The Club Sandwich - Its on every hotel menu

It's on almost every hotel and room service menu all over the world, It's simple, satisfying and has universal appeal. Yes, we are discussing the famous and much-loved ‘Club Sandwich’.

The Club Sandwich originated in the United States around the 1800s, and the most told story has the club sandwich being first made at the Saratoga Club House in New York, an exclusive gentlemen's club. From the Saratoga Club, the sandwich became well known in hotels, probably as those gentlemen travelled around to hotels for business and pleasure.

The club sandwich is simple, it is made from readily available ingredients, has a strong appeal to people of all tastes, is easy to prepare, easy to serve and is a great menu item for any time of day. However, not all club sandwiches are equal. Anyone who has travelled will know that when a club sandwich stays true to the original ingredients and is made well, it is a thing of beauty. But, when made poorly with non-standard ingredients and served to a tired traveller at 11 pm, it can be a source of major disappointment.

So, what is a real club sandwich:

• Three slices of toasted bread
•         Cooked and sliced chicken or turkey
•         Lettuce
•         Bacon
•         Fried egg (hard-cooked, not runny)
•         Tomato
•         Mayonnaise

The bottom layer

Toast, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato and sliced chicken

The middle layer

Toast and mayonnaise

The top layer

Bacon, egg and a final slice of toast on top

To serve:

•          Be generous with the filling; a bad club sandwich is all bread and little filling
•         A club sandwich is both warm and cold, the cooked chicken, lettuce and tomato are cold, but the egg, bacon and toast are warm.
•         Carefully trim the crust off the sandwich, but only the crust, and don’t trim off too much bread
•          Cut the sandwich into triangle halves or quarters and use a long skewer or toothpick to hold each half or quarter together. Be precise and not sloppy in your cuts.
•       Present the halves or quarters on the plate with the filling facing up and on display  
•          A side serve of French fries as well as a small tub of tomato sauce and mayonnaise, are the expected side dishes for a club sandwich.
•         Serve immediately while still warm

A Club Sandwich will be one of the tasks that a junior cook first learns when they start work at a hotel. Mastering the art of preparing and serving a club sandwich is a good place to start learning the seriousness of cooking and mastering the art of reproducing menu items to exact standards, every time. The club sandwich is simple, but I urge you to take it very seriously in your quest to be a chef.