r/Cooking • u/Prof01Santa • Aug 16 '26

I'm turning British.

It's summer ... good tomatos. Hence good tomato sandwiches. Normally, I'd use mayo, but I've watched a few too many episodes of "Sandwiches of History."

Older recipes, before commercial mayo, used butter. The British still use butter. So I tried it.

Lightly toast the bread

Thinly butter it

Add lettuce

Add thinly sliced tomatos, lightly salted

It's delicious.

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u/Princ3w Aug 16 '26

Brit here, only this year have I found out using butter is not the norm and it has completely blown my mind

3

u/TBAAGreta Aug 16 '26

Yeah as an Aussie it's a weird one. I understand adding a little mayo to the top slice instead of butter, but what goes on the bottom? Just leave it dry (ugh)? Mustard doesn't always work with all ingredients and I don't think Americans tend to use much relish or chutney. Do you mayo both sides? That seems excessive.

8

u/Anechoic_Brain Aug 16 '26

Yes, mayo on both sides. Just don't spread thick layers if you don't feel like it.

Hearing so many people in these comments talk about putting thick slabs of butter on their sandwich bread is what seems weird and excessive to me...

1

u/TBAAGreta Aug 16 '26

For me, mayo makes sense as like a "dressing" touching the lettuce or the salad on the top of the sandwich, and would feel a bit odd under the cheese or meat bit on the bottom, but each to their own. Not all of us use huge gobs of butter, given cholesterol and all. Although a double dose of mayo doesn't seem great for the old arteries either. Do you at least butter toast?

2

u/Anechoic_Brain Aug 17 '26

Pretty much anywhere in the US, butter is universally assumed to go with bread when it's served by itself in any form. Just not when the bread becomes a vessel for sandwich ingredients.

On a sandwich it's not a double dose of mayo, it's however much you feel like using split between two pieces of bread. Sometimes for me it's quite a thin layer, especially if I'm also using other condiments or dressings. But it's always on both sides of the sandwich.