
On one side of the sandwichsphere sit bologna and mayo, tuna salad on rye, turkey and Swiss and peanut butter and jelly—classic brown-bag sandwiches that function as hunger busters and grist for school kids and simple eaters on the go.
On the opposite side, call it “sandwich nirvana,” are chicken Francese with tomatoes and frisée, a smoked salmon and bacon club slathered in black pepper aioli and a Cambodian-inspired num pang housing marinated and grilled portobello mushrooms, sautéed leeks and chili yogurt.
Now ask yourself, which of these sandwiches would you prefer to eat? Or, better yet, which of these creations would you like to make and enjoy with the right wine? These questions are rhetorical; if you’re anything like us, the answers are obvious.
Named after the 4th Earl of Sandwich, an 18th-century English aristocrat who was reputed to have invented the practice of placing edibles and condiments between two slices of bread but who, in actuality, neither invented nor sustained that approach, the sandwich cemented its role in American society during the early 1900s, when bread became a food staple.
The 21st-century sandwich maker has countless derivations and options from which to choose. Today’s sandwiches emphasize freshness and flavor in the bread, quality base ingredients, roughage and, maybe most important of all, a special sauce—a mayonnaise or spread that sends the ordinary into another plane.
The truly superior sandwich needs to do two things that good-ol’ tuna on rye or PB&J can never do: It must transport and transcend.
It must transport you to a taste and textural place that you don’t frequently reach. Once you’re at that place, indulging in the heavenly blend of flavors, feel and temperatures, there’s not another food in the world you’d rather be eating—transcendence.
The following are three sandwiches that transport and transcend, with wine recommendations meant to accentuate the experience.
1Grilled Portobello Num Pang with Beet Vinaigrette, Sautéed Leeks and Chili Yogurt
2Smoked Salmon Club with Black Pepper Aioli
3Chicken Francese
4Pork Schnitzel with Dijon-Caper Mayo, Lettuce and Cornichons with Cucumber Salad