Have you ever had the unshakable feeling that you are right and the rest of the world is wrong?
All my life until I was in my teens when mom asked us what kind of sandwich we wanted, often it would be jeanmakes.
Any of my friends that grew up around us knew what jeanmakes sandwiches were and it was never questioned.
Then one day my world turned upside down.
Apparently, I was wrong… or was I.
My happy little world was shattered when someone asked me at school what kind of sandwich I had and of course, I replied jeanmakes.
To which they replied… “What the heck is jeanmakes?”
Well, I said… you take a couple of boiled eggs, mashed them up with mayonnaise and that’s the filling for a jeanmakes sandwich.
Everyone around me laughed and laughed and told me it was an egg salad sandwich and that there was no such word as jeanmakes.
I must have turned a bright shade of red as confusion set in and I became the butt of egg jokes. I figured by the end of the day everyone in school knew that I was less than stellar in the sandwich department and I was totally bewildered.
Who was right? Had I been lied to all these years?
I would have sworn that jeanmakes was a real word.
Hardly waiting to get home, I asked my mom why we called egg salad sandwiches – jeanmakes.
Apparently, everyone else in the family knew but me as I was the youngest and the explanation had died with my older sisters. They knew what they were but at home, they always called them jeanmakes.
Turns out that my sister used to go and visit the next-door neighbour who would make egg salad sandwiches for her. The neighbour was called… you guessed it… Jean.
My sister would come home and ask mom for the sandwiches that Jean makes and by the time I came into being it had become a household word.
I didn’t know any other. To me all sandwiches with eggs in them were jeanmakes.
How could one be so right and wrong at the same time?
Today, one of my favourite sandwiches is called jeanmakes and although I’ve been told they don’t exist, for me they are one of the tastiest sandwiches I’ve ever had.
Recipe for Jeanmakes (aka egg salad sandwich)
Depending on how many sandwiches you are making will depend on the number of eggs you will boil.
Put the eggs in a pot of cold water and cover with a lid.
Bring the water to a rolling boil then shut off the stove and let the eggs sit for 10 minutes on the burner.
Then take them off the stove and run them under cold water to cool them down. I just pour the water out of the pot and fill it with cold and leave them there until cool.
Peel the egg and put them into a bowl.
(An easy way to peel is to put the egg in a glass with a little water. Put your hand over the top and agitate. The shell comes right away from the egg and makes it easy to peel.)
Take a potato masher or a fork and mash the eggs to the consistency that you like. Some people like it a chunkier than others.
Add
- pinch of salt and pepper
- dash of mild curry
- celery
- onions
- enough mayonnaise (I use Miracle Whip) to hold the mixture together
Mix well and put on buttered bread or croissant and top with lettuce.
Add tomato or avocado to change it up a bit if you like.
Delicious.
If you look around on the internet you’ll find all sorts of variations, so pick what you like and leave the rest.
Who knows… you just might find your own jeanmakes.
Other recipes you might like:
Onion soup – goes great with a jeanmakes
I don’t usually have much to say about food. For me, it’s fuel. Usually, by the time I’m hungry, it’s too late to think, I just want to eat. So my idea of an egg sandwich is whatever is fastest. So I peel two hard boiled eggs cut them in two, add a little salt and just wolf them down. Next I eat two slices of bread and butter. There you go, egg sandwich! What else would you expect from a non-conformist!
Boy that brought back memories especially since I’m your older sister and brought that delightful name for egg sandwichs into the house. I love them with some cut up pickle in them also.