Friday Recipe
The Perfect Post-Thanksgiving Turkey Club
[The above photograph is for demonstration purposes only. Please don't think you can come over here and eat my sandwich. Also, don't lick the screen.]
You’ll need:
Leftover turkey. White meat, dark meat — it’s all good.
Bacon. And lots of it.
Bread. Whole wheat.
Lettuce. Romaine.
Tomatoes. Sliced and deseeded.
Mustard. Gulden’s.
Mayonnaise. Real. If it comes out of a squeezy jar, it ain’t real.
Salt & pepper
The trick to making a perfect sandwich is in the layering. Also, if you’re piling it up tall, don’t toast the bread — you’ll need something you can grip. If not, lightly toasted is very nice.
Now then: The layers.
I live at a shade under 7,500 feet above sea level. So I have to move fast, take the bread out last, and spread on the mustard and mayo right away to help keep it moist. If you do, too, get all your mise on, then get your bread.
On the lefthand slice, spread on the mayo. On the right, the mustard.
Continue piling everything else on the mayo side, in this order:
Lettuce.
Tomato slices.
Season the tomato right now with a little salt and too much pepper.
Bacon. No fewer than four slices, if you know what’s good for you.
Turkey.
Now add the mustard slice on top — mustard down, please — to complete it.
Nom nom nom.
You want your B and L and T all together, because they’re just a classic combo. And you want them on the mayo side, because that’s classic, too. And you need the lettuce in-between the tomato and the bread, to keep the bread from getting soaked as you squeeze that bad boy down to fit in your mouth. (I know, I know — can’t let the bread get too dry, can’t let the bread get too wet. I’m picky. But there’s a reason we call this sandwich “perfect.”)
The turkey and the bacon go great together, too, so you want them right next to one another. And turkey and Gulden’s together? Heavenly. Lastly, and for reasons I cannot fathom, the sandwich works best with the veggies on the bottom and the meats on top — so don’t be a damn fool and turn it upside-down. There’s a right way and a wrong way to eat perfection. And that’s meats up/veggies down.
Enjoy.
Darnit!!! you fooled me… better wipe the tongue prints off my screen… good thing i didn’t read this on my iphone, or my otterbox would have teeth marks
You forgot the sourdough roll.
Sounds great, but I’d substitute Kosciusko Spicy Brown mustard for the Guldens.
While your version looks great, the best turkey sandwich I’ve ever had came from the local Lebanese deli. Delicious and perfect in a quintessentially American way.
Oh so close. instead of potato chips, pasta salad.
I put that to the test yesterday when I smoked our turkey. After brining the bird, I was going to coat it with veggie oil before putting on the grill. However, Mrs. Apostic had made some bacon & egg pies, so I used the leftover rendered fat instead of the veggie oil. Result: a little on the salty side, but people were lovin’ the skin.
Instead of Gulden’s mustard, World Market/Cost Plus carries a Dusseldorf mustard that has to be tasted to be believed.
Perfection … and an excellent dissertation on the ordering and logic behind proper ordering of sandwich components.
My teenager came through the living room last night and with a full mouth told me that bacon goes with everything and it makes everything better! I asked what she was eating with bacon and she told me chocolate chips. . . I asked if she was pregnant and just hadn’t told me yet. You know she threw a book at me! She isn’t pregnant but she is going through a growth cycle and I guess her hormones are causing a bit of chaos.
Jim (sitting here enjoying my BLT²)
I love your way of making this sandwich.
After 62, and with a lame attempt to please my MD, I would forgo only the salting of the tomato.
The bacon has enough for me.
But you are right about it all.
And those who can still salt, should salt!