Too Many Cooks

Too Many Cooks: The Best Sandwich, Once and for All.

June 21, 2013

You'll be hearing from the staff at FOOD52 every week in Too Many Cooks, our group column in which we pool our answers to questions about food, cooking, life, and more. 

Bacon and Egg Sandwich

The latest issue of Lucky Peach includes the following quote from James Beard:

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"One of the great American arts, which varies from being a triumph to being a disaster, is the art of sandwichmaking."

It's true -- a perfect sandwich results from almost-unattainable simplicity. Everyone has their favorite, and their own opinion on what makes a sandwich great. And really, summer is sandwich season. So this week, we asked:

What, in your opinion, is the perfect sandwich?

Things got pretty heated, and our staff showed their passion for putting stuff between bread. We start with team BLT:

Brette: BLT!!!! 

Michael: I agree with Brette: the BLT, with generous mayo to protect the bread from the tomato. But it's a high-wire act: I feel lucky if I have two great ones in a year. (And if some avocado snuck its way in there too, I would not complain.) 

Michael: Shoot. I just remembered the bahn mi, and also the lobster roll, and now I dispair of ever choosing.

[Editor's note: this inspired a full-on brawl in our office re: whether a lobster roll is a real sandwich. Discuss amongst yourselves.]

Will: I have a series of haikus called "The Bacon Series." Here is the sandwich poem:

Bacon, soft white roll,
Lettuce, tomato, mayo.
My perfect sandwich.

Amanda: I've never met a sandwich better than the BLT. It contains all the crucial elements: sweetness, crunch, salinity, pork fattiness, and juicy flashes of summer. We learned a vital BLT tip from 'Wichcraft -- toast one side of the bread and place the toasted sides on the inside of the sandwich. This way you get crispness without cutting the top of your mouth. Although a few BLT cuts are probably more authentic.

Jason: Obviously I love a good BLT, but my all-time favorite sandwich is turkey, tasso ham, prosciutto, creamy gouda, red onion, arugula, salt and pepper, a little mayo, and honey mustard on a super crusty roll. #yumtownusa

Emma: Tuna melt. Hands down. Every time.

Jennifer: Mozzarella, tomato, basil, and prosciutto on ciabatta bread drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil.

Ryan: I'm in the same camp as Jennifer. Fresh mozz, basil, any salty cured ham, and olive oil on something crusty. Cold or hot pressed -- I don't discriminate.

Lauren: The bahn mi.

Amanda Li: PB&J on whole wheat, because that makes things healthy.

Maddy: Open face tomato and mayo sandwich on an english muffin (the rounds of tomato fit perfectly, see?). With a good dose of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.  

Marian: Crusty sourdough bread. Aioli. Juicy tomato. Avocado. Salt salt salt and pepper. They do it well at Sandwhich [sic] in Chapel Hill, NC.

Lindsay: The sister to Marian's sandwich: A toasted Zingerman's enough already bagel. Japanese mayo. Juicy tomato. Avocado. Salt.

Sarah J: Sweet: cinnamon raisin bread with bananas, honey, and peanut butter, pressed and warm. Savory: grilled eggplant, roasted tomato, muenster cheese, and muhammara on herbed focaccia (otherwise known as Z&H's Marty). 

Kenzi: Lobster roll. Also: BLT, extra mayo. 

Hannah: Maple almond butter (we're not on a first name basis or anything but I like Justin's) + really ripe banana. On any kind of bread that makes the whole house smell like yeast.

Kristen: Grilled cheese -- sharp cheddar, or whatever! -- with sliced tomatoes.

Margaret: Turkey, bacon, avocado, alfalfa sprouts, and aioli on a whole wheat wrap, toasted. My kind of heaven. Maybe some spinach if I want to feel healthy, but I don't usually get those kind of compulsions.

Stephanie: I have to play it simple. Tomato, butter, and salt on toasted bread. It's perfect. 

Merrill: Truly painful to make this decision. But since no one has mentioned it, I do love a good French ham with soft Brie, on a hard baguette spread with (cold) salted butter. A few cornichons wouldn't be out of place.

Bryce: I might have to go Muffaletta. 

Karl: Pulled pork with North Carolina-style vinegar sauce topped with coleslaw. The Reason is probably my favorite implementation.

Beatrice: Maryland blue crab crab cakes on a bed of frisée topped with a dill caper remoulade sandwiched between a lightly toasted and buttered bun. #BestSummerSandwich

Amanda Li: This TMC reminds me of the 30 Rock episode featuring the Chuckle Sandwich. And this quote:
Liz: I believe that all anyone really wants in this life is to sit in peace and eat a sandwich.
Jack: How surprising that your world view is food-based.

Tell us: what's your favorite sandwich? And how do you define a sandwich, anyway? Do lobster rolls and hamburgers count? Go ahead -- get worked up about it.

Listen Now

Join The Sandwich Universe co-hosts (and longtime BFFs) Molly Baz and Declan Bond as they dive deep into beloved, iconic sandwiches.

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See what other Food52 readers are saying.

  • Dianne T
    Dianne T
  • JM
    JM
  • ChrisVeros
    ChrisVeros
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    MQAvatar
  • Jenn@http://foodphilosophies.blogspot.com/
    Jenn@http://foodphilosophies.blogspot.com/
Marian Bull

Written by: Marian Bull

writer

38 Comments

Dianne T. June 26, 2013
The bsst summer sandwich, an everything bagel toasted with mayo,thick slice of Vidalia onion and a generous slice of vine ripe tomato.
 
JM June 24, 2013
I don't have a "best" sandwich, as much as I have sandwiches of the month. My current favorite is a modified grilled cheese with pepper jelly, goat cheese and bacon: http://www.myfoodandotherstuff.com/2013/06/goat-cheese-and-pepper-jelly-grilled.html
 
ChrisVeros June 23, 2013
My favorite sandwich of my own creation is called the BAMO: Bacon, sliced apple, mayo, and thinly sliced red onion.

My favorite of someone else's is definitely the tuna sandwich at 'Wichcraft: tuna, green olive, fennel, and preserved lemon. It might be the most perfectly balanced sandwich ever created.
 
MQAvatar June 23, 2013
Picking the "best" sandwich is like picking your favorite child: it just feels wrong to pick one. That said, I cannot believe that nobody has yet mentioned the Roast Pork with broccoli rabe and provolone from Tommy DiNic's at Reading Terminal Market. It is pure genius.
Otherwise, I'll take a bahn mi variation every day for the rest of my life.
 
Porchetta Sandwich from the RoliRoti food truck, hands down.
 
ChrisVeros June 23, 2013
Porchetta! In NY we have the eponymous purveyor: http://www.porchettanyc.com/index.html
 
Midge June 22, 2013
Softshell crab between two slices of squishy white bread!
 
Gret June 22, 2013
Yummm, that one too!
 
lapadia June 22, 2013
Yikes everybody! Let's not forget about the leading photo that enticed me to click on to this feature in the first place = a contest Winner http://food52.com/recipes/13349-flank-steak-on-texas-toast-with-chimichurri
 
aargersi June 22, 2013
I have been eating avocado, fresh picked still warm tomato that is salt and peppered, alfalfa sprouts, mayo AND mustard - specifically Dusseldorf mustard - on whole wheat literally 3-4 days a week since the tomatoes started coming in. Summer heaven sandwich
 
boulangere June 22, 2013
This one won a contest at Whole Foods: French Onion Sandwich, http://wp.me/p27pPl-eu. Hint: cheese and grilling are involved.
 
lapadia June 22, 2013
Yum!!
 
Lindsay-Jean H. June 22, 2013
Sign me up, that sounds fantastic!
 
Gret June 22, 2013
For summer sandwiches I like to put away the bacon. Give me tuna, mixed with chopped hard boiled eggs, chopped celery, a bit of diced red pepper,a little chopped sweet onion, with good mayo on a brioche roll with sliced tomato & lettuce. But nothing beats a lobster roll or a sandwich of smoked fish with sliced out of the garden tomato on a really good roll (with butter).
 
ZombieCupcake June 21, 2013
Egg, banana and peanut butter on a whole grain bagel I called it my 5k pre game sandwich or turkey pesto with feta cheese on toasted tomato basil bread
 
ZombieCupcake June 23, 2013
Oh on the turkey I forgot to say with strawberries
 
Barbara M. June 21, 2013
How about liverwurst, Dijon mustard, tomato, garden lettuce on When Pigs Fly multi grain cornmeal bread? My favorite!
 
vvvanessa June 21, 2013
The #3 at Laurelhurst Market in Portland, Oregon. It's an Italian meat and cheese bomb: ham, salami, provolone, oil, vinegar, peperoncini, iceburg lettuce, and "special sauce" on ciabatta. I think the special sauce is serotonin.
 
lapadia June 22, 2013
LOL, V!
 
drbabs June 21, 2013
Toasted multigrain bread (I love the idea of only toasting the inside!) slathered with lemony hummus, filled with arugula and thin slices of tomato.
 
sexyLAMBCHOPx June 21, 2013
I'll take a patty melt, no onions, extra pickles, please.
 
Gildy June 21, 2013
They all look good, I really should extend the range of sandwiches/rolls that I make, I nearly always end up with salad...
 
MrsWheelbarrow June 21, 2013
My favorite? Any of the above, as long as someone else makes it, and brings it to me, along with a cold beer.
 
dymnyno June 21, 2013
How about a nice rose'?
 
Kenzi W. June 21, 2013
I'm with you, dymnyno.
 
boulangere June 21, 2013
This take on a tuna melt is my go-to, whatever the season: http://wp.me/p27pPl-dt
 
sharontalb June 21, 2013
Fresh roasted turkey, sprouts, tomato, red onion, swiss and tarragon mayonnaise on freshly baked sourdough!
 
ChefJune June 21, 2013
In the summer, it's 2 slices of Oatmeal Bread (http://food52.com/recipes/3965-hearty-oatmeal-bread) toasted, with homemade mayo, thick slice of heirloom tomato and another of avocado and a leaf of crisp Romaine.