The Cut of the Sandwich

[BetD]

What's more important to me is that, when fully assembled, the pieces of bread-type-material is aligned so that it is exactly as it was before anything was put inside.

In other words, the sides that were touching each other originally are still facing each other each other, and that all shape features are aligned (an indent/slit in the top crust is aligned on both halves), etc. And if I'm making multiple sandwiches, bread pieces must stay with their pair.

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well...... YEAH..... it's just wrong to do it any other way! The very fabric of the universe is in danger of unraveling if we don't pay attention to details like this (I am so with you on this one)

Once the bread is properly arranged, I am a diagonal slicer. I think it just is easier to eat this way, but it just might be leftover childhood rebelllion against my across slicing mother.

[HungryChris]

It's funny, but I have my diagonal sammies as well as my straight across ones. Just tonight I had a liverwurst with mayo and onion on a fresh bread that was so soft that I couldn't risk the diagonal cut, but went for the straight across. This brings me to another issue for which I have had eyes rolled at me countless times.

I am a firm believer that in the grand scheme of things there are sandwich contents that should never come in contact with other ones. For example, if you were to examine a sandwich from top to bottom, layer by layer, a proper sandwich could have bread or toast, mustard, meat or cheese, some veggie like lettuce, cuke or tomato then mayo then bread. Never, ever mustard on the veggie side or mayo on the meat side. Cheese is the one exception to the rule as it goes with both mustard or mayo. Hey it's the law of the universe, everyone should be aware.

HC

[srhcb]

Any preferences at your place?  Or, do you prefer them not cut?

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Personally, diagonal. But for the grandkids, (actually GF's), aged one and four, (who never eat the crust anyway), I cut them into animal shapes with cookie cutters and eat the outside edges myself.

[SundaySous]

As I prepped some awesome sandwiches tonight (toast, mayo, grilled chicken, chipotle bacon, lettuce and cherokee purples), I asked if the folks in my family wanted them cut.

There was not a single "yes, just cut it."  Rather "Diagonal" (son), "straight up" (hubby) and "straight across" (daughter).

When I asked about it, hubby said his "straight up" was because that was the way he always had it.  Diana wanted hers that way because it's opposite of the norm.

Peter want's his diagonal because he can eat the top crusty part first and then the bottom crusty part with the second half, and that way, I can't steal the top crusty part before he gets to it ( ).

I am a diagonal person, but vary whether I eat the top or bottom portion first.

Any preferences at your place?  Or, do you prefer them not cut?

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I saw on some cooking show that some railroad found the ingredients stayed put better if they used a diagonal cut. Who knew?

[Terrasanct]

But it seems that some sandwiches, if cut on the diagonal, will lose stuff at the corners. Bacon is especially prone to falling out.

And I agree that the mustard shouldn't be on the veggie side; it just doesn't work. But no mustard on leftover Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches.

[hjshorter]

I am a firm believer that in the grand scheme of things there are sandwich contents that should never come in contact with other ones. For example, if you were to examine a sandwich from top to bottom, layer by layer, a proper sandwich could have bread or toast, mustard, meat or cheese, some veggie like lettuce, cuke or tomato then mayo then bread. Never, ever mustard on the veggie side or mayo on the meat side. Cheese is the one exception to the rule as it goes with both mustard or mayo. Hey it's the law of the universe, everyone should be aware.

I was with you up until the cheese part. Cheese ALWAYS goes next to the mustard, and mayo next to the vegetables. So: bread, mayo, lettuce, tomato, meat, cheese, mustard, bread. (My husband thinks I'm insane about this.)

Tall sandwiches (BLTs, clubs): four square, middle in. Gotta eat the bacon with care, so you want to see it, and the bread often isn't very good, so once you're out of mayo, leave the crusts.

Almost right. Diagonal, then into triangles, with a toothpick in each triangle. Edited September 11, 2007 by hjshorter (log)

[mojoman]

For sammies with slices of bread that are roughly square (e.g. Wonder Bread), I like to cut it diagnally.

For sammies made with rolls or baguette, I like it cut into straight sections or whole, depending on the size of the bread. I do not like that very thin triangle that they cut Cuban sandwiches into.

[NancyH]

Who cares how the sandwich is cut? As our hero Henry Reed said in the classic children's book Henry Reed's Babysitting Service to the unruly child, for whom he was making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (and who whined because he cut it "wrong"): "It's all in little pieces by the time it gets to your stomach."

[potsticker]

Who cares how the sandwich is cut?  As our hero Henry Reed said in the classic children's book Henry Reed's Babysitting Service to the unruly child, for whom he was making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (and who whined because he cut it "wrong"):  "It's all in little pieces by the time it gets to your stomach."

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For us obsessive compulsive ones - it matters. It's life or death, I tell you...LIFE OR DEATH.

[markk]

What's more important to me is that, when fully assembled, the pieces of bread-type-material is aligned so that it is exactly as it was before anything was put inside.

In other words, the sides that were touching each other originally are still facing each other each other, and that all shape features are aligned (an indent/slit in the top crust is aligned on both halves), etc. And if I'm making multiple sandwiches, bread pieces must stay with their pair.

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well...... YEAH..... it's just wrong to do it any other way! The very fabric of the universe is in danger of unraveling if we don't pay attention to details like this (I am so with you on this one)

Well, absolutely. I sometimes am halfway through making sandwiches and have to stop and re-examine the bread to be sure that I lined it up correctly to work; if the slices were flipped left to right and the indents didn't line up when I closed it after condimenting, I for one would not be able to eat, or serve the sandwich. Could anybody, really?

By the way, I love all the comments that have to do with stuff falling out of the sandwich. I hope I'll be forgiven for posting this (I've posted it once or twice before), but no matter how you'd have sliced this sandwich, how the heck does it not all fall out when you cut it or eat it?

[NimaCooks]

I also open up and rearrange purchased sandwiches.

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You mean there are people who just eat them the way they come?

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haha, that's great. In addition to being a "sandwich rearranger", I am also a fan of the diagonal sandwich cut whether eating sliced loaf bread or a hoagie roll. Since I tend to overfill my sandwiches, I have better luck keeping the food between slices and am able to eat more neatly with the diagonal cut. Plus, I just feel like it looks more appealing than a straight across cut.

[NimaCooks]

What do you all do when one of the slices is smaller, nearer the end of a purchased loaf? And in that vein, does anyone eat the last slice, the one with the white side/brown side?

Here in France, they have a great bread called pain polaire they use for making sandwiches, and to which I am addicted. If round, it gets cut in half to form a half-circle, usually with three pieces stacked. But most common, of course, is the baguette. No cutting. People eat sandwiches as long as their forearm. (I'm not a big fan, I have to admit...)

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We always called the end piece (white side/brown side) the heel. Growing up, money was too tight to waste it, so it was eaten with much complaint. My husband refuses to eat it and I would rather not. I save them for bread crumbs.

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Being the "crust-ophile" that I am, I usually make a mini PB&J sandwich for myself with the end pieces. PB on one half, raspberry on the other and fold. It makes a great snack. Otherwise I'll just spin it in the processor for breadcrumbs.

[viva]

Doesn't it depend on the bread and the dimensions of the loaf?

Baguette - straight up & down

Wide loaf - straight up & down, cutting the width in half (because if you did it on the diagonal the individual sandwich triangles would not be isosceles triangles)

Standard grocery store square loaf - diagonal (eating the triangle with the top crust first)

Open faced sandwich - no slice at all

And I, too, am a sandwich re-assembler. Shocking how many places put the fillings in the wrong order and in the wrong ratio.

[markk]

The "sandwich rearranging" thing amazes me. It presupposes that you have bought a sandwich that is already assembled. I could never eat a sandwich that wasn't made in my line of sight, so that I could bark and scream at them and stop them as they were about to place something in the wrong position.

As far as cutting those I make, it's a spur of the moment thing. It depends on how the sandwich looks to me, and what the plating is like.

Then again, I'm the person who never remembers where I keep things when I unpack groceries, and subsequently find things like ketchup in five different places in my kitchen.

[JEL]

i could never cut a grilled cheese sammich .

the velveeta runs everywhere....

oh, it doesn't.....