Oct 24, 2000

Tomato Sandwich

Credit: Christopher Hirsheimer

1 SANDWICH

My summer sandwich is kind of a private thing. It's messy—and who wants to own up to using both butter and mayo? But if you're ever home alone one hot afternoon give this a try.

1 really ripe tomato (big, red-blue beefsteaks are
best—all flesh and juice, with not too many seeds.)
Butter
2 thin slices of good toast
Mayonnaise
Salt and fresh black pepper
Sugar

1. Thickly slice tomato.Butter toast, slather a thick layer of mayonnaise on both pieces, then lay on two or three tomato slices and season with a generous sprinkle of salt, the tiniest pinch of sugar, and a few good grinds of black pepper.

2. Roll up your sleeves (or just take off your shirt), lean over the sink, and bite through the crisp buttered bread and creamy mayonnaise, and into the sweet taste of summer. Abandon yourself. And let the juice run down your arms.

This article was first published in Saveur in Issue #36

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Ratings & Reviews (6)

by rrichard on 2008-07-10

delicious! but i thought this was my secret recipe.

rebecca

by KristieB on 2008-09-03

i am so making this for my lunch tomorrow. a neighbor gifted us with three wonderfully ripe, homegrown tomatoes. i had 1/2 of one as a tomato sandwich on untoasted bread with mayo, salt and pepper for lunch yesterday. this am i had a blt on untoasted bread. but tomorrow, tomorrow i am toasting that bread and using both the butter and the mayo.

by carol0813 on 2009-03-21

This, along with a thin slice of sweet onion, is the ultimate! (Mayo, of course...butter, well OK. But I'll have to defer on the sugar.)

carol

by 100 on 2009-08-07

Grew up eating this sandwich but with addition of sliced cucumbers.
With summer tomatoes, oh my. The best.

by jmmitche on 2011-07-11

I am fine without the butter and sugar, but the Tomato Sandwich is the truest of summer sandwiches, the kind you have to lift and eat quick before it falls apart. The pure, deep, rich flavor of a fully ripened tomato is just fabulous. I do love BLT's and other combinations with tomatoes (..tomato and vidalia onion!) but summer calls for the tomato to stand on it's own.

by HILARYCOOKS on 2012-05-04

I grew up eating this exact sandwich but with peanut butter on one side of the bread. Bliss.

Don't diss the addition of peanut butter until you've tried it. Much like bacon in a blt without having to make it.

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