The Sandwich: Morcilla
Where: Pepe Food Truck; see Twitter for daily locations
Price: $13
Bread: Ciabatta loaf from Alexandria’s Panorama Bakery
Stuffings: Blood sausage, pickled onions, cream cheese, fig jam, spinach
Thickness: 2.5 inches
Pros: With so many bold flavors, you’d think that the sticky sweet fig spread, salty cream cheese, and slightly gamey blood sausage would compete with each other. But the ingredients meld together in a rich, slightly decadent sandwich that tastes like more than the sum of its parts. The pillowy ciabatta roll remains soft enough to tear and chew easily without becoming soggy.
Cons: The blood sausage, meant to be the star of the show, encounters two major problems. First, its casing is too thick and chewy, forcing you to either disassemble the sandwich or eat each slice in one big bite. Secondly, the sausage’s texture is slightly mushy and gritty, reminding you that you are, in fact, eating congealed blood and fat.
Sloppiness level (1 to 5): 3.When you try to bite through the sausage, the force squishes the sandwich too hard, sending sticky fig jam and cream cheese out the sides of the bread.
Overall score (1 to 5): 3. As enjoyable as this combination of sweet, salty, and earthy flavors is, it’s hard to overcome the sausage’s texture problems. With a more penetrable (or nonexistent) casing, the sandwich would improve dramatically.
Photo by Caroline Jones