Day #2, #3 The Downriver

Today I had a #3- The Downriver. This sandwich is made with Liverwurst, sweet red onions, and hot mustard on Zingerman's Pumpernickel bread.

This sandwich was an original creation from Mark Hamel, co-owner of The French Laundry. Its name originated from Mark's childhood, as his parents often fed him liverwurst sandwiches with mustard, in an area west of Detroit, known as Downriver.

The idea of eating liverwurst terrified me, as I did not know what it would taste like or what was in the product. The main ingredients in our Alexander & Hornung Braunschweiger Liversausage are pork liver and pork, with some other additives like dehydrated onions and flavoring. Knowing the ingredients made it a little less intimidating. Liverwurst has a taste similar to bologna, but the texture is softer. The hot mustard and sweet onions complemented the meat well, as well as the pumpernickel.

Pumpernickel was another bread that I had not tried, and I rather enjoyed this part of the sandwich. Zingerman's Pumpernickel Bread is another Jewish style bread that we offer. It is made with real pumpernickel flour and has a dark brown appearance. This bread was not as scary to eat as I had previously thought because much like the rye bread, the flavor was not overwhelming.

Overall, this sandwich was not something that I would order for myself, but I can see the appeal to those that grew up on baloney and mustard sandwiches, but now like a more grown up taste.