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Well if we’re on the front page of HN discussing sandwiches, bring it on. 1. Toast one side only of two slices of fresh white bread. 2. Construct a sandwich w

Well if we’re on the front page of HN discussing sandwiches, bring it on. 1. Toast one side only of two slices of fresh white bread. 2. Construct a sandwich with the untoasted sides facing out. 3. Inside the sandwich place mushed banana and a sprinkle of sugar. As you bite through you get soft, crunch, soft, crunch, soft. It’s a thing of beauty. Another weird combo is crispy bacon and marmalade. In regular toasted bread. Ah, sandwiches. One of the great foods. Source: I’m from the North East.

sg47 3y ago
You need good bread for that. Store-bought bread in the US is quite bad.
- Kon-Peki 3y ago
  My local Walmart has about 100 different breads in the bread section - too much for a single aisle. Even the Aldi, known for having just a single option for everything, has about 15 different breads. I'm sorry if your options are bad, but don't claim that the entire US sucks.
  - bj-rn 3y ago
    Good bread is something you buy from a bakery. It's made from flour, water, salt and yeast. The stuff you get in supermarkets is full of additives to "keep it fresh" and a lot of it has added sugar.
    - gedy 3y ago
      Not every sandwich tastes as good with that style of bread tbh. Sliced store bread just "gets out of the way" sometimes.
  - School-Cotton 3y ago
    What does the number of options have to do with how good they are?
  - glenngillen 3y ago
    You've just reminded me of a German colleague who moved to the US that was asked in his first week "How are you enjoying things? What have you found surprising?" and replied with "Shopping has been difficult because I don't recognise most of the brands or products. The supermarket has like 100 different types of bread, except as best I can tell it's actually just the 1 type of bread in 100 different shapes. Also it's not bread, it's more like a cake."
    - mikhailfranco 3y ago
      Yes, American bread is far too sweet - mostly HFCS, but even molasses make an appearance. Let them eat cake. P.S. But I do like the sourdough and rye bread (uncommon in UK).
      - jjgreen 3y ago
        From Qu'ils mangent de la brioche of course, and brioche is quite bready ...
    - gambiting 3y ago
      I mean it's the same in the UK - there are probably 30+ different types of bread in any supermarket, but it's all the same. It has the same shape, same taste, just different bakery that makes it.
      - glenngillen 3y ago
        I'd say the UK is somewhere in between, with different types of white bread actually being different (e.g., baps vs rolls). My early encounters in the US were similar to my German colleague where much of the variation in bread was simply to shape (e.g., rolls vs sliced loaf) but it was ultimately the same flavour and texture. Obviously in both countries you can go looking and find a much broader array of options. It's just a stark contrast to experiences in many continental European countries where almost any store that sells bread seems to have white, sourdough, regular rye, dark rye, etc. and each variety is so vastly different in taste and texture.
- burkaman 3y ago
  I don't think this is generally true. It's very common for US grocery stores to have freshly baked bread, and there's always a huge variety of prepackaged sliced bread, it's not just like sugary wonder bread or something. You can also just go to a bakery. Not sure how accurate this site is, but it looks like the US and UK have about the same number of bakeries per capita. https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-statistics/number-of-businesses/bakery-cafes-united-states/ https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-statistics/number-of-busi..., https://www.ibisworld.com/united-kingdom/number-of-businesses/bakery-cafes/14650/ https://www.ibisworld.com/united-kingdom/number-of-businesse... Certainly there are some places where your only option is a dollar store that probably won't have anything good, but I've been a lot of places in the US and I've never found this to be an issue.
  - dukeyukey 3y ago
    The one time I visited the US the bread was alright! But I also had a PBJ made from a loaf of Texas Toast bread, and it was _by far_ the worst bread I've ever had.
- OJFord 3y ago
  And also in the UK.
_a_a_a_ 3y ago
I'm afraid, like a vampire, you've just invited me in. My recipe, marmite and lettuce sandwiches.
- Nevermark 3y ago
  Two slices of high fiber, low carb, multigrain bread. Toast if you can hold off your food-in-mouth-now need for a couple minutes. Spread hummus on both slices. Hummus is a great butter/cheese/mayo replacement. Sprinkle a mix of seeds (sun flower kernels, hemp, chia, flax, sesame) on one side. Add red beet and cabbage sauerkraut, then turkey slices, to the other side. Slap together and eat! My personal recipe invention strategy is to constrain my experiments to high-flavor moderate calorie superfood combination bombs with construction times in the 30-60 second range. Prep: 1. Big jar of three months worth of high nutrition seeds. 2. There is no 2. This one is a staple now, but others' tastes may differ.
- jjgreen 3y ago
  Even better, marmite & sliced cucumber
billyruffian 3y ago
I can see the appeal, but I offer: 1. thickly cut doorstops of wholegrain crusty bread 2. apply very mature crunchy cheddar 3. cut banana, not mushed, is layered on top 4. a blanket of either ready-salted or salt and vinegar crips 5. and the killer blow, on the opposing slice of bread, thickly, oh so thickly spread marmite.

sg47 3y ago

You need good bread for that. Store-bought bread in the US is quite bad.

Kon-Peki 3y ago
My local Walmart has about 100 different breads in the bread section - too much for a single aisle. Even the Aldi, known for having just a single option for everything, has about 15 different breads. I'm sorry if your options are bad, but don't claim that the entire US sucks.
- bj-rn 3y ago
  Good bread is something you buy from a bakery. It's made from flour, water, salt and yeast. The stuff you get in supermarkets is full of additives to "keep it fresh" and a lot of it has added sugar.
  - gedy 3y ago
    Not every sandwich tastes as good with that style of bread tbh. Sliced store bread just "gets out of the way" sometimes.
- School-Cotton 3y ago
  What does the number of options have to do with how good they are?
- glenngillen 3y ago
  You've just reminded me of a German colleague who moved to the US that was asked in his first week "How are you enjoying things? What have you found surprising?" and replied with "Shopping has been difficult because I don't recognise most of the brands or products. The supermarket has like 100 different types of bread, except as best I can tell it's actually just the 1 type of bread in 100 different shapes. Also it's not bread, it's more like a cake."
  - mikhailfranco 3y ago
    Yes, American bread is far too sweet - mostly HFCS, but even molasses make an appearance. Let them eat cake. P.S. But I do like the sourdough and rye bread (uncommon in UK).
    - jjgreen 3y ago
      From Qu'ils mangent de la brioche of course, and brioche is quite bready ...
  - gambiting 3y ago
    I mean it's the same in the UK - there are probably 30+ different types of bread in any supermarket, but it's all the same. It has the same shape, same taste, just different bakery that makes it.
    - glenngillen 3y ago
      I'd say the UK is somewhere in between, with different types of white bread actually being different (e.g., baps vs rolls). My early encounters in the US were similar to my German colleague where much of the variation in bread was simply to shape (e.g., rolls vs sliced loaf) but it was ultimately the same flavour and texture. Obviously in both countries you can go looking and find a much broader array of options. It's just a stark contrast to experiences in many continental European countries where almost any store that sells bread seems to have white, sourdough, regular rye, dark rye, etc. and each variety is so vastly different in taste and texture.
burkaman 3y ago
I don't think this is generally true. It's very common for US grocery stores to have freshly baked bread, and there's always a huge variety of prepackaged sliced bread, it's not just like sugary wonder bread or something. You can also just go to a bakery. Not sure how accurate this site is, but it looks like the US and UK have about the same number of bakeries per capita. https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-statistics/number-of-businesses/bakery-cafes-united-states/ https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-statistics/number-of-busi..., https://www.ibisworld.com/united-kingdom/number-of-businesses/bakery-cafes/14650/ https://www.ibisworld.com/united-kingdom/number-of-businesse... Certainly there are some places where your only option is a dollar store that probably won't have anything good, but I've been a lot of places in the US and I've never found this to be an issue.
- dukeyukey 3y ago
  The one time I visited the US the bread was alright! But I also had a PBJ made from a loaf of Texas Toast bread, and it was _by far_ the worst bread I've ever had.
OJFord 3y ago
And also in the UK.

_a_a_a_ 3y ago

I'm afraid, like a vampire, you've just invited me in. My recipe, marmite and lettuce sandwiches.

Nevermark 3y ago
Two slices of high fiber, low carb, multigrain bread. Toast if you can hold off your food-in-mouth-now need for a couple minutes. Spread hummus on both slices. Hummus is a great butter/cheese/mayo replacement. Sprinkle a mix of seeds (sun flower kernels, hemp, chia, flax, sesame) on one side. Add red beet and cabbage sauerkraut, then turkey slices, to the other side. Slap together and eat! My personal recipe invention strategy is to constrain my experiments to high-flavor moderate calorie superfood combination bombs with construction times in the 30-60 second range. Prep: 1. Big jar of three months worth of high nutrition seeds. 2. There is no 2. This one is a staple now, but others' tastes may differ.
jjgreen 3y ago
Even better, marmite & sliced cucumber

billyruffian 3y ago

I can see the appeal, but I offer: 1. thickly cut doorstops of wholegrain crusty bread 2. apply very mature crunchy cheddar 3. cut banana, not mushed, is layered on top 4. a blanket of either ready-salted or salt and vinegar crips 5. and the killer blow, on the opposing slice of bread, thickly, oh so thickly spread marmite.