Unbreaded

Recreating the “Best Sandwich in the World”

Stroll down any street in downtown Barcelona and you will find at least one shop selling a variety of sandwiches or bocadillos as they are known. Typically the sandwiches are premade and stacked on top of one another in a display case.

I was studying there for six months and was not initially prepared for the local cuisine. The only bocadillo I liked was tortilla de patatas, which is essentially a potato pancake sandwich. Then I saw an article that convinced me to venture in to unchartered waters.

A year prior to my arrival, a New York Times writer proclaimed a bocadillo from a Café Vienna on Las Ramblas as the best sandwich in the world. Needless to say, this restaurant pounced on the praise and posted flyers and posters around the city and outside their location highlighting the article and luring in tourists and potential customers.

The sandwich is very straightforward to a typical American food critic. The flauta or bread is a long and crispy roll that is sliced in half. Fresh tomato is smothered on the bread in typical Catalan style to provide taste and moisture. The sole remaining ingredient is simply what makes this sandwich so darn special—jamón ibérico or Iberian ham.

If you think Italian prosciutto is tasty, you simply have never tried Spain’s jamón ibérico. The reason for this is most likely because the United States did not allow the importation of the cured meat until 2008.

When I returned home to the states, I didn’t realize how much I liked and missed that little sandwich until I could no longer get it. Then, while strolling through Di Bruno Bros one day, I saw the prized ham.

In fact, they offered two versions of the pata negra (black hoof pig) ham, one at $99.99/lb and another at $129.99/lb. I selected the cheaper of the two, bought a fresh tomato and grabbed a fresh baked roll that looked as close to the original from Barcelona.

The finished product was absolutely delicious, immediately bringing my palate back to spring 2007. The ham has a complex taste that will leave you trying to compare it with previous foods you have tried until you realize there is simply nothing like it in the world. Admittedly, the bread was not on par with the bocadillos offered at Café Vienna and throughout Barcelona, but Philadelphia knows bread.

I made an additional small sandwich on a seeded roll from Sarcone’s Bakery and loved it. Combining ingredients that are among the best from North America and Europe respectively, I think that South Philly’s version of the flauta d’ibéric is even better than the original.

I recommend any sandwich lover head on down to the Italian Market and get the right ingredients and make yourself a truly delectable sandwich. Although the meat is expensive, you really do not need much to appreciate the flavor.

Ingredients:

• – Sarcone’s Bakery long seeded roll
• – Olive oil
• – Fresh Tomato
• – Jamón ibérico