When You're Short On Sandwich Bread, Look To Your Freezer
It's lunchtime, and you've decided to make yourself a quick sandwich to hold you over before dinner. You get your fillings out, you pour yourself a bowl of chips, and — wait, what's this? It seems that you're out of bread! Now, what are you going to do? Just as you can't make pizza without dough or s'mores without graham crackers, you can't build a sandwich without bread — or can you?
Although bread is the building block on which a sandwich is made, a few common household ingredients can be used as an easy and delicious substitute. Some may suggest the idea of "lettuce-wrapped" food, in which sandwich fillings such as meat and vegetables are wrapped up in a leaf of lettuce, but there are also other ideas floating around the internet. Banner Health lists a few ideas for healthy bread substitutions, ranging from using cheese slices to tortillas to bell pepper slices. BBC Good Food even recommends using rice paper wraps, if you're a fan of making dumplings or spring rolls at home. Even if you're not trying to cut carbs out of your diet, these still present some interesting options that may be worth trying.
If you're not a fan of wrapping your food in lettuce or rice paper, however, there's another common item that will serve just fine as a sandwich base in a pinch. In fact, you probably had it for breakfast, except it was covered in butter and syrup.
You can use frozen waffles as a quick substitute
Frozen waffles? You mean that box of Eggos in my freezer next to the frozen vegetables? While saying it at first may sound unconventional, considering waffles have long been a staple of the American breakfast, the use of waffles in place of bread on your sandwich has been around for a surprisingly long time.
According to AZ Central, the idea of the "waffle sandwich" has origins in France, where it was brought over to the United States by Thomas Jefferson in the 1700s. Today, some businesses even make a profit selling waffle sandwiches, such as Southern California-based restaurant chain Bruxie, which specializes in selling fried chicken sandwiches served with waffles, chili honey, and "cider slaw." Another such restaurant, SF Gate tells us, was a place in San Francisco called "Straw" that sold a chicken sandwich made with vanilla-scented waffles and raspberry jam.
But why exactly does a waffle work as a substitute for bread? Perhaps it's because waffles don't have much flavor on their own, much like white bread, and require toppings or fillings to give them flavor. If you were to put a plain waffle on your sandwich, be it peanut butter and jelly or ham and cheese, you wouldn't have to worry about the taste of the waffle affecting what you're eating.
There are ways you can customize your waffle, however, to add more flavor to your sandwich.
You can make waffles intended for sandwiches
While using frozen waffles for a sandwich isn't anything bad, you can actually make waffles that are specially intended for pairing with your sandwich of choice. These waffles can be either sweet or savory, depending on your taste. As The Washington Post details, you can easily make "Cheesy Waffles" using homemade waffle batter and shredded cheese. Simply prepare the waffle batter as you normally would, but add shredded cheese into the mixture before adding to the waffle iron. The waffles can then be served with cream cheese, ham, or turkey and broken into individual sandwiches.
Andrew Rea of "Binging with Babish" also has a unique idea for making waffles perfect for after a large turkey dinner. One can make "cheesy potato waffle" out of shredded cheese and leftover mashed potatoes, a waffle made of sweet potato mash, or stuffing. These waffles can be used to make turkey sandwiches or served on their own smothered in gravy and cranberry sauce. Another recipe from Babish details making a "fried chicken waffle," which includes pieces of chopped fried chicken, chicken skin, and grated Parmesan cheese. These can be served with maple whipped cream and hot honey syrup or, if you're feeling really crazy, used as part of a chicken sandwich.
The next time you're in the mood for a sandwich, maybe toast up some waffles first.