Sandwich Moments

“When you are having a food moment, it’s like tasting food for the first time. Your eyes open wide and then close, as if in slow motion. You chew as if no food with flavour has ever touched your tongue before and what you are eating at that very moment is what will shape all future food opinions you will ever have”.

That is Christina Tosi, writing in the Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook, describing the early morning bread and cheese experience she had with Momofuku founder David Chang in Deauville, at the French Omnivore Food Festival. Yes, that was her reaction, basically, to a sandwich.

The name sandwich was invented by an Englishman, but the concept of a sandwich spans the globe. Whether you call it a sandwich, a croque, a baguette, a bruschetta, a calzoni, a roti or a chapati, the act of putting various ingredients within on or top of bread is a universal pleasure.

There is nothing like a sandwich to repay care. Just think of the sandwich created by Serge in the classic French movie Diva. That’s the sort of care you should lavish in order to get your “food moment”. For, if you use care in preparation and great ingredients, a sandwich is one of the most pleasurable things you can eat.

Let me share some of our great sandwich moments with you…

Smoked Salmon and Bacon

Food writer Jeremy Round credited Victor Gordon’s book English Cookbook for this unusual sandwich, which was to be eaten with “heroic quantities of very pink gin. It tastes as good as you think it’s going to. A Christmas standby in our family:

“Thickly cover one piece of hot, lightly buttered toast with smoked salmon. Spread thinly with mango chutney (Jeremy preferred lime pickle). Lay several rashers of hot, crisply grilled streaky bacon on top and sprinkle with cayenne pepper. Cover with another slice of hot, lightly buttered toast.”

Hot Mushroom

Nigel Slater is a man who appreciates a sandwich. This one is from his book Real Food and is actually a Nigella Lawson idea. I think it's best served in a baguette.

“Get a large, flat field mushroom, put it in a preheated 200ºC oven covered with butter, chopped garlic and parsley for about twenty minutes. When ready, and the garlicky, buttery juices are oozing with black, cut open a soft roll, small ciabatta or bap, or chunk of baguette even, and wipe the cut side all over the pan to soak up the pungent juices. Smear with Dijon mustard, top with the mushroom, squeeze with lemon juice, sprinkle with salt and add some chopped lettuce or parsley as you like. Think of this as a fungoid – but strangely hardly less meaty – version of steak sandwich.”

Black Pudding Bap

This idea comes from Scottish writer Sue Lawrence. It's great. Trust me.

1 soft roll
1 tablespoon tapenade
1 slice black pudding
cooking oil
some sliced tomato
salt and pepper

Split the roll and spread with the tapenade. Cook the black pudding briefly in a little oil or butter, and sandwich, together with the tomato. Season and serve.

The Toasted Special

bread
mature, hard cheese, thinly sliced
ham, sliced
rocket
tomatoes, thinly sliced
butter

Place all the ingredients into the sandwich. Butter the outside of the sandwich. Put in your toasted sandwich maker or panini machine and cook until the cheese melts. Cut into quarters and serve.