26-06-2017, 11:52 AM
1
The Lost Art of Makng a Sandwich!
Okay, at the very high risk of being labelled a fussy old fart, I am saying that this generation seem to have lost the art of how easy it is to make a sandwich look attractive when displayed, or even the simple art of making sandwiches the day before and still keep them as fresh as the moment they were made, for the next day.Two of my great nieces, aged 17 and 18, were having several of their female friends round yesterday afternoon and because their mum and dad were away for the weekend, had enlisted me to help by preparing the three trays of sandwiches they had planned along with other food. Between us, we started buttering the bread. I noticed that for every slice that I buttered, they had done about 3 or 4, but when I looked I couldn’t believe it, They were holding the bread up in one hand and spreading the butter on, leaving about ½” dry gap all the way around each slice of bread!!
Now I am a stickler for ensuring I never interfere or be critical on how the youngsters do things their way nowadays, but come on, I just had to say something. I gently chided them and told them that they must lay the slices onto a flat surface, put the butter on to the bread and ensure that it is spread right into all four corners otherwise their freshly made sandwiches will curl up on the ends by the time they come to serve them up. They didn’t say anything and I did feel a bit bad because as I say, I try my damn hardest not to ever sound condescending, but I did notice that they started to do just that correctly whilst I went back over the ones they had only half buttered.
They were also flabbergasted when I told them that if I am making trays of sandwiches for guests, I always make sandwiches the evening before and they are as fresh as the moment I made them by the time they are served.
(courtesy of a tip by Mary Berry). They had never heard of….. making the sandwiches, and then without cutting them, stack them up to two layers high on the baking tray, put a damp tea-towel over them before cling-filming the whole tray and placing it in the fridge until about 2 hours before you display them. I also informed them never to make sandwiches for storing in the fridge with a tomato or cucumber filling as they are too wet for the fridge sandwich.
After the 2 hours, I told them to then cut off all the crusts, then laying their one hand gently over the sandwich to keep it in one place, cut corner to corner (they would have merrily cut it into four squares with crusts on, wondering why the bread kept ripping as they cut it)
They then left me to do the sandwiches my way, I popped to the corner shop and bought two thick sliced wholemeal loaves and two white thick sliced. (the girls only had white medium!!) I put the sandwiches uniformly, brown and white on the two largish trays and they looked really nice. They had egg & cress, (after I secretly added a teaspoon of mustard and finely chopped spring onion to the mayonnaise to spice up the blandness), and stopped them just in time from chucking the cress into the egg mayonnaise mix first instead of gently placing it on top of the egg mayonnaise before placing the slice of bread on top. (sigh!)
Anyway, they ended up with ½ of a tray of Egg Mayo and Cress on Brown and ½ of Egg Mayo with crispy Bacon on white.
I also did a tray of 3 rows of different sandwich fillings in Brown and White. of Cheese & Pickle, Ham & Tomato and Tuna Mousse and Cucumber. I garnished the Egg Mayo tray of sandwiches with little bunches of cress and the other tray with Lily shaped tomatoes and scattered chopped cress (could only work with that which they had!) wrapped them gently with cling film, wished them a great afternoon and escaped for a well earned cuppa back home.
Why is it do you think, that youngsters don’t know or seem to even care about how food is presented? Or is perhaps just my country lot? Maybe it’s because they don’t care how it looks and the youngsters eating it are quite content just shovel it into their mouths !!
But I was always taught by my lovely mum, even at their age, that food should always be pleasing to the eye first.(and she certainly wasn’t sophisticated, a plain, no nonsense Irish lady).
As I say, I’ve probably morphed into one of those fussy old farts that I used to make fun of when I was their age, and the art of presentation should be aimed at those aged thirty plus and a little more sophisticated in wanting to impress with presentation.
Hopefully though, the girls will have learned something, even if it is only one single tip from my interfering!.
Should I have said something? Or should I have just shut my mouth and got on with the butties?
26-06-2017, 12:00 PM
2
Re: The Lost Art of Makng a Sandwich!
I do like properly buttered bread, with proper butter, but I'm a four square crusts on girl, don't eat your crusts you won't have curly hair my old nan used to say. I'm not a neatly displayed fan either I tend to make different fillings and put them on seperate plates but that's more down to allergies and fussy man who won't eat touching foods.
26-06-2017, 12:13 PM
4
Re: The Lost Art of Makng a Sandwich!
Hi Julie, welcome back, hope you are feeling better.I guess we are all different when it comes to food preparation.
If I have my gorillas round, I still cut the sandwiches corner to corner but leave the crusts on as I would get comments such as "why is half the sandwich missing?" lol.
But yesterday, when I knew it was girls only, I certainly wouldn't leave the crusts on. I tend to still believe that we females are fussier than the male species in how food is presented, that's not to say that men do not appreciate good food.
Maybe, as I say, it's just me still living in a twilight world where even the simplest of foods can be made to look attractive and good enough to eat. I still believe that people tend to think that if someone has taken the time and effort to make food look attractive then they also care about the ingredients that have gone into making it.
HO HUM! it must be me then.
26-06-2017, 12:15 PM
5
Re: The Lost Art of Makng a Sandwich!
Originally Posted by Longdogs
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Definitely need the butter right up to the edges and definitely should be cut into triangles.
26-06-2017, 01:04 PM
6
Re: The Lost Art of Makng a Sandwich!
Originally Posted by shropshiregirl
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Hi Julie, welcome back, hope you are feeling better.I guess we are all different when it comes to food preparation.
If I have my gorillas round, I still cut the sandwiches corner to corner but leave the crusts on as I would get comments such as "why is half the sandwich missing?" lol.
But yesterday, when I knew it was girls only, I certainly wouldn't leave the crusts on. I tend to still believe that we females are fussier than the male species in how food is presented, that's not to say that men do not appreciate good food.
Maybe, as I say, it's just me still living in a twilight world where even the simplest of foods can be made to look attractive and good enough to eat. I still believe that people tend to think that if someone has taken the time and effort to make food look attractive then they also care about the ingredients that have gone into making it.
HO HUM! it must be me then.
26-06-2017, 02:00 PM
9
Re: The Lost Art of Makng a Sandwich!
Originally Posted by Mags
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I join your rank Shrops, it is definitely 'best butter' to the edge and sandwiches neatly cut in triangles ..... 
26-06-2017, 02:06 PM
10
Re: The Lost Art of Makng a Sandwich!
Originally Posted by Barry
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In the construction industry we all eat them like that Mags, finesse is everything on site....
I think triangles always taste better than squares, don't you Barry?
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