10x Tips from chefs for the most delicious sandwiches

Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the gourmands at online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat it and what to cook. This time our cheffies serve you: 10x tips from chefs for the most delicious sandwiches.

We love a good sandwich, whether it's made with love by a (lunch) cook or if we dive into the kitchen ourselves for some serious spreading and stacking. It gets even better when chefs share tips on how to make a chef-worthy sandwich at home.

Because yes, it can be as simple as spreading a layer of the best butter on a slice of sourdough bread and placing some slices of delicious Dutch cheese on top, but look, there you have it: there's already quite a bit of attention in it. Good butter, bread that doesn't have a ten-centimeter-long ingredient sticker, and cheese with flavor. You can make something amazing even from a simple sandwich. And are you in the mood for a next level sandwich? Then follow these tips from chefs around the world.

Toast one side
If you only toast one side of a thick slice of bread (in a frying pan) and then place the filling on the crispy side, your sandwich won't get soggy but you'll still have a nice soft exterior and mouthfeel, says Thai Dang, who is a chef in Chicago. According to him, it also creates an interesting texture.

Mix sweet and savory
Did you used to only put something sweet on your bread after eating something savory? Now you're an adult and you can do whatever you want, and you can also combine sweet and savory. Emily Yuen from New York recommends trying a sandwich with egg, bacon, and jam (also try bacon jam), or putting a few slices of pear in your grilled cheese.

Give it weight
By the way, you make that grilled cheese extra delicious by placing something heavy on top in the pan. Ravinder Bhogal from London says it's the perfect combination of fat and carbohydrates; her favorites. Her tip is to start with good bread, heat a cast-iron pan, and generously butter the outside of the sandwich. Place it in the pan and put a weight on top (or a heavy smaller pan) so that the entire surface makes good contact and every millimeter becomes crispy and the cheese melts even better. Yum!

Spice it up
Maria Alkhalaf, also from London, almost always puts her bread, pitas, or tortillas in a hot pan with oil or butter before making sandwiches. Then she sprinkles them with spices: use za'atar, chili flakes, sumac, or whatever you like. Heating them releases the aromas and flavors of the spices. Garlic oil? Also a great idea.

Seek variety
Those pitas and tortillas fit nicely with the next tip from Matt Manning from Cape Town: try a completely different bread. Are you used to always taking a half loaf of Allinson from the supermarket? On your next walk, stop by a (different) bakery or specifically look for a bakery with special bread. For example, brioche bread, a sourdough baguette, or special Chinese buns from the freezer section of an Asian store.

Delicious sauces
Always place the ‘wet’ ingredients like tomato or cucumber in the middle (with some filling underneath and above), so the bread doesn't get soggy. And a good sandwich can't do without a tasty sauce, says Chanty Yen from Montreal. Favorite from FavorFlav? Sriracha mayo, as simple as it sounds: just stir a dollop of Sriracha into the mayonnaise.

When in doubt, spread pesto
According to Ada Parellada, a chef in Barcelona, almost everything gets better when you spread good Genovese pesto on it: warm sandwiches, cold ones, with vegetables, meat, or fish. And if you have nothing else, just bread, pesto, and some Parmesan cheese. By the way, it's not that all her sandwiches always taste like pesto, but it's her go-to when she really wants to be happy with a sandwich.

Upgrade your mayo
See, we're not the only ones: Peter Sanchez-Iglesias, who is a chef in London, swears by Kewpie mayonnaise on his sandwiches. And, he says, always season your sandwich with salt and pepper (which also definitely applies to a salad).

Spread your chances
At least, increase your chances of a tasty bite every time by evenly distributing all the ingredients for your sandwich. According to Brodie Meah from London, it's no secret that a good sandwich is about building interesting layers. But the real key to success is ‘organized stacking’, so that the ingredients are actually evenly distributed over the surface, so you never have a bite with just cucumber, for example.

Crispy craftsmanship
Saving the best for last? For James Cochran, chef-owner of 12:51 in London, it starts with top-quality bread, his sauces are ultra-important, and it's really interesting to play with textures. Right now, for him, it's all about crunchiness: putting (plain) chips on your sandwich is already quite known, but do as James does and crush some wasabi peas for extra kick and crunch between the fillings. Super fun experiment!