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How do you make the perfect ham sandwich?

A ham sandwich sounds really, really good right now...How do y'all make yours? Share your secrets :)

what kind of ham? thickness of slices?
your bread of choice?
what kind of cheese, if any?
condiments?
other addtional extras..like veggies?
hot or cold?

What are your ham sandwich specs?

41 Comments:

Plain and simple: Toasted white bread, slathered with real mayonnaise, tiny dab of yellow mustard. Three slices of Danish ham, rolled up, two leaves iceberg, three slices roma tomato. Sprinkle of sea salt, grind of black pepper. Cut in half diagonally, Zapp's Original Flavor chips on the side.

@hungryinhouston thread should end right now! That is it. Couldn't have said it any better!! :) Now I must have one in the next 15 minutes.

Honey baked ham with bits of the sugar coating crumbled up on the top, mayo on both pieces of the white bread, salt and pepper, sliced tomato, lettuce. BBQ potato chips and sweet pickles on the side.

When we were first married we ate a lot of spaghetti and used to buy Ripple to drink with it by the light of the candle dripped all over the chianti bottle. We couldn't afford chianti often but the Ripple in the screw top bottle made us feel grown up. Now, 40 years later, even the priciest wine doesn't bring with it the feeling of freedom we had then.

Growing up we didn't have a lot of money and my dad LOVED ham. Thankfully it was cheap and ham sandwiches or slices of ham and eggs were common meals in my house. The problem was that we would purchase super cheap ham from the corner liquor store. You know the kind; you sometimes bite into a piece of tough, rubbery cartilage (or whatever it is). Because of that I've kind of developed an aversion to ham. If I do, by chance, eat a ham sandwich, it's basically a grilled cheese with some leftover honey baked ham that I've microwaved before sticking in the grilled cheese.

Fresh Italian/white bread, thinly sliced black forest ham, Havarti cheese, mayo and a little wasabi mustard. Maybe lettuce, maybe not.

Pumpernickel bread, mayo & smidge of brown mustard on bottom slice, country ham, swiss cheese, crisp lettuce, summer tomato slice, mayo, top slice.

Also good on a snowflake roll or hoagie roll.

For panini, could be on ciabatta bread and skip the lettuce.

Doesn't quite top a grilled reuben, but close! Gotta buy a ham!

Boar's Head ham - sliced thinly, about two or three slices, almost any type of bread, preferably Pepperidge Farm 15 Grain Bread, and honey mustard.

The perfect ham sandwich is an hour or two after Thanksgiving dinner. Two slices of ubersoft white bread, mayo, generously lay on the ham.
Mmmm. We kids (all grown up now) still remind someone to make sure there is a fresh loaf of white bread and mayo at Thanksgiving for all night noshing during football, poker and games.

Every other time of year, I like thinly sliced black forest or honey baked ham on any kind of bread I have, lightly toasted. Mayo and dijon, over medium egg, slice of cheese sometimes, some greens, tomato, black pepper. Sliced in half.

When I'm feeling up to making it, Croque Madame, really really hits the spot.

I'm afraid I'm with Pumpkin Bear--ham is a bit of a horror food with me, meatiness of it aside. My method would be to: 1. Take croissant. 2. spread lightly with mayo or avocado 3. put on crunchy arugula, sliced tomato, Swiss cheese, and ham. 4. Remove ham and give to dog. 5. Eat.

Since there are no decent delis here in the Midwest...what's the best brand & kind of ham for a sandwich...short of using left-over baked ham? I read one recommendation for Boar's Head. When you shop for ham-sandwich-type-ham, what do you prefer?

Not sure why my Ripple thing ended up here when I posted it to the ghetto drinks thread...but there you are :)

OK...so publix has this ham that's like $5.50 a pound, and super great...it's usually listed as "publix sweet ham," or something, and not on display(they keep it in the back at all times, though)....so, that, on ciabatta from Cafe Louisa(coffee shop across town), and mayo.

simple.

smoked ham-hand sliced, a generous, sloppy slather of horseradish mayo, a thick slice of summer tomato, freshly ground black pepper on ever-so-lightly-toasted peasant bread.

Where I live, the only kind of ham to eat is Isaly's (local) and it absolutely must be chipped. No slices, no hunks, just chipped. If you could gently peel away one actual chip slice, you could almost read a newspaper through it. That being said, you pile up the ham on squishy white bread slathered with Hellmann's mayo, thick slices of beefsteak tomato, kosher salt and black pepper. Cheese is optional, but if used, must be Land 'O Lakes American. Finally, serve with a huge, crispy kosher dill pickle. Mmmm! I'm heading to the kitchen right now :-)

Growing up there was a corner grocery store my mom worked at that used to baste their ham in Jolly Good brand cherry soda. It made the outsides blazing red, and super sweet. That, sliced thin on a not-too-bready potato roll with that Kraft "sandwich spread" (sort of like a thicker, more mayonnaisey thousand island dressing) - taken as a picnic lunch to the zoo, with grapes on the side - was the best meal I could imagine as a kid.

jambon du parme, sliced very thin, sweet butter spread thick, on a crusty baguette, with a cornichon.

Open face, rye or pumpernickel bread. thin layer of butter, several very thinly sliced slices of ham, whole grain mustard. And a gherkin on the side.

you dont. ham is gross.. all texture like fleshy butt cheeks.

sliced or diced ham, good cheddar, a bit of shallot, mayo and Dijon all mixed up, spread on a baguette and baked till golden and bubbly. mmmmm.

Okay, please don't kick me off the site....

Wal-Mart (shudder) carries a brand of ham called Ol' Farmer's. It runs about $4.50 a pound. Of course, it's not nearly as good as Boar's Head, but if I need to buy several pounds to take on a camping trip or feed a big group, that's where I go. It's from a whole ham -- not chopped and pressed -- and the flavor and texture are wonderful.

Oh, yeah, my favorite ham sandwich:

Ham sliced not too thin, not too thick (can't see through it). Brown it a little in a hot pan, then add it to the middle of a prepped-for-grilling cheese sandwich. Cheddar cheese, thick-sliced white bread coated with butter. I sometimes add a little mustard on the ham.

Grill until very brown and crispy. Serve with crunchy pickle spears and salt-and-pepper kettle chips. Heaven!

I like mine simple - hot ham and cheese with pickles please!

Basically a grilled cheese with mustard, lotsa layers of ham and sour pickles - buttered and browned to perfection. One of my favorite quick fixes when I'm hungry.

@editmom: make it sourdough, with a side of horseradish sauce for dipping and I am with you! (you can have the pickles)

Hot - I like a thick ham slice, fried with brown sugar and mayo on white bread..

Cold - a couple of thinner slices, mayo, sweet pickles, on white bread..

warm toasted bread, a good spread of butter, fresh from the garden tomatoes, salt & pepper, then the ham.

(the butter is because when i was younger i hated mayonaise, and now its just a habit. and delicious )

crap. now i want a sandwich. i was totally going to eat a salad for lunch.

I did not bring lunch today...I think I know what I want now.

My fave (aside from a mix of editmom and carey-but I want thin sliced please) is:

Rye, Marble Rye, Pumpernickel, or Sourdough bread
Butter on both pieces of bread (edge to edge)
Spicy Brown Mustard or Whole Grain Mustard (edge to edge)
Thin sliced Boar's Head or Dietz & Watson Honey Ham (2 or 3 slices)
Provolone or Sharp Cheddar (2 and 1/2 slices-both pieces of bread must be covered with cheese)
Romaine Lettuce
Sea Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper

Sooo very good. :)

You all are evil. My cereal does not AT ALL taste like a ham sandwich. :-(
Honey or brown sugar or smoked, just not that "boiled" ham with the jelly that comes in a can and goes "sccccchhhhhhllllummmmp" onto the counter, sliced nice and thin on Russian rye or pumpernickel with cheddar cheese, spicy mustard, a few leaves of greenery and some creamy cole slaw.

Want it now. Don't have any ham. Whine.

Ham, American Cheese and lots of Miracle Whip on a sub roll, dinner roll, whole wheat, rye or 9-grain bread.

I don't care what you think. I love Miracle Whip.

best ham sandwich I ever had was at le sandwicherie in south beach, FL. Start with a baguette, add honey ham, brie, theeee freshest tomatoes, lettuce, and a dijon vinaigrette. I dream about this sandwich...

Boar's Head imported sliced paper thin, New Yorker American, Gulden's spice mustard, jewish rye.(jewish pickle sliced on top).

Good Lord, I have seen so many of those hams described by Scarletini (btw, nice spelling of the sound efx of ham coming out of the can) ...we splurged one year and bought a spiral-sliced ham for Easter, it came in a red foil/plastic bag covered with the nylon net, and a packet of their own brown-sugar glaze omg it was the best for leftovers on Polish Babka, with unsweetened soft butter, and red horseradish, a great combo especially the raisins sweetness clashing with the beet horseradish.

but supermarket deli "store-brand" rectangular ham >shudder

To me, the BLT is the perfect sandwich. Two slices of toasted white bread, thick slice of home-grown Beefmaster tomato, crisp (almost burnt) slices of bacon, leaves of home-grown lettuce, slight smear of Miracle Whip, and a light sprinkle of salt.

@mspen: Ooooh, Babka. Baked honey ham on cheese Babka with a bit of salty butter. *muststopthinkingaboutHAM*

Cybercita, yes yes yes on the baguette. Thin slices of leftover honeybaked, a shmear of very ripe brie, sliced cornichons and maybe just a little shmear of spicy mustard.

Scarletini, where do I find this cheese babka of which you speak!

Honeybaked spiral sliced ham on my local grocery store's bakery sandwich rolls, Trader Joe's sharp cheddar slices, thinly sliced sweet yellow onion, homegrown Cherokee Purple tomatoes, Vlassic sandwich stackers, Best Foods mayo and Plochman's grainy mustard. Heaven! But you have to put the ham and cheese on opposite sides of the roll, which is spread with the mustard and mayo, then the other stuff in the middle. Otherwise, the bread gets soaked through with the tomato and pickle juices. It's still good, it's just really messy once the bread fails.

@maered: my aunt always orders it from our local bakery for Easter. I'll ask her if she can get it any time of year or if they only make it in the spring.

Split sandwich side English muffin and toast in toaster oven, very lightly.

When bell rings, take out English muffin halves and top with a couple of slices of Boars Head ham, sliced very thin.

Layer on a half-slice of Land O'Lakes yellow American on top. Place back on rack.

Set toaster on high heat or on broil until cheese is bubbly and melted and ham is all crispy and brown on edges.

Remove to plate. Bring plate to couch and settle yourself down in front of some late-night TV. Consume. Grin. Yum.

I like Ham salad too. A local butcher shop is also a deli and they have great lunchmeats and salads, etc. Ham salad from there is so good. Toast the bread, spread honey mustard, cheese, and ham salad. MMmm. I want some. Now.

The best ham sandwich is in Paris -- a fresh, crusty baguette, a smear of Normandy butter with fleur de sel, and a couple of slices of jambon de Bayonne. There is nothing more elemental and delicious and sadly, hard to replicate in the US.

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