Hot Sandwiches

Appears in
Professional Cooking
Professional Cooking

By Wayne Gisslen

Published 2014

  • About

  1. Simple hot sandwiches consist of hot fillings, usually meats but sometimes fish, grilled vegetables, or other hot items, between two slices of bread or two halves of a roll. They may also contain items that are not hot, such as a slice of tomato or raw onion on a hamburger.

    Hamburgers and hot dogs and all their variations are the most popular hot sandwiches.

  2. Open-faced hot sandwiches are made by placing buttered or unbuttered bread on a serving plate, covering it with hot meat or other filling, and topping with a sauce, gravy, cheese, or other topping. Some versions are browned under the broiler before serving. This type of sandwich is eaten with a knife and fork.
  3. Grilled sandwiches, also called toasted sandwiches, are simple sandwiches buttered on the outside and browned on the griddle, in a hot oven, or in a panini grill (see sidebar). Sandwiches containing cheese are popular for grilling.
  4. Deep-fried sandwiches are made by dipping sandwiches in beaten egg and, sometimes, in bread crumbs, and then deep-frying. This type of sandwich is often cooked on a griddle or in a hot oven instead, as deep-frying makes it greasy.
  5. If wraps are classified as cold sandwiches, then hot burritos, quesadillas, and filled enchiladas could be considered hot sandwiches. Pizzas could be considered open-faced hot sandwiches, and we can define them as thin sheets of lean bread dough baked with a topping. In fact, one could classify any food made with a dough product filled or topped with another food product as a sandwich. Dough products, whether breads, puff pastry, tortillas, or egg roll skins, make useful and versatile bases or cases for foods, whether or not the result resembles something we might think of as a sandwich. Several of these items (enchiladas, quesadillas, and egg rolls) are considered in other chapters of this book. Pizzas are included in this chapter for convenience. The recipe gives the basic procedure for baking pizzas. For other flavors, vary the toppings as desired, using the same technique for baking.