The Club House Sandwich: Is there a standard?

[rotuts]

""  cheese ""

 

how did that get in there ?

 

I propose the Sandwich you describe be called

 

"The Shook"

 

however, you need to give us a few more details, including Pics.

 

Always Pics

 

that Seals the Deal

 

BTW  that cheese melted ?  everything at room temp I hope

 

nothing like a really Cold item in a RoomTempSand to well ......

 

[Kerry Beal]

I love a good Club House - I've always found that if there is nothing else on the menu that you want - it's a good fallback.  However I was horrified one day in a family restaurant when they brought me one with ham instead of the chicken or turkey (I expect turkey - but will settle for roasted chicken).  There was nothing on the menu that led me to believe that it would contain ham - waitress said 'everyone knows that's how we make it'.  I nearly cried - and left hungry.  Couldn't eat it - didn't taste right.

[Kim Shook]

I dunno, maybe it's regional.  But I've almost never had a club without ham and cheese included.  So, a Yankee club is basically a BLT with poultry?  I'm sure it's delicious (especially with freshly roasted chicken), but I miss the ham when they leave it out and I've never, ever had one without cheese.

[gfweb]

Its about truth in advertising. A sandwich with ham, cheese and bacon sounds tasty.  But if I order a "club" it ought to be as described above. If I'm thinking chicken and I get ham I'm unhappy.

 

PA Dutch restaurants offer a Chicken Pot Pie which is a soup with  big noodles in it. Lots of raised eyebrows from visitors about that.

[Kim Shook]

Well, exactly.  In VA we're disappointed when a club doesn't include ham.  

[FeChef]

I always thought a "club" was any meat with bacon, lettuce, and tomato. Hence turkey club, chicken club, and so on. My favorite "club" sandwich is a triple decker, thin coat of mayo on all three slices of toast, roast beef, ham, deli white american cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato and thinly sliced onions.

[Martin Fisher]

The "better-half" is from northern NJ.

I asked what the most popular "club" sandwich is/was in that particular locale.

The answer was...a BLT club...no turkey...no chicken..nothing fancy...just a tiered BLT.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

This is all very strange.  A club is a sandwich with three slices of toast, mayonnaise on each piece.  Roast chicken on the bottom half, lettuce, tomato, and bacon on the top.  There is no room for negotiation, except for extra mayonnaise on the side.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

My 1976 copy of Betty Crocker's recipe dictates toast, mayo, lettuce and chicken, more toast, lettuce, tomato and bacon topped with a final slice of toast. They go on to suggest additions for hearty appetites of cheese, ham, salami and green pepper rings.

 

The 1997 edition of Joy suggests that this sandwich may have originated in the Saratoga Club, which was a men's gambling club in Saratoga Springs, NY in the late 19th century. Their version calls for toast, mayo, chicken or turkey, more toast, mayo, lettuce, tomato, bacon, thinly sliced cucumber , and more toast with mayo. They also suggest a bunch of ad libs: grilled fish; chicken, tuna or egg salad; sliced hard-boiled egg; roast beef; crab or lobster salad; watercress; arugula; spinach; roasted red peppers; grilled veggies or cooked asparagus.

 

No one seems to agree on exactly who invented it, but the Saratoga Club comes up a lot.

 

http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Sandwiches/ClubSandwich.htm

[gfweb]

My 1976 copy of Betty Crocker's recipe dictates toast, mayo, lettuce and chicken, more toast, lettuce, tomato and bacon topped with a final slice of toast. They go on to suggest additions for hearty appetites of cheese, ham, salami and green pepper rings.

 

The 1997 edition of Joy suggests that this sandwich may have originated in the Saratoga Club, which was a men's gambling club in Saratoga Springs, NY in the late 19th century. Their version calls for toast, mayo, chicken or turkey, more toast, mayo, lettuce, tomato, bacon, thinly sliced cucumber , and more toast with mayo. They also suggest a bunch of ad libs: grilled fish; chicken, tuna or egg salad; sliced hard-boiled egg; roast beef; crab or lobster salad; watercress; arugula; spinach; roasted red peppers; grilled veggies or cooked asparagus.

 

No one seems to agree on exactly who invented it, but the Saratoga Club comes up a lot.

 

http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Sandwiches/ClubSandwich.htm

 

So the degradation of the club sandwich began in the 70s.

 

Not surprising really.

[rotuts]

the Club ( Classic ) is just a name, that means something, said to be by some the Ck Sand above.

 

one can always choose to modify.  for me the extra mayo goes on each layer.

 

extra mayo never hurt anything, and generally improve it.

Edited January 17, 2015 by rotuts (log)

[Martin Fisher]

Whoa!!!!

Will someone please post the proper recipe???

 

I dare you!!! 

 

There have been hundreds of variations for over a century...but, luckily, no beans!!!!!

Edited January 17, 2015 by DiggingDogFarm (log)

[Norm Matthews]

In American Cookery, James Beard describes the original Club House Sandwich (paraphrase as i have a cat on my lap and don't want to get up and get the book) as bacon, lettuce, tomato and fresh chicken breast on TWO pieces of buttered freshly made toast with mayo.  He said that whoever invented the triple decker should be forced to eat them three times a day for the rest of his life.  He specifically said (IIRC)  turkey was a later and not as good substitution.

Edited January 17, 2015 by Norm Matthews (log)

[weinoo]

In American Cookery, James Beard describes the original Club House Sandwich (paraphrase as i have a cat on my lap and don't want to get up and get the book) as bacon, lettuce, tomato and fresh chicken breast on TWO pieces of buttered freshly made toast with mayo.  He said that whoever invented the triple decker should be forced to eat them three times a day for the rest of his life.  He specifically said (IIRC)  turkey was a later and not as good substitution.

[Martin Fisher]

James Beard describes the original Club House Sandwich

[Norm Matthews]

Sorry wienoo, I didn't see your post before. OK cat is gone, here is the quote from the cookbook.

 

Club Sandwich or Clubhouse Sandwich

 

This must be included in the chicken chapter, for it is one of the great sandwiches of all time and has swept around the world after an American beginning.  Nowadays the sandwich is bastardized because it is usually made as a three-decker, which is not authentic  (whoever started that horror should be forced to eat three-deckers three times a day their rest of his life),  and nowadays practically everyone uses turkey and there's a vast difference between turkey and chicken where sandwiches are concerned.

 

The perfect club sandwich starts with a piece of freshly made crisp buttered toast.  On this goes a leaf of lettuce and a bit of mayonnaise, slices of chicken breast, slice of peeled ripe tomatoes, a sprinkle of salt, crisp bacon rashers, more mayonnaise and a second piece of toast. Some people toss in an additional piece of lettuce but it isn't necessary.  Green olives and sweet pickles are standard garnish.

[rotuts]

""  peeled ripe tomatoes ""

 

those were the days.   Kitchen Staff.

Edited January 17, 2015 by rotuts (log)

[Arey]

Can we at least agree that a club sandwich comes with a cellophane bedecked toothpick holding each triangular quarter together?

[rotuts]

I agree w NM  : J.B. never made anything up.  

 

wonder who added the Third Slice.

 

for me a CLub has to have three slices.

Edited January 17, 2015 by rotuts (log)

[Kerry Beal]

the Club ( Classic ) is just a name, that means something, said to be by some the Ck Sand above.

 

one can always choose to modify.  for me the extra mayo goes on each layer.

 

extra mayo never hurt anything, and generally improve it.

For me the extra mayo goes along each of the cut sides.  And of course it has to be cut in 4.

[rotuts]

"""  t has to be cut in 4 """

 

The Girls Club.  Lots of Potted Green Leafy Plants near by ?

 

cut on the diagonal :  The Boys Club

Edited January 17, 2015 by rotuts (log)

[naguere]

Thank you 

DiggingDogFarm 

 

The America Club Sandwich.

 

Put the chilled iceberg lettuce in at the last moment, and serve.

 

What a contrast.

[Martin Fisher]

Here are two of the very earliest published club sandwich recipes that I could find....

 

NO toast!!!! GASP!!

One features HAM!!! GASP!!!!

 

Say, what??? 

 

 

 

Source: Good Housekeeping, July 1897, Page 87.

 

 

 

 

 

Source: The Methodist Cook Book, 1898. Page 63.

[weinoo]

Salad dressing      ?!

[Katie Meadow]

How did the name "club" come about? Because it was so big you could club someone over the head with it or because it resembled the ugly architecture of the club house itself? Or because the club house had so much extra stale bread they needed to come up with a triple decker toasted sandwich? Or maybe because they had so many of those frizzy toothpicks and they seemed more necessary if the sandwich was too high to stay together otherwise?

I really always thought it was called a club because it was always served at a club house, and the two times I ever went to a club house that's what I had, because I thought it was the "house sandwich" and a specialty. I can see that a reasonable sandwich would basically be a BLT with turkey or chicken, although frankly I am happy without the poultry. That third piece of bread is just plain dopey: it makes it hard to eat and dilutes the bacon.

Ham and cheese on a club? But why? You might as well put fried squirrel in it. Oh wait, if you catch the squirrel and then club it to death you really do have a club sandwich. I like to keep a foot in both camps. One foot in the so-called "open minded" camp and the other in the camp that allows you to acknowledge a really bad idea.

The methodists were truly minimalists: only two pieces of bread, and no lettuce or tomato. And they spent a lot of time trying to flatten their bacon. No wonder it got cold.

Edited January 17, 2015 by Katie Meadow (log)