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Adding flavor to my usual lunch sandwich

Matthew.Taylor

By Matthew.Taylor
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Matthew.Taylor

Matthew.Taylor

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Ok, for years I’ve brought a normal turkey sandwich with me for lunch. Turkey breast, cheese, mayo. It worked for a long time.

 

But now I’m getting bored. So I need some advice on flavoring it up, I’ve tried adding some chipotle mayo today, that may help, but I’m open to any advice. New cheese? Different bread (done crunchier bread would be nice.)!

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TdeV

TdeV

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Posted

I just bought some microgreens which are 7 seeds. Unfortunately they did not label the packet they sold me, so I can't say exactly. I think kale, broccoli, sprouts, leek.

 

Are you making your own mayo? After thinking about it for years and years, I started making my own mayo about a year ago. An amazing difference! And you could flavour the mayonnaise differently every time you made a batch.

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Matthew.Taylor

Matthew.Taylor

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Posted (edited)
16 minutes ago, TdeV said:

I just bought some microgreens which are 7 seeds. Unfortunately they did not label the packet they sold me, so I can't say exactly. I think kale, broccoli, sprouts, leek.

 

Are you making your own mayo? After thinking about it for years and years, I started making my own mayo about a year ago. An amazing difference! And you could flavour the mayonnaise differently every time you made a batch.

No I’m not. Right now I don’t really have the time for that. 
 

Sone greens might be nice though.

Edited by Matthew.Taylor (log)
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weinoo

weinoo

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Posted
1 hour ago, Matthew.Taylor said:

Ok, for years I’ve brought a normal turkey sandwich with me for lunch. Turkey breast, cheese, mayo. It worked for a long time.

It took you years?!

 

Well, how about ham? Roast beef? Chicken?

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

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blue_dolphin

blue_dolphin

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For a ton of sandwich ideas, I heartily recommend Max Halley's Max's Sandwich Book: The Ultimate Guide to Creating Perfection Between Two Slices of Bread (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

Both the author and the book are very entertaining and it has pages of mayo variations (which can be made from scratch or by mixing in to mayo from your store-bought jar) but if you're not interested in investing in a sandwich book just to amp up your turkey sandwich, I'll share Max's secret to deliciousness - every sandwich should contain these 6 things:

  • hot - The warm item may not be particularly handy if you're packing a sandwich and eating on the run but if you're using nice roast turkey, packing it separately and warming it gently in a microwave or toaster oven with a bit of broth definitely amps up a sandwich.  Max is not a fan of cheese on sandwiches unless it's going to get warm and melty so sliding the cheese-topped bread into the toaster oven or broiler is another way to get a warm note.
  • cold - Mayo is almost always going to be cool or cold, same with pickles.  
  • sweet - A relish can be both sweet and sour. Ditto pickled onions.  Adding mustard and or hot sauce to jam makes a good sandwich condiment.
  • sour - This can be as simple as a squeeze of lime or sprinkle of vinegar and might well be incorporated in one of the other ingredients like pickled veg. One of Max's mayo mix-ins is malt vinegar and it certainly amps up the mayo. I've made the piccalilli from the book and it's great on sandwiches as is sauerkraut or kimchi
  • crunchy -  Some options for crunch are bacon crumbles, pork rinds (scratchings, chicharrones, scrunchions or whatever you call them) potato stix, French fried onion rings that come in a can, any kind of flavored potato chips, kale chips or deep fried ramen noodles or sweet potato starch noodles.  
  • soft - Often this will be your meat or a spread.  Guacamole, hummus, peanut butter, egg, avocado, even butter are all soft elements

As far as bread goes, Max is a big fan of focaccia for sandwiches and I agree. I like to make my own, freeze it in sandwich sized slabs and heat it up in the toaster oven to get some nice crispness.  Depending on the fillings, he also recommends baguette, mini-ciabatta rolls, English muffins, brioche. 

 

Edited to add that if I made that all sound too complicated, just try to get contrasting flavors and textures into your sandwiches.  The temp contrasts are nice, if possible. 

 

Edited by blue_dolphin (log)
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heidih

heidih

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So glad @blue_dolphin joined with that sandwich book and guidelines. I'll add what may be obvious as to flavored mayo. Yo do not need to overcomplicate. Spread on mayo, add squirt or dollop of hot like sriracha, dijon mustard, horseradish - and just swirl with knife No need to commit to a whole jar. Variety = spice of life ;)

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Alex

Alex

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Dijon mustard (Maille)

Horseradish

Dijon mustard + horseradish

Bacon jam (Serious Eats recipe)

Mayo + oil-packed sundried tomatoes

One sliced of smoked ham

 

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

A king can stand people's fighting, but he can't last long if people start thinking. -Will Rogers, humorist

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Margaret Pilgrim

Margaret Pilgrim

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My lightbulb sandwich moment was at the lunch counter at Grey's Antique Market in London.    Chicken sandwich on white bread.   Mayo and "salad" (lettuce).   

BUT, the guy salted and peppered the chicken.    All the difference in the world.    Salt and freshly ground pepper.

 

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eGullet member #80.

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cdh

cdh

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For a difference, perhaps butter your bread... Americans don't tend to do that, Brits do.  Or if you're a Brit, try mayo instead of the butter.  (But I don't think the two would play nicely together simultaneously.) Also think about adding alfalfa sprouts as your green addition. A curly tangle of them is much less likely to get wilty than a single leaf of lettuce. Tapenades, or olive slices are also nice.  And think about cheeses that spread, not slice... A slathering of camembert on the bread would certainly liven up turkey breast. 

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Christopher D. Holst aka "cdh"

Learn to brew beer with my eGCI course

Chris Holst, Attorney-at-Lunch

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Margaret Pilgrim

Margaret Pilgrim

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16 minutes ago, cdh said:

For a difference, perhaps butter your bread... Americans don't tend to do that, Brits do.  Or if you're a Brit, try mayo instead of the butter.  (But I don't think the two would play nicely together simultaneously.) Also think about adding alfalfa sprouts as your green addition. A curly tangle of them is much less likely to get wilty than a single leaf of lettuce. Tapenades, or olive slices are also nice.  And think about cheeses that spread, not slice... A slathering of camembert on the bread would certainly liven up turkey breast. 

One of my favorite sandwiches is a half baguette, generously buttered, with thick slabs of camembert end to end.    (A glass of white wouldn't clash with this.).   

eGullet member #80.

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liuzhou

liuzhou

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30 minutes ago, cdh said:

For a difference, perhaps butter your bread... Americans don't tend to do that, Brits do.

 

Really? I'm 100% British and seldom butter bread in sandwiches; nor do many people. I want to savour the ingredients of choice. Not grease. I butter my toast!

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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weinoo

weinoo

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Posted (edited)

I believe the French often butter their baguette before placing a slice of jambon upon it for their classic jambon beurre version of a sandwich. Maybe a few sliced cornichons as well. Et comté.

Edited by weinoo (log)
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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

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gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted
13 minutes ago, weinoo said:

I believe the French often butter their baguette before placing a slice of jambon upon it for their classic jambon beurre version of a sandwich. Maybe a few sliced cornichons as well. Et comté.

Yup

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tomishungry

tomishungry

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Try switching out the bread. It's more than half the sandwich, and easy to do if you're time pressed. I prefer sourdough if I can get my hands on a nice loaf, but there's an almost endless variety of breads in every market nowadays, at least in the U.S.

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Bernie

Bernie

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1 minute ago, Bernie said:

Vegemite

Seriously though, going back to the original sandwich. You could change the type of cheese. Not too strong to override the turkey but go for cheese with a different texture.

Also perhaps a small amount of red onion sliced very thinly (depends on whether your co workers will object to the onion breath 🙂), that will have the same effect as Vegemite (which is an acquired taste) which is to move the taste towards the savory.

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Be kind first.

Be nice.

(If you don't know the difference then you need to do some research)

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