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The Sandwich 100 · make it at home

The bauru, São Paulo's roast beef and melted cheese sandwich

25 min (with cooked roast beef) · 2 sandwiches

Chef's home version of the bauru, invented in the 1930s at Ponto Chic in São Paulo: thin rare roast beef, tomato and pickle in a French roll, with a blend of cheeses melted in a pan with water until it pours like fondue.

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The real one

You need

• 2 crusty French rolls (pão francês) or short baguettes
• 200 g (7 oz) rare roast beef, sliced very thin
• 1 large ripe tomato, thinly sliced
• 2 dill pickles, thinly sliced lengthwise
• For the cheese: 60 g (2 oz) mozzarella, 40 g (1 1/2 oz) gouda or prato, 30 g (1 oz) Swiss (emmental), 20 g (3/4 oz) provolone, all grated or cut small, and 60 ml (1/4 cup) water
• 1 tsp dried oregano, salt, black pepper, 1 tbsp butter

How to make it

1. Prep (5 min): Slice the tomato and pickles and season the tomato with salt, pepper and the oregano. Split the rolls and pull out a little of the soft middle from the top halves.
2. Toast the bread (3 min): Butter the cut sides and toast them in a skillet over medium heat until golden.
3. Warm the beef (2 min): Lay the roast beef in the hot skillet for 30 seconds a side, just to warm it; keep it pink.
4. Melt the cheese (4 min): In a small nonstick pan over medium-low heat, bring the water to a simmer, add all the cheese and stir constantly with a spatula until it melts into a smooth, stretchy, pourable mass, 2 to 3 minutes. Don't let it boil hard or it splits.
5. Build at once (2 min): Lay the beef on the bottom halves, then the tomato and pickles. Pour the hot cheese over the top, close and serve right away while the cheese still stretches.

Tips

• Ask the deli to slice the roast beef as thin as it can.
• Ponto Chic's own blend is kept quiet; any mix of a melter (mozzarella), a nutty cheese and a little sharp one works.

Chef Amazing's own home version, in our words; not any shop's recipe.