Upgraded French Jambon-Beurre-Emmental

I can't resist a good classic. But I also always found (unpopular opinion here) that the classic jambon-beurre, with its 2 simple, soft-tasting ingredients -sometimes 3, with cucumber pickssoft and comforting. But a whole sandwich is a lot, and I couldn't enjoy it until the end. This is why I usually go for the Jambon-Beurre-Emmental with crudités in bakeries ; you also get some additional crunch and freshness with tomatoes and salad, which also pair well with some cheese. I wanted to go a tad further though, and find ways to add tang to this sandwich, while keeping it simple. Since I don't like pickled cucumber, I used pickled onions instead ; they bring that tang, plus the nice, sweet taste of onions. I love it. And, besides butter on the bottom part of the baguette, I used a teaspoon of mustard on its top part. The end result was absolutely scrumptious. And ready within 5 minutes. That's an amazing sandwich, and with a time-to-pleasure ratio you cannot beat ! As always, for recipes as simple as this, all depends on your ingredients' quality :

• a good bread : here, I'm lucky enough to easily find some baguette, but if you cannot find a decent one, choose your freshest, locally baked bread ;
• a quality ham : I adore the Prince de Paris ham, the last in Paris to be traditionally made. It's not just trendy, and you can really taste the difference. But simply choose your best local ham ! I recommend it sliced almost paper-thin, which I find tastier ;
• in-season, quality tomatoes, such as Beef Heart tomatoes, Crimean Black tomatoes, or Green Zebra tomatoes ;
• some decent young Emmental (must not be too hard and sharp). If you cannot find some around you, simply use an equivalent cheese such as young Gruyère or young Comté, or Maasdam, Jarlsberg, Leerdammer...
• use any pickles you like the most to bring out some tang !

Don’t forget to season your tomatoes with salt (and pepper if you please !) As with the Italian Pesto sandwich, this is barely a recipe ; once you know the ingredients, you simply assemble them ! That's it !

Let's dig into it !

If you're into sandwiches like I am, check out my Tunisian-inspired tuna sandwich, or my Raclette sandwich, and many others here !