Lately I've been making this sandwich over and over again. I don't know why. It's nothing that unusual: ham, bread, sometimes cheese. I've made it with the shrink-wrapped lunchmeat from my corner bodega; I've made it with thinly sliced Bayonne ham from the charcuterie.
The secret is in this invention I've taken to calling pickle butter. I don't think I invented it; I think I read about it somewhere. But it's sort of transformed the way I make a ham sandwich.
Usually, I put mayo on a sandwich. And I stand by this principle when making turkey. There's nothing like the tang of mayo against a mild turkey breast, complemented with sweet sliced tomato and crunchy lettuce, perhaps even an avocado to lend richness.
But the taste of ham is distinct enough that you start simplifying.
Pickles go with ham. Cornichons, the little French pickles, go even better (Though they look similar, these taste nothing like the little gherkin pickles you mostly find in American supermarkets, which are sour and sugary and don't appeal much. The French seem to flavor them differently. Since "cornichon" is French for "gherkin", buy anything with that name.)
But pickles don't do very well on a sandwich, and cornichons do even worse. They're not designed for sandwiches; they won't stay in.
Enter pickle butter. You take a few tablespoons of unsalted butter and mix it in a small bowl until softened. This is called "creaming" the butter. One that's done, you throw in some minced chives, salt, and lots of freshly ground black pepper. And as many minced cornichons as the butter can bear.
The result gets painted on the bread--ideally, a baguette--and stays there. Ham layered on top, cheese if you wish. Then, the bread.
It's like a charcuterie plate--rich, salty meat; toothsome, chewy bread; and the piquant palate cleanser pickle--transplanted onto a sandwich.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you so much for this post! I live in a rural part of Alaska, and one can't always count on finding stores or restaurants when traversing about the tundra. One counts, in fact, on not finding them. In addition to simple survival matters, it never hurts to have a few spare snacks in your pack just in case you come across the unfortunate soul that doesn't. Sandwiches seem to be the easiest to pack, and with the right match of ingredients they can taste even better for being smooshed. Plus, they seem to be the snack most likely to be accepted by strangers. And so we've been packing lots of sandwiches. I was thinking about switching to the European style of sandwiches – with butter – in hopes that a smooth layer of it would keep the bread from getting soggy. Or even less soggy. And then I saw this post. I'm quite delighted to say that the butter trick does actually work! and the pickle-butter trick was delicious! Absolutely scrumptious. It reminded me of being a backpacking college student, and my significant of the sandwiches his grandmother would make when he came in from a hard morning's work of de-tassling corn.
And this is how your pickle-butter ham sandwiches joined up with hardboiled eggs, banana cookies, a can of tuna, some bottles of water, and dried fruit to be our tundra traversing stand-byes.
Delicious!
holy crap, you're a friggin' genius!!!! My favorite thing in the entire world is to go to Europe (well, that's probably everybody's favorite thing, but…) and eat breakfast.
No on thinks you're weird in Europe if you eat ham with butter and pickles on freshly baked bread for breakfast, and I LOVE that!
I always try to recreate it here, but, you're right, the pickles roll right off.
Pickle butter! *shakes head* Why didn't I think of that. This is probably you're million dollar moment
Aileen: I love getting comments like yours, from cool people who live in amazing places and talk casually of "traversing the tundra." Banana cookies? Would you email the recipe for that?
Ann: The idea was born out of necessity: it's all I had in the fridge one weekend morning. I wish you many future successes with pickles on your sandwiches, never falling out.
What a great idea! Actually, I like pickles on all kinds of cheese sandwiches–especially grilled.