PB & J

Everyone should be able to make the perfect peanut butter and jam sandwich.  Most people don't think about it and just slap a sandwich together.  And while that might work out if you are just stumbling in at 2:00 AM, there is an art form to it when you want to actually enjoy your sandwich.

1. The bread must be fresh. Squishy, rips when you try to spread on it, fresh.  Did you buy that loaf of bread yesterday?  It's probably too stale now to make a premium PB & J sandwich.
2. The bread must be white, store bought bread. Anything else is too heavy or too dense and you just end up with a chewy mess.
3. The peanut butter must be smooth.  Crunchy things have no place in a good PB & J sandwich.
4. The jam must be of good quality.  Homemade if you can get your hands on it, otherwise find something with a high fruit concentration.

Now that you have the key ingredients, construction is the next step.

1. The peanut butter must be spread to every edge of the bread.  Leave no spot uncovered.
2. The peanut butter to jam ratio must be maintained evenly across the sandwich.  A 2:1 ratio works best.
3. Never spread anything on the top piece of bread. This can throw the 2:1 ratio off and also allows for the bread to slide around and not maintain it's proper position when cutting the sandwich.

I prefer my PB & J sandwiches left whole, but if it must be cut, diagonal cuts that create 4 triangles are traditional.  

Enjoy with a tall glass of cold milk!