The Official Southern Tomato Sandwich Recipe We Love

It's hard to believe a tomato sandwich requires a recipe, but Southerners will fight over the smallest distinctions of sandwich details. What type of tomato? Salt only, or salt and pepper? What type of mayonnaise? Toast the bread or not? After consulting with many chefs, and our own taste buds, we finally settled on this classic tomato sandwich recipe. Feel free to riff on this as desired.

Official Tomato Sandwich Recipe

Makes one very tasty, drippy tomato sandwich.

Ingredients

1 large or 2 small garden fresh tomatoes (we prefer heirloom beefsteak varieties like the Cherokee Purple)

2 slices soft white bread

A lot of Duke's mayonnaise

Salt and pepper

Instructions

Lightly toast the bread, just to add faint color. Slice the tomatoes 1/4 inch thick and season both sides with salt and pepper. When bread is cool, spread both slices with a generous smear of Duke's (pretend you're making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich).

Stack the tomato 2-3 layers thick on bread and top with other side. Cut in half to serve.

To serve

A tomato sandwich is a sloppy mess to eat! Serve wrapped in paper or a napkin, or eat out in the backyard. Once you've mastered the basics, feel free to add your own twist - some Southerners add cheese, hot peppers or even onion.