Some foods require a beautifully set table. This classic tomato sandwich recipe requires a kitchen sink. Lee Bailey understood this better than anyone.
“Roll up your sleeves, and commence to eat over the kitchen sink while the juice runs down your elbows.”
Lee was a friend of mine, and in many ways I followed him by writing about food. He made food feel important without making it precious. His cooking was stylish but relaxed, rooted in generosity, appetite and the pleasures of the season. His books were never simply collections of recipes. They were invitations into a life of gardens, friends, welcoming rooms and tables that looked beautiful without appearing labored over. He understood that food writing is not only about what we eat. It is about where we are, who is with us and how one taste can recall an entire season. A tomato sandwich does exactly that.
WHY A TOMATO SANDWICH BELONGS TO AUGUST
This is not a sandwich to make in January. No amount of mayonnaise or
wishful thinking can rescue a pale winter tomato. This is August food, reserved for the moment when tomatoes are heavy in the hand, warm from the sun and so ripe their skins seem barely capable of containing them. A tomato like that needs very little: soft white bread, mayonnaise, salt and black pepper. Anything more risks turning perfection into a construction project.
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST TOMATO SANDWICH
Choose the ripest tomato you can find. A large beefsteak is ideal, although flavor matters more than pedigree. Keep it out of the refrigerator and slice it generously. Thin slices slide out of the bread and deny you the lushness that makes the sandwich worthwhile.
The bread should be soft and preferably untoasted. This is not the occasion for a heroic sourdough crust or seven ancient grains. The bread’s job is to yield to the tomato and absorb its juices.
Spread mayonnaise generously on both slices, taking it all the way to the edges. Season the tomato directly with salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Close the sandwich and wait one minute, allowing the tomato, mayonnaise and bread to begin their happy collapse. Then pick it up with both hands, lean forward and follow Lee’s advice.
There are meals that ask us to behave beautifully. A proper August tomato sandwich asks only that we recognize perfection while it is still in season.
THE CLASSIC TOMATO SANDWICH RECIPE
Lee Bailey knew that a proper tomato sandwich should send juice running down your elbows. This is the gloriously simple August sandwich worth waiting for.The Tomato Sandwich Best Eaten Over the Sink
Ingredients
Directions
Cook’s Notes
- Use tomatoes at room temperature. Refrigeration dulls their flavor.
- Soft bread is essential. An aggressive crust turns a gloriously messy sandwich into a structural dispute.
- Toasting the bread makes a neater sandwich, but not necessarily a better one.
- The recipe can be multiplied, but tomato sandwiches should be assembled only moments before serving.
MORE FRESH TOMATO RECIPES FOR SUMMER
https://chewingthefat.us.com/2024/08/tomato-bread-pudding.html
https://chewingthefat.us.com/2024/11/dumpling-tomato-salad-with-chili-crisp-vinaigrette.html
