The first tomato sandwich
Look who joined the party in my vegetable bowl this morning! The first tomatoes of summer.
It is a joyous occasion, indeed, when the colors of the farmer’s market turn from dark greens to ruby reds. And the first order of business when tomatoes come into season is the tomato sandwich. Everyone in the South has their preferred version of the tomato sandwich. Some prefer white bread, not toasted, so the tomato juice slowly disintegrates the bread as you consume the sandwich hunched over your sink. I believe in toasting your bread to maintain the integrity of the sandwich.
This is not a recipe, but it’s my procedure for assembling the perfect tomato sandwich. You toast your bread first. Then you slather both pieces with butter. Not margarine. Don’t make me come after you. You add mayonnaise, preferably Duke’s, to just one side of the buttered toast.
Then you slice the tomato and lay it atop the bread with the mayo/butter combination. Sprinkle the tomato with salt, pepper and a wee pinch of sugar. That is the secret. That little bit of sugar. Place the remaining slice of bread on top, slice in half, die and go to heaven.
It has been approximately eight months since I had a homegrown tomato. I don’t buy tomatoes in the supermarket for a variety of reasons, mostly because they are not real tomatoes, but chemically altered orbs of crap picked by slave labor in a place where tomatoes are not meant to grow. But that’s just me.
That makes the first tomato sandwich of summer all the more enjoyable. It’s rare.
Oh yum, love your recipe and yes, if one must add the mayo, Duke’s…crunch, crunch.
Good for you! I just picked my first red tomato yesterday from the garden and I am letting it finish ripening in the house, simply because I can’t bear for the birds to get it.
BTW, the tomato pictured above, the one on the left, is slightly lewd…. 😉
I know. It was sitting there all alone on one of the farmer’s tables and I felt sorry for it and brought it home.
just had another toasted (homemade sourdough) bread, unsalted butter, Duke’s on one side, Bradley tomato slices sandwich….but had to bump it up b/c it was lunch..turkey slices & arugula, and oh it was still soooo very good. thank you again for posting this treat of a tomato sandwich plan!! now to the Farmer’s tomorrow for more Bradley’s! (and I did read your charbroil recipe post for the peach butter et al treat, yum!)
Excellent post. Agreed the hydroponic vegetable underworld has not been underwritten by our household in a very long time.
“…mostly because they are not real tomatoes, but chemically altered orbs of crap picked by slave labor in a place where tomatoes are not meant to grow.”
Mom, I think I felt you breath fire through the computer when I read that. Seriously, there were tremors felt in several small countries throughout the world lol.