When I was tasked with finding the top eight vegetarian sandwiches, I reckoned it would be easy to find plenty. Not so.
I found all manner of combinations of egg and tomato, but most also have bits of bacon, ham, or chicken. Up for a challenge, we ferreted out enough to make our survey worthwhile (we hope you agree).
We expected to find tomato sandwiches, but of course, as we know from days on the beach, they go soggy quickly (unless you slather the bread with butter to form a barrier), so there is some logic to combining them with more robust, less watery ingredients.
At home, we can make good tomato sandwiches by getting rid of the seeds and membrane that holds them in place.
Using mayo instead of butter works as a barrier too. Use white pepper instead of black to bring out the flavour. Salt in any sandwich will draw out moisture, so add it just before eating.
We looked for good-quality bread, not a spongy texture that squeezes to nothing or paper-dry slices, as some of our rejects were.
There was very little sourdough bread in samples, but we found pretty good, substantial brown sliced bread that held its shape during the day and added flavour to the final result.
You get what you pay for here with twice as much delicious cheese as other samples and plenty for two.
There is also tomato, rocket, lettuce, cucumber, and relish, all in just the right proportions.
Good wholemeal sliced brown is satisfying. From the English Market, Cork.
With plenty of egg, we would have liked a bit more of the roasted tomato tapenade which had a good, moreish flavour.
Quite substantial seeded bread made for a good bite. We bought in Tesco.
A good mix of lettuce, tomato, and just the right amount of mayo with plenty of egg, and just the right amount of red onion (very little).
A good offering, it’s made in Cork. Available in some Centras. We bought in Patrick Street, Cork.
Not over-onioned and not quite tasting of cheese and onion crisps, this combination seemed quite unusual as the red cheddar cheeses (one mature for extra flavour) was minced with the red onion and mixed with mayo.
Encased in brown oatmeal bread, tasters weren’t sure about this one, but still went back for more.
Good tomato, red onion, rocket and mayo had a little less egg than we would have liked, but the mix generously filled the regular, unremarkable, brown sandwich bread. A pleasant sandwich.
Nice texture in the mashed egg, but no great flavour of anything. We would have liked some white pepper in the egg mix. Bread was unremarkable but young tasters liked it.
Substantial chunky pieces of egg, with mayo and rocket, made a satisfying texture. Lacking in flavour, but more mayo or a little salt and pepper could fix that.
Plenty filling with chunky egg, tomato and lettuce in white bread (wholemeal is available too).
The bread was unremarkable, as one taster said. Better bread would make a huge difference.
