”This sandwich is made from minced behemoth meat, Adoulinian tomatoes, and crisp vegetables carefully piled between two slices of soft, fresh bread.”
– In-game description
With the new Final Fantasy remake coming out, I wanted to make a dish from one of the games. The behemoth sandwich looked delicious so I took some inspiration from the monster that this dish is made from in game. The behemoths have purple skin which I wanted to capture in a sandwich component and decided on a purple carrot pickle to give a contrast to the sweet filling. The carrots do lose their color a bit when they are pickled so if you want the deep purple color you could add some freshly grated carrot before serving as well.
The description of the sandwich filling and the in game image looked and sounded a lot like a sloppy joe to me so I used that as the general idea for the sandwich. A lot of homemade sloppy joe recipes are made with ketchup but I wanted to avoid using this in my recipe. I mimicked the ketchup flavor with the sweetness of maple syrup, the acidity from the lemon juice, and the smokiness from the chili powder. I added diced celery to accentuate the crisp vegetables noted in the in-game description.
Behemoth Sandwich
Ingredients
Carrot Pickle
- 2 large purple carrots shredded
- 1 c water
- ⅔ c apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black peppercorns whole
Behemoth Sandwich
- 1 onion diced
- 3 stalks celery diced
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 lb ground beef
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 15 oz tomato sauce
- ½ c water
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp paprika
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ tsp chili powder
- ½ tsp black pepper ground
- 5 burger buns
Instructions
For the Carrot Pickle
- Place shredded carrots in a large mason jar.
- In a pot over medium heat, combine the water, apple cider vinegar, salt, and black peppercorns.
- Bring brine to a simmer and pour over the shredded carrots.
- Allow to cool completely before refrigerating.
For the Behemoth Sandwich
- In a skillet, heat the oil over medium heat.
- If desired, toast the burger buns and set aside.
- Add the diced onions and celery to pan and sauté until the onion starts to brown.
- Remove onions and celery from heat and set aside.
- Add ground beef and minced garlic to pan and cook until beef is browned and cooked through.
- To the ground beef and garlic, add the tomato sauce, water, maple syrup, lemon juice, paprika, salt, chili powder, and ground pepper. Stir until combined.
- Add the onions and celery to the pan and bring to a boil. Stir occasionally until sauce thickens to desired consistency.
- Remove from heat and evenly divide the beef among the bottom bun. Top beef with drained carrot pickles and add the top bun.