The Insaniwhich 2.0

Way back in 2010 when the "Man Vs. Food" show was still on our regular viewing rotation I put together an insane sandwich which consisted of a seasoned chicken breast, bacon, popcorn shrimp, macaroni and cheese, and buffalo wing sauce. Earlier this year that sandwich was tweaked to become the "Insaniwhich," featuring chicken directly injected with wing sauce and fried clams instead of shrimp.

While this sandwich is amazingly awesome, it's also quite unhealthy, and Megan doesn't care for seafood, which limited its appeal for her. Now it's time for the "Insaniwhich 2.0" - a revamped version of this sandwich that changes up the meat and swaps out the seafood for homemade pico de gallo.

For the pico de gallo, I diced white onion, tomato, and poblano peppers, which were then seasoned with garlic powder. I simply used what was on hand and got a great result, but if you are planning ahead you may want to add in fresh cilantro and a few squeezes of lime.

We had some pork chops in the fridge that needed to be used, so the sandwich officially switched from chicken to pork. 

While unfortunately we were out of bacon, there still needed to be a good-but-bad-for-you element, which meant it was time to start frying! Frying means we needed a breading, so I whipped up a mixture of flour, red pepper flakes, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper.

The pork chops are coated, dipped into a bowl of milk, and then coated again to ensure the meat is covered evenly and that the breading is going to stick and not float off during the frying process.

A pan of vegetable oil is brought to a medium high temperature and then we carefully dipped the breaded pork in and cooked for about eight to ten minutes.

Here's the golden brown awesomeness of a fried pork chop, which makes a great sandwich filling regardless of whether you want to add an insane bevy of toppings.

The pork chops were too big to successfully fit as-is on buns, so we cut ours in half. Here I've thrown on some wing sauce, but anything from mayo and ketchup to ranch dressing would do here.

Next up is the pico de gallo and some monteray jack cheese, or whichever sliced/shredded cheese strikes your fancy.

Remember the peach mustard BBQ sauce we made for the ribs in the last blog?  We had a good deal left over and decided to try it out here - and it was a delicious addition!

This sandwiches' claim to fame was always the macaroni and cheese, which remained the star in this version! The sandwich is still great without it too, by the way, if you'd like something a little less messy with fewer ingredients.

The finished sandwich is essentially a meal unto itself, especially when all those delicious toppings start falling off and turn into their own side dish!