We Asked Southern Chefs How They Make Their Tomato Sandwiches—And Learned New Tricks

If you've had a tomato sandwich in the height of summer in the South, then you know—and if you don't know, then the rumors are true: Nothing tastes better.

In its equilibrium, a good tomato sandwich is juicy and unctuous and appropriately messy, which is praise all-too-often reserved for hot sandwiches like cheesesteaks or patty melts. A perfect tomato sandwich can stop you in your tracks with just a few humble ingredients, no cooking required: mayonnaise, tomato, salt, and pepper.

"If you're going to stray away from making a tomato sandwich with more than only those four ingredients, any additional ingredients better be of the utmost importance," says Mason Hereford of Turkey & The Wolf in New Orleans. "I guess everything about a tomato sandwich is really freaking important."

Perhaps that's why the platonic ideal of a tomato sandwich is something that is always worth searching for. We talked to Southern chefs about how they take their tomato sandwiches, from the bread and the mayo to the seasoning, and we learned some new tricks for the picking—ripe off the vine.

Chef Tricks For The Best Tomato Sandwich

A Good Tomato

Depending on rainfall and weather factors of its growing sesaon, the natural acidity, sweetness, and juiciness of all tomatoes vary. At their peak, summer tomatoes have the best flavor if they haven't been refrigerated, which is often the case with grocery store tomatoes. So while any ol' tomato would do the trick, the chefs we talked to recommend selecting heirloom or, even better, "homegrown" tomatoes for optimum flavor:

• "My mom grows tomatoes. I'm always stoked to see them sitting on the windowsill over her kitchen sink if I'm lucky enough to make it home to visit her in Greenwood, Virginia in the summer. The perfect tomato sandwich, to me, is one with homegrown tomatoes. As Guy Clark sings, 'There's only two things that money can't buy, and that's true love and homegrown tomatoes.'" - Mason Hereford, Turkey & The Wolf, New Orleans, LA
• "When I was a child, I thought that there was such a tomato called homegrown tomatoes. I thought that was the name, because my grandmother and my mother mentioned it all the time and people would drop off homegrown tomatoes. When I went to the store I was like: Where are the homegrown tomatoes? In my world, that was a category. It’s all about the tomato: a tomato that has ripened naturally." - Carla Hall
  
  

Sliced Bread

As bookends of the sandwich, the bread has a lot of work to do. When tomatoes are well-seasoned with salt, they ooze a lot of juicy goodness. Mixed together with creamy mayo, it's an intoxicating and flavorful liquor that the bread must capture. While many chefs stick with classic fluffy white bread, others prefer sandwiching their tomatoes between toasted bread for some extra texture, and Michelle Wallace swears by a freshly baked buttermilk biscuit for an extra decadent "flavor bomb."

• “For me, it has to be white bread. I’m talking thick, Texas toast-style white bread so it’s gonna capture all those juices that tomato’s gonna give off after you put the salt in.” - Carla Hall
• "I do a tomato sandwich biscuit. A biscuit adds a buttery flavor bomb as a sandwich. You take a biscuit, slice it in half, and it's tomato sandwiched between bread-fueled, handheld goodness.” - Michelle Wallace, B'tween Sandwich Co., Houston, TX
• "I like a nice dark seeded bread, thick slice. I lather the bread in mayonnaise and grill the bread. Grill the bread!" - Chanah Willis, Last Call Baking Co., Birmingham, AL
• "I start with toasted bread—country sourdough or whole wheat—and a slick of homemade mayo on the inside of each slice." - Steven Satterfield, Miller Union, Atlanta, GA

Cream Cheese

Lest you think tomato sandwich purists would flinch at the idea, adding cream cheese to a tomato sandwich as a trick is more common than you think among Southern chefs and Mamas alike. A mixture of cream cheese, fresh herbs, and even mayo adds a little extra tangy flavor, but it also lends some heft to the sandwich, making it feel more like a full meal.

• "I like cream cheese, a little bit of mayo, Dijon, and herbs, like chives... There's just something about that richness and tang." - Michelle Wallace, B'tween Sandwich Co.
• "I know it's usually mayonnaise and tomatoes, but I like to [process] a little cream cheese, a garlic clove, green olives, dill, black pepper, and salt. Smother it on both sides of toasted brown seeded bread [before adding tomato.] It's good, and it's the power of a whipped cream cheese." - Chanah Willis, Last Call Baking Co.
  

Duke's Mayo

Something about the acidity of a homegrown tomato with the vinegar kick of Duke's mayonnaise is a match made in heaven, and you heard it here first: Even chefs who prefer Hellman's reach for Duke's when it comes to a tomato sandwich. It's as simple as that.

• "When you slather a generous layer of Duke’s Mayo on each slice, the tomato juice marries the mayo and makes its own dressing. The key for me is maximum contact between tomatoes and mayo. I stack the slices onto each other—about one tomato per sandwich—and position myself over a kitchen sink so I can catch all the juices as they run down my arm. I want a big thick, sloppy, juicy sandwich." - Cheetie Kumar, Ajja, Raleigh, NC
  
• "It’s all about the mayo. If you’re not gonna make your own, grab Duke’s. I don’t keep Duke’s [at home] and I have Hellman’s, but Duke’s has an acidity which is really great on tomatoes, because it’s vinegary.” - Carla Hall
• "I'd slather both of my uneven slices with lots of Duke's mayo and selfishly take the biggest, most beautiful still-warm-from-the-sun tomato slices (always peeled) from the bowl that my father had prepared. I'd finish it with generous pinches of salt, and a few grinds of pepper, and it was just perfect." - Patrick Evans, Marie Bette Cafe & Bakery, Charlottesville, VA
  

Greens, Herbs, And Spices

Once you've got your basic elements dialed in, there are a few herbs, greens, and spices that chefs have wholeheartedly approved for dressing things up further: red pepper flakes toasted up in hot oil with garlic to add a kick of heat, while fresh arugula can add some mild pepperiness. Basil, as always, is a classic for good reason.

• "I add arugula for a little pepperiness. I [also] take crushed red peppers, mix them with hot grapeseed oil and a clove of garlic, and drizzle that over the tomato slices. - Michelle Wallace, B'tween Sandwich Co.
  
• "Season thick tomato slices with coarse black pepper, sea salt, and a drizzle of [olive oil]. To assemble, stack the tomato slices, top with arugula and basil and press together and enjoy." - Steven Satterfield, Miller Union
• "The Turkey and the Wolf version has a ton of fresh basil leaves, fresh dill sprigs, sunflower seeds, and lemon juice between two thick buttered pieces of toasted white bread. We apply the ingredients to the sandwich in such excess that they give it a bit of playful irreverence, but at the same time, they're mostly bright refreshing ingredients, and they're working in harmony." - Mason Hereford, Turkey & The Wolf