Open sandwich

An open sandwich, also known as an open-face/open-faced sandwich, bread baser, bread platter or tartine, consists of a single slice of bread or toast with one or more food items on top. It has half the number of slices of bread compared to a typical closed sandwich and has toppings rather than fillings.

During the start of the Middle Ages, thin slabs of coarse bread called "trenches" (late 15th century English) or, in its French derivative, "trenchers", were used as plates. At the end of the meal, the food-soaked trencher was eaten by the diner (from which the expression "trencherman" may come), or perhaps fed to a dog or saved for beggars. Trenchers were as much the harbingers of open-face sandwiches as they were of disposable crockery.^{[citation needed]}

A direct precursor to the English sandwich may be found in the Netherlands of the 17th century, where the naturalist John Ray observed that in the taverns, beef hung from the rafters "which they cut into thin slices and eat with bread and butter laying the slices upon the butter". These explanatory specifications reveal that the Dutch belegde boterham, open-faced sandwich, was as yet unfamiliar in England.^{[citation needed]}

In countries like Denmark, where smørrebrød is common, smørrebrød is not considered a form of sandwich; rather, a sandwich is considered a form of smørrebrød with an extra piece of bread on top. In a US context, open sandwiches are sandwiches that are made with only a single slice of bread.^{[clarification needed]} It has given rise to some controversy in the philosophy of language study of meaning underdetermination after a judge had to consider whether a burrito was a sandwich for the purposes of enforcing an exclusive use clause in an American legal case. The judge followed the definition of Merriam-Webster's Dictionary: "two thin pieces of bread, usually buttered, with a thin layer (as of meat, cheese or savory mixture) spread between them." Because the burrito was "typically made with a single tortilla," the judge said it was not a sandwich.

Open sandwiches allow for an arrangement of different types of sandwiches to be served with afternoon teas or as an accompaniment to salads. They can be cut into fancy shapes of triangles, stars, rounds and crescents, and arranged in an attractive platter for presentation. Common ingredients for open sandwiches are jam, stuffed olives, chopped herbs, cream cheese, hard-boiled eggs and pimiento. Any ingredients can be used to add flavor and color to enhance the presentation of the sandwich platter.

An open sandwich is a slice of fresh bread or, e.g. in Germany, a bread roll half, with different spreads, butter, liver pâté, cheese spreads, cold cuts such as roast beef, turkey, ham, bacon, salami, beef tongue, mortadella, head cheese or sausages like beerwurst or kabanos, fish such as smoked salmon, gravadlax, herring, eel and bell pepper, tomato, radish, scallion and cucumber.^{[citation needed]}

Open sandwiches like this are consumed in France, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland and Bulgaria as well as other parts of Europe, and North America as a regular breakfast and supper food item. The American tongue toast was offered as an entrée for breakfast, lunch, and supper and as an hors d'œuvre for formal parties.^{[citation needed]}

In former Czechoslovakia, a popular type of open sandwich is called obložené chlebíčky (pl., sg. obložený chlebíček) - slantways cut slice of veka (long narrow white bread) spread with butter or with various combinations of mayonnaise salads and hard boiled egg, cheese, ham, salami, smoked fish (salmon or sprats or pickled herring), tomato, pickled cucumber, lettuce, raw onion or other vegetable, etc.