Literature

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Noah J.A. Morritt

Abstract

Sitting around a dimly lit, smoky, boisterous card table, John Montagu, the reputedly infamous Fourth Earl of Sandwich, is reported to have made an important culinary innovation. Unwilling to abandon his hand or the thrill of the competition, the Earl ordered a servant to bring him pieces of meat enclosed between two pieces of bread. Free to play his cards with one hand and eat with the other, he had created a dish worthy of his reputation; that is to say, the reputation that later writers and cookery book authors created and reported in their narrative accounts of the Earl’s character, his status as an eccentric gambler, and his culinary invention.

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