Supporting Meat

Have you ever heard of supporting meats? Me neither.

I have recently been educated on this new class of lunchmeat.

Last week I was making lunch for D and I. Your basic sandwich. D has some annoying specific rules on how to make a sandwich correctly. I was aware of the cheese rule, but I had no idea that there were more…

According to D, there is a hierarchy to sandwiches.

Here’s how things went:

I laid out 4 slices of bread. 2 for D and 2 for me. Next up mayo. I like mayo and of course that goes directly on the bread, only because it’s more difficult to put on the meat itself. D on the other hand despises the stuff.

Cheese – here’s where the rules come in. For me I put 1 slice on either piece of bread. For D, 2 slices, always first before the meat, 1 on each piece of bread. Symmetry is important, you know.

Then some turkey followed by salami.

It is at this point I am distracted by a screaming the cutest child ever and D must take over sandwich patrol.

“You made this wrong.”

“How? I put the cheese on right.” (in a slightly defensive tone – I followed the rule)

“The meat is wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“The salami is the supporting meat.” (very matter-of-factly)

What is he talking about… (confused look)

“You put the salami in the middle.”

“So.”

“The turkey is the main meat and belongs in the middle.”

At this point D rearranges the sandwich to the “proper” order. Bread, cheese, salami on each side (can’t forget the symmetry) and then turkey in the middle. D goes on to explain the supporting vs. main meats naming a few examples of each. And how you cannot have a salami sandwich with turkey, it would be a turkey sandwich with salami. (I disagree of course) But a 2 supporting meat sandwich is apparently fine and a judgment call for the honor of the middle.

Really.

So the next time you make a sandwich, consider the hierarchy. D would appreciate it.

Do you have a specific way to make sandwiches?