Recommendation - Sandwich Ingredients

It seems that the variety of ingredients and ingredient combinations used in sandwich making is quite limited. Ham and cheese, chicken salad, BLT - these are all time tested favourites but I encourage questionning the ingredients that go into your sandwiches and coming up with new ways to make them more interesting, new ingredients that just work better, and new combinations that sound disgusting but taste phenomenal.

Salsa - I have no idea why salsa isn't used in sandwiches more often. It turns up at various fast food outlets quite often, most notably in the Chicken Legend, (a poor substitute for the sorely missed Chicken Premiere) but I receive incredulous looks when slathering it on a slice of spongy white. It is the perfect sandwich ingredient because:

• It's cheap
• It lasts forever in the fridge
• It goes well with anything that tastes good with tomato (i.e. everything, particularly chicken, cheese, ham or any mexican flavour combinations)
• It's spreadable (to a degree and depending on the chunk size)
• It doesn't make your bread go soggy like tomatoes do if you leave your sandwich in a fridge overnight/until lunchtime. 

Salsa often turns up in wraps but never sandwiches, which has always mystified me. I suppose it must be because of the Latin-American roots of the ingredient but I think that it could be considered as a full time alternative to fresh tomato in sandwiches, at least for your day to day needs. Fresh tomato, whilst delicious, is often troublesome in sandwiches - especially because of the above moisture factor. And so it should probably only be used if eating immediately, if toasting your sandwich, or if you are going for a particular cuisine style in your sandwich (e.g. greek). In terms of convenience, price and flavour, salsa is fantastic and shouldn't be reserved just for that occasional fajita, or to dip tortilla chips in.

Ham, cheese and pineapple - Or, more broadly, pizza toppings. Again, these probably work better if you intend to toast your sandwich (I'll address toasted vs non-toasted at a later date) but there is no reason to limit these flavour combinations to pizza. The classic hawaiian sandwich works well with either BBQ sauce, ketchup, or salsa acting as your pizza sauce (or canned pizza sauce also works very well), a couple of slices of ham, a pineapple ring (rather than chunks) and a generous helping of your choice of cheese. Put this all together and stick it under your grill/in your toasted sandwich maker and you'll be delighted with the results. Crunchy, sweet, cheesy and extremely satisfying. I suppose it is something similar to a calzone, but much easier to eat.

Once you get into the realms of mushrooms, peppers, bacon etc. a little more preparation is required as these ingredients require cooking before being added to your sandwich. It is certainly worth the effort. Imagine a sauted mushroom, crispy bacon and blue cheese toasted pizza-sandwich. Sounds good?

Fish fingers (fish sticks) and peanut butter - I spent a lot of time eating fish finger sandwiches at university. They were cheap, filling, and easy to make interesting with the addition a couple of condiments. I'm not sure if this is a practise that only takes place in England though I suspect that it may be. Only a society that puts hash browns in sandwiches would encourage such a practise.

Peanut butter and fish fingers sounds disgusting I know - I was dubious myself at first. These are two ingredients from entirely different realms of cuisine. One is a cheap, easy dinner solution, healthier and cheaper than 'real' fish and without any thought involved in preparation. The other is something that you put on your toast in the morning. If you think about it though, it's not that far from a fish satay...of sorts. I think it has to be crunchy peanut butter, rather than smooth, but I'm not a smooth peanut butter fan at the best of times. If you're in England, HP Fruity makes the perfect accompaniment, and cheese is (always) an option. I haven't found a suitable alternative here in Canada but my search continues. Try it, love it, thank me later.

More ingredient ideas another time. If you have any of your own, please share them with me and I will definitely try them out.