A sandwich at Sprankles Deli, a deli in Benicia, California.
out of 100 · very good
Very good, with one move worth +15.
Reads as a club, five of six roles on the board.
Holding the summit: balance 0.80 or better
−5 a wet layer on soft bread
More salt than 90% of the catalog.
Each bar is one pillar of the score, 0 to 100. The tick marks what a sandwich at the summit needs; an amber bar is the one holding this sandwich back.
choice of bread, served cold: turkey; ham; bacon; cheddar; monterey jack; lettuce; tomato.
Balance
| Axis | Value | Catalog percentile |
|---|---|---|
| salt | 2.2 | 90th |
| acid | 0.3 | 37th |
| fat | 2.5 | 62nd |
| sweet | 0.3 | 34th |
| umami | 2.4 | 89th |
| heat | 0.0 | n/a |
| bitter | 0.0 | 37th |
81 Balance, out of 100
The seven flavor axes of the whole sandwich, each summed across its layers. The shaded ring is the catalog's middle 80%; the small number under each axis is where this sandwich falls in the catalog. A shape that sits inside the ring is in the range most sandwiches live in; a spike past it is where this one stands apart.
What each layer brings
| Layer | Role | Flavor and texture | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| choice of bread | bread | soft | the frame |
| turkey | protein | umami 2 soft juicy tender | −4 |
| ham | protein | salt 4 umami 4 fat 3 soft silky tender | 0 |
| bacon | protein | fat 4 salt 3 umami 3 crispy chewy | +12 |
| cheddarscored as Cheddar Cheese | protein | fat 4 salt 3 umami 3 soft gooey melty | 0 |
| monterey jack | protein | fat 3 salt 2 umami 2 soft creamy melty | −4 |
| lettuce | texture | crunchy juicy fresh | +8 |
| tomato | texture | acid 3 umami 3 sweet 2 juicy soft fresh | +21 |
Points: what the Sandwich Score would lose if that one layer were left out, everything else the same. A negative number means the sandwich scores higher without it. Flavor runs 0 to 5 on each axis.
Pairings
- Turkey + Bacon: lean bird borrows the pig's smoke
- Turkey + Tomato: lean bird and summer tomato, the deli standard
- Bacon + Cheddar Cheese: bacon cheddar: smoke and sharp, burger law
- Bacon + Lettuce: cool crunch against hot smoke
- Bacon + Tomato: smoke against sweet acid, the blt core
- Cheddar Cheese + Monterey Jack: sharp and mild, the taco-shop blend
- Cheddar Cheese + Tomato: grilled cheese and tomato, the lunch pair
How to raise it
- Clear the board: a wet layer on soft bread (-5).
- Between you and 90: balance 0.80 or better (0.12 short).
All the sandwiches at Sprankles Deli · The menu this was read from · Build your own in the Sandwich Builder