Southern Simplicity: the Tomato Sandwich

Tomato sandwiches are nothing new to the Tribunal. Tomatoes are among our most treasured ingredients, and have played starring roles in many a sandwich from our past–from the powerful flavors of tomato and chutney to the elegance of a Caprese sandwich, the simplicity of pan con tomate to the complexity of a chevre and grape tomato tartine with garlic and herb-infused oil. Even the very first sandwich we covered, just so that the home page of this site wasn’t blank on the day we registered it, was a terrific sub from J.P. Graziano featuring burrata and heirloom tomatoes.

In this part of North America, tomato season lasts from late July until the first frost, usually sometime in mid-October, but most people would pinpoint August as the prime time for eating tomato sandwiches.

And they wouldn’t be wrong. But I’m here to make a case for tomato sandwiches in October, and not only because that is when I happen to be writing about them.

I pulled these tomatoes out of my garden on Sunday, October 2nd, 2022.

Now there are just a whole lot of Romas there, as well as some lingering Better Boys and a bunch of the sweet yellow grape tomatoes I used in that tartine recently. But there are still a few big beefsteaks, and more still ripening on the vine. This late in the season they are their sweetest, softer than an August tomato would be, juicier. The firmness of an August tomato is a solid selling point for sandwich-making, for sure. They stand up great in a BLT or a club.

But when you’re making a simple, Southern-style tomato sandwich–thick slices of garden-fresh tomatoes on squishy white bread with some Duke’s mayo and a little salt and pepper–a softer, sweeter tomato works just fine.

As I’ve often said in these pages, a great sandwich begins not with great bread, but with the right bread. In the case of a tomato sandwich, the right bread to use is a cheap loaf of squishy white bread from the grocery store, untoasted. You can use something fancier, and I have, but with the late season tomato you don’t want anything too substantial. A soft bread will cradle the very ripe tomato where a firmer bread will crush it.

Duke’s mayonnaise is a good choice for a tomato sandwich. Besides being a favorite flavor of the South, it simply works well here, especially with these softer, wetter tomatoes. The thick egginess of the spread helps insulate the bread–both slices–against the tomato’s juices, and the vinegary tang complements the sweetness of a late season tomato well.

Ideally, your beefsteak tomato will be large enough to only require a single, thick layer to cover the entire slice of bread. This particular example was a little smaller, so I used two overlapping slices, seasoning each with Maldon salt and fresh-cracked black pepper.

And that’s it. That’s the sandwich.

There’s not a lot to say about a tomato sandwich. These tomato slices are bursting with sweet juice that combines well with the vinegary tang of the mayonnaise, a sweet and sour combination that, amplified by the salt and fresh black pepper, boosts the savory profile of the tomato flesh. These are the main elements at play in the tomato sandwich.

And the bread? The bread is simply there to be a handle, a way to keep your hands dry while you shove tomatoes and mayonnaise into your face. A grocery store white bread is just soft enough to compress around these tomato slices and hold them in place, while just sturdy enough not too disintegrate too quickly.

It’s not summer; not anymore. Many people start lamenting the end of summer once Labor Day hits, though officially, technically, astronomically, summer doesn’t end until September 22nd. We’re well past that now, into October, and the weather has started to turn, the nights bringing a chill that the days aren’t quite burning off the way they did just a few weeks ago. But as long as I can still pull a big, beautiful tomato out of my garden and make myself a sandwich from it, it still feels a little like summer to me. And that may be the best recommendation of them all for the late season tomato sandwich.