The Thick-Slice Heirloom Tomato Sandwich
Good bread, a swipe of mayo, and one thick slice of a big ripe heirloom, salted and peppered.
Ingredients
- 1 large ripe heirloom slicer tomato (Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, or Arkansas Traveler)
- 2 slices soft white sandwich bread
- 2 tbsp good mayonnaise
- 1/2 tsp flaky salt
- to taste cracked black pepper
Method
- Slice one thick round, about a half inch, from the widest part of the ripest tomato.
- Spread mayonnaise generously all the way to the edges of both bread slices.
- Lay the single tomato slice on the bread so it covers the whole surface.
- Season the tomato hard with flaky salt and a good crack of pepper.
- Close the sandwich, press gently, and eat it over a plate or the sink.
This is less a recipe than a rule: when a Brandywine or Cherokee Purple is dead ripe, one thick salted slice is the entire sandwich, and anything more just gets in its way. Reach for the biggest, ripest slicer you have and cut from the middle where the slice is widest. The salt pulls the juice to the surface, the mayo carries it, and the bread soaks up what escapes.