The Sandwich . WHO COOKED THAT UP?. J.J. wonders. . The origin of the name "sandwich" reminds me of a favorite riddle of my brother's when he was about seven or eight years old. . . "If you were stranded on a desert island, what would you eat?" . The answer: "The sand which is there." . . Although the sandwich has nothing to do with sand, it still has a vague connection with island life, because the Hawai'ian Islands were once called "The Sandwich Islands." They were named for the very same person for whom the sandwich that we eat was named, John Montagu (1718-1792), the Fourth Earl of Sandwich. . . The Earl was the patron of Captain James Cook (the explorer who discovered the Hawai'ian Islands) and, because he was also the First Lord of the Admiralty during the American revolutionary war, he has sometimes been blamed by the British for the loss of the American Colonies. There is a story that he was an enthusiastic gambler and when he didn't wish to leave the gaming table -- or possibly just his desk -- to go to dinner he would ask for someone to bring him some meat between a couple of slices of bread. Later, when others began asking for the same thing, they would say something like, "I'll have what Sandwich is having..." Obviously it caught on, and people just started calling for "a Sandwich" when they wanted meat between two slices of bread. The word sandwich is therefore an eponym -- a word or phrase whose origin is a person or historical figure. . . If the English claim to have invented the sandwich, the French disagree, saying that long before the word sandwich came into use, it was common for workers in the field and those going on a journey to take with them meat or fish between two slices of black bread. . . Today the Americans in particular pile their sandwiches high with more than just meat or fish. Stacked sandwiches may be said to have begun with the "Dagwood," named for Dagwood Bumstead, the husband of the title character in Chic Young's comic strip, "Blondie." Another kind of stacked sandwich is made in long rolls rather than square bread slices, and they are called variously "submarines," "poor boys," "heroes," and "hoagies." . . The grilled cheese sandwich might be said to be a variation of a French recipe, the "Croque Monsieur," which has been around since early in the 20th century. According to the Larousse Gastronomique it is made by taking two slices of bread, buttered on one side only, with ham and cheese in the center, and frying the sandwich in clarified butter. Today it is often broiled with bechamel sauce on top. A "Croque Madame" is topped with a fried egg. Some say that the grilled cheese sandwich was further refined in San Francisco in the 1950's into what is called the "Monte Cristo." It is made by placing slices of swiss or gruyere cheese, ham and turkey between two slices of white bread, then dipped in an egg and milk batter, fried in butter, and served with a spoonful of currant jelly on the side. . . The ingredients of a Club Sandwich can vary slightly from place to place, but it is invariably a three decker sandwich of toasted bread, with one layer of filling devoted to meat -- ham and/or turkey, possibly adding slices of crisp bacon -- and the other layer devoted to salad ingredients -- lettuce, tomato, avocado and/or onion slices. The origin of the name Club is thought to be either from the restaurant menu in a Country Club or from the snack bar service in a Club Car of one of the special trains that traveled from New York to Chicago in the 1930's and 1940's.