This is not what I say, but eminent food critic & journalist, Mr. Vir Sanghvi wrote in the Sunday "Brunch" of Hindusthan Times, in their Mumbai edition,back in August 2008. What is their in a club sandwich & what is its history?
History says that an old man, returned home & was hungry. He opened the chest freezer & found some bacon rashers, some cold roasted chicken, he toasted some bread, put some butter, mayonnaise, & topped it with bacon, chicken, lettuce, tomatoes & had this for to fill his stomach--he was delighted so much that the following day he went to his club, Saratoga Club & shared his experience with the fellow members!! Everyone tried this & then the sandwich came to be known as "Club Sandwich".
It is a triple decker sandwich, which has gone through numerous modifications, round the world, according to individual Standard Operating Procedure[S.O.P.].
Some most important ingredients of this sandwich:-
1)Bread--Of course, white jumbo bread, if you are not health conscious, when you choose Brown bread. The bread is always toasted on both sides.
2)Spread-Mayonnaise, butter & numerous spreads are there. People can also use pate for spread, cocktail dressings. However, Mayonnaise has its disadvantage that it makes the bread soggy fast. Solution will be immediate service or else, drizzle the mayonnaise lightly.
3)Greens- Lettuce, like iceberg gives a crunchy texture when you bite the sandwich. You may try lollo rosso, or some romaine or even mixed greens to add some colour. But iceberg is the best.
4)Tomatoes--Put as sliced!!
5)Eggs-- Almost everywhere a couple of eggs, over-medium or over-hard are put. Most obnoxious thing I have seen when people put sliced boiled eggs!!!
6)Poultry- Turkey or Chicken???A long debated question. Some people put thinly sliced smoked turkey, some put cooked chicken breast. Horrible, if someone puts pureed cooked chicken mixed with mayonnaise. This is pure bullshit!!!
7)Bacon-- A couple of rashers of bacon, improvises the taste of the sandwich. People who are restricted to eat pork, can substitute it with turkey bacon, veal bacon or beef bacon.In some places, they also put ham, instead of bacon.
A Recipe of "Club Sandwich", which I learnt when I joined the industry, & trust me..it is the best one, till now!!
Ingredients:
White bread slices- 3 no
Mayonnaise- to spread
Tomatoes, sliced thinly- 5 nos
Ice-berg lettuce- 3 leaves, crunchy
Chicken breast, into flakes- 3 flakes
Egg- 2 no
Bacon- 3 rashers, cooked
Seasoning- As required
1)Toast the breads--meanwhile fry the egg & cook the chicken breasts.
2)Spread Mayonnaise on all the three slices. In the first slice, make a layer of lettuce, followed by sliced tomatoes, & fried egg.
3)In the second slice, make a layer of lettuce, cooked chicken & bacon.
4)Cover & cut off the crust & then cut the sandwich diagonally into half. Serve immediately.
[This picture depicts that an ideal sandwich will have all layers clearly visible.]
I remember, when I was in Mumbai, I was taught this sandwich-we used to toast our breads in Salamander, so the total time to make the sandwich was 15 minutes, including the time for french fries. Later when we got toaster, we reduced the time to 9 minutes!! In Chennai I was accredited to change the shitty club sandwich to a better one.
By the way, I forgot to tell you something. Do you know who made the Club Sandwich for that food Critic?? It was I, who made it for him... :)
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