Even the name makes one hungry only to pronounce it: the club sandwiches are not sandwiches, but not even sandwiches: it is an American recipe, more precisely New Yorker, simple but at the same time really enjoyable. So many layers of bread, so many ingredients, sauces and so on and so forth. All this seems to have no logical sense and instead every taste, every bite has a logic to follow. We have decided to reveal all the tricks to make perfect club sandwiches like the traditional ones.
Bread, never less than 3 slices
To create an extraordinary club sandwich you always start with bread, it must be white bread loafs without edges, spread with a layer of butter and toasted on a hot grill until it turns golden. For each club sandwich, three slices of bread must be used strictly, to create two well-separated layers. If you use only two slices of bread!
On each slice of bread, once toasted, the mayonnaise should be spread. On the central slice, the mayonnaise is spread on both sides, to make the preparation less dry.
The bacon must be crunchy
The crunchy part of any self-respecting club sandwich is the slices of bacon, with each bite their sound must be heard: crunch! There is not a precise number of slices of bacon to use but for a perfect union with the rest of the ingredients, two slices per layer are enough so in total 4 slices of bacon. To make it really crunchy you need to heat a non-stick pan a lot and cook the bacon for a few minutes on both sides, over medium heat. The fat must melt and remain in the pan while the bacon slices are placed on kitchen paper to remove excess grease and not risk softening them.
The chicken breast, with a soft taste
No cured meats, the layer of meat that goes to stuff the real club sandwich is formed by the chicken breast, a meat with a delicate flavor that does not cover other tastes. Moreover, it is a digestible meat, which, considering the dish as a whole is not an aspect to be underestimated. Even the turkey is good as an alternative, never and I never say opt for raw ham or mortadella. The meat should be grilled, it should be seasoned with salt and remain soft inside and crunchy on the outside. The slices of meat must be inserted into the sandwich from cold otherwise; they would ruin the raw vegetables.
Salad, freshness!
It may seem strange but even the choice of salad for a club sandwich is not so trivial. Together with the tomato it is the fresh side of the whole preparation, so take it crunchy, in season and with a bright color. No wilted or ruined leaves, only the most beautiful and luscious ones. Once washed leaf by leaf, dry it very well as it would soften the bread. Cut the salad leaves to size, like all the other ingredients, so that it does not protrude outside … even the aesthetics is important! At this point you may be wondering what kind of salad to use; the lettuceit is perfect of any kind, the iceberg, the Capuchin and even the Roman one. Do not be tempted by other types of salad like fresh spinach, they are too delicate and would not give the same sense of freshness to the palate.
The composition, not to be underestimated
It starts from the bottom, from the first slice of bread that will support the weight of the whole weight of the whole club sandwich. Therefore, the sequence is this: bread spread with mayonnaise, lettuce leaf, two slices of bacon, chicken breast, lettuce leaf, a slice of tomato. Then the other slice of toasted bread is spread with mayonnaise on both sides, lettuce leaf, chicken breast, two slices of bacon, lettuce leaf and tomato. Finally, the slice that covers all this wonder, with mayonnaise only on the lower side, logically!
As you can see, the two layers always end with the slices of tomato, which is never in direct contact with the meat. In this way the bread will remain soft but the club sandwich inside will still be fragrant. It is a dance of alternation of flavors, textures and imperceptible balances.
