By Christopher Hirsheimer
(originally published as "A Messy Little Secret" in the July/August 1999 issue (No. 36) of SAVEUR magazine)
My summer sandwich is kind of a private thing. It's messy - and who wants to own up to using both butter and mayo? But if you're ever home alone one hot afternoon, try this: Thickly slice a really ripe tomato. (Big, red-blue beefsteaks are best - all flesh and juice, with not too many seeds.) Butter two thin slices of good toast, slather a thick layer of mayonnaise on both pieces, then lay on two or three tomato slices and season with a generous sprinkle of salt, the tiniest pinch of sugar, and a few good grinds of black pepper. Roll up your sleeves (or just take off your shirt), lean over the sink, and bite through the crisp buttered bread and creamy mayonnaise, and into the sweet taste of summer. Abandon yourself. And let the juice run down your arms.