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The Perfect Crisp Sandwich

Time: 2

Servings: 1

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Let’s face it, who doesn’t like a crisp sandwich?

For our cousins across the pond, we mean potato chips.

Celebrating Heritage British Food & Cooking

But for the perfect crisp sandwich where do you start? Do you use your favourite loaf from the local bakers, and which flavour crisps for the filling? Should the crisps be plain or wrinkled? Do you use butter or a different spread?

Don’t panic! We will consider all the options and come up with my guide to making the perfect crisp sandwich.

Which Bread For Your Sandwich?

Do you like that crunch as you bite through your perfectly toasted bread, the sensation of fresh crusty bread with that light and fluffy centre, or even the standard bulk-produced sliced white loaf?

Regardless of your choice of bread, be aware that it will affect your perception of the bit in the middle. Do you want the bread to stand out or to complement the filling? It can even be relegated to the role of a means of getting the filling from the plate to the mouth rather like a pitta or a wrap.

loaves of artisan bread — What bread will you choose?

There are so many high-quality artisan breads available on the high street and in markets now we are spoilt for choice. With modern home bread makers, baking your own is easier than ever.

So choose your bread with care, after all, it’s two-thirds of your sandwich.

To Toast or Not to Toast?

Some sandwiches are definitely suited to toast, the Scandinavian open sandwich being a good example. Some like egg and mayonnaise or any filling that would make the toast soggy are, in my opinion definitely not.

bread slices toasted to different degrees — How do you like yours?

In our house opinion is divided. Me, I’m for fresh crusty bread, my wife definitely prefered toast.

Touting for opinions around the family, it seems that in general toast is preferred for hot fillings like sausages or bacon and untoasted for cold fillings.

The reason for my preference is really quite simple; I like sauces in my sandwiches and bread soaks up the sauce better than toast. QED.

Which Flavour Crisps?

You can put pretty much any flavour of crisp in a sandwich but some are definitely better than others and some should be avoided completely.

My flavour of choice is the classic cheese and onion every time. And they have to be Walkers cheese and onion.

An opened bag of Walkers cheese and onion crisps on a wooden worktop.

I’m old enough to remember when Walkers crisps started appearing in UK shops and they were a huge improvement on what we Brits had before which were fairly bland.

Does anyone else remember the original Smiths “Salt and Shake” plain crisps with the little blue salt sachet inside?

An empty bag of the original Smiths salt and shake crisps.

They started selling them in the 1920s and you can still buy them today.

You can’t beat a tasty cheese and onion crisp and Walkers ones are just bursting with flavour.

CrispsIN or CrispsOUT?

Then of course there is the whole debate about whether or not you should put crisps in a sandwich in the first place! Don’t even get me started on that one.

This YouTube clip explains the whole dilemma a lot better than I could and features some very notable people giving their opinions.

Don’t’s

There are some things you should definitely avoid when constructing a crisp sandwich:

Flavours to avoid include Marmite, Worcester sauce, pickled onion and tomato ketchup. For me, they just don’t work.
DO NOT under any circumstances crush the crisp sandwich before serving. Part of the experience is the satisfying crunch as you press the sandwich flat so you can get it in your mouth. You would deprive the diner of this vital sensation.
Slice in half not in triangles, the crisps fall out of the pointy ends otherwise.

Metro UK Crisp Sandwich Survey

In April 2021 the UK Metro newspaper published the results of a survey of 2000 Brits commisioned by Walkers to find out about the ultimate crisp sandwich.

A tower of three crisps sandwiches of a wooden board.

Simply, the ultimate crisp sandwich should be made with white sliced bread, cheese and ready salted crisps.

They found we Brits typically eat 35 crisp sandwiches each per year, that amounts to two billion annually.

31% favoured the combination of a cheese filling and ready salted crisps, followed by a cheese filling and cheese and onion crisps favoured by (29%) and ham with ready salted (27%). Cheese with pickled onion crisps, one of mine to avoid, came in fourth with 19%.

Crisps IN were favoured by 27%, while 34% opted for OUT. Which begs the question, what do the the remaining 39% do with their crisps?

In the survey 39% insisted on sliced white bread cut into rectangles (47%).

standard sliced white load on a bread board — Picture: Getty Images

27% said crisp sandwiches make them feel nostalgic, nearly 90% said crisps improve the texture and flavour and around 30% said it made lunch more exciting.

All this talk about crisp sandwiches has made me hungry so I’m off to make one for myself.

Here’s the Recipe …