James Beard put what on a sandwich?

“Too few people understand really good sandwiches.” 

Recently, I stumbled upon this quote from James Beard. It surprised me because James is basically the granddaddy of American cooking. He put us on the map, starting in the 1940’s, with cookbooks, culinary schools, and a crusade against the Jell-O mold. He's got his own award and everything. 

But I should have known: He was also a sandwich lover with hot takes on what makes a good one. Legendary chefs - they’re just like us!

His signature sandwich? Here's the recipe:

• Cut two slices of brioche bread into rounds, and slather with mayo

• Cut one slice of raw onion, place it on a piece of the bread and sprinkle with salt

• Close the sandwich, spread mayo around the sides, and drag it through chopped parsley

(Check out another legendary chef, Jacques Pepin, walk through the construction here: James Beard’s Famous Onion Sandwich Recipe.) 

Huh? Raw onion and mayo on white? That doesn’t sound like a famous sandwich - or even a good one. Maybe I was wrong about this James Beard…🤷

Wrong or right, I was hungry. So I did what any Club:Sandwich member in good standing would do and made it for lunch. I used challah as my bread and Kewpie for the mayo, and you know what? I liked it so much that I made a second one.

I know. I’m as shocked as you are.

We are #soblessed to live in the golden age of sandwiches. At the search of a Google, or prompt of a GPT, one can find top-rated stacks from cities around the world with all sorts of amazing things piled high. 

But the James Beard onion-and-mayo sandwich (as good as it was, I got a little grossed out again just typing that) was a great reminder not to forget the classics. The simple sandwiches packed for school lunches or made in a pinch. Often they’re put together with our own minor specifications that make them unique to us.

Grilled cheeses, PB&Js, ham w/ butter. All delicious entries that hit the spot as much as the hyped up sandwiches we’re waiting in line to try. 

So along with the emails I know we’ll get telling us how heinous a raw onion sandwich sounds, please also submit one of your favorite classics to the MSD. 

Here’s one final hot (sizzling even) take from James on the topic of our namesake, the club sandwich, which apparently started off as a classic between two slices:

“It is one of the great sandwiches of all time and has swept its way around the world after an American beginning. Nowadays the sandwich is bastardized because it is usually made as a three-decker, which is not authentic. Whoever started that horror should be forced to eat three-deckers three times a day for the rest of his life…”

Can’t say I agree with Chef Beard here. Also I’m not sure I’d mind being condemned to eat triple deckers all the time. Only one way to find out, I guess.

Until next week!

Club:Sandwich is the world’s first ever members-only club for sandwich lovers (as far as you know). Together we discover, order, make, eat, and discuss sandwiches while building the largest, most comprehensive database of sandwiches ever. Grab or make a sandwich and then share it with us by adding it to the Million Sandwich Database. Uploading sandwiches will earn you points that have no value and cannot be used in any way.