Open Faced Hawaiian Sandwiches
A Surprise With Every Bite
Open Faced Hawaiian Sandwiches is a vintage recipe at its finest! Simple ingredients like pineapple slices, American cheese, and crispy bacon are brought together to create a new flavor profile that was unfamiliar to many people at the time.
This recipe is a recreated version of this classic. While the combination of these ingredients may seem unusual, this recipe hits all the notes of salty, sweet, crispy, and creamy and will delight any sophisticated palate!
Vintage Finds
I found a similar recipe in a vintage cookbook I had collected and decided to make this and put my own twist on it. At first the ingredients seemed off to me, but then when I thought about other salty, sweet things that I enjoyed I knew this was something that had potential to be great.
Kind of like me… salty, sweet and potential to be great LOL! I was glad I followed my instinct, because this open faced sandwich is AS AMAZING as my other favorite, Open Faced Ham Sandwiches.
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I included some pictures and information below for those who may need more clarification on some of the ingredients.
Pineapple Straight From The Can
I used pineapple slices straight from the can. They came out great.
I would bet that if you used a pineapple you cut yourself, it would caramelize really nicely since those juices have a lot more sugar than the canned ones.
The mayo and the pineapple made such a great flavor combo. I should have known this as I LOVE my Aloha Dressing which has both of these things!
Deli Cheese, If You Please
Now I love a good slice of a Kraft American Cheese slice, but in this instance, it is very important to use deli American cheese. This cheese in particular has a better flavor profile to melt with the pineapple than a Kraft cheese does.
Don’t get me wrong, I love a good Kraft single on a burger or grilled cheese. For this, lets stick with the deli cheese!
Fry The Bacon In A Pan
Typically when I make bacon I bake it in the oven. It is a time saver and comes out very nicely.
For this recipe I fried the bacon up in my skillet so that it was super extra crispy. I also like how this wasn’t flat like how my oven baked bacon comes out.
I would suggest making your bacon this way for the recipe.
Open Faced Hawaiian Sandwiches
Open Faced Hawaiian Sandwiches is a vintage recipe at its finest! Simple ingredients like pineapple slices, American cheese and crispy bacon, brought together to create a new flavor profile unfamiliar to many people at the time. This recipe is a recreated version of this classic. While the combination of these ingredients may seem unusual, this recipe hits all the notes of salty, sweet, crispy and creamy and will delight any sophisticated palate!
Ingredients
- 4 to 6 slices of pineapple
- 4 to 6 slices of deli sliced American cheese
- 4 to 6 slices of pumpernickel bread
- 4 tablespoons of mayonnaise
- 10 to 12 slices of crispy, thick sliced, cooked bacon,
- black pepper
- cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Toast your bread slices in a toaster and then spread with a generous amount of mayonnaise.
- Add a pineapple slice to each piece of toast. Sprinkle each toast and pineapple with some black pepper and a tiny sprinkle of cayenne. The cayenne can be optional.
- Place the bread slices on a baking sheet and broil these in the oven on high keeping a CLOSE eye on them so they do not burn, Pull then out just when the pineapple starts to caramelize. *you can also do this in an air fryer.
- Top the pineapple with a slice of American cheese and 2 to 3 pieces of bacon.
- Broil again keeping a close eye until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
- Cut in half or quarters and serve.