When John Montagu – the fourth Earl of Sandwich – first slapped a bit of cold meat between two slices of bread in in mid-1700s, he surely couldn't have known that he was inadvertently entering his name into gastronomic history. According to legend, the eponymous inventor of the sandwich was a compulsive gambler, and used to sustain his twenty-four-hour gambling binges by placing cold beef between slices of bread so he could eat whilst playing cards. Whether he invented the sandwich at all is up for debate, but either way, the sandwich has become a real workhorse in our daily diet.
Thankfully, sandwiches have come a long way since John Montagu's gambling days, despite what you might think of the squidgy prepackaged things from the supermarket we've all given into at lunch. Food cultures all over the world have their own riffs on the same theme, whether it's katsu sandwiches in Japan, bánh mìs in Vietnam, tramezzini in Venice, choripan in Argentina or countless others. It's clear the possibilities offered by two pieces of bread and a filling are practically endless.
Below are a few of our favourite sandwich recipes, courtesy of some of the UK's best chefs and food writers, but for even more ideas check out our sandwich collection in full.
