Eating Like An Earl - Talking Time's Top Sandwiches

[Daikaiju]

But then what's the Mario (and others)?

I'd say it's the Hamburger

 

[Alex]

I grill a mean cheese myself. One time I grilled a peanut butter and jelly! My son loved it.

 

[Torzelbaum]

Alex : lean mean sandwich grilling machine.

 

[Torzelbaum]

How often do bacon and egg show up across the list?

Excellent question. Here's how many times different ingredients appeared in the 248 sandwiches that we all selected.

(Egg had 17 appearances and bacon had 15. "Breakfast" had 3 so adjust that as you see fit.)

Ingredient	Count
sandwich bread*	58
cheese	51
long bread	50
hamburger bun	36
onion	25
other stuff	24
tomato	20
turkey	19
egg	17
hamburger patty	17
some type of bread	17
bacon	15
ham	15
mustard	13
peanut butter	13
Swiss cheese	13
chicken	12
lettuce	12
pork	12
flatbread	10
hot dog	10
mayonnaise	10
roast beef	9
rye bread	9
hot dog bun	8
pita	8
American cheese	7
meatballs	7
pickle	7
tomato sauce	7
fruit preserves	6
steak	6
gyro meat	5
jus	5
tzatziki sauce	5
bagel	4
biscuit	4
cold cuts	4
crème filing	4
ice cream	4
ice cream sandwich “bread”	4
pastrami	4
sausage patty	4
breakfast	3
butter	3
cheddar cheese sauce	3
chocolate cookie	3
cream cheese	3
donair meat	3
donair sauce	3
English muffin	3
ground beef	3
little hamburger patty	3
lobster	3
noodles	3
pickle relish	3
pork “rib”	3
slider bun	3
sweetened tomato sauce or ketchup	3
tuna	3
white bread	3
Worcestershire sauce	3
“fiendish” cheese sauce	2
banana	2
barbecue sauce	2
bratwurst	2
bread roll	2
celery salt	2
cheddar cheese	2
corned beef	2
cucumber	2
dill pickle	2
fish	2
fried pork tenderloion	2
Gruyere cheese	2
honey	2
ketchup	2
Lox	2
marshmallow fluff	2
onions	2
pepperoni	2
pickle briend fried chicken	2
pickled sport peppers	2
pimento cheese	2
Russian dressing or Thousand Island dressing	2
salami	2
sauerkraut	2
some type of meat	2
vegetables	2
almond butter	1
avocado	1
bean	1
beetroot	1
bing bread	1
bologna	1
breaded chicken patty	1
brisket	1
buffalo patty	1
Caesar dressing	1
ceiling	1
chili	1
corn meal or corn flour	1
crackers	1
cranberries	1
cranberry sauce	1
croissant	1
falafel	1
floor	1
fresh mozzarellta	1
Genoa salami	1
graham cracker	1
gravy	1
Havarti cheese	1
Hollandaise sauce	1
honey mustard	1
hot sausage	1
jalapeño cheddar bagel	1
Jill Valentine	1
kaiser bun	1
macaron cookie	1
macaron filling	1
maple-flavored griddle pancakes embossed with the McDonald's logo	1
maraschino cherry	1
marinara sauce	1
meatless burger patty	1
Mexican red sauce	1
moose patty	1
mortadella	1
muffuletta bread	1
nutella	1
olive	1
olive salad	1
peas	1
pickles	1
pineapple	1
polish sausage	1
pork roll	1
pork schnitzel	1
potato patty (aloo tikki)	1
pre-made biscuit dough from a can	1
provolone cheese	1
Red Ranch	1
rye hamburger bun	1
sandwich roll	1
shawarma meat	1
shrimp	1
soft oatmeal cookies	1
sourdough bread	1
special jus	1
St. Louis-style pork rib tips	1
stuff from a skewer	1
stuffing	1
taco stuff	1
teriyaki sauce	1
Thousand Island dressing	1
tiny roll	1
turkey patty	1

*In this case I mean slices of bread from a loaf. It might be what is usually called sandwich bread but it could something else.

 

[Kirin]

Great list, thanks Torz!

Here's my full entry from which I think *everything* made it on, thanks to Torz' generous categorization decisions.

*1. Grilled Cheese (bonus points for some fried onion added)
*2. Italian Combo
*3. Lobster Roll
*4. Ham and Cheese
*5. Bacon Egg and Cheese
*6. Cream Cheese Bagel
*7. Gyro / Döner kebab pita
*8. Eggs Benedict (basically an open-faced sandwich)
*9. Egg Toast (open face with fried egg or even just yolk)
*10. Bratwurst (in a good bun with mustard)
*11. Cheeseburger (ideally with good local meat, and maybe bacon or something)
*12. Croque-madame (French version of ham&cheese with sauce and an egg)
*13. Falafel pita
*14. Lox Bagel
*15. Shrimp Po' Boy
*16. Smoked Rib Tips
*17. PB&J
*18. Pimento Cheese
*19. Monte Christo
*20. Egg Salad sandwich
*21. Pastrami on Rye
*22. Korean Corn Dog
*23. Welsh rarebit (this is really just voting for grilled cheese again, honestly)
*24. Ice Cream Sandwich
*25. Oreos

 

[Issun]

https://talking-time.net/index.php

1. Cheeseburger
2. Gyro
3. Cuban
4. Club
5. BLTA
6. Italian Sub
7. Meatball Sub
8. Oreo
9. Peanut Butter & Banana
10. Crispy Chicken
11. BLT
12. PB&J
13. Hot Pastrami
14. Turkey & Havarti
15. Fried Egg & Cheese
16. Bhan Mi
17. Pulled Pork
18. Sloppy Joe
19. Shawarma
20. Peanut Butter & Bacon
21. Chicken Caesar Wrap
22. Cucumber
23. Ham & Cheese
24. Bologna
25. Jill

 

[Falselogic]

This was a ton of work, big thanks to @Torzelbaum for putting it all together. There are still some sammies out there I got to try!

 

[Torzelbaum]

Anyways thanks for the list, Torz!

Great list, thanks Torz!

You're welcome. Glad you all enjoyed it. Let me thank all of you again for your lists (and other inputs) and also for your comments.

Good job tabulating such a difficult list.

Here's my full entry from which I think *everything* made it on, thanks to Torz' generous categorization decisions.

This was a ton of work, big thanks to @Torzelbaum for putting it all together. There are still some sammies out there I got to try!

Yes. I'm tired, bosses. Sandwich sorting is hard work and I think it will be a long time before I want to do it again.

And I'm glad we could provide some meal / restaurant visit ideas for you, False.

*hops in to Crustidigitation! and 'rides' it into the sunset.

 

[Daikaiju]

Late addendum: Philly does use the term 'grinder'. Specifically, it refers to a toasted hoagie.

 

[Daikaiju]

Another couple late addendums, Via the Inquirer's Full Countdown of 76 Most Philly Foods

#3 Cheeseteak
The cheesesteak, much like the city in which it was invented, is a working-class sandwich. Its rugged beauty is in its simplicity. Three simple ingredients that coalesce into a hearty, tasty answer to a blue-collar worker’s lunchtime quandary. It’s not expensive, it fits easily between the hands, and has traditionally supplied a lot of protein to roofers, electricians, and mail carriers. Along the way it became a symbol of Philadelphia, just like the broken bell that can’t ring. Over the years, lesser versions have become tourist fodder. But at its best, like offerings from John’s Roast Pork, Angelo’s, or Shay’s, it's an authentic taste of home: a fresh-baked roll worth its salt, tender meat with taste, and cheese that doesn't soak the whole thing into submission. In other words, a long-rolled reminder of life’s redeeming qualities. — Tommy Rowan

#1 Hoagie
The hoagie is Philadelphia’s most complete food expression: humble but exacting, commonplace but deeply personal, mundane enough to seem simple until you realize everything that’s at stake. Bread matters. Oil matters. The cut of the meat matters. The proportion of lettuce, onion, tomato, and peppers matters. Everyone has a favorite shop, a preferred build, a strong opinion about who gets it right, and even where the name comes from. That is precisely why the hoagie is essential. It is not just a sandwich; it is a shared local language. Philadelphia claims it not because nobody else stuffs deli meat into an Italian roll, but because the region shaped the form, named it, and built a culture around it. The hoagie reflects the city’s Italian American roots, its corner-store economy, and its love of portable food that still deserves care and craft. But it has also become a template: something newer Philadelphians can adapt, reinterpret, and make their own. The fish hoagie, the Vietnamese hoagie — banh mi, by another local name — and countless other variations show how the form keeps moving as the city changes. That makes the hoagie more than a relic of old Philadelphia. It is a marker of the city’s evolving demographics, a sandwich sturdy enough to hold tradition and flexible enough to absorb new flavors. It is the order people miss when they move away. It is the order that proves where you are. It is Philadelphia in two hands. – M.K.