It’s a Saturday morning, I’m hungry but not wanting anything from any of the local restaurants, neither do I want to cook anything. I seldom remember that there is this nice little general store just down the road from my house called Pierce & Co. and they have a meat market and butcher there.
Pierce & Co. is a general store in Hallsboro NC that has been around since 1898. This store is the same one I wrote about when I purchased my first Case pocket knife. They carry everything from hardware, groceries, Lumber, and even have a butcher in the back where you can grab steaks, sausage, and sliced meats like ham and turkey, even cheese.
Some might not know that they will slice ham, turkey, cheese, and provide you with a ziplock bag that has two slices of bread, a packet of mayonnaise, and a packet of mustard for a sandwich. Before Covid they would have a counter top off to the side of the butcher where there was a loaf of bread and an assortment of condiments, paper towels, and plasticware so that you could make your sandwich the way you wanted and have a seat and catch up on the latest talk with other locals.
As I enter the store I walk straight to the back and find that they’re not busy.
The butcher asks… “how can I help you today?” I reply “turkey, ham, and cheese sandwich”
He grabs the meats and turns on the meat slicer and makes the cuts for me, along with a slice of cheese. He then weighs everything and writes the price on the sheet of butcher paper where they hand it off to me to take to the front of the store to pay.
Now back in my truck, I have a system on how I construct this DIY sandwich. It’s a delicate opening of the ziplock bag to remove the bread without leaving crumbs on my pants, opening the packets of mustard and mayonnaise to slather them both evenly on the first piece of bread and then properly disposing of the opened packets back into the bag without getting any on my fingers. Next the cheese goes on but it’s way too long so you have to break it and place one portion the size of the slice of bread and the other piece fits wherever you want the first bite to be. Next I place the ham and turkey on the bread and make one fold of extra turkey at the top and one fold of extra ham at the bottom. Once everything is put together it’s game time. This sandwich is not like any other sandwich. This is fresh ham and turkey and hoop cheese thats been sliced fairly thick. It’s very flavorful and the cheddar cheese is rich, but not too strong. The mustard is a nice “accouterment”. Adding just enough acidity to accompany the flavor of the cheese, while the mayonnaise helps to mellow the overall flavor.
If you’re ever in Columbus County be sure to stop by Pierce & Co. and try one for yourself.
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