Cheesy Vegemite Toastie with salami, red onion, tomato, and mozzarella and Colby cheeses with a crispy mayonnaise lubricated crust

Experiment

Will salami and Vegemite work together

Aim/Purpose

To determine if salami and Vegemite on a sandwich will taste good. Anecdotal evidence suggests the umami of Vegemite will complement the spicy savoury flavours of salami.

Hypothesis

I was chatting with my friend GC the other evening and speculating on whether salami and Vegemite would go together. GC asked if it would be too salty?

In my mind, I thought the flavours might be different but complementary.

Method and materials

Equipment and consumables

• Sandwich press
• Bread knife
• Butter knife
• Mandolin
• Safety glove
• Dick butchers knife
• Coles cheesy Vegemite scroll
• Lurpak butter
• Mayonnaise
• Salami
• Vegemite
• Red onion
• Coon mozzarella cheese slices
• Coon Colby cheese slices
• Queensland nut oil
• Bread and butter plate

Methodology

1. Cut the Coles cheesy Vegemite scroll in half to reveal two even cross-sections to maximise the surface area of each plane.
2. With a butter knife, collect the desired amount of Lurpak butter from the butter container with a gentle rolling action of the butter and the knife blade digs into the surface of the butter.
3. Apply the butter to the exposed cut surface of the Coles cheesy Vegemite scroll.
4. Achieve maximum surface area coverage with edge to edge application of the Lurpak butter.
5. With a Dick butchers knife cut off some thin slices of salami.
6. Cut thin slices of red onion with the Mandolin and make sure the safety glove is worn to avoid the bloodshed of 2019.
7. Smear some vegemite to the butt piece of the scroll.
8. Layer the salami slices onto the butt piece over the Vegemite smeared buttered Coles cheesy Vegemite scroll.
9. On the salami, layer the slices of red onion.
10. Apply slices of Coon mozzarella and Colby cheese slices. The number is dependent on the answer to the question, “How much cheese do you like?”
11. I used four slices and alternated between mozzarella and Colby.
12. Place the top piece of buttered Coles cheesy Vegemite scroll on top.
13. Heat up the sandwich press and with a piece of absorbent kitchen paper apply a thin smear of Queensland nut oil to the surfaces of the sandwich press.
14. Turn the sandwich over and lubricate the butt with some mayonnaise and put the sandwich butt down on the sandwich press and then lubricate the top with mayonnaise and close the sandwich press.
15. When the outside of the sandwich has a darkened cooked appearance and when the melting cheese oozes out and starts to form a crispy crust on the hot plate of the sandwich press, turn the power off and move the cooked sandwich to a cutting board. Allow the sandwich to cool and little and with a bread knife cut the sandwich on a diagonal (because there is a debate about square or diagonal).

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Results

The amount of compression from the sandwich press made this sandwich look lighter than what it was. It had a good feel and weight in the hand or hands. The surface had become crispy and had hardened with the benefit of the oil and egg yolk in the mayonnaise.

It is obvious from the photographs that the cheeses melted well together and infiltrated the contents of the sandwich and in some ways blanketed the red onion to protect it from over-heating permitting that sharp biting flavour from raw onion to remain and fill your mouth as you bit into the sandwich.

The flavours of the raw red onion, the salami, and the Vegemite all complement one another. The crunch of the toasted crust and the smoothness of the melted cheese combine to make this sandwich pretty special.

I’d be rating this sandwich an easy 7 out of 10.

Discussion

Working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic has some advantages including being able to do a load of washing while on a teleconference and also cooking lunch.

While a toasted sandwich may not be regarded as cooking or fine cuisine, this experiment was aimed at determining whether salami and Vegemite would work well as a combination in a grilled cheese sandwich.

As reported in the results section the individual elements all cooked well and the final result was a sandwich which provided enormous satisfaction.

I can recommend this sandwich to anyone who wishes to make it and in context of reproducibility of the findings, I’d welcome readers copying the sandwich.

There were some limitations to this study. I was working and actively taking calls and answering questions so my attention was not complete. This lack of complete attention may have resulted in a slightly reduced rating of the sandwich.