Early Summer

It looks like Summer is not going to play around this year! The temps hit 90 and went up from there. Here is where I would usually say "Well, it's Summer in Georgia. What do you expect?" True enough!

What does "Summer in Georgia mean?" It means the Farmer's Markets are open again. Wow, that's certainly a good thing. Locally grown veggies....Yum!! And there doesn't seem to be a much better lunch item than a tomato sandwich made with locally grown tomatoes. And for a lot of us, there is a certain way the sandwich must be made for it to be "Right".

First, you must start with a locally grown tomato. Picked out of your own garden if possible. Then, you must use the right bread. As a boy, we always had Wonderbread, that beautiful, white, concrete forming bread that was so common in America in the way-back. But these days it's whole wheat bread that is so necessary in the endless search for fiber in our diets. Next, and this is a "must", you have to use Hellmann's mayonnaise. I've tried other brands and no others seem to do the trick. I'm not sure what it is about this particular brand but to my taste, this is what brings the proper tomato sandwich together. Now for the tomatoes. Did I mention locally grown? How big should the tomato be? I've had good sandwiches made from tomatoes large enough for one slice to cover the entire piece of bread. This is not often the case however. Usually it takes two slices of tomato to cover the bread and make a proper sandwich. The "take away" here is that tomato size doesn't really make the sandwich although it can affect the consumption thereof.

The tomatoes must be ripe. Ripe means they are "going toward soft but still firm." This is probably a personal preference thing but, for me, the best results are obtained when using tomatoes at the aforesaid "proper" stage of ripeness. The tomato should be sliced about a quarter inch thick. Much less and you're not getting a proper helping of tomato. There are at least of couple of ways to build a tomato sandwich. The first, and least efficient way, is to build the "Over-lier". This sandwich is created by putting the first tomato slice in the upper left or right hand corner of the bread. The second slice is place in the opposite corner at the bottom of the bread. The tomato slices usually overlap and you end up with a sandwich thick in the middle which means lots of juice when bitten into. The next way to build the sandwich, what I usually do, is to place the first tomato slice in the upper left hand corner of the bread and then slice the tomato in the middle to the proper thickness and then slice the resulting two halves from the tomato. These slice-halves are then arranged to fill in the empty spots on the bread. Hey, were almost ready to eat...

Mayo - How much to use? Dang! Almost forgot! Firstly, both slices of bread must be spread with mayo. It's important. You have to use a good amount of mayo on both slices to be sure your sandwich will be up-to-par with what it should be. Mayo, spread about an eighth of an inch thick, give or take, on both slices of bread should do the trick.

A very personal choice is how to season the sandwich. I use salt. I use a good amount of salt. Less than a "good amount of salt" and the sandwich is not "right." Some people also use pepper on their tomato sandwich. I have tried this and found it to be acceptable but I don't regularly pepper any tomato sandwich I make for myself. Once properly seasoned the top slice of bread may be added and you're almost ready to eat. The last step, and this isn't negotiable, you have to "squash" the sandwich. Yep, just give it a good squash with your hand to made sure the tomatoes are "seated" in the bread. Then, and only then, is the sandwich ready to go!

To eat the sandwich you'll need napkins, towels or whatever as this will be somewhat of a messy experience or at least it will be if the sandwich is made "right." A messy tomato sandwich is always to be enjoyed!

Now this post started out talking about Summer. In my part of the world Summer is linked to tomato sandwiches and visa-versa. For my two-cents, don't even try to make one in the cooler months using “foreign” tomatos. Trust me, it just doesn't work! You have to have Summer, and that's all there is to it!