Stuffed Sandwiches from Nebraska Based Companies

I spent about 7 or 8 years living in Omaha, Nebraska.  It was my college years and then some working after I had finished college.  During those years, I discovered many great eating places.  Some were just "Ma & Pa" single establishments and others were chains started in Nebraska.  Each restaurant seemed to have a "Signature Dish" and for many of them, I never got past that menu item.

For those foreign followers of my blog, Nebraska is pretty close to the middle of the USA.  North to South and East to West, it is in what they refer to as the Midwest of the USA.  It's big in farming with beef and corn as their major agricultural crops.

There were 2 chains, started in Nebraska, that had a sandwich that I still love to eat today.  One of them is still going strong and has expanded to a few other states.  That one is called "Runza" and it is a fast food chain that made their success off a baked sandwich that was stuffed with beef, onions and cabbage.  The sandwich appeared on the menu board as just "The Original Runza" and later expanded in options.  The recipe ("Homemade Runza Style Sandwich") tomorrow is for the best cloning of that sandwich that I have found to make at home.  It's not a sandwich you are going to make weekly or even monthly.  But if you try it, you'll want to be making it several times a year.  Remember, once you have tasted the original, you can always make some enhancements like the company has to vary the taste.

The second recipe this week comes from a restaurant chain that does not exist today.  But in it's hay-day, "King's Food Host" was a very popular place to dine.  It was a little unique too.  You would eat inside and at your booth (I only remember them having booths) was a telephone by which you placed your food order.  The waitstaff only delivered your orders (food and drink) and cleaned up after you left.  You paid for your meal at the cashier station as you left.

They had a great menu of burgers and such, even homemade onion rings that were great.  But for me and quite a few others, the menu item that you had to order each time you went was the "Cheese Frenchee." This was a triangle shaped grilled cheese sandwich that was deep fried.  It had a coating on the outside that just made you die for it.  A pile of ketchup on your plate and just start dipping those wedges into it and taking a bite.  Now it wasn't particularly healthy for you but we didn't care back then because it just tasted sooo... good.  They only gave you 3 sections of the sandwich, so maybe we did save some calories.  At least from what it could have been.

They also made it as a "Tuna Frenchee" but it didn't hold a candle to the cheese one.  All their food was good but you could live on just one of their shakes and the "Cheese Frenchee."  I remember people ordering a burger and getting the CF instead of french fries.  They were that good.

So I hope you will try these recipes and maybe even impress some family and/or friends with them.  "Happy Cooking" in the mean time and until next week.