I am a sandwich person. I LOVE them. Every kind.
The ham sandwich: classic, simple, maybe a bit overdone. But let me show you how to make the BEST ham sandwich ever.
The first and key ingredient to the best ham sandwich is a leftover spiral ham, preferably from an amazing Sunday dinner. Don't ask me why that matters, it just does. That thin stuff from the grocery store that comes in a Tupperware case will not do. You have to use spiral ham.
Take the delicious ham and fry it in a pan with just a little nob of butter. You could fry the ham without butter, but I've found that it adds a little bit of much needed moisture to the meat. Plus, you can never have too much butter. All you're really doing is warming the ham up because it's obviously already cooked, but take advantage of putting some sear on the slices while you're at it. A little burnt ends never hurt anybody.
You'll want to use buttered wheat toast for your bread (more butter, i know). Don't put too much ham on the sandwich, just a couple of slices, enough to cover the length of the bread and maybe a little extra. Proportions are important. I don't think a lot of sandwich places really understand that. There's either too much bread, or too much meat, or too much mayonnaise. I feel like if you specialize in sandwiches you should understand that, right? I once had a sandwich at a notable Provo bakery and they put a freaking pound of meat on my sandwich and half a can of mayo. More is not always better.
Finally, you'll want a proportionate amount of plain yellow mustard as a condiment. Now you may be thinking that putting butter on the bread and then mustard may sound weird, but it's not. Trust me. I can't explain it, it goes together so well. You get the butteryness of the bread, the tangy mustard, and the spicyness of the ham. It's incredible! I'm not much of a leftover guy, but this is one of my favorites.
It's laughable how easy this is. I know what you're thinking, "That's it, three steps?" I know, I know. Maybe this isn't even "blog worthy" but I've been eating a lot of these sandwiches this week and I had to share the joy my heart has been experiencing.
I learned this sandwich from my dad. Growing up he would make this for me on Sunday nights long after a delicious Sunday dinner. It was the type of sandwich we would eat while watching a football game or MacGyver or something.
I'm certain part of my love for this sandwich comes from just sharing it with my dad, but part of it is because this is pretty much a perfect sandwich. Give it a try.
