Sandwich Makers of the World Unite – Part 2

Properly let down I am. Disappointed, nay, betrayed even. After last week I was expecting an inbox filled to the brim with your inspirations for The Great Tom's Food! Sandwich. One miserable response! (Thank you, GS.)

You will all be familiar, I'm sure, with the story of how today's hero came to be. The 4th Earl of Sandwich was an inveterate gambler, unwilling to swap the gaming table for the dining one. He ordered a servant to bring him meat wrapped between two slices of bread. It caught on with his pals - I'll have what Sandwich is having.

And a horrible, nasty, dry thing it must have been. Given the fact that the average British sandwich is not a thing of loveliness, let's look at some common errors.

Some might say that the ghastly blotting paper that is sliced white bread doesn't help. But it does have one or two minor plus points. The first of these is that it is thin. A fundamental rule is that your filling should be at least as thick as the crust; however, as we Brits notoriously want our food to be as cheap as possible, scrimping on the contents is the easiest way to save money.

The next obvious issue is the common lack of lubrication. How many times have you opened up a sandwich to see just the thinnest scraping of butter or, worse still, marge. Bleuch! For heaven's sake, make sure you spread both sides, and perhaps have another layer of gloop in the middle in addition to your filling.

In Britain we're hardly short of choice when it comes to condiments. Mayo is the most common, but mustard too, for those who like it. Why not mix the two together for a gentle heat without the nose tingling? Or have a jar of horseradish sauce, an underused thing. Beware as there are two types, hot, and creamy. I'd go for the latter, perfect on one side of a roast beef butty, the other slathered with good salty butter.

Cheese and pickle is one of the most popular sellers, but there's pickle and there's pickle. Lord save me from industrial Branson - no excuse for that - but there's more out there. You probably have a pal who makes it. Which failing, there are a lot of great independents whose produce can be found in delis and at farmers' markets.

Let's move on to another favourite, the bacon roll. At its simplest, just bacon, though plenty of good quality pig and LOTS of butter are a must. Nigel Slater actively advocates use of the aforesaid nasty white bread, as it absorbs all the juices. For my own part I'd prefer a good Scottish morning roll. But on this topic, we now come to the debate that divides the nation. Red Sauce, Brown Sauce?

Felicity Cloake wrote a terrific book on the subject, which we reviewed a while ago. Like me, she favours neither. Have you tried mango chutney, ideally an Indian made one which is less sweet? But it's hard to get past one of the nation's favourites, the BLT (bacon, lettuce and  tomato, with mayo).

Here we're really getting into the hub and the nub and the pith and the gist of great sandwich making. You want a good mix of flavours and textures. Crunchy lettuce, soft tomato, slightly salty bacon crispy at the edges. You can see at once why it's a classic. Ham and cheese is another British favourite, but, my Lord, can it be dull? What else might you add? Piccalilli is a regular in our fridge here, but make sure you buy the good stuff. Onion - spring, pickled or even raw if you like it. Cucumber, red pepper, olives, radishes, whatever.

One advantage which was put forward in the Earl's day was that the sandwich was portable and clean to eat. Well, not if I make it, it ain't. If it's not too much information, mine are usually drippy. A plate and ample covering for clothes is essential. And that's before you get to the favourite hot sandwich, the burger. In my case that will involve a bun, a burger, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and gherkin. The lubrication will require ALL of mayonnaise, mustard and tomato ketchup. A friend once said that if a hamburger required the use of less than six napkins it wasn't worth the eating.

I appreciate we're getting into US territory now; however, there is no doubt that the American sandwich has its roots in Italy. We'll look at that next week in Part 3.

 

P.S. We've listed all of the top sellers listed by the British Sandwich Association apart from chicken. Of my own favourites I see I've omitted egg.

My wife is a true romantic. One February 14 she turned up unannounced at my office bearing as a gift an egg mayonnaise roll from Bayne's the Bakers, producers of the best morning rolls in Scotland. Unfortunately I was out.