Peanut Butter and Pickle Sandwiches = SCIENCE
You are aberrations of nature. The anatomy of the human tongue predisposes you to craving salt/sweet/fats/vinegar. PB&P is all of those things. At once. It is an explosion of everything perfect about eating, if we must eat, at all, I can't believe you guys.
The sweet/salty combo is not something I need to defend, but let's cover our bases: Delish cites a study where additional taste receptors were activated only when sugar arrives with sodium. And that's interesting, but with PB&P it gets better. The astringency of pickle cuts though the fatty, roasted sweetness of peanut and suddenly running alongside the sweet/salty notes you have sweet/sour. Why does that taste so great? I'm not sure. Why are sour patch kids and lemonade delicious for that matter? BUT THEN the protein in the peanut butter breaks down in the presence of vinegar. It's light but savory, and that is preciously what typifies umami: the rich, savory marriage of fat and vinegar.
The same logic is at play in that peanut dipping sauce you get with spring rolls. I'm on a mission to dig up more recipes that use vinegar with peanuts, but the fastest, easiest way to get my fix is this controversial sandwich.
Peanut Butter and Pickle! What do I do?
To get the best sweet salty balance, I try to limit the sugar in play. Roasted peanuts are naturally a touch sweet, so from there it's a careful choice of bread and pickle.
My favorite route: toasted brioche bread, classic dill, crunchy peanut butter. Other great possibilities: She Wolf sourdough, bread and butter pickles and crunchy peanut butter. Could you also add pickled onions? On rye bread, yes, I think that's something to try. With crunchy peanut butter.
I am a crunchy peanut butter person. But follow your joy.
Bottom line: you cannot hate peanut putter and pickle sandwiches unless you are allergic to peanuts. It is literally the combination of all that is psychedelic and pleasure-center about eating.
All my love.
Janet
All my love.
Janet
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