Sandwiches

Posted on 2003/02/06 24:58:01 (February 2003) by john.

Can pre-packaged sandwiches ever be any good?

I have a lot of work to get through today, so I thought I'd give a pre-packaged sandwich a go for lunch. I'm normally really strongly averted to this kind of thing, but thought, given that so many are produced, and therefore presumably so many are consumed, surely they can't be all that bad. Stopping at a Sainsbury's, after some careful browsing I selected "Dolcelatte Dressing and Honey Roasted Vegetables on Sundried Tomato Bread". It sounded good based on that description. I'm a big fan of Dolcelatte, and the rest of it sounded interesting. What's more it was part of Sainsbury's "Taste the Difference" range, so I was genuinely expecting a premium product that I would really enjoy.


It wasn't very nice.

Take it back! Bloody well take the package back to them and tell them that the thing was manky! Demand a refund! I love doing it since introduced to the concept by my housemate Angela. She takes everything back. It's fantastic. She took a bottle of flat, rancid, coke back to *lowers voice* ASDA once and they gave her another bottle of premium coke and a full refund. It was great... especially considering that she A: didn't have a receipt and B: had originally bought it from Iceland.

Posted by Rusty at 2003/02/06 13:43:03.

Sandwiches are always dreadful. At least the veggie ones are. Don't bother.

Posted by rowanboy at 2003/02/06 16:26:07.

How would I improve it? There was a chemically taste, possibly some kind of preservative. This really helped to spoil it, and needs to be removed. The vegetables had all gone soft - I'd have chosen different vegetables to start with. Mushrooms would have been nice - they're fine to me if they're a tad on the soft side. Perhaps even carrots - something with a bit of bite would have been good. Or why don't they try being really adventurous - maybe some roasted celeriac. The lettuce they used was actually quite good, although a couple of leaves of rocket might have helped to liven it up. I'm not impressed by sundried tomato bread, at least not this particular one. Instead they ought to use a really high quality but fairly plain tasting bread. I'd like real crusts around the edges please. If they want to get some tomato in there, I'd suggest vine ripened cherry tomatoes, or perhaps baby plum tomatoes, which need to be very fresh. I doubt they used real butter. That would have helped. The cheese itself, well, as much as I like dolcelatte, I'm of the opinion a lot of the flavours in it are only exposed when it is cooked. I noticed from the ingredients list it isn't purely dolcelatte anyway - it's been cut with Philadelphia which I think it could do without. Something like a goat's cheese would have had a similar effect but would have worked a lot better. Perhaps this could have been pan seared first. Some olives in there might have been nice too. Perhaps a splash or two of balsamic vinegar to give it a bit of a kick.

But that's just of the top of my head...

Posted by John at 2003/02/06 16:36:13.

Were you forced to eat these sandwiches at gun point?

Posted by Rob Lang at 2003/02/07 10:39:22.

I quite like the mexican flatbreads they do at boots. Although not strictly a sandwich, it's in the same area. And it is vegetarian*. Which means it must be extra nice, for me to be willing to eat it despite the fact that it does not contain dead animals in it.

* The vegetarian who sits next to me eats them and I think they say vegetarian on them. The cheese probably gets made with larks vomit or something though.

Posted by Graf at 2003/02/07 10:57:15.

What are you getting at with "were you forced to eat these sandwiches at gun point" Rob?

Posted by John at 2003/02/07 13:07:02.

As an aside, I decided to make my own lunch today. I had two toasted bagels filled with grilled halloumi, tomatoes and black olives. They were very nice indeed.

Posted by John at 2003/02/07 13:08:07.

Andy, thanks for the tip. I shall investigate these. I do quite like the idea of wraps as opposed to evil triangle sandwiches, but usually they're all meaty when I look. Next time I'm passing a Boots I'll give these a go.

Posted by John at 2003/02/07 13:10:25.

Making your own sandwiches is the only way of assuring you get what you want. Especially if you're picky.

Posted by Rob Lang at 2003/02/07 15:30:12.

Bloody girly sandwiches! You want SpamTM! and Happy ShopperTM bread!

Posted by Rusty at 2003/02/07 15:35:47.

I have concrete in my sandwiches. Lurvly.

Posted by Rob Lang at 2003/02/07 15:40:22.

Try the orgaic shop up the road. They sell pre-made sarnies, but they taste brilliant! I especially like the "Roasted Vegetable" ones.

Posted by Jimmy at 2003/02/12 13:23:47.

Loony Limeys indeed. What of the Earl?

Posted by Right! at 2004/07/12 17:24:48.

Right! Loony Limeys indeed. And what of the Earl?

Posted by Smeadly at 2004/07/12 17:27:07.

For gods sake its a sandwich, whats all the fuss about?! Their never any good get over it!!

Posted by Me! at 2005/02/22 10:56:10.

Post a comment