A sandwich at Sprankles Deli, a deli in Benicia, California.
out of 100 · excellent
Excellent, with one move worth +16.
Uncharted, six of six roles on the board.
Holding the summit: a focused, restrained build
More acid 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.
soft roll, served cold: ham; bacon; mozzarella; mayo; italian dressing; pickles; tomato; pepperoncinis; lettuce.
Balance
| Axis | Value | Catalog percentile |
|---|---|---|
| salt | 2.2 | 90th |
| acid | 1.9 | 90th |
| fat | 2.3 | 56th |
| sweet | 0.3 | 42nd |
| umami | 1.2 | 39th |
| heat | 0.1 | 60th |
| bitter | 0.2 | 57th |
95 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| soft rollscored as Hoagie Roll | bread | soft crusty | the frame |
| ham | protein | salt 4 umami 4 fat 3 soft silky tender | −8 |
| bacon | protein | fat 4 salt 3 umami 3 crispy chewy | −8 |
| mozzarella | protein | fat 3 soft springy melty | −8 |
| mayoscored as Mayonnaise | sauce | fat 5 acid 2 creamy saucy | −12 |
| italian dressingscored as Italian Vinaigrette (oil & vinegar) | sauce | acid 4 fat 4 salt 2 saucy wet | −8 |
| picklesscored as Pickle (cucumber) | acid | acid 5 salt 4 crunchy juicy pickled | −16 |
| tomato | texture | acid 3 umami 3 sweet 2 juicy soft fresh | +1 |
| pepperoncinisscored as Pepperoncini | acid | acid 4 salt 2 pickled crunchy wet | −13 |
| lettuce | texture | crunchy juicy fresh | −4 |
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
- Ham + Pickle (cucumber): the cubano lesson: brine cuts cured pork
- Bacon + Tomato: smoke against sweet acid, the blt core
- Bacon + Lettuce: cool crunch against hot smoke
- Mozzarella + Tomato: caprese core: milky against sweet acid
- Mayonnaise + Tomato: summer tomato sandwich: acid on rich
- Italian Vinaigrette (oil & vinegar) + Pickle (cucumber): cucumber in vinegar, a pickle in progress
- Italian Vinaigrette (oil & vinegar) + Tomato: vinaigrette on tomato, salad logic
- Italian Vinaigrette (oil & vinegar) + Lettuce: dressed greens, the sub shop way
How to raise it
- Between you and 90: a focused, restrained build (0.17 short).
All the sandwiches at Sprankles Deli · The menu this was read from · Build your own in the Sandwich Builder