My first thought when I asked myself the question was easy, BLT. Bacon, lettuce and tomato. Quick as lightning to make and very simple. There's really nothing to it when you have good ingredients. And by good ingredients I mean the ingredients that you like to eat. Because it's a very subjective thing when talking about what is "good". There really is no value in avoiding a food which has, in the public consciousness been labelled "bad" or pretending you don't like a something because it's not trendy. In many cases the food police have pressed charges and thrown away the key. If you like it, eat it, that’s my view, as the only person who loses out dear reader is you.
Take it from me that being a food snob is pointless. I was the archetypal food snob for a brief period and I bet my arse for a banjo that I missed out on so many tasty things and so much pleasure. Then out of the blue came something, so looked down upon and viewed with such scorn that when I received it I was slightly taken aback. Despite this, in time I realised it was a milestone. It changed me. It changed my view of food. It took me back to where I once existed in the realms of the forbidden. The driver behind this changing force was no other than Spam. A tin of Spam. A tin ofpork. Received as a gift which I was too polite to not consume. Eventually it was more of a case of devouring rather than eating and it got me back on track again. Now I'm not suggesting you go out and buy tins of processed meats and substitute the vegetables in your diet but I do suggest you don't be afraid of what anyone else thinks or says, just make your own mind up. I feel a cautionary note should be added at this juncture and point out that a healthy balanced diet is of course very important!
The good old sarnie, like food in general has become a completely different animal to what it used to be. Just take a look at its outer jacket, the bread. White, brown, wholemeal, sourdough, Rye, three seed, spelt, sliced, unsliced and on and on and so forth. There's a whole bread universe and the options are almost endless. I could bore you senseless and wax lyrical about loaves, crust and crumb and the vast differences which can be achieved when flour, salt, yeast and water are brought together but I won’t. We would be here for too long and anyway, it’s clear for anyone to see how much our bread offering has changed in the last few years if you put your mind to it.
There's not really much point in visiting the other ingredients as it's the same story as for the bread. Masses of choice. So much so that you could have what you would call a BLT many times over using similar ingredients but never have the exact same sandwich more than once. This is the beauty of the sandwich and this is the case with any other sandwich I could have chosen like egg mayonnaise, chicken salad or the inimitable cheese and onion. This makes me ask if it is a pointless question? For some sandwich makers certainly. I'm sure they make their "perfect sandwich" the same way every time with the same ingredients which they purchased in the same shop. And so, it should be that way because that's their idea of perfection.
I, like countless others however, doubt whether I have ever made the same BLT (or other) twice. I have had hundreds of them in the past and enjoyed every one of them, some with mayonnaise, some with Dijon and many with both. But it’s not really the individual ingredients which play the important roll here, it is undoubtedly the magic that is made when they are combined. The taste sensation. The explosion in the mouth which has such resonance, where the next bite can't come soon enough. I hesitate to say perfect but for me the BLT is so delicious it's incomparable. The bread of choice on any particular BLT day, holds inside it, defined layers of the three main components which have been specially selected to cast the day's spell of deliciousness. They are a match made in heaven providing the equation has these three elements.
I must say then, that on reflection, the BLT is not what I consider to be the perfect sandwich but is in fact my FAVOURITE sandwich. There is no such thing as the perfect sandwich, it doesn't really exist. It's a myth. What there is though, is one ingredient, not available in that deli down the road or from the artisan food stall in the market which can make a sandwich perfect. And that ingredient is generosity. This is the simplest of all ingredients and can be added by anyone who chooses to make their favourite sandwich. It's more of a state of mind or a concept than anything else. If you imagine your favourite sandwich without the generosity it deserves, and the respect it should receive, it’s a certainty that you won’t have the pleasure from each bite that you should. My conclusion therefore must be, that if you are truly generous when you make your favourite sandwich, then it is going to be perfect.