“The actual idea for the Horseshoe Sandwich came from Elizabeth Schweska, Chef Joe Schweska’s wife. Chef Schweska came home one day and remarked to his wife that he needed a new lunch item for the Leland Hotel’s restaurant menu. She had seen a recipe using a Welsh Rarebit Sauce and suggested the possibility of an openfaced sandwich using this sauce. Joe Schweska liked the idea and developed his own sauce and… sandwich creation, ‘The Horseshoe.’” “The first Horseshoe was originally made from ham cut from the bone in the shape of a horseshoe. The first potato (the nails) were wedges of potato (not the frozen French fries used today)…. the sauce was poured over the meat and bread and the potato was on top instead of sauce being poured over the whole works. Originally, it was a potato cut in eight wedges.”

That’s it – that’s the original horseshoe, just as I remember it, although at some undetermined point before my time, the potato wedges had been replaced by fries. But only a handful of them, and always made from freshly hand-cut potatoes.

I have no problems with variations on classic dishes, including horseshoes. Breakfast horseshoes, riffs on horseshoes such as the late Caitie Barker’s wildly overthe-top version of cornbread, pulled pork, hot chili powder-spiked cheese sauce, and sweet potato fries – even the mountainous version typically served today, if that’s what you like – are fine with me. Just don’t claim they’re the original.

Contact Julianne Glatz at [email protected].