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When it comes to home cooking and entertaining, I trust Martha Stewart implicitly. There’s a reason she’s reigned as the queen of lifestyle expertise since the 1980s, and that’s because her taste—and her recipes—are consistently excellent. But I have to say, I was pretty skeptical about her favorite sandwich.
In a vintage clip from Martha Stewart Living shared to the icon’s Instagram account, Martha shares that her favorite sandwich filling is onions. She says the sandwich reminds her of her childhood, when she would stay up late playing games of Scrabble with her family. As someone who appreciates a nostalgic throwback, I had to give it a try myself, bad breath be damned.
Martha makes her favorite sandwich by spreading “sweet,” or unsalted, butter onto two slices of soft white bread. Then she layers on two slices of what she describes as a “pungent” white onion before showering the onion slices with salt and pepper. As I chopped the onion, and its strong-smelling scent began to fill my nostrils, I thought there was no way this sandwich could be good.
But as I began to assemble it, I had to admit that its sharp, savory smell piqued my interest. Taking the first bite, I can see why this sandwich stuck in Martha’s memory. The rich and creamy butter tamps down the sharpness of the onion, which is seasoned to perfection thanks to the salt and pepper. By the time I was finished eating, I was already thinking about assembling another.
Martha isn’t the only culinary pioneer who loves an onion sandwich. The legendary chef and cookbook author James Beard also has an iconic recipe for an onion sandwich, which is decidedly fancier than Martha’s thanks to the addition of fresh herbs and fleur de sel (French sea salt). They were a staple of his cooking in New York City from the 1930s onward, and Beard described the sandwiches as “one of the greatest treats I know” in his 1974 book Beard on Food.
And while I probably wouldn’t eat an onion sandwich on a first date, I do think Martha and James were on to something. I’m already thinking about adding slices of onion to the many (many) tomato sandwiches I eat during the summer, and I know I’ll find myself coming back to this onions-and-butter combo on days when I desperately need lunch, but the pantry is bare.
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Dining and Cooking