How to Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich: An In-depth Study

They go together like peanut butter and jelly…an often used, but intrinsically flawed phrase. “peanut butter and jelly sandwich” is a fairly vague term when it comes down to it. If someone were to ask you to make them a “PB & J” one might think it was a simple undertaking, but in fact, there are many variables to be dealt with when recreating this staple of American culture.

When concerned with proper etiquette, the natural thing to do when preparing a sandwich of any sort is to put it on a proper plate. Younger children of course (which are the prime age group of peanut butter and jelly eaters), aren’t usually all too concerned with etiquette, so one may choose to substitute the traditional plate for a napkin. A younger child will also tend to be an extremely picky eater. Children, being generally so hard to please with a new item of food will tend to make any culinary situation worse before they make it better, including making any sandwich.

The first part of the sandwich is the bread. There are dozens of different types of bread to choose from, but white bread is generally the default bread for a sandwich of this kind (Wonder Bread if you want to feel extra youthful and/or nostalgic). Now when it comes to children, an oft-preferred special feature of their sandwiches is the ol’ “No Crust” technique; this is not as simple as is suggested by the name. When preparing a sandwich sans crust, one needs a knife that is both sharp and long. If the knife is not sharp enough there is a risk of mutilating the bread, equally so, if the knife is not long enough then one may mutilate the bread by struggling with a several-step process. If said knife is not available, then one may opt to use the simple hands-on technique, but if this must be done, do so with caution. There is a dangerous and rarely-realized pitfall when preparing a sandwich in this way. The deep brown portion of the crust, the hard, bland portion does not terminate with its color, below this thin layer is an even thinner layer that is equally as rough and uninviting to a more selective-palleted individual that is the same color as the inner white of the bread, which when left on may trigger high-pitched complaints. With the bread portion of the sandwich squared away, on to the bulk of the task.