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The SAVEUR Bookshelf: 5 Essential Sandwich Cookbooks
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I don't think there is a meal that makes me happier than a good sandwich. Admittedly, there are some very good sandwich recipes available in non-sandwich cookbooks—Andrea Nguyen's banh mih recipe in her astounding book Into the Vietnamese kitchen, the inspiring veggie sandwiches in Deborah Madison's Fields of Greens, or the sheer show-stopping power of the Big Bread Sandwich in the Silver Palate Cookbook, for example—but sandwich cookbooks truly dig deep into the gestalt of sandwich making, and with that in mind, here are five of my favorite books on sliced bread.
Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book
I worked at Campanile in the late nineties, when Nancy Silverton started her Thursday sandwich nights there, and on that night, all of Los Angeles put their Zone diets on hold and flocked to the restaurant to eat buttery grilled gruyere sandwiches that Nancy and her girlfriends would grill from behind the restaurant's bar. For a while, I was the fry girl, piling golden haystacks of thyme strewn French fries to accompany the sandwiches— the orders never stopped coming. This book takes me back to that time when I was learning how to cook professionally.
Nancy is a benevolent perfectionist: no detail is lost on her, and as such, you should observe her directions with care, whether that comes to pesto making or eating a simple ham and butter sandwich: "squeeze the sandwich together with your fingers to compress it before taking the first bite." While Nancy is always quick to embrace simplicity of the best quality—a perfect grilled cheese sandwich, say— she also steers readers to more inventive combinations like a tuna melt made with home-poached fish, remoulade and cheddar, or one of my favorites, an open faced number featuring baked ricotta, slow-roasted roma tomatoes and glazed onions. Even if you don't make every sandwich from beginning to end, it is worth raiding building blocks from this book like romesco sauce, from-scratch Russian and green goddess dressings, or fantastic braised leeks, which can make even a simple cold-cut sandwich an affair to remember.
Next: Roadfood Sandwiches »
Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book
By Nancy Silverton, with Teri Gelber (Knopf, 2005)
I worked at Campanile in the late nineties, when Nancy Silverton started her Thursday sandwich nights there, and on that night, all of Los Angeles put their Zone diets on hold and flocked to the restaurant to eat buttery grilled gruyere sandwiches that Nancy and her girlfriends would grill from behind the restaurant's bar. For a while, I was the fry girl, piling golden haystacks of thyme strewn French fries to accompany the sandwiches— the orders never stopped coming. This book takes me back to that time when I was learning how to cook professionally.
Nancy is a benevolent perfectionist: no detail is lost on her, and as such, you should observe her directions with care, whether that comes to pesto making or eating a simple ham and butter sandwich: "squeeze the sandwich together with your fingers to compress it before taking the first bite." While Nancy is always quick to embrace simplicity of the best quality—a perfect grilled cheese sandwich, say— she also steers readers to more inventive combinations like a tuna melt made with home-poached fish, remoulade and cheddar, or one of my favorites, an open faced number featuring baked ricotta, slow-roasted roma tomatoes and glazed onions. Even if you don't make every sandwich from beginning to end, it is worth raiding building blocks from this book like romesco sauce, from-scratch Russian and green goddess dressings, or fantastic braised leeks, which can make even a simple cold-cut sandwich an affair to remember.
Next: Roadfood Sandwiches »
