Sandwiches — the pâté ladder, and the ham version
“Start simple. Add one thing. Stop when it is good, not when it is impressive.”
Sandwiches are the easiest possible food, after going to McDonald's. You can make a sandwich out of anything as long as you have the base: bread. This is the pâté ladder, from student-poor to student-rich, and at the bottom a note on the ham version, which used to be its own post and did not deserve to be.
Ingredients
- bread, the better the bread the shorter the ladder
- pâté (pasztet): pork or liver, from the tin or the deli
- butter
- mustard
- a tomato, sliced
- an onion, sliced thin
- salt and pepper
- for the ham version: sliced ham, or Spam if the month is long
Steps
- Simplest: bread and pâté.
- Better: bread, butter, pâté. Butter under pâté is not optional once you have tried it.
- Nicer: bread, butter, pâté, a stripe of mustard.
- High end: bread, butter, pâté, tomato, onion, salt, pepper. Stop here. Anything more is a different meal.
- The ham version: the same ladder with ham or Spam in place of pâté. Mustard matters more here; a pickle on the side does the tomato's job.
Tips
- Cold butter tears bread. Leave it out for ten minutes first, or grate it.
- Onion too sharp? A minute in cold water with a pinch of salt.
- This is also what the pantry list is for: bread, butter, salt, pepper, and you always have dinner.