“A beloved heap of oozing awesomeness”: The recipe for Anthony Bourdain’s favourite sandwich
“Your body is not a temple; it’s an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.” That’s Anthony Bourdain’s advice. While some chefs advocate for health, expensive or fancy ingredients or strict skill, this beloved figure advocated for nothing but enjoyment, knowing that food is one of the most important things in human life, playing a vital role in cultures, relationships and connecting. In Bourdain’s view, food doesn’t need to be elaborate; it just needs to be enjoyable, and this humble sandwich always did the trick.
So often, chefs will talk up a restaurant for being mindblowing but make it so only the top percentage could even think about affording it. Or, they’ll share recipes claiming they’re easy but then include something like saffron or caviar in there or use technical terms that only a culinary expert could grasp. The reason why Bourdain is such a beloved figure and why his legacy is so enduring is because he defied all of that. He was approachable and relatable, and he wanted to make food more accessible while still honouring the huge and deeply impactful role it plays in the world.
Through his TV shows and travels, Bourdain would wander the globe, sharing a table with important figures and tasting some of the world’s favourite dishes. But at the end of the day, he was a person just like any of us, with his likes and dislikes, his home comforts and his favourite things. But unlike other chefs who might push for people to reject those safe and familiar meals in favour of something more extravagant, Bourdain encouraged people to enjoy the beauty of simplicity.
“Good food is very often, even most often, simple food,” he wrote in his book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. The book was his first nonfiction attempt, acting as a memoir of his life so far, which he spent travelling the world eating and working in some of the globe’s most respected restaurants. But even with all that high-brow experience, Bourdain found that the basics were often the best.
He proves that point perfectly with this sandwich, his favourite sandwich, which features only four ingredients in a standard bun. It’s nothing fancy, requires nothing too prices and would take moments to make, but again and again, that’s what Bourdain wanted. With the culinary world at his finger tips, he still found himself going back to basics with this sandwich inspired by his travels to Brazil and Bar do Mané, an iconic sandwich shop there.
How to make Anthony Bourdain’s favourite sandwich
“A sandwich is a beautiful thing—one of the great innovations of modern history. It freed us from the tyranny of the plate, the table, the knife and fork. Between two slices of bread exist near-limitless possibilities for deliciousness,” Bourdain wrote in Appetites alongside the recipe for this sandwich. Called simply a “mortadella and cheese sandwich”, that’s exactly what it is.
Whack a hefty amount of mortadella on the grill and cook it until seared. While doing that, warm sourdough bread or a Kaiser bun lightly on the grill, too. Then, swipe mayonnaise and Dijon mustard onto the bread, add the meat, and add a couple of slices of provolone cheese. Let the cheese melt, and as per his instructions, serve with a cold beer.
Described by Bourdain as “a beloved heap of oozing awesomeness”, it’s simple, delicious, and if it’s good enough for the legendary chef, it’s good enough for us.
