At Alaska West and Andros South, we lay out a spread during breakfast and our guests make themselves a lunch for the day. Sandwiches are assembled, cookies chosen, fruit selected and a few candy bars often make it into the bag too.
Mike Racine has contributed posts for us in the past, and today he gives us some widsom for the ages: how to make the perfect fishing sandwich. Keeping sandwich bread from getting soggy is obviously something Mike has thought a lot about!
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Nobody likes a soggy sandwich. Reaching into your lunch bag and finding a doughy, gooey mess is just plain wrong. How do we craft the typical components of a sandwich into a meal that satisfies with no squishy bread?
One option is to pack the condiments and components separately and assemble them at time of consumption.
This works, but do you really want to rebuild your meal on the boat or shore? Isn’t the whole objective of pre-assembly to minimize overhead during the day? I mean who wants to be the person meticulously re-arranging sandwich components in their lap while the bite is on? Try these simple tips.
Go easy on the tomatoes. While I love tomatoes, they are the enemy of the lunch sandwich prepared in the morning. It’s obvious – the large amounts of water in the standard tomato simply wreak havoc on the defenseless bread. My preferred approach is just to leave ‘em out. If you must have them, consider the following: choose a low-moisture variety such as a Roma if available. Alternatively, consider removing the watery matrix in which the seeds are carried. However, I would call that a high maintenance sandwich and I’m a low-maintenance kind of guy.
Butter both sides of the bread liberally to create a moisture barrier. This is similar to the concept of spreading black plastic under the crawlspace of your home to prevent mold-inducing moisture. Correct application is essential for this method to work. Additionally, one has to enjoy butter in significant amounts using this approach, but it’s doable.
Logically sequence the component assembly in such a way that soggy-inducing elements are shielded from the bread. Old school approaches call for condiment application such as mustard, mayo, and ketchup directly to the tender leaves of bread, spreading evenly to the very edge of the crust for best effect. While this approach is highly effective for meals made to eat immediately, it falls down when subject to the rigors of the passage of time, scrunching in backpacks, heat, etc. Consider shielding the bread by strategically placing drier components (lettuce, cheese, meat, etc) against the bread and inserting condiments in the interior.
Toughen the bread. At Andros South, we often toast the bread that is put out for sandwich assembly. This is a personal favorite because it achieves the objective by structural enhancement of the bread, and adds taste elements of vanilla complexity that enhance your sandwich experience. This means no reconstruction in the field, no re-training in terms of the traditional, tried and true methodology at time of assembly, and overall, it just seems to work.
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Class dismissed.
Sanny talk… Nice!
Perfect sandwich? My trick is to put the meat and the cheese next to the bread, no condiments touching the bread. I use lettuce on the inside and put my condiments between the meat and lettuce or between the cheese and lettuce. I don’t cut the sandwich and I bag it tightly in a 1 gallon plastic bag with a twist tie. I also keep it in a location where it won’t get scrunched up during the morning (that’s a technical term!)
OK, I’ve read this one a couple times and must comment. These tips work for the standard (and boring) bread/meat/lettuce/cheese combo, and that’s fine. But, when I fish I like a sandwich made of crunchy peanut butter and honey (or jam). The beauty of this sandwich is that it packs a lot of calories in a small package and if you put the honey on top, it soaks into the bread during the day, leaving a beautiful soaked honey-bread on top when you eat it. The honey doesn’t drip all over–it’s soaked into the bread–stick it inside a zip-top baggie and you’re good-to-go. Oh, man–now that is great eating right there! The only way to wreck it is to use creamy peanut butter, which is just so, so wrong…
Fantastic input – who can argue with the PB&H?
DITTO to Ehrpower – except PB & J works dandy as well. And on Andros it is less likely to spoil in the heat as conventional cold cuts. Make 3 , one at the ramp after a day of fishing gives a boost of energy before you wash it down with a Kalik! Trust me it won’t spoil your appetite at the High Tide!
My brother and I wrap our sandwiches in tin foil when we go to protect them from getting squished walking and wading. This started due to his use of pumpernickel instead of wheat bread (would kill him) or rice bread (dry and gross).
I am and have always been a sandwich man, however when I fish I fish. I usually fish all day sunup to sundown without food, just a few bottles of water. I put the feed bag on at night after a day of being in the water. My philosophy is if I travel to Fish any and every moment is a possibility to catch a fish of a lifetime.
Another option I developed from many years of floating rivers and camping for many days in a canoe is a “river wrap” All of the same ingredients for any sandwich but thrown into a tortilla. The tortilla wont squish and resists greatly the absortion of said liquids. Also there are many flavors of tortilla on the market now so you can change it up. Lastly, my favorite backpacking treat is PB and Honey in a flour tortilla and if your feeling extra frisky add a granola bar, its freaking good and provides alot of energy.
Thanks for all the ideas, folks. We’re building an unprecedented knowledge base of outdoor sandwich technology here!
I now realise that I’m breaking every rule in the book with my flats sandwiches. I mean, who’d have known it was supposed to stay vaguely sandwich-shaped and be edible without the aid of a spoon?
I shall mend my ways and make sure the corners of my sandwiches stand proud, crisp – pert even. I will create a truly impervious barrier to sandwich moisture, which I now realise is truly the enemy of a flats sandwich.
I shall make a sandwich you’ll be proud of, I really shall. No more second-rate flats comestibles for me, I’ve seen the error of my ways – the fightback starts here!
Thanks guys, I’m coming over all teary over here in the UK, so best I go away and experiment with bread coating technologies.
Next step, the UK flats sandwich challenger – get ready for the fightback Team USA.
Affectionately yours etc 😉
John
Put the tomatoes into a Baggie and add when you eat. Simple.
Crunchy peanut butter with jam, honey, or marmalade spread on a day old pancake. Roll it up, then roll that up in plastic wrap. I take a couple of them… Invincible!
Great call Rick! Couldn’t agree more. Good for a late breakfast, lunch, or afternoon snack. Thanks for weighing in!