ChefSteps

Supreme Sandwiches

Level up your lunch game.

The best thing since sliced bread? Stuffing ingredients between sliced bread to make a great sandwich.

Whether it’s a piled-high Reuben, a perfectly golden grilled cheese, or a killer Cubano, sandwiches are always, always the answer to the question: “What do I want to eat right now?”

We here at ChefSteps love sandwiches, and while we think all sandwiches can be good, we know all sandwiches aren’t great. And us, we’re in the business of helping you to make great sandwiches by giving you the tools to make everything yourself—from scratch.

Let’s make some sammies!

Make the Ultimate Bánh Mì

Arguably one of the greatest sandwiches in the world, a bánh mì is a marvel of textures and flavors. And the secret to making a great one is getting your hands on its signature crispy and fluffy bread. We have a recipe for it, of course! And it’s great! (Of course!) Check out our guide to getting everything else right—the bright and crunchy pickles, the creamy and rich pâté, the tender yet toothsome meat.

Build the Best Bánh Mì

Kraft the Perfect Melty Cheese

What’s this about making your own melty cheese? American cheese is the best melty sandwich cheese, yes? (Yes!) So why do we need any others? Because you want the best of both worlds: gooey meltability and bold aged cheese flavor. We had a melty cheese recipe that put the powers of melting salts to work, but a lot of our readers had issues getting great results with the original formulas. So, we’ve revisited, recalibrated, and updated our melty cheese recipe, adding a few more cheese variations and simplifying the process to processed cheese along the way. And even then, we weren’t done; we’ve plugged the results into a parametric for improved Velveeta data visualization.

Say Cheese

Got Milk Bread?

To make a great sandwich, you’ll need great bread. And shokupan, or Japanese milk bread, is the best soft sandwich bread around. We use the tangzhong method, along with a little neat starch science trick, in our shokupan to create a soft, pillowy loaf with rich dairy flavor and a satisfying chew. The dough is super versatile—roll into coils for a picture-perfect loaf, marble it with rye, or shape it into sandwich rolls. It’s a perfect vehicle for everything from deli meats to egg salad to grilled cheese. And it makes the best French toast!

Shokupan Showtime

We’re Loving It

Say what you will about the Golden Arches, they know how to craft some craveable sandwiches. Case in point: the elusive McRib. The world goes nuts for the weird rib-like sandwich-like thing, and we aren’t immune to its barbecue-ish charms. So nuts in fact that we made a better one entirely from scratch—the bread, the “rib” patty, the sauce, the pickles—and wrote everything down. (For you, yeah, but for us, too.)

No Bones About It