KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 — Life is better between two pieces of bread, as Jeff Mauro, the host of Food Network’s Sandwich King can testify.
The Chicago native has always been sandwich crazy. “I believe in totally balanced food and you get a flavour of everything in a sandwich that all comes together,” he says about his love for sandwiches.
As a youngster, Mauro would go to the extent of bagging each ingredient for lunch in individual plastic bags to assemble his culinary masterpiece in school. He still holds steadfast to the belief “you can make any meal into a sandwich or a sandwich into a meal.”
For years, the California Hollywood Kitchen Academy graduate made his own show pilots including YouTube videos in an attempt to get his own cooking show.
He even uprooted his family to Los Angeles where he pursued a career as an entertainer and comedian.“For many years I auditioned on the idea of Sandwich King knowing that no one else had cornered that market before,” he says.
In 2011, Mauro finally won his ticket to fame by being the winner of reality show, Food Network Star. He impressed the judges by coming up with a sandwich for every challenge.
Later in August that year, Mauro got his lifelong dream as Food Network rolled out Sandwich King. The show is currently in its third season. Fans can look forward to a fourth season as Mauro has also shot more episodes. Plans are also underway to unveil a cookbook with his sandwich ideas sometime later this year.
Mauro’s comedic expressions and easy-going nature have also scored him his second show on the network, $24 for 24, which premieres on Food Network Asia later this year.
“It’s me with $24 in my pocket and I go to a new city in America to get breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack with tax and tip,” he says. Mauro covers seven cities around America, including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, the three most expensive cities in the country. “It’s a lot of eating but my rule is I take three bites and then I leave,” he says. The plot does not run far from sandwiches, since he admits it is one of the cheapest things to eat.
In future, the affable Mauro hopes to unveil his own sandwich place on homeground Chicago. “There will be six to eight types of sandwiches, two sides and two salads with rotating specials,” he says.
Despite having 7,896 sandwich ideas, he believes simplicity works. “I want to focus and make these the best sandwiches,” he says. That is also his philosophy in building a great sandwich. “I like to keep my sandwich simple, usually three to five ingredients. Anything beyond five ingredients, you won’t be able to taste it,”he says.
Mauro admits he’s never sick of sandwiches and his all-time favourite is the pastrami on rye sandwich from 80-year-old Langer’s Deli in Los Angeles. On a day-to-day basis, Mauro will reach into his refrigerator to fix his all-time comfort combination of turkey, Swiss cheese, white bread and honey mustard.
Sandwich King Season 3 airs every Wednesday, 8pm on Food Network Asia (Astro B.yond HD Channel 727).
This story was first published in the print edition of The Malay Mail, July 11, 2013.
