Muffuletta
Cut a muffuletta and the tell is in the crumb: a ring of bread gone dark where oil soaked up from the olive salad. That oil, engineered to invade the bread, makes the sandwich what it is.
Andrew Lekashman
Mother-in-Law
Tamale on a hot dog bun topped with chili; Chicago South Side specialty.
Monte Cristo
A deli ham-and-cheese sealed shut, dipped in egg batter, deep-fried until the Swiss runs molten, then finished with powdered sugar and jam. The savory sandwich plated like dessert.
Montana Bison Burger
Ground bison runs 2-6 percent fat to beef's 15-25, so it lives or dies on a rare-to-medium pull. The animal fell from millions to about 1,000 by 1889 before ranchers rebuilt it from Montana stock.
Mississippi Slugburger
A Depression-era northeast Mississippi burger: a flour-extended beef patty deep-fried in shortening, on a plain bun with yellow mustard, dill pickles, and raw onion.
Mission Burrito
A twelve-inch flour tortilla holds rice, beans, meat, cheese, salsa, sour cream, and guacamole, sealed in foil. The rice is the engineering that makes the rest of the Mission burrito possible.
Middle Eastern Shawarma Wrap
Spit-shaved lamb or chicken rolled into warmed markook or pita with tahini or toum matched to the protein, pickled turnip, and a seam-pressed close. The Levantine working-counter standard.
Michigan Hot Dog
Plattsburgh's red-sauce dog: a steamed top-loader, a natural-casing frank, thick cumin-spiced beef sauce, and onions ordered "buried." The name was on a shop in 1927.
Miami Sandwich
The Miami sandwich is a deli club that switched loaves: ham, turkey, bacon, Swiss, lettuce, tomato, and mayo, built cold on Cuban bread. The loaf does the work.
Memphis Rib Tips Sandwich
The rib tip is an off-cut, and the Memphis sandwich built on it does not hide that: cartilage-laced spare-rib trim, smoked soft and sauced, piled on plain white bread that soaks the sauce.
Memphis BBQ Sandwich
Memphis pork sandwich's one structurally definitive call: the slaw goes inside the bun. Hickory-smoked shoulder, thin tomato-vinegar sauce, cold cabbage on top of the meat at Tops since 1952.
Medianoche
Under the press, pan suave behaves as crusty Cuban bread cannot. Run the Cuban's exact fillings on that soft, sweet, egg-enriched roll and you have a medianoche, a sandwich built for one a.m.
Meatball Sub
A meatball sub from an Ohio strip mall is built to taste like the one from an Oregon strip mall, ratio for ratio. The one thing the line can't fix is that a sphere rolls, so the meatballs get seated.
Meatball Parm Hero
The New York meatball parm hero: bread-bound meatballs simmered in marinara, capped with mozzarella, and broiled on a hero. Soft filling on soft bread, the one parm with no crisp shell to defend.
Meatball Hoagie
Beef-and-pork meatballs in clinging gravy on a seeded Italian hoagie roll from Sarcone's, Amoroso's, or Liscio's, finished with aged sharp provolone. Philadelphia discipline, not a soft-roll sub.
Meatball Grinder
The New England meatball grinder: meatballs in marinara on a sturdy Italian roll, finished under a broiler with melted mozzarella until the cheese blisters and the crust deepens to mahogany.
McDonald's McRib
A boneless pork patty pressed into the shape of a rib rack, lacquered in barbecue sauce, with onion and pickle on a corn-dusted roll. The fast-food item built to vanish and return.
McDonald's McCrispy
A flat, wide white-meat fillet with crinkle-cut pickles on a toasted potato roll, breaded for an edge-to-edge crunch. McDonald's launched it on 24 February 2021, then renamed it McCrispy in 2023.
McDonald's Filet-O-Fish
A steamed bun, a breaded pollock fillet, half a slice of American cheese, and a cold tartar on the crown. McDonald's chain-product reading of the 1962 Cincinnati Lent build.
McDonald's Big Mac
Why the Big Mac is the only sandwich measurable as a unit of currency: a published recipe, a fixed assembly order, and a three-part bun that braces every other choice in the build.
Maxwell Street Polish
Grilled Polish sausage on a bun with grilled onions and yellow mustard; Maxwell Street Market original.
Matzo Ball Soup Sandwich
Some delis serve matzo ball with chicken on bread; niche item.
Maple Bacon Burger
Candied bacon set on a patty: the maple bacon burger inherits the barbecue tradition of pig candy and the decade of bacon mania that put maple and pork on every menu.
Manapua
Hawaiian char siu bao (steamed pork bun); Chinese-Hawaiian.