The making of a tomato sandwich is a strange rite, right? For gardeners, it’s the acknowledgment that all the work sowing, planting, watering and pruning your precious tomatoes has been worth it. For farmers market shoppers and culinary fiends, making a tomato sandwich signals the season of abundance, when you can have your pick of sturdy heirloom slicing tomatoes amid the technicolor jumble of squash, zucchini, green beans and watermelon.
A tomato sandwich is by definition very simple. You need just three ingredients — ripe tomatoes, good mayo and bread. The best tomatoes for sandwiches are the kind called slicers. For a gardener, these are the widely available Better Boy tomatoes and heirloom varieties like Mortgage Lifter and Brandywine. The fruit is sliced thin and salted before placing on the sandwich. The mayonnaise can be your favorite brand, but I consider the Southern brand Duke’s to be the classic choice.
Over time, my tomato sandwich preference changed, but in only one key ingredient – the kind of bread. I was raised on Bunny bread, perfect loaves of squishy white bread. Bunny is a brand, but I still call squishy white bread “bunny bread.” The problem with a tomato sandwich made with bunny bread is that the juicy tomatoes obliterate the bread, breaking it down into a lumpy dumpling of dough.
These days, I prefer rustic bread loaves like artisan sourdough from the farmers market, or a store-bought baguette for my tomato sandwich ritual.
Here’s the step by step for a proper tomato sandwich:
1. Assemble ingredients
Bread, Duke’s mayonnaise and salted, sliced tomatoes
2. Spread Mayonnaise on Bread
Spread an even layer from border to border on both slices
3. Layer on the Tomatoes
Cut in half, if needed
4. Place Lid on Sandwich. Eat.
Mangia.
This is not typically the drippy “stand over the kitchen sink” type of tomato sandwich. But you may want to have a plate and napkin to catch any juicy bits.
Enjoy! And let me know about your favorite version of the proper tomato sandwich in the comments.
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