Sandwich Gravy

So, I'm watching t.v. the other day and an Arby's commercial comes on advertising one of their many tasty, artery-clogging sandwiches. I don't recall which one it was, but it was one of the ones that comes with an au jus dipping sauce.

Now, some may be wondering what exactly "au jus" is. Unless you're a food geek, this may not be part of your vernacular. According to Wikipedia, au jus is French for "with [its own] juice". Jus is the juice itself. In French cuisine, jus is a natural way to enhance the flavour of dishes, mainly chicken, veal and lamb.

Sounds good, right? Problem is, Arby's is not exactly a high class dining establishment. Frankly, I'd be surprised if there weren't deep fried critters in with the curly fries or if the special
"seasoning" on them doesn't just come from the fries being dropped on the floor.

More likely than not, the use of the term au jus is clever marketing ploy to make Arby's sandwiches sound yummier and, to the consumer subconscious, fancier.

Yeah, 'cause nothing says "high class" like processed cheese and meat that may or may not actually be roast beef.

Now, don't get me wrong. I like Arby's (but then I also like White Castle, so that's not really saying much). I don't knock them for trying to push their product any way they can. After all, shoving products down the consumer gullet ad nauseum is the American way. The issue I have with the fast food version of au jus is the second part of Wikipedia's definition:

"Often prepared in the United States is a seasoned sauce with several additional flavourings. American recipes au jus often use soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, white or brown sugar, garlic, onion, or other ingredients to make something more like a gravy."

The key word there is "gravy". Gravy! Fast food au jus is, in essence, sandwich gravy. Because that's just what a sandwich made of cheese and (alleged) red meat needs, right? Gravy.

I won't pretend like I'm the poster child for healthy eating. . . not unless Ramen, cheesecake and red No. 40 are part of the major food groups now, but there's just something wrong about gravy on a sandwich. Kind of like that bacon cheeseburger made of donuts (here). Bacon cheeseburgers are great. Donuts are great. But they don't belong together.

I mean, you can see through an Arby's bag by the time you get home when there's just a regular sandwich in there. Do we really want to throw gravy into that mix? It's worse that putting ranch dressing on a deli sandwich. A deli sandwich can actually be pretty healthy if you put the right things on it. Ranch dressing destroys it. Actually, ranch dressing destroys everything it's on. The fat content is astronomical. Now imagine putting something like that on a sandwich that is already a cardiovascular nightmare. May as well book your triple bypass now.

Personally, I believe American au jus and ranch dressing are a conspiracies cooked up by good people that bring you "insert-any-fad-diet-name-here". I mean, they gotta move those books somehow. And it totally makes sense that not eating bread will make up for sucking down milkshakes for ten years. Right?

Right.