How to make your sandwiches epic
Ah the good old sandwich. Such a trusty staple for many of us come lunch time and the basis of many successful café menus. While the sandwich is not thought of as a particularly exciting food, there are infinite ways of dressing them up to make it much more appealing. So if your sandwich menu just isn’t exciting you (or your customers) like it use to, you’ve found yourself in a sandwich rut, and you’re just looking to create something truly spectacular between two slices of bread, then read on for some tips on how to make your sandwiches more exciting.
The bread is the best bit
The bread can be the factor most commonly overlooked when it comes to the sandwich, but think about it, it’s the glue that holds the whole operation together. Without bread you just have a salad (which is cool, if you want a salad). There’s no reason you have to stick with plain white bread for your masterpiece, especially when there are a multitude of bread varieties available these days, from wholemeal, grain, rye, Turkish bread, baguettes, and, if you’re really looking to have some fun with your sandwich why not use garlic slices as the building blocks.
Load it up
Once you’ve got your bread sorted you need to think about what to put in the middle. There’s no reason to limit yourself to simple and traditional fillings. A sandwich menu should be as considered as an ala carte menu. Play with flavours and cuisines – branch out! You can really go crazy with your sandwich fillings, from meats, cheeses, salads and vegetables. If you had a dish that didn’t sell as well as expected on your dinner menu the night before why not throw all your leftovers between two pieces of bread?
Play with texture
Texture can really make a difference to the excitement levels of your sandwich. When you have a cheese and ham sandwich (a classic don’t get us wrong) the texture is pretty much all the same –soft. This can make it seem more boring than it is, but if you add in something with say, a little crunch, like crisp lettuce, crusty bread or even corn chips, the added texture makes for a more interesting mouthful.
Don’t forget the sauce
Let’s be honest, condiments can make or break a sandwich. You pick the wrong one and it throws the flavour of the whole sandwich off, but you pick the right one and it pulls everything together perfectly. A condiment will add instant flavour to your sandwich so don’t leave it out.
It’s pretty obvious we love a sandwich here at Tip Top Foodservice - when it comes to making an epic sandwich the sky’s the limit really and we love to hear what creations are running out the doors in your venue. Let us know over on our Facebook Page.