Tuna Salad Sandwich
Canned albacore comes out of the tin pale, cooked, and dry; the mixing bowl puts it back together, mayonnaise for the moisture it lost, celery for the crunch it never had.
USA
Tuna Melt
Mayo-bound canned tuna under cheese, griddled until the two fuse. The cooked member of the cold-salad family, descended from tuna rarebit, named in print by 1966 but cooked long before that.
Tuna Hoagie
The Philadelphia hoagie counter's answer to a meatless Friday: canned tuna salad dropped into the city's official roll and dressed the city's way, for the crowd that's off cured pork until Easter.
Tuna Grinder
Mayo-bound tuna salad on a New England torpedo roll, capped with melted American or provolone and run under the salamander. The word grinder is the local cue for the hot version.
Tri-Tip Sandwich
Triangular tri-tip grilled over native red oak to medium-rare, sliced thin against a shifting grain, and stacked on a crusted French roll with fresh salsa. Beef treated like a roast, not pulled.
Trenton Pork Roll Sandwich
A scored disc of pork roll on a kaiser, plain. The Trenton lunch reading of the meat John Taylor has cured in the city since 1856, sold at every luncheonette.
Torta (Tex-Mex)
A bolillo split and griddled, sealed with refried beans, packed with grilled fajita meat, avocado, and cool toppings. The Mexican torta as it reads on the Texas border.
Torta de Milanesa
The first thing a good one does is crack: a thin breaded cutlet shut into a soft roll with beans and avocado, the whole build arranged so that shatter survives the wet load to the bite.
Tongue Sandwich
Beef tongue, brined like corned beef and simmered soft, sliced thin on seeded rye with mustard: the smoothest, mildest meat the old Ashkenazi deli counter serves.
Tomato Sandwich
A thick homegrown beefsteak, salt, pepper, and a heavy smear of Duke's on cheap soft white bread, eaten over the sink for the few summer weeks a Southern garden tomato is at full sugar.
Tillamook Cheddar Burger
A burger built around aged Oregon cheddar that softens but never pours, trading the melt of a processed slice for a sharp, firm bite: the Tillamook cheese carries the build.
Three-Way Roast Beef
A North Shore Massachusetts roast beef sandwich, rare and paper-thin, on a grilled onion roll. The counter counts three accents: American cheese, mayonnaise, James River barbecue sauce.
Theta Burger
Smash patty, American cheese, and a whole halved dill pickle laid across it, on a small toasted bun. The Town Tavern's Norman, Oklahoma signature, in a building open since 1936.
The Moistmaker
The three-slice Thanksgiving leftover sandwich with a gravy-soaked center slice. Named by Ross Geller on Friends in The One With Ross's Sandwich, December 1998.
Thanksgiving Sandwich
Turkey roasted to be carved, stuffing baked to be spooned, gravy meant to be ladled: the Thanksgiving sandwich forces four cutlery foods into a shape a hand can close around, the morning after.
Texas Weiner
All-beef hot dog with mustard, onions, and spicy meat chili sauce; Greek-American diners throughout NJ.
Texas Hot Weiner
A deep-fried all-beef dog dressed in one strict order, mustard then onion then a fine cinnamon-clove Greek meat sauce. Order it all the way, the Paterson way.
Texas BBQ Brisket Sandwich
Smoked beef brisket on white bread or a bun with pickles and onions; often served with sauce on the side.
Taylor Ham/Pork Roll Egg and Cheese
A scored disc of Taylor ham or pork roll griddled flat, folded with egg and American cheese onto a New Jersey hard roll. The North Jersey and South Jersey names for the same sandwich.
Tavern Sandwich
Loose seasoned ground beef scooped from a steam well onto a soft bun, the Sioux City sandwich named for the counter it was sold across, eaten with a spoon and no apology.
Super Burrito
"Super" is an instruction about a moisture budget, not a flavour: guacamole, sour cream, and cheese folded into a sealed San Francisco Mission-style tube, a containment problem.
Super Beef
The North Shore three-way scaled up: rare thin-shaved roast beef on an onion roll, dressed with James River barbecue sauce, mayo, and cheese, loaded big and built to hold.
Subway Meatball Marinara
Italian-style meatballs in marinara sauce with optional cheese on a sub roll; Subway's signature hot sub.
Subway Italian B.M.T.
Genoa salami, pepperoni, and Black Forest ham on Subway's sub roll, built down a glass line in front of you. Named in 1975 after a New York transit system the Connecticut chain had never operated in.