There are, as I’ve said before, essentially 2 kinds of sandwiches. One type of sandwich is filling-focused, a specific ingredient or combination of ingredients enclosed in bread–a BLT, for example, or pulled pork, or chicken salad. You can argue over which is the correct bread for such a sandwich, but a tuna melt is a tuna melt whether it’s served on rye or wheat or white bread or even a hamburger bun.

The second type is bread-focused, and often named after the exact kind of bread the sandwich is served in. A hero, a hoagie, the Maltese ftira or the Beef on Weck of Buffalo. There may still be a particular ingredient or set of ingredients required for the sandwich to be correct, but without that specific bread, it is not that specific sandwich. A great sandwich starts after all not with great bread, but with the right bread, adorned with quality ingredients.