Thrilling fillings

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Posted at 3:06PM, 12 April 2011 by Stuart Walton - Food and wine writer

What are you having for lunch today? Yep, me too. Same yesterday and same tomorrow no doubt. There's no point in wondering why the sandwich took over our lives as midday sustenance - the answer is so obvious. It's the original and ultimate convenience food, requiring little effort, no imagination and no cooking, and yet millions of us can't even be bothered to make them ourselves.

There's no point in buying a sandwich unless it's more interesting than one you could make yourself.

I start out from the principle that there's no point in buying a sandwich unless it's more interesting than one you could make yourself. So perhaps I'll slice baby plum tomatoes onto pastrami from the deli, add some colourful salad leaves, then whip up an instant mustard mayonnaise with Hellmann's and Dijon, pepper it, and clag the whole thing together. Or I'll thickly slice some of Sunday's leftover roast beef, plonk it on floury wholemeal, spread with spicy chutney, throw some rocket and tomato in there, and then - the pièce de résistance - slather the other slice of bread with creamy, spreadable, dirty-blue Gorgonzola. Yum. Or then again, perhaps I'll just buy another BLT from M&S.

The first and worst thing about shop sandwiches is that they're too cold. If you only buy it at lunchtime, you're eating it in its most blandly refrigerated state, tasting more or less of nothing. The same is true if you queue for half-an-hour to have one made up before your very eyes at the deli counter. All those tubs of mayonnaisey stuff look so tempting, but often turn out to be underseasoned and dull - and of course, fridge-cold.

When I worked in an office, I made a sandwich in the morning to take in with me. At least it was the right temperature, and it saved oodles of money. Now I have access to my kitchen all day, but do I whip up some pasta, warm some soup, or make a salad? No, mostly I just make another sandwich. Perhaps it's the carbo-bulk that's decisive.

I quite often buy sandwich filler, though I don't know why. The simple egg mayonnaise is useful for adding the essential wadding element to a sandwich of leftover bits of smoked salmon. But more often than not, I end up adding nothing more to it than a twist of pepper.

There are things called sandwiches in the cheap supermarket near me that consist of two thick white pieces of something spongy with a single thin line of something pink between them. Who spends money on those? They look even worse than train sandwiches, which are even more refrigerated than supermarket sandwiches.

A few years ago, I went to the legendary Katz's Deli in New York, and had a beef brisket sandwich made up by a man in a white hat. He carves the warm meat, crams it inches thick onto your choice of bread, adds whatever pickles tickle your fancy, and then hands it to you on a paper plate, averting his eyes while you drop some loose coinage into the tips cup. 'Thank you, sir!' When I could get my moosh round it, it was a great sandwich. But still somehow just a sandwich.

Are you in a sandwich rut? Could there be another lunchtime favourite waiting in the wings?

Comments

Morrissv1

14 April 2011, 10:41AM
Morrissv1

With many workplaces equiped with kitchens these days its just as easy to take in leftovers that were made for dinner the night before. My partner works full time so his brain needs good nutrition, sandwhiches can be nice if home made, but nothing is more satisfying than some curry and rice with a cheeky nan bread or sliced roast chicken with a nice salad. For the effort, time and money to make a bit extra at dinner means my hubby is always smiling at lunch time and when he comes home from work and see's what for dinner, its no effort for him to put what he wants in his lunch box ready for the next day. Doing lunches this way means those awful shop bought triangle sandwhiches never get a look in!

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Boo

16 April 2011, 8:11PM
Boo

good one

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VikCakeStar

24 April 2011, 3:22PM
VikCakeStar

High street sandwiches are now just another way for big companies to make money out of selling hidden fats, sugars and salt to the public. I'd advise anyone to READ THE LABELS or you may end up eating the equivalent of a big mac and fries every day without realising!

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Reggie cat

28 April 2011, 11:27AM
Reggie cat

Can't beat toasted sandiwch filled with peanut butter and banana! Best ever treat breakfast

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Marmite Mum

7 May 2011, 8:19PM
Marmite Mum

I never buy sandwiches even though I make 4 lunch boxes every day. We never have sandwiches/ filled rolls / bagels etc. more than once a week as there are so many other easily prepared foods to have instead. A cold pasta salad with pesto, sun dried tomatoes, mozarella, pine nuts, some chopped yellow pepper, or whatever you fancy, can be made the night before and a handful of baby salad leaves chucked in next morning. Cheese scones and a bowl of home made vegetable soup is another favourite, as they can be prepared in bulk and the extras frozen to be used another week (just take them out the night before you want them and reheat in the microwave when you want to eat). I also bake, slice and freeze cakes so we can a have something different every day rather than having to finish up one cake at a time.

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warlix

7 May 2011, 10:05PM
warlix

A fair point but I never "just" go for a sandwich at work because I can't stand the same old thing. I always have work during the lunch hour and rarely have time to make food in the morning beforehand, so I keep variety going by buying cheap salads, pasta pots and sushi. You can get all these things for a Â£1 and that's only Â£6 a week on a full time job, not too costly. If I do have time to make a lunch, I'll just do it the night before. I plan on making a delicious farfalle pasta salad, with peppered tuna, spring onion, spinach leaves and a garlic dressing; best bring some toothpaste with this lunch though!

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