What is a sandwich?

April 14, 2015 2:19 PM

A Field Guide to the American Sandwich, with introduction. Both by Sam Sifton. Possibly related to yesterday's ode to the BEC and last week's roast beef tutorial (all NYT).
posted by xowie (112 comments total)

inb4 argument of what, exactly, a sandwich is.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 2:28 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

I moved to montreal from NYC last year and I miss bodegas & BECs so much :(
posted by and they trembled before her fury at 2:29 PM on April 14, 2015

After 37 years I have a fairly rough inkling of what a sandwich is but it's good that the New York Times has put together this dossier for people new to earth. I'm interested to know the story behind chips and pickles being served with sandwiches though, it seems a uniquely American thing.
posted by turbid dahlia at 2:38 PM on April 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

A Kaiser Roll is not a Hard Roll. Kaisers are soft and gummy while Hard Rolls are flakey and glorious and not available outside of the NYC metro area. And I miss them dearly.
posted by octothorpe at 2:42 PM on April 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

You can't get crusty bread outside of New York?
posted by turbid dahlia at 2:42 PM on April 14, 2015 [12 favorites]

is cereal a sandwich? what about deviled eggs.
posted by poffin boffin at 2:43 PM on April 14, 2015 [23 favorites]

Nope. The crust is hard because of the New York water.
posted by landofthefree at 2:43 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

also thanks to this post i am making bison arepas for dinner, yay
posted by poffin boffin at 2:45 PM on April 14, 2015

is a poffin a sandwich? a boffin should know!
posted by lalochezia at 2:46 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

What about a porterhouse steak served between two croutons?

What about stuffed French toast?

Is toad in the hole a minimalist egg sandwich?
posted by jedicus at 2:47 PM on April 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Cereal is a salad made of hundreds of tiny milk sandwiches.
posted by jedicus at 2:48 PM on April 14, 2015 [44 favorites]

The NYC sausage-egg-and-cheese-on-a-Kaiser-roll is the best thing breakfast time ever invented. Cheap and tasty! Also, you would think, easy to replicate, but such is not the case.
posted by grumpybear69 at 2:49 PM on April 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

The USDA needs a good smacking down, insisting that a sandwich contain at least 35% cooked meat. There's no fundamental property of a sandwich that is lost when one contains only vegetarian ingredients.
posted by evilangela at 2:49 PM on April 14, 2015 [8 favorites]

well probably not to a vegetarian but to FLESH EATERS it is a sad day indeed.
posted by poffin boffin at 2:50 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

why would you make a roast beef tutorial i mean what kind of person would feel the need to get inside a mind like that dogg
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:50 PM on April 14, 2015 [13 favorites]

Last night I had an ABC sandwich. That is: apples, bacon and cheddar with honey on french toast. It was holy shit amazing. I shall be calling for a meetup at that restaurant soon, so Triangle MeFites, be prepared.
posted by Rock Steady at 2:53 PM on April 14, 2015 [8 favorites]

Unsure of what is and isn't a sandwich? Why not go to the source?
posted by ckape at 2:54 PM on April 14, 2015

If any of you ever change planes at ORD, grab one of Bayless' tortas at T3-Gate K3 or T1-Gate B10. Best airport sandwich I've ever had.

I deliberately avoid certain airlines now so I can expense one of these babies on my way out of town or back home.
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:56 PM on April 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

These comments are certain to become a parade of "they forgot...", so I might as well add to the mix.

Whilst they made appropriate room for Chicago's "beef" -- hot, sweet, and wet, please -- they didn't cover what I think is the even more sublime but less well known Chicago sandwich staple: the egg and pepper. They're all over the place during Lent, but available and good year round, and for my money they're about the best hangover balm money can buy.

Also, whilst I can understand not including it, I still feel that the jibarito is distinct enough, and still clearly a sandwich in feel if not in form, to merit inclusion as well.

(Of course, my own personal favorite, which I jokingly call a "stink sandwich", probably justifiably didn't make the mix: liverwurst, limburger, and onions on dark rye, with a generous layer of mustard.)
posted by jammer at 2:58 PM on April 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

Now if only people could pronounce the word.

(It's not difficult!)
posted by Sys Rq at 2:59 PM on April 14, 2015

And here I thought the good doctor and I were the only people who connected through ORD just to grab tortas. *high-fives JoeZydeco*
posted by evoque at 2:59 PM on April 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

turbid dahlia: "You can't get crusty bread outside of New York?"

Not crusty hard rolls in that shape. Nope.
posted by octothorpe at 3:00 PM on April 14, 2015

It's good to know that I can add breakfast sandwiches to the list of things New Yorkers are irritatingly exceptionalist about.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 3:00 PM on April 14, 2015 [37 favorites]

Indeed, jammer, egg and pepper sandwiches and jibaritos were sadly left out. Definitely worthy of pantheon placement.
posted by me3dia at 3:01 PM on April 14, 2015

breakfast sandwiches...

Hey, where's the freaking McMuffin?!? That transcends the whole "egg and cheese" thing.
posted by JoeZydeco at 3:06 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

> Now if only people could pronounce the word.

What word? Sammich? as in "John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sammich?"
posted by jfuller at 3:06 PM on April 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

NOM I'm getting banh mi for lunch tomorrow!
posted by suelac at 3:10 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Um... kind of having a meltdown due to my intense need to be feasting on all of these sandwiches immediately
posted by the turtle's teeth at 3:11 PM on April 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Protip: if it starts with "Mc", it's probably not actually food.
posted by el io at 3:11 PM on April 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

It's okay to put this here, right?
posted by aka burlap at 3:12 PM on April 14, 2015 [6 favorites]

A Kaiser Roll is not a Hard Roll. Kaisers are soft and gummy while Hard Rolls are flakey and glorious and not available outside of the NYC metro area. And I miss them dearly.

and

The NYC sausage-egg-and-cheese-on-a-Kaiser-roll is the best thing breakfast time ever invented. Cheap and tasty! Also, you would think, easy to replicate, but such is not the case.


I was just lamenting how I haven't had a decent bacon egg and cheese on a roll in 15 years (since leaving NYC) and my girlfriend mocked me for having feelings about a sandwich.

I... I'm glad I found you guys.
posted by danny the boy at 3:12 PM on April 14, 2015 [7 favorites]

Not crusty hard rolls in that shape. Nope.

Is this the thing?
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:13 PM on April 14, 2015

It's good to know that I can add breakfast sandwiches to the list of things New Yorkers are irritatingly exceptionalist about.

Eh, maybe it's a sub-vs.-hoagie-vs.-poboy level of subtlety that's only interesting if you actually have the personal sentiment invested in it as is the case with any regional cuisine, but: there absolutely is a difference between the "egg and cheese on a roll" of New York vernacular cuisine and the "breakfast sandwich" or "McMuffin" or whatever is eaten in the rest of the country. I have spent a pretty good chunk of my life trying to negotiate an acceptable "egg and cheese on a roll" out of cooks in many other parts of the US. The difference is not imaginary, even if it is certainly arguable that it's the narcissism of small differences.
posted by RogerB at 3:14 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

And here I thought the good doctor and I were the only people who connected through ORD just to grab tortas. *high-fives JoeZydeco*

And about 1/5th of the time you do it for 24 hours if the weather is in your favor!
posted by srboisvert at 3:14 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Oh man, I want to love this but this taxonomy is crap! CRAP I SAY!

Why is torta a singular, but grilled cheese in the "sliced bread" category? For that matter why does dutch crunch get called a singular? (I know why, damn New Yorkers don't know what it is.) because they don't Why is the bread choice sort of the main taxonomy but bread types so limited? (rye is as different from white bread than a kaiser roll). Where's the bagels? Why do I care about this anyway?
posted by aspo at 3:14 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Last night I had an ABC sandwich. That is: apples, bacon and cheddar with honey on french toast. It was holy shit amazing. I shall be calling for a meetup at that restaurant soon, so Triangle MeFites, be prepared.

This looks pretty doable at home. I am intrigued.
posted by srboisvert at 3:18 PM on April 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

New Jersey Sloppy Joes are a deep, important, essential part of my childhood, despite not growing up anywhere near NJ. Some of my parents' best friends are originally from there, and taught them how to make the tastiest of all sandwiches, which they inexplicably called "Kosher Sloppy Joes," a name that persists in my family despite them being maybe the most un-kosher thing this side of Dr. Zoidberg (I guess because of the rye?)

Anyway. Go get some of those right now. Yes, you. Make 'em yourself, it's not hard. You owe it to yourself. Move your ass already!
posted by Navelgazer at 3:18 PM on April 14, 2015

Why is torta a singular, but grilled cheese in the "sliced bread" category?

Exhibit A:

Grilled Cheese
American or Cheddar on white sandwich bread, toasted in a skillet [...]

Exhibit B:

There are countless regional varieties, but a torta is usually made with one of two different types of rolls: either a bolillo (which sort of resembles a half-inflated Nerf football and is often hollowed out a bit to allow for more fillings) or a telera (which has three humps and is often toasted on a griddle first).

Seems pretty self-explanatory.
posted by Sys Rq at 3:19 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best sandwich I've had in a loooong time - BLT from a food truck in Colorado Springs. WaPo had this recipe, so I may try to replicate the deliciousness. This shcmancied-up BLT sounds very good. I was already hungry, why did I click on this post?
posted by theora55 at 3:20 PM on April 14, 2015

Sys Rq: And that's why bread type is a bad major taxonomy. A BLT on french bread is much closer to a BLT on white bread than a vegetarian or a meatball sub. A club sandwich on dutch crunch is a club sandwich, as is a club on white bread.
posted by aspo at 3:25 PM on April 14, 2015

if it starts with "Mc", it's probably not actually food.

I cracked enough raw eggs into iron rings over a 350F grill to know what's in a McMuffin. It's food.
posted by JoeZydeco at 3:25 PM on April 14, 2015 [24 favorites]

I'ma going to let y'all finish but we all know that my childhood favorite sandwich of peanut butter, pickles, and cheese is one of the best sandwiches of all time!
posted by jammy at 3:26 PM on April 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

turbid dahlia: "Not crusty hard rolls in that shape. Nope.

Is this the thing?"

Bingo. Can't find them in Orlando. And boy have I tried.
posted by Splunge at 3:29 PM on April 14, 2015

JoeZydeco: Okay, the eggs are real. But isn't the cheese 'American cheese'? Ergo: Not food.
posted by el io at 3:29 PM on April 14, 2015

Dutch Crunch rolls are a california thing? Huh.

Also, let me use this opportunity to ignite the ultimate flame war: New York bagels are second-rate.
posted by GuyZero at 3:31 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

It's good to know that I can add breakfast sandwiches to the list of things New Yorkers are irritatingly exceptionalist about.

Dude if you told me about some beloved sandwich that only exists where you live in the world, I wouldn't be like "fuck you and your bullshit sandwich asshole", I would be asking you nicely to mail me one.

Like if you gotta have feelings about a sandwich, maybe make them curiosity and wonder and not like sarcasm and bitterness.
posted by danny the boy at 3:33 PM on April 14, 2015 [29 favorites]

Does anyone else remember when Jackie from Roseanne picked up loose meat sandwiches while truck driving through Iowa, thereby inspiring Conner/Harris family restaurant The Lanford Lunchbox? No? Just me?
posted by Juliet Banana at 3:33 PM on April 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

New York bagels are second-rate.

Compared to what? Montreal bagels are the only thing that comes close, and they're going for a different enough kind of thing that comparing the two doesn't really make sense. Ditto for Jerusalem bagels.
posted by Itaxpica at 3:37 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Dutch Crunch isn't just a California thing, it's a Bay Area thing. Though that's changing, it's finally started to spread, because it's awesome, if a bit too sweet for my taste these days. I grew up within an hours drive on the Bay Area but had never heard of it until I moved here.
posted by aspo at 3:40 PM on April 14, 2015

Montreal bagels are the only thing that comes close, and they're going for a different enough kind of thing that comparing the two doesn't really make sense.

What exactly are New York bagels going for then? Being mediocre bagels? Yes, clearly Montreal-style bagels are superior.
posted by GuyZero at 3:41 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Chow Mein
Fried noodles and brown gravy are piled onto a hamburger bun. This southeastern Massachusetts specialty was born in Cantonese-American restaurants.

Chow mein sandwiches? Really? This is something worthy of sandwich "taxonomy", Sam?

No.
posted by helmutdog at 3:51 PM on April 14, 2015

clearly Montreal-style bagels are superior

According to the universal law of New York Exceptionalism, this - like the existence of pizza^TM with more than 4 toppings - is a literal impossibility.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:13 PM on April 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

Chow mein sandwiches? Really?

I grew up in SE MA and never saw anything like this. I think it's gotta be specific to New Bedford/Fall River.
posted by suelac at 4:14 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

But isn't the cheese 'American cheese'? Ergo: Not food.

oh good lord get over yourself already. it's fucking cheese, it's made from cow's milk, it's dyed orange, deal with it.
posted by poffin boffin at 4:15 PM on April 14, 2015 [29 favorites]

Dutch crunch will rip the hell out of the roof of your mouth. No good.
posted by Existential Dread at 4:16 PM on April 14, 2015

But isn't the cheese 'American cheese'? Ergo: Not food.

American cheese is a perfectly respectable cheese (though mild, unchallenging, and not very complex) and is a completely different thing from 'American' pasteurized process cheese.
posted by mudpuppie at 4:17 PM on April 14, 2015 [7 favorites]

I don't know, whole sausage links in hot dog style buns aree not sandwiches to me. I would never consider sausage and peppers or brats a sandwich. It's just wrong.
posted by Aranquis at 4:19 PM on April 14, 2015

Last week I stopped at a local place to treat myself to a Reuben (the best sandwich). When I got back to work I realized they gave me a chicken and bacon sandwich (tho it was on rye). It was OK but NOT what I was craving.
Sandwich regret is real and painful.
(I'll prob still go back there, it's the best local place, but I'll check before I leave!)
posted by maryrussell at 4:24 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

It can't be an accident that the article directly next to the 'American' pasteurized process cheese article linked above is titled: 5 Bodies That Refused to Rot.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:24 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

cheese beasts
posted by poffin boffin at 4:25 PM on April 14, 2015

American cheese is a perfectly respectable cheese (though mild, unchallenging, and not very complex) and is a completely different thing from 'American' pasteurized process cheese.

From your own link: "American cheese" is a mild, meltable, and stable concoction of natural cheese bits mixed with emulsifying agents to make, in the language of the law, "a homogeneous plastic mass." "Cheese foods" and "cheese product" are similar, but each have less "natural" cheese content than American cheese -- and, therefore, longer shelf lives.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:27 PM on April 14, 2015

I make a lot of sandwiches. Matter of fact it's the only cooking I do more or less. But my co-workers have looked at my lunch sandwiches and said "Where'd you get that?" Tommorrow's is cracked pepper turkey and provolone with horseradish and dill mayo on an onion roll.

(The best store sandwiches are Katz's pastrami on rye and Shorty's Roast Pork Special (pork, sharp provolone, broccoli rabe, au jus)
posted by jonmc at 4:34 PM on April 14, 2015

Hard Rolls are flakey and glorious and not available outside of the NYC metro area

I'm curious if they are similar to the hard roll I have seen only in Wisconsin - most typically sold in a half dozen with a pound of hot sliced ham on Sunday mornings. Both flakey and chewy, and wonderful.
posted by rtimmel at 4:36 PM on April 14, 2015

Au jus? More like awww yiss!
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:36 PM on April 14, 2015 [4 favorites]

Man, I know MeFi is cynical, I have been here for a decade, but, well, cynical about sandwiches?

You people are MONSTERS.
posted by blahblahblah at 4:37 PM on April 14, 2015 [7 favorites]

From your own link: "American cheese" is a mild, meltable, and stable concoction of natural cheese bits mixed with emulsifying agents to make, in the language of the law, "a homogeneous plastic mass."

That's how we have come to know it. What we know most familiarly as "American cheese" unfortunately shares a name with the American style of farmstead cheese that is similar to a British cheddar because it is made by the process of cheddaring. People are still making it, this American cheese.

I might not have chosen the best link, but there in fact an "American cheese" that is an actual made-from-real-milk cheese, made via an actual cheese-making process, and it is more similar to Swiss or Jack cheeses than it is to Kraft singles.
posted by mudpuppie at 4:45 PM on April 14, 2015

Protip: if it starts with "Mc", it's probably not actually food.

Now, my belief is the major benefit of chain food is that it's explicitly engineered to avoid food poisoning, but from my teen-aged years working in a McDonalds, I've taken away the knowledge that of all their products, at the time, an egg mcmuffin was composed of actual food. Butter. Egg. English Muffin. Canadian Bacon. Cheese.

Not really a whole lot to go wrong, and at the time at least ( mid 80's ) every ingredient was actual food.
posted by mikelieman at 4:51 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

The division of the world of sandwiches between "hot" and "not hot" is soooo much more important to me than this "type of bread" business.

Also, why "Field Guide?" Isn't that to help you identify something you see in the wild? This article, like, really does not do that. It doesn't even have pictures for most of them! COME ON.

I have concerns. Yet I'm still starving now.
posted by argonauta at 4:54 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

( Oh, and kimmelweck rolls FTW. )
posted by mikelieman at 5:01 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

This looks pretty doable at home. I am intrigued.

It would be very doable at home. I'm planning to try it myself.
posted by Rock Steady at 5:15 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

How do you guys pronounce "gyro"?

I say it "euro," my lifetime-Chicagoan bae (who also calls livingrooms "frunchrooms" and dog runs "gangways") actually pronounces it phonetically like Mr. Burns saying "gyroplane."
posted by Juliet Banana at 5:18 PM on April 14, 2015

"lamb butty"
posted by poffin boffin at 5:24 PM on April 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

How do you guys pronounce "gyro"?

I say it "euro," my lifetime-Chicagoan bae (who also calls livingrooms "frunchrooms" and dog runs "gangways") actually pronounces it phonetically like Mr. Burns saying "gyroplane."

YEE-ro.

What fuh thuck is a "frunchroom"?
posted by Rock Steady at 5:24 PM on April 14, 2015

"Frunchroom" is someone with a Chicago accent saying "front room." It's one of those weird words that people raised in Chicago have a noteworthy accent on, even if they normally don't talk like a Super Fan.
posted by Juliet Banana at 5:32 PM on April 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

A perfect sandwich is a thing of wonder. A dizzying balance of bread, filling, and condiment that marries the flavors of all while simultaneously highlighting the qualities of each. A perfect sandwich achieves a type of alchemy, transforming mere ingredients into a sublime whole, without quite shedding its blue collar nature. A perfect sandwich requires tension, and attention - and plenty of napkins. A perfect sandwich weighs as much as a small child and can only be made by very old people with stained teeth who know more about sliced meats and cured meats and pungent cheeses and unidentifiable pickled objects and baked goods made from oddly colored flours and yeasts raised like members of the family. A perfect sandwich may be served cold but only after it has been baked hot. A perfect sandwich is always served with a slice or spear or jar of pickle (whether one chooses to eat the pickle or not), and is best devoured in one sitting, washed down with a cold beer. These are facts.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:39 PM on April 14, 2015 [7 favorites]

(who also calls livingrooms "frunchrooms" and dog runs "gangways")

Canadian here. I know what a gangway is, and I know what a dog run is, but these are two very different things. (Maybe you were thinking catwalk? A catwalk is sort of like a gangway.)
posted by Sys Rq at 5:42 PM on April 14, 2015

Ergo: Not food.

Good lord but I'm tired of the thinly-veiled classicism on display in statements like this one.
posted by shakespeherian at 5:43 PM on April 14, 2015 [12 favorites]

Why is a hot dog not a sandwich but a lobster roll that goes in the exact same bun one? And don't the Italian chicken cutlet sandwiches always have hot peppers on them?


Also I need to go to Honolulu to get that mahi mahi sandwich in a taro bun.
posted by jeather at 5:49 PM on April 14, 2015

Ergo: Not food.

Good lord but I'm tired of the thinly-veiled classicism on display in statements like this one.

Thinly-veiled? "Ergo"? That there's Latin! Dang classicists!

What did the Greco-Romans ever do for cheese anyway, huh???
posted by Sys Rq at 5:51 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

"Hero" (as in "The Greatest American...")
posted by argonauta at 5:51 PM on April 14, 2015

I am the Count of the Monte Cristo.
posted by SPrintF at 5:59 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

⌘F arthur bryant ... um, nope, bit of a fail there. How about
⌘F smoked meat ... OH COME ON!

> I moved to montreal from NYC last year and I miss bodegas & BECs so much :(

Don't worry, that memory will be erased the first time you go to Schwartz's. Try the fat: it'll go through you like a fast prune through a short granny, but oh! the flavour.
posted by scruss at 6:02 PM on April 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Chicago sandwich staple: the egg and pepper

To me, those have always been peppers and eggs heroes, and they're at every pizza place, although I don't think too many people eat them anymore. I love em, though.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:07 PM on April 14, 2015

My Italian-American grandmother from Boston made amazing "peppahs-en-ecks" sandwiches.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:15 PM on April 14, 2015

Fails to include the horseshoe, which is like a croque monsieur and poutine had sex while covered in cheese sauce.

It was literally years before I figured out what it was because it's on every hole-in-the-wall diner menu around here but none of them explain it because everyone already knows what it is.

I'm making up for it by trying to eat my weight in them now. SO BAD AND YET SO GOOD.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:29 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

How do you guys pronounce "gyro"?

"Kebab".
posted by turbid dahlia at 6:33 PM on April 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

My congrats to It's Raining Florence Henderson for the most satisfying comment here yet. It was clever, erudite and complete. Just sublime. (Now I NEED to go make a decent sandwich. (with a Polish dill pickle. Ahhhhhh......)
posted by Seekerofsplendor at 6:33 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Fails to include the horseshoe, which is like a croque monsieur and poutine had sex while covered in cheese sauce.

I am struck with awe. This had to be created at 4am by a diner cook on a serious bender.
posted by Ella Fynoe at 6:55 PM on April 14, 2015

I can't call the article a failure but it does contain a flaw - it does not include the Italian Sub, with salami, ham and other meats, provolone, mozzarella or perhaps other cheeses, tomato, onion, maybe peppers, perhaps lettuce, drizzled with italian dressing - but the key is that is is laid out on the two sides of a split hoagie roll then toasted in a pizza oven until hot and toasted before being slapped together for crunchy crusty greasy goodness.
posted by tommyD at 7:00 PM on April 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Heating subs is just wrong. Unless they're meatball or sausage, then it's OK. But a standard salami, ham and capicola italian sub should be cold.
posted by octothorpe at 7:57 PM on April 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Fails to include the horseshoe, which is like a croque monsieur and poutine had sex while covered in cheese sauce.

How did I not know about this before and how do I get one?
posted by asterix at 8:26 PM on April 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Cream cheese and black olives on spelt bread or cracked rye, just to add to the recipes. Sprinkle on some bean sprouts.

I've had the same BEC guy (from Egypt, his sidekick is Mexican) outside my building for like a decade. We are pals. I tip good. My sandwiches are perfection itself. For me the secret is to get it on a surprisingly good croissant, although I do like a hard roll too on days they run out of the croissants.

And it's turkey bacon, no less -- no pork on my fork halal.

Fuck heart disease. I'd eat that sandwich as a last meal.
posted by spitbull at 8:30 PM on April 14, 2015

My gf recently moved to Midwood, in Brooklyn. Earlier this week we ran by the Dunkin Donuts so she could get a BEC and I could get a Sausage Croissant. This Dunkin, however, is kosher, of course.

I truly respect the location's duty to their clientelle. Still, "kosher" and "Dunkin" do not mix, IMHO.
posted by Navelgazer at 8:54 PM on April 14, 2015

Wait, what about the waffle sandwich?
posted by FJT at 9:07 PM on April 14, 2015

No mention of Louisville's Hot Brown? Or the hot roast beef (or turkey) sandwich?
posted by mhum at 9:42 PM on April 14, 2015

Dear Americans - please teach us abt this "sandwich" thing. Clearly no-one else in the world has any fucking idea.
posted by awfurby at 1:44 AM on April 15, 2015

I think the Sandwich From My Youth that I miss the most is the Italian Hoagie. No one up here seems to make it quite right. Extra hot peppers and vinegar, mmmm.

While we were all still in college and had just turned 21, we would spend the summers driving to Atlantic City and gambling until early hours of the morning. Each evening started at the White House sub shop for Italian hoagies. Very likely the best sandwich in South Jersey.
posted by backseatpilot at 5:39 AM on April 15, 2015

The NYC sausage-egg-and-cheese-on-a-Kaiser-roll is the best thing breakfast time ever invented. Cheap and tasty! Also, you would think, easy to replicate, but such is not the case.

Or there is the classic Jersey Breakfast Sandwich, which is Taylor Ham, egg and cheese on a Hard Roll, if you care to cross the river.

I did some breakfast cooking in a hospitality suite at a convention recently (electric griddle in a hotel suite) and had one of the guests look over the counter. "Is... is that pork roll?" he asked. "No, man," I told him, "That's Taylor Ham." He lit right up. "Does that mean those are actual hard rolls?" I affirmed that they were. At that point the New Jersey expatriate went and gathered some friends so they could all experience an actual Jersey Breakfast Sandwich.
posted by Karmakaze at 6:26 AM on April 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

No love for Primanti's-style sandwiches, eh?
posted by Chrysostom at 6:59 AM on April 15, 2015

Each evening started at the White House sub shop for Italian hoagies. Very likely the best sandwich in South Jersey.

White House subs are revelatory, even if you think you've eaten a truly great sub sandwich previously. Every time I'm in AC, I eat there, and take at least 2 giant subs to go.
posted by rachaelfaith at 7:00 AM on April 15, 2015

any of those ingredients wrapped in a tortilla...that's new mexico...
posted by judson at 7:14 AM on April 15, 2015

I am going to cast my vote for The Godmother (small, works - mild, no mayo, no mustard) at Bay Cities Deli as the best sandwich, but sandwiches are so wonderful it's one of the few things I don't think are worth arguing about. Just hold the mayo, please. Unless it's a BLT.

I wonder if people generally know that Smoked Gouda* is processed because it doesn't seem to offend people's sensibilities the way American cheese does.

*Not to be confused with Gouda Which Happens To Be Smoked, because unless you're buying it at Whole Foods or some such place it's almost certainly the processed (brown rind) kind.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:31 AM on April 15, 2015

The Front Range / Denver metro area does many styles of East Coast cuisine with signature Coloradan mediocrity (most notably pizza and bagels) but the one thing they do right here is breakfast burritos, which I'd say are arguably sandwiches. Because what you want, nay, need, on a hangover infested morning is a spicy blend of chorizo, green chile, scrambled egg, black beans and crisp home fried potatoes folded into a perfectly warm tortilla that's been lightly flattened / toasted on a panini grill.

preferably served with mimosas because yeah.
posted by lonefrontranger at 8:51 AM on April 15, 2015

I wonder if people generally know that Smoked Gouda* is processed because it doesn't seem to offend people's sensibilities the way American cheese does.

I did notice a smoked cheese I was looking at the other day was a pasteurized process cheese and chose a different smoked cheddar instead. It's not some big secret if a cheese is a cheese product or pasteurized process cheese; at least in the US, they're required to state it on that label. I'm not horrified by processed cheese (it's basically cheese mixed with cream cheese and stabilizers and flavorings, doesn't sound that different from the pimento cheese I make) but if I'm trying to make a bechamel or caramelize the top of a quiche I want to deal with a known variable, the sort of cheese recipes were developed around.

The most common smoked cheeses I see in supermarkets is Red Apple Cheese, and their smoked gouda seems to just be plain ole cheese someone threw in some cold smoke. It's also delicious. But, then again, for me, the melty salty rich yellow cheese on an Egg McMuffin is the perfect thing to balm a hangover.
posted by Juliet Banana at 9:47 AM on April 15, 2015

Also, about Dutch Crunch or Tiger Bread, I was raised in Central California and it was available to me but only from certain bakeries. It was delicious especially when fresh and crunchy. Grew up with bierocks/runsas, too. Did I mention fresh banh mi? Ah, being a child of a multicultural household has its advantages.

Here are some delicious sandwiches: cranberry sauce or preserves, brie and bacon; blue cheese, sliced pears and fig preserves; peanut butter & honey and a nice bacon, avocado, and fried egg.
posted by jadepearl at 4:33 PM on April 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

a nice bacon, avocado, and fried egg

AKA "Fat Times Three" (times four if you use mayo!)
posted by Daily Alice at 5:05 PM on April 15, 2015

I just realized there's no mention of Elvis' infamous favourite sandwich in here.

For shame NYT. For shame.
posted by GuyZero at 5:10 PM on April 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

More recent, in-depth NYT sandwich coverage:
- Build a better sandwich
- The right wine to drink with a sandwich
- Meat Hook Sandwich in Williamsburg
- A tuna sandwich with a touch of Italy
- Spreadable sausage to give your sandwich a kick
- This sandwich is worth the space in your carry-on
- The ice cream sandwich comes of age (???)
posted by xowie at 6:11 AM on April 16, 2015

I miss pimento cheese sandwiches. Well, I miss them when I am reminded of them.
posted by Kitteh at 8:28 AM on April 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

Ooh, I knew that "spreadable sausage" link was gonna be about nduja (en-do-ya). A meat preserver at the Chicago farmers markets sells it and it's incredible. I dotted potato slices with nduja, black pepper, and butter inside foil packets and threw them in a firepit once. They turned into crispy, smoked scalloped potatoes coated with a spicy orange grease reminiscent of chorizo and little tiny pockets of sausage.
posted by Juliet Banana at 9:03 AM on April 16, 2015

liverwurst, limburger, and onions on dark rye, with a generous layer of mustard

I am coming to your place for lunch RIGHT NOW

not joking, not even a little bit
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 11:03 AM on April 17, 2015

Mother-in-Law
Found only in Chicago: a cornmeal tamale is nestled on a hot dog bun and covered in chili.

Fucking what I want this immediately
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:40 AM on April 20, 2015 [1 favorite]