It's not a fear of food poisoning or anything like that. It's more that leftover sandwiches aren't very good, because something about Day 2 bread doesn't work. I guess that "something" is sogginess. Most sandwiches – even great ones, like those from Joe's Buffet in Downtown Fairfield – lose their spunk on the second day because the bread spent 24 hours soaking up the condiments.
Reheat the leftover sandwich? Not good. Eat it cold? Not good. Best plan? Eat your entire sandwich the day you get it. It's a leftover failure.
Sandwiches aren't alone as other foods that don't work as leftovers. Consider with burritos and other wraps.
I guess that tortillas often have the same problem as sandwiches. They're just extremely thin bread, right? (Don't check me. Trust me.) A second-day burrito or taco or wrap doesn't work well.
So what does work? Glad you asked. Because the real purpose of this column is to identify the best leftover foods. These are the seven best foods for Day 2, counting down:
7. Casseroles. I'm not a fan (I grew up with some sort of tuna casserole nearly every week in my 1970s family), but give them this: They're as good on Day 2 as they are Day 1, which gets them on this list. Sometimes being steadily mediocre is enough. If you can consistently hit .260, you can have a long major league baseball career.
6. Turkey. I only know this because of Thanksgiving leftovers, which is the main time I eat turkey. It's good in late November, so it would be presumably good other times, too.
5. Italian food. This generalization excludes most pasta (see below). It includes lasagna. Ravioli. Arancini (not really. I looked up Italian foods and that was included. I'd never heard the word. What the heck is arancini?). It is possible that the Italians invented leftovers because their food was so good on Day 2. If so, did an Italian also invent the microwave, which makes second-day food so good?
4. Enchiladas. The Mexican version of lasagna, really. Or vice-versa. This is the exception to the rule that tortilla-wrapped food doesn't play well on Day 2 because enchiladas are delicious when reheated.
3. Pasta. I suspect some pasta doesn't hold up well for Day 2, but I can't think of any. A pasta salad may be better on the second day, due to marinating. Spaghetti is at least 90% as good on Day 2 as Day 1 and in some cases, it's better (does it marinate in the spaghetti sauce?). Is macaroni and cheese considered a pasta? If so, it fits, because it's good on the second day, too.
2. Fried chicken. Most meat doesn't play as well on Day 2, partly because of the possibility that microwaving it just further cooks it. But chicken? If turkey is good, chicken is great. Microwave it and it's good. Eat it cold and it's good. If you like fried chicken, you like leftover fried chicken.
1. Pizza. Arguably the greatest food of all time, pizza generally holds up for Day 2. At least pizza parlor pizza does. Frozen pizza and take-and-bake pizzas fall short, but pizza made by a professional pizza maker? It's a 10 out of 10 on Day 1 and a 9.5 out of 10 on Day 2. I could eat pizza for the rest of my life and would be fine if it was always Day 2 pizza.
Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.
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