Sandwich spreads

"highly flavoured mush on toast" Matthew Fort

Let me say right away that I don't really 'do' sandwiches. Not proper sandwiches anyway. The closest I get to it is sardines on toast. I don't even own a sandwich toaster - although I should get one I think, because I really do love cheese and tomato toasties.

But then we don't often have suitable bread - the sliced rectangular kind shown here anyway.

I should also say that I actually started out with the idea of beginning yet another project - lunch in all its various guises, and alsmost immediately got waylaid by Nigel Slater and sandwiches - or more precisely sandwich spreads. So perhaps see this as a preamble to a series of articles about lunch.

That gorgeous photo above is of a Donna Hay recipe for Smashed avocado toast with soft-boiled egg. A modern Australian classic if ever there was one. And smashed avocado has to be one of the most popular sandwich spreads in the world nowadays. Can you buy it in jars? Yes you can - well in a tub anyway. So many questions there and a possible story which I shall save for another day.

Matthew Fort, in a Guardian article about Sandwich spreads provided several interesting recipes - Butter bean, pancetta and rosemary, Broccoli and anchovy ... but he began by reminiscing about those pastes you used to get in jars - his favourite was crab paste, which I also remember but I think I remember bloater most - another fish one. And in another detour I found a wonderful little advertising film from the 50s for the Shipham's pastes that I'm sure all the British of my generation remember. You can find it here - so nostalgic. So long ago. Another potential story there too.

Matthew Fort's point was that it was so much simpler back then, that your sandwich often only consisted of paste from a jar - or marmite, maybe a slice of cheese or tomato. You can still have very simple spreads of course - butter being the most basic. And did you know that the Americans consider spreading butter on bread somewhat weird? They use mayonnaise - mayo to them. Here in Australia of course Vegemite and peanut butter still rule the roost, with smashed avocado close behind. Maybe laughing cow cheese. The spread as the actual sandwich.

I should note here that, for this particular post I am talking about closed sandwiches - two slices of bread with a filling. And I do mean bread. Do not let me get diverted into tortillas, wraps, brioche, hamburger buns and so on. Not even rolls because then we move away from the original definition of a sandwich:

"an item of food consisting of two pieces of bread with a filling between them, eaten as a light meal." Oxford Languages

Because, even if you stick to bread there is still a vast array of options. Not that I'm talking about sandwiches per se here, although of course they will creep in - no - I'm talking about the importance of spreads.

Indeed why do you have to have a spread at all? Why not just put your salad, or your cold meat or slice of cheese between the two pieces of bread and leave it at that? Indeed, somewhat disappointingly Matt Preston seems to imply that this is all that is required:

"The rules of the sandwich are simple. It has to have a top and a bottom. The contents can be warm, but the bread itself cannot have been heated. White bread is generally best." Matt Preston

Well of course you can do that, but a suitable spread - and butter is particularly good at this - will prevent the bread from going soggy, And, of course, as well as that, it's all about texture:

"You take bread – something soft, spreadable and slightly salty – and marry it to something thin, fresh and crisp." Nigel Slater

"For me, sandwich perfection is just as much about texture as it is about flavour, and none better than when something soft and creamy teams up with something sharp and crisp." Ottolenghi (I think, although it could have been Nigel Slater too.)

But flavour/taste too surely?

"the quickest route to a memorable sandwich is a condiment that packs a wallop of flavor and effortlessly unites the bread with its fillings." Eater

Sometimes that wallop of flavour comes from the soft and creamy spread, sometimes it comes from the sharp and crisp element, or even the main thing in the middle . The trick is to have both textures whilst combining tastes in a beautiful marriage. And here I will turn to Nigel Slater again, because he seems to be a bit of a sandwich master - one could also say freak.

"What appeals to me is having something more interesting than butter or mayonnaise to spread on the bread. Ricotta with mint and chopped radish; a spicy apple chutney stirred through mayonnaise; grated beetroot folded though cream cheese with poppy seeds and a sprinkle of cider vinegar, perhaps."

This is his Pollock and salmon baguette - and yes baguette is counted as bread - because it is. This is how he describes it:

"This week I really went to town with a fish sandwich for lunch. Rather than butter, I made a spread like an adult-rated potted fish paste. (Hot smoked salmon and crème fraîche replacing the Shippams of my childhood.) The essential crunch came from curls of carrot which I crisped up in a bowl of iced water, though it could just have easily been radishes. Filled with fried fish (I used pollock), this was always meant to be a light lunch rather than a snack. Gloriously messy to eat and a mixture of hot, crisp, soft and refreshing, it hit every spot you could wish for."

All the required components in place - or alternatively his Boxing Day turkey sandwich, and here it's probably worth noting that somebody else mentioned that turkey was the best meat for a sandwich.

"a thin layer of turkey dripping in the bread; a few rashers of crisp bacon hot from the grill (a must); a trickle of cranberry sauce; a slice of stuffing from the bird and – please, please – a few wisps of mahogany-coloured skin from the bird's breast. There must, surely, be pickles. A tangle of shredded red cabbage; a spoonful of apple, onion or mango chutney; or an onion or two on the side."

Roll on Christmas.

So yes he has pretty carefully though out sandwich recipes, his first book Real Fast Food has a whole section dedicated to sandwiches, but if we are to believe him, when at home it's a simpler process, even sometimes a bought sandwich:

"I have a fondness for the cardboard-wrapped delights of the takeaway sandwich shop. Those layers of soft bread and peeping fillings have more appeal to me than that of simply convenience. At home I am more likely to make an open sandwich, adding a curl of smoked salmon or a fold of ham or whatever comes to hand in the fridge."

Do we believe him? He is after all a bit of a food snob. Ottolenghi, on the other hand is very definitely of the opinion that bought is not the right option:

"Even though the 10-minute queue for a lunchtime sandwich used to pass without mention, spending the same amount of time on reaching for a saucepan or turning on the oven at home can somehow feel illicit." Ottolenghi

Mind you the only 'closed' sandwich recipes I found from him were definitely not 10 minute wonders. However, several of his dips and pastes could definitely be used as your spread component.

These days, with the advent of dips, and pastes, pickles and chutneys on our supermarket shelves, we don't even have to make those more adventurous spreads ourselves. Mind you, you will find endless suggestions online.

As I said right at the beginning I don't often make 'proper' sandwiches, mostly because I'm lazy and/or we don't go on picnics. One of my book group companions makes truly gorgeous classic sandwiches - chicken, egg, ham, that sort of thing - the crustless ones - because that's another choice in the construction process isn't it? Crust on or not, to toast or not, what kind of bread anyway - thick or thin? It lends itself to a party really doesn't it? Just put out a whole lot of fillings, varieties of bread and a stunning selection of spreads and condiments and just let people have a go.

"I have never understood why a sandwich can't be a thing of beauty if we want it to be: the right bread for the filling; the introduction of imagination or whim; the decision to toast or not." Nigel Slater

Maybe I should start buying sliced bread and digging out the pickles and so on.