I normally have pretty basic tastes when it comes to sandwiches: meat, cheese, mayo, a spread of some kind and/or lettuce if I have some on hand. But it’s nice to throw in something different now and then.
Sticking to one or two ingredients (this is the dull men’s club after all) how do you all like to kick up your sandwiches a bit?
I’ll start-- it’s nothing crazy, but Aldi sells a Bavarian sweet mustard that’s a really nice step up from regular yellow mustard for a ham & swiss.
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Balsamic vinegarette does wonders to even something as simple as a bologna and cheese. It soaks into the bread nicely giving it a zesty flavor.
I don’t often do sandwiches, but a pickle is classic. Or maybe some crisps, or like a lot of lettuce.
For me the crunch is the juice
I’m not a man, can I still share?
Pickles. Specifically pickled onions and peppers. They make every sandwich so much better!
I do spinach in lieu of lettuce. It’s something.
I presume this is a very well-understood fact, but l also find that a sandwich prepared the day prior and given a night in the fridge before being carted to work is superior to one prepped and eaten immediately or only left in a lunchbox for a handful of hours from that morning. The bread softens up nicely as it passively takes on moisture from the spread and toppings.
Two things. On many sandwiches add a little hummus.
On grilled cheese sandwiches I like to put a little garlic salt on the outside.
I’ve done the garlic salt on grilled cheese before as well, but it’s been awhile!
Related… one thing my wife taught me is to use mayo in place of butter on the outside of the bread. It doesn’t change the flavor much but it browns nicely and helps crisp up the bread.
My go to “spices” that almost never fail are ketchup and/or Sriracha
I have been taking more or less the same sandwich to work for about ten years now. Whole grain bread, mayo, two slices of cheese (different kinds), and a bunch of lunch meat (usually turkey or chicken). Rarely, I’ll sub a good mustard in for the mayo. Or I’ll add tomato slices or avocado. A while back, my wife pickled some cucumbers so I had homemade pickles on my sandwiches. For a good while now since then, she’s been pickling jalapenos for me to put on the sandwiches.
If I didn’t have that, I’d probably reach for my spicy BBQ sauce or Sriracha from Underwood Ranch. They’re not paying me, but I really want them to succeed so I can keep buying their sauces. They got fucked over by that green cap rooster brand that makes Sriracha, so now instead of supplying their peppers to them, they just make their own shit and it’s amazing. They have a garlic pepper sauce that I blew through really quickly. That shit would probably slap on my sandwiches too, but it didn’t last long enough to try lol. It was good in mac and cheese though. And stir fry.
Is it weird that I try to make sure to say fuck somewhere whenever I recommend any specific product just to avoid any accusations of it being an ad? This isn’t an ad. Fuck Disney. Cum on a Big Mac. Shit on a Bugs Bunny plushie. There, now no corporation would want to be associated with this comment.
Warner Bros hate is a deep cut.
I’m a sandwich fiend too, with tastes similar to yours. In the pursuit of ever-increasing dullness, I’ve been trying to get away from eating nitrates every single day, and damned if all the grocery store brands of lunch meat aren’t packed with ‘em. Even the ones that say “no nitrates added” have an asterisk where they explain that yes, they do have added nitrates, but they’re produced the natural way, by putting celery sticks in particle accelerators.
Costco has deli-sliced turkey that fits the bill, but the sandwich doesn’t come out the same. It’s a different sandwich, really.
I may have to give up on nitrate avoidance. One person can only be expected to do so much.
It’s not too difficult to buy a pack of boneless skinless chicken breasts, prep them, throw them into the oven, cool them, and slice them up. That’s an option if you want a new little project to master which is also serving your function of healthier, fresher lunch meat.
Easy rundown: trim off and discard fat. Butterfly the breasts. Spray a sheet pan and put them on there. Either put Italian dressing or custom seasonings and white wine on the chicken. Throw the pan into the oven at 325°F until it hits 160°F (165 is food safe but residual heat will get it across the finish line). I’d set a timer for like 20 minutes and then temp and assess. It’s easier to slice up without tearing if the chicken has had a chance to cool down.
Thanks, this is a good tip and not the first time I’ve seen it, but despite being a pretty decent cook, meal prepping for the week has never been my thing. Maybe it’s time to turn a new leaf though.
I need pickles on all my classic sandwiches, including burgers and fries chicken
Sometimes, when I feel like treating myself, I’ll toast the bread.
That’s when I’m really fancy
This isn’t a “one extra ingredient” but this is as close an outlet that I’ll have for this sandwich I made for the first time over the summer.
Sear a ribeye on both sides, cut into strips and cook again in Japanese BBQ sauce.
Take some white bread, preferably milk bread, spread some Kewpie mayo on both pieces
Add kimchi to the bread that will be your sandwiches crown
Add the steak to the sandwiches heel
Close sandwich and enjoy
Roast beef, pepperjack cheese, lettuce, tomato, olives, pickles, sometimes mushrooms, on practically any kind of sandwich bread or burger bun.
I’m not usually into wheat bread though, but given all the other flavors combined, wheat bread works too.
Edit: I totally forgot the mayo, extra mayo for me. Failing any mayo, ranch dressing works for me too. But hey, to each their own…
Grill it!
Horseradish sauce will spice up pretty much any meat based sandwich that normally has mayo.
Roast beef, provolone and creamy horseradish sauce is so simple but so tasty
I’ve grown with years of a frozen bread/salami slice/bread sandwich for school break and later work lunch break. In winter it didn’t even thaw fully so eating frozen sandwich (I was preparing them in bulk). When told this to my wife she was appaled. Now I have my own (sourdough of course) wholemeal bread, some cured meat, homemade kimchi or sirarcha (or just mayo sometimes). Maybe roasted peppers or something similar if at hand (but it’s rare).
I like to add some chunks of brie cheese to my BLT. I make my PBJ with blueberry preserves instead of jelly.
I’m not a big tomato fan, but I’ve always felt BLTs need something in the cheese family. Brie sounds like a pretty solid option… definitely taking a note on that one!
Just be judicious in pruning the rind - ammonia flavor lurks there. Another great sammie - thin sliced beef, brie and horseradish on a baguette (sprinkled with capers) served cold. Argh, this is now becoming much less dull.
