A masterpiece, mushed. This Macon-made egg salad sandwich is summertime perfection

Editor’s note: This article is part of an occasional series, “Middle Georgia Delicacies” — bite-size homages to fine food offerings, from the unsung to the iconic, served at eateries across our region.

The humble egg salad sandwich: hard-boiled innards, sweet-pickle relish, black pepper and mayo, mushed.

Smushed between slices of white bread — untoasted, mind you.

Add lettuce, tomato, wrap in wax paper.

Divine.

Eggs-quisite even. Its refrigerator-cooled paste of a filling exudes the flavor of Southern summer at picnics, on front porches or poolside. You’re darn near eating deviled eggs on dough, the bites as fluffy as a perfect omelet.

Sid’s Sandwich Shop on Forsyth Street in Macon has long mastered its recipe, one handed down by proprietor Bob Berg’s mother nearly half a century ago.

“Actually, the egg salad is the easiest thing to make,” Berg says. “Except for all the egg cracking and peeling.”

Boiling and de-shelling the perfect egg can be a chore.

“Sometimes the eggshell wants to stick to the egg,” Berg says. “Sometimes it peels off.”

One of the earliest local mentions in newsprint of such sandwiches came in an advertisement for Walgreen’s on Cherry Street. The “fountain special” there in June of 1933 was an egg salad sandwich and a chocolate soda for 15 cents.

Up the road at Augusta National Golf Course each spring, the white-orb delicacy is an acclaimed refreshment-stand staple gobbled up by patrons at the Masters.

The sandwich’s allure perhaps lies in its simplicity.

Southern Living magazine has opined: “We’re convinced there’s nothing in the egg salad at Augusta National besides eggs, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper. We could be wrong, but to be honest, we never really want to know the recipe — the mystery is what keeps it fun.”

At Sid’s in Macon, one of a few restaurants here that regularly serve such sandwiches, proprietor Berg banks on what may be the perfect egg salad’s most secret ingredient.

“People could make this at home,” he says, “but it’s always better when somebody makes it for you.”

This story was originally published July 13, 2023 at 5:00 AM.