When I recently read an article in the New York Times singing a song of peanut butter sandwiches featuring a novel (to me anyway) addition to the "and" list of filling ingredient options? I couldn't wait to finish the article before I rushed to the pantry to assemble my own version.
No doubt you are already well acquainted with peanut butter and jelly. You likely have your own favored go-to jam or jelly choice as well as "your" brand of peanut butter. Unless you have a personal taste taboo, I'd be surprised to hear that you'd never sampled peanut butter and honey, or perhaps even some version of the semi-mythic Elvis sanctioned peanut butter and banana combos.
But this particular peanut butter add-on, this alliterative addition to the pantheon of Peanut Butter And _____s? This ingredient represented, for me at least, a bold new direction for the entire peanut butter and sandwich franchise.
Dwight Garner's "Peanut Butter Takes on an Unlikely Best Friend" extols the virtues, the relatively unsung siren song of a slightly offbeat combination: that of the Peanut Butter and Pickle sandwich.
Before I even hit the halfway mark of the article I simply had to try one for myself. I stopped reading, headed into the kitchen and promptly assembled this:
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| A Creamy Peanut Butter and Hamburger Dill Chip Pickle Sandwich |
And I gotta tell you - it was good, really, truly good. I enjoyed it thoroughly although as I finished the article I discovered most people vastly prefer a bread-and-butter variety pickle to add a more expected element of sweetness to their peanut butter and pickle sammies. Harrumph.
I had thrown together a peanut butter and dill pickle chip sandwich, reportedly off-putting to many, but not to me. It took just the right approach to get my "everything we have around here for lunch is sooo boring" taste buds to sit up and pay close attention. In that good way, I mean.
I suppose I'll try a sandwich with the more widely favored bread-and-butter pickles eventually. But for now? I appreciate how the snappy crispness of a ripple cut dill pickle chip plays against the smooth texture of peanut butter spread on soft but grainy sandwich bread. I am especially enjoying how the salty pickle brine works in concert with the creamy taste of peanuts, reminiscent of savory dishes I've prepared and enjoyed that include a peanut sauce as part of the flavor profile.
And let's face facts. Once that bread-and-butter style pickle on peanut butter barrier is broken, there will be no reason not to try out bread-and-butter style pickled jalapeño slices with peanut butter as the natural nest step.
I'm not in the predicting or the promising business when it comes to cultivating new tastes. I realize that you like what you and I like what I like, no judgement, no possibility of error. It is all and will always be a matter of personal preference, no more, no less.
Peanut butter and pickle sandwiches will never overtake the popularity of the more familiar combinations, but they do have a growing fan base, myself currently included. You may decide you don't like the idea without ever tasting one, but I'm betting you don't have to guess. I'm betting you have all the ingredients needed in your pantry right now.
Come on, admit it - aren't you the least little bit curious to try for yourself how the two tastes work out? I highly advise you to be a little adventurous. Step away from your computer, go into your kitchen right this minute, take out a piece of bread, cut it in half and make yourself a trial balloon of a peanut butter and pickle half-sandwich. Take a bite, let the flavors dance around in your mouth a bit, and if you are so inclined, share your reactions in the comments section. Good, bad or indifferent, I'm curious to hear what you think.
