My Favorite Summer Sandwich
Tomato heaven! 🍅
Summer is in full swing and over here in Asia I have recently become very homesick for certain foods.
The (2) at the top of the list are:
Sandwiches
Salad
While I’m in heaven for all things noodles, dim sum, clay pot rice and seafood everywhere… salads and sandwiches aren’t a big thing over here and I have found no proper establishments to scratch that itch for me which puts the onus on me to satisfy my craving at home by making for myself.
Given that both sides of my family have deep Southern roots and it’s now July… summer vegetables have been running through my mind and bringing memories of my late great-aunt’s Marinated Vegetables (see recipe):
But the biggest craving that has been driving me non-stop is that perfect Summer Tomato Sandwich.
This is one of the iconic Southern bites that is only achievable in the summer months when tomatoes are at their peak ripeness.
While the recipe is “simple” the quality of tomato and ratio of ingredients is what truly makes this memorable and craveworthy.
If your tomatoes are dense, mealy and flavorless… expect to be disappointed. Having said that, most cities and towns these days have farmers markets or other specialty markets that should have really nice tomatoes.
Perfect Tomato Sandwich Building:
Which Tomato?
First things first, the most important element of this sandwich is the tomato you use.
While I have my personal favorites, the rule of thumb is that the best tomato for this sandwich is the tomato that is most ripe and available to you.
My personal favorite for this sandwich are Cherokee Purple tomatoes. At peak ripeness they have a delicate sweetness that is elevated by a wonderful backbone of natural acidity that makes these tomatoes wonderful to enjoy raw. They also don’t have a high seed to flesh ratio, they are quite beefy so you don’t have a large amount of water content lost when slicing and building.
Given that I’m over on the other side of the planet, I found some really nice beefsteak tomatoes that were perfectly ripe.
Whatever tomato you use, the flesh should be just soft and yielding to the touch; no hockey pucks. Try and avoid tomatoes that are already bruising which means the cell structures are already damaged and becoming mushy.
Note: please do not store tomatoes in the refrigerator. This destroys the flavor and texture. Keep at room temperature and use ideally within a day or so of buying if at peak ripeness.
How Thick?
Many people will cut their tomatoes in slices approx 1/2 inch thick and shingle them on the bread.
I prefer a big thick slice of tomato that looks, and almost eats like, a steak. When you have nice ripe tomato the thick cut allows you to fully enjoy the entire essence of the tomato.
I go for 1-1.5 inch (more towards 1.5). This also helps with the bread to tomato ratio which we will address shortly.
To Salt or Not To Salt?
While there are debates about toasting bread vs untoasted one thing is clear. The perfect tomato sandwich can be ruined if it ends up falling apart halfway through eating because the bread is waterlogged and turns into a paste. 😑
Cutting the tomatoes thick as described above reduces the surface area of liquid that you would get by having double the number of slices exposed and sitting on your bread. In addition, I like to season the sliced tomatoes liberally with sea salt and let them sit on a wire rack for 10-15 mins; flipping them half way through.
This accomplishes (2) key things.
The salt will pull some of the water out of the tomato meaning less chance for a soggy sando (save this liquid for adding into salad dressings, for example)
The salt will season the tomato meaning each bite will be perfectly seasoned.