On Our Days Off: Farmer's Market Ham Sandwiches

On Our Days Off:  Recipes, Travel, Food Experiments, and More from the RRRM Staff.

Our question was a simple one:  can the humble ham sandwich, staple of lunch counters everywhere, be transformed into an elaborate localvore delight?  With a little help from the Dane County Farmers' Market we were able to come to a conclusive "yes."

Rules of the game were:  basic ham sandwich, no eyebrow-raising pairings or elaborate concepts.  Dead pig, bread, and some diner-friendly toppings.  A winning sandwich would have the taste of ham, but also of intriguing, taste-bud-friendly layers and spreads, each one distinct yet harmonizing on the tongue.  Simple, right?

The finished, winning product that got our unanimous thumbs-up looked like this:

• Bone-in smoked ham from Jordandal Farms, glazed with blackstrap molasses and cayenne pepper and oven-roasted the day before. 

• Brick cheese (nice and milk-fatty) from Hook's Cheese.

• Heirloom tomatoes (our favorite was the "Paul Robeson" variety) from Luna Circle Farm.

• "Spicy Salad Mix" (bagged already mixed) from the Gitto Family Farm.

• Russian Black Bread from Stella's Bakery.  We bought the round loaf and sliced it ourselves; the pre-sliced loaf didn't have nearly big enough slices for a proper sandwich.

• Mustards and sauces were to taste.  I'll swear by some sweet and tangy mustard from East Shore (a Wisconsin company but not a farmer's market vendor), but others kept it purely DCFM by going "naked."  Up to you.

The key to the champion sandwich was stacking:  everything sliced thin except the bread (good, thick chunks of the molassesy black bread were key) and layered multiple times.  A little salad right up against the bread, then a layer of ham, then tomato, then cheese, then repeat a couple times.  We stopped just short of club-sandwich height, deciding against a third slice of bread in the middle.  The result was flavors that stood out but mixed themselves in your mouth, instead of piling up in big lumps on the tongue.

What really sold us on this make-your-own-sandwich farmer's market luncheon was portion control.  Big, hungry guys can take their slices out of the middle of the round loaf; ladies can cut closer to the ends.  A single layer of each filling makes a dainty luncheonette plate; three or four gets you a Dagwood.

We'll have more of these off-day experiments to share, but for right now in the heat of the summer we're signing off with this message:  the best ham sandwich in town is waiting for you at the Dane County Farmer's Market.

You just have to assemble it yourself.