What is the best way to build a sandwich?

[Duer 157099]

I mean, the order of ingredients, including an explanation.

Let's start with 3 ingredients: meat, cheese, tomato.

Then add: lettuce
Then add: onion
Then add: avocado

How to layer them, starting with 3 and moving to 4, 5, 6 etc.

With reasonable explanations.

Assume mayo/mustard on the bread.

Meat could be turkey, a burger, whatever.

Please proceed.

[rug]

1. Did I wonder into Subway?

Where's Jared?

[Duer 157099]

9. Well see I disagree with how they build theirs

that's partly why I'm asking.

[NightWatcher]

2. Meat on bottom, then cheese, the stack the rest by size/ weight , heaviest first

Condiments on top, close with crown of bread, then press firmly or place in pannini.

[Duer 157099]

6. I'm not sure I agree

Seems everyone here basically agrees, but that order puts the tomato and lettuce adjacent and they can both be really slippery. The bread should absorb at least one slippery item on each end.

No?

I'm still not certain of the best order, but I do know that two veggies touching makes for slippery messy eating. Can't be avoided altogether but minimized?

[TexasTowelie]

3. I'd go

meat, cheese, tomato, onion, avocado (I'm assuming chunks), then lettuce.

The first four ingredients are relatively flat and should provide a strong foundation, avocado is chunky and irregular in shape, the lettuce is like a roof covering the foundation and the avocado room.

[Duer 157099]

7. Cheese against tomato usually means the tomato slips around

I'm thinking tomato against the bread?

[fizzgig]

4. the bread must be toasted

always, always, always.

[Duer 157099]

8. Depends

Yes for many sandwiches but some can't tolerate it. Makes the bread too hard to bite and causes innerds to squish out.

But in general I like toasting sandwich bread.

[Locut0s]

23. I agree, now that I've been having my Subs toasted I can't go back...

Toasting always makes them better it seems.

[Taverner]

5. Always meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion

Toasted roll

[ZombieHorde]

10. Start with two slices of hearty bread.

Apply a thick layer of hummus on each slice.

Then sliced red bell pepper on one slice and red onion on the other slice. The hummus should keep these ingredients on the sandwich.

Then add lettuce or spinach to one slice and some tomato on the other. The lettuce adds bulk and the tomato adds juiciness.

If you're feeling crazy, you can add some feta or human brains to the sandwich. Some people say the brain of a human child is the best, but trust me when I say they are just food snobs, and no one can tell the difference on a sandwich. Just use whatever is available.

Put the sandwich together and enjoy!

[Duer 157099]

11. OK so you have the meat/cheese in the middle

That's more what I was thinking.

Although, I'll have to think about the brains.

[noamnety]

15. What about chopping the bell pepper, onion and tomato

and mixing it with the hummus instead of putting it in layers? So it would be like an egg salad in construction?

Also, I accidentally ended up with 4 costco tubs of hummus this week, so this is critical info for me. I'm thinking I could shred some of the many many carrots I got stuck with and mix that with the hummus too.

[ZombieHorde]

17. Hmmm...that might be a really good idea.

It might be too much hummus, but I think I may try it sometime.

[LiberalEsto]

12. With a hammer and nails nt

[Duer 157099]

13. Dunno about that

I'd think two drill bits and a screw are the way to go if we're talkin hardware...

[LiberalEsto]

14. Don't forget the WD-40

and



the duck tape

[applegrove]

16. French bread, mayo, sliced roast beef, strub's pickles sliced thin, old cheddar cheese.

***This Next Part Is Important*****

Once the sandwich is made you press it down like you are giving it CPR till the bread is flat like a pancake. Cause it just tastes better that way.

[Duer 157099]

20. This is close to my perfect sandwich

except I use swiss cheese, and I pickle onion slices in a jar of pickled pepper juice (pepperoncini type) and use that. Plus tomato.

But definitely the smash down hard part

[R B Garr]

18. Do not mix the mayo and mustard together on one slice of bread. Ever.

You put the mayo on one slice of bread. You put the mustard on the other.

You put cheese on first because it does not have the moisture content of other ingredients that might gunk up the works. I think Duer 157099 referred to this in another post about the location of slimy things that tend to make soggy sandwiches. If using two kinds of cheeses, one type on one side of the sandwich, and the other on the other side of the sandwich.

So then you put the vegetable type additions on after the cheese, and then the meat on top. If it's going to be eaten right away, the order isn't as critical, but if it's being transported, then the vege additions should be in the middle so as not to compromise the bread.

Piling too many ingredients is also a problem as the first bite just causes them all to squish out anyway. I dry/dab the pickles with a paper towel before adding them if they are used. Lettuce of course is dried, generally cleaned when I get it home and kept in a plastic bag wrapped in paper towels, so that's usually ready to go. Avocado can be mashed and put on like a mayo spread.

There's an Italian deli I go to that has a wonderful hot pepper spread that I use a lot, so those type of things usually go as a substitute for the mustard on the mustard side of the bread. I was just missing that pepper spread, so this thread reminded me to get some more!

.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

19. cheese goes to the meat goes to the mustard and the tomato and onion goes to the mayo

Last edited Sun Sep 1, 2013, 03:06 PM - Edit history (1)

everything else goes in the middle.

[Incitatus]

21. Mayo on the bottom with cheese, followed by the meat, toppings, a little garlic, salt, pepper

then the top bun smothered with mustard.

[Dash87]

22. Ask this guy -

[Locut0s]

24. No preference for order but ingredients are as follows...

At least these are the ingredients I almost always have on my Subway subs:

Meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, olives, mayo, salt and pepper.

If it's not a sub but a flat sandwich I might leave out the olives.

[Chan790]

25. Okay. A lot of thoughts.

• The mustard/mayo doesn't go on the bread. If you put it on the bread, it soaks into the bread making it soggy. It goes next to the meat.
• The tomato and the cheese cannot go next to each other if the tomato is freshly cut and the cheese uncooked, the acidity of the tomatoes will break down the casein and make the cheese turn to sludge.
• If you're toasting the bread, the cheese goes on the bread so that it will melt unless the contents of the sandwich are also hot in which case it's grilled/heated with the meat.
• Lettuce goes on first among the unheated ingredients. Always. If you believe there is an exception, reread from the beginning of this sentence.
• Stacking vertically, equal volume of vegetable go above and below the meat.

Let's assume the sandwich is a hot ham-and-cheese with lettuce, tomato, onions, avocado and mustard. I always assemble sandwiches upside down, this is after flipping right side up.

Bread.
Lettuce.
Tomato.
Mayo.
Ham.
Cheese.
Onions.
Avocado.
Bread.

[Duer 157099]

27. Nice

I like the explanations, especially about the fresh tomato and cheese

I've always learned that putting the mayo on the bread presents a hydrophobic barrier so that the bread doesn't get soggy.

[Auggie]

26. Lettuce on the bottom if the sandwich is particularly juicy ...

will keep the bottom layer of bread from falling apart.

After that, anything goes.

[SteveG]

28. Really only one way for sandwich on two slices - another for rolls.

two slices bread
Mayo/mustard on bread
cheese(s) on each slice of bread
Tomato
salt/pepper/other spices-herbs
pickle
onion
lettuce
meat(s)
flip second slice of bread with cheese on top.


for a sub (roll) sandwich

Oil & vinegar on bread
salami (laid out so half of each slice hangs over edge of roll on each side
provolone cheese
lettuce/tomato/onion/black olives/peppers/ Italian seasoning (fresh oregano/marjorum/thyme/rosemary chopped very fine)
other meats - ham/capicola/Turkey/roast beef
fold salami edges over other meats and close.

[pinboy3niner]

29. First, get out your drill...

[Trailrider1951]

30. No meat for me

Sliced Tillamook cheddar on whole wheat. Butter outside with real unsalted butter. Grill until golden brown and cheese is melted. Top with a thick slice of ripe tomato and leaves of romaine lettuce. Serve with dill pickles and/or green olives, and either a frosty brown ale, or iced tea. YUM!