Is There Anything Better Than a Tomato Sandwich

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
1

When July rolls around, peak tomato season starts here. Too much rain this year but occasionally I have gotten the real thing.
That perfectly ripe delicious tomato.

Is their any better way to eat it than on a tomato sandwich? Dukes Mayo is a necessity. A little salt and pepper.

Delicious. My favorite summer simple pleasure.

2

Probably one with a fat piece of beef in it with the tomato :smiley:

3

I like mine with a drizzle of high quality olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar.

4

I was going to say +bacon +lettuce

5

From a 2002 Julia Child interview:




KING: What about a dish? Would it be appropriate to have, you know, a Julia Child salad, or Julia Child …

CHILD: I just love a fresh ripe - red, ripe tomato. I think there couldn’t be …

KING: That’s good enough.

CHILD: … anything better. That’s good enough.

KING: But when you want it sliced, you want it served in a Julia Child salad? Or do you just want it served …

CHILD: I’d like it on a nice big piece of white bread slathered with Hellman’s mayonnaise, and then slices of that ripe tomato on top of it. And just …

KING: And what should we call it?

CHILD: … eat it with a knife and fork. You can call it the Julia Child tomato sandwich.

6

Turn it into bruschetta instead! Heat olive oil up gently with crushed garlic to allow the garlic to permeate the oil and then drizzle all over the bread. Or use homemade pesto. Top with chopped or sliced tomatoes, salt, cracked pepper and fresh or dried basil. Buffalo mozzarella cheese slices optional. Enjoy!

7

Recently (at Aragosta, in Stonington ME, which is a great resto, and right on the harbor) as a main course* I had tomato with tempura eggplant slices in a “tower”, with some kind of pesto, and greens on the side. It was fabulous, everything local, completely fresh and vry tasty.

*I wanted something light.

8

Don, I agree, with the caveat that I, like Julia, choose Hellman’s. This is also the highest and best use of plain old supermarket white bread. A good tomato may benefit from bacon, or good bread, or toasted bread. But a perfect fresh tomato is best with no distractions and can’t be enhanced. The same goes for perfect freestone GA or SC peaches and perfect cherries. Good can be improved, but perfection, by definition, cannot.

9

Graduate school in Oxford, Ohio, at the Bagel and Deli: bialys bagel with crean cheese, colby, steamed, topped with fresh tomato.

10

This weather is absolutely torturing our poor tomato plants. They are being roasted every day. I’m not sure we’re going to get many. This thread reminds me of that sad fact…

11

That’s a proper and delicious sandwich. [cheers.gif] + Glass cru Beaujolais or fine dry Rose.

12

Heresy.

You think the sugar adds something, Mike?

13

I’ve never seen Duke’s out here, but I switched from Hellman’s/Best Foods to the Trader Joe’s brand. No sugar, and more lemony than Hellman’s.

14

I would add a single fresh picked basil leaf.

15

I like them simply sliced, with salt.
My Grandpa, all 95 years of him, likes to eat them right off the vine, like an apple. It is one of his simple pleasures

16

Mike,
I totally agree on this being the highest use of supermarket white bread. My favorite was the old Merita bread which I think now is Colonial? Sunbeam works fine. I have been known to bastardize my principles here and use a multigrain bread from Publix. Maybe my guilty conscience for using the mayo?

17

You’re not the Lone Ranger. I’m euthanizing my plants. No more watering and calling it a day. I planted about 15 plants. Total yield was about 3 lbs. An Epic Fail! The same number, in the same location, gave a big yield last year. Every time I have a good tomato, or think about tomatoes, I’m pissed.

If going sandwich route, I need some bacon and lettuce. But my favorite way to have a tomato is caprese style with some burrata, basil, evoo, and good balsamic.

18

Pure perfection - http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGHP_enUS467US467&q=round+tomato+sandwiches#rlz=1T4GGHP_enUS467US467&sclient=psy-ab&q=round+tomato+sandwiches+vicksburg&oq=round+tomato+sandwiches+vicksburg&gs_l=serp.3..33i29i30.3865.4986.1.5907.2.2.0.0.0.0.117.196.1j1.2.0....0...1c.1.22.psy-ab..1.11.1034.tgvo5G16rlU&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&fp=8d8c8b0a33e7a34e&biw=1642&bih=742, and excuse me for gilding the lily.

Homemade mayonnaise is a must. Forget Hellman’s and Duke’s.

19

I can’t get on board with the plain white bread. I like toasted sourdough but any good bread is okay with me. I like whole wheat levain or Italian style loaves with tomatoes too.

My vegetarian daughter loves tomato sandwiches with the Fromage D’Affinois that is widely available now (even at Safeway), and grilled cheese and tomato with good Gruyère.

Then of course there’s Burrata. I rarely get the real thing but there’s one made in CA that is sold at Whole Foods here and I’ve been pretty happy with it.

20

Maybe Gioia brand. It’s produced in ElMonte, an inland burb of L.A. by a guy from Puglia. The key to good burrata is to eat it within 2-3 days of production. There’s a noticeable difference if one buys it right at their facility.