And now, the best lunch of the year: the Thanksgiving sandwich.
Take a baguette, cut it open and add some slices of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, cranberries, and top with some gravy. That is right. You are putting stuffing and gravy inside tasty bread. Wrap it in tinfoil, throw it in the oven for 15 minutes at 350.
Don’t tell your cardiologist or skinny friends about this, because they will be appalled. I think this sandwich is actually illegal in some states, it is so good.
asiangrrlMN
You DO have a cardiologist on speed-dial, don’t you, Cole? I’m kidding. It sounds scrumptious. Thanks for hosting the best lefty blog out there.
plasticgoat
You had me until the sauerkraut, that is confined to the brats.
Tom Levenson
Everything but the mash.
Add good mustard.
For the full effect: toss some cheddar in there.
Heh.
(My sister in law is a cardiologist. I’ve got my bases covered.)
chrome agnomen
damn straight!
aimai
Wait, I agree with Tom, everything makes perfect sense–including the stuffing inside the bread–except for the mashed potatoes. Come on! It sounds like a demented cornish pasty.
We got up this morning and baked some cranberry muffins and then topped them with one of the three cranberry sauces from last night. I think now we didn’t make enough.
aimai
shoutingattherain
Yum! Sounds like something you’d get at Primanti’s.
aimai
Plus, forget the cardiologist–make sure you have a stomach pump on retainer.
aimai
Just Some Fuckhead
It sounds disgusting. You fat people will eat anything.
Rook
My arteries are cracking just from reading your directions.
Pigs & Spiders
My version actually uses burger buns instead of baguette and instead of mashed potatoes, sweet potato puree, but it’s the same idea. We don’t wait until noon the next day though. This is a midnight snack around here.
Eastriver
Sauerkraut?
FAIL. FAIL. FAIL.
RedKitten
No sauerkraut, thanks, and I’ll take my potatoes on the side. But a turkey sandwich with stuffing and cranberries? Oh yeah…
kommrade reproductive vigor
Lose the skraut, throw some bacon on there (cooked of course).
Alex
How is it possible to have stuffing leftovers? I love stuffing, but I’m a stuffing purist (it must be cooked inside the bird, which limits the quantity that you can get pretty severely. I’ve never, ever had stuffing leftovers my entire life, even from the biggest turkeys.
fnook
We don’t wait until noon the next day though. This is a midnight snack around here.
Yep. I had something approximating John’s baguette sandwich about 1:30 this morning, followed by a slice of apple pie, followed by getting kick outta bed for snoring. Now it’s time for another one but the leftovers are all gone. Oh well. God I love four day weekends.
Sue
Stuffing, turkey, no sauerkraut, vegetables, gravy, cranberries. Layer in that order in a casserole dish, top with a nice thick layer of mashed potatoes, bake 350 thirty to forty minutes. Thanksgiving shepherds pie.
TruthOfAngels
In so many ways, this is the greatest sandwich of them all.
But!
The mashed potatoes and the gravy go on the side. Anything else is insufficiently pure and automatically registers a vote for Sarah Palin at any election you care to mention.
Additionally, small children will point and laugh at you in the street. Consider this a warning.
Super-additionally, cranberries are a f-ing dessert. Stupid Americans.
Super-super-additionally, I apologise unconditionally, and please don’t invade my country.
Kirk Spencer
Piker. You forgot the sweet potatoes, the pickles from the relish tray, and the bean casserole. You also forgot to finish after cooking with a topping of seven-layer salad (or whatever your green salad was.
That or you had a lot fewer leftovers than I did.
demkat620
Hot gravy over cold stuffing. Yum-my!
You Don't Say
Sounds awful. Gravy and sauerkraut?
Kirk Spencer
@Alex: bleah. Every stuffing I’ve had from a turkey has been, well, pretty much inedible. These days I put aromatics in the cavity. This year was a quartered orange.
Captain Goto
No Thanksgiving sandwich for me…Mom decided to have the family do a country club buffet.
I was on tenterhooks, as Mom has been in a crappy mood for weeks now. I’m getting married tomorrow (!!!) and she won’t even *look* at my fiancee.
Amazingly enough, it went off like a charm…my wife-to-be went down a storm (/Gordon Ramsay) with all of the rest of my relatives, and my nephew loves me for making the beer run before the Texas/Texas A&M game (for those of us living in Pennsylvania, getting malted beverages on a Thanksgiving is a Herculean undertaking!).
27 hours to go…
Genine
***stands by with defibrillator at the ready***
But, sauerkraut on that? Ewww.
Dave C
Hey, I’m skinny and that sounds pretty damn good. Except for the ‘kraut–let’s not be ridiculous here.
demkat620
Btw John, did Lily get a nice thanksgiving plate? My Jack thought he had died and gone to heaven yesterday.
asiangrrlMN
@Captain Goto: Good luck, Captain Goto. Congrats to you and your lovely bride-to-be. May you have many wonderful years together.
Martin
Yeah, that’s pretty close to my take, though no kraut. Not that it wouldn’t be good, but I don’t usually have it on hand this time of year. I usually open-face the roll and top brown it but only because its faster.
I’m on/off with the mashed potatoes – they don’t really have the flavor to keep up with the rest of the sandwich, but sometimes I do it anyway. Sweet potato does hold up a little better. I disagree on the cheddar – too much bite. You need something a little milder in there. Personally I like swiss with this setup.
But otherwise this is what I’ll eat 2 meals a day for at least the next week. I’m making turkey vegetable soup today – made stock off the carcass last night, which I’ll set up alongside the sandwich. Probably make another pie on sunday to take up after yesterday’s are gone (had some pumpkin for breakfast). Also making up extra gravy today to cover the sandwiches and for future needs. Got a good quart and a half of drippings, lots of schmaltz which I’ve mixed with flour to thicken it up. Should last me until xmas.
Another consideration in anticipation of this is to make a side stuffing loaf (don’t use the stuff from inside the turkey) after the turkey using the turkey drippings and some schmaltz in a loaf pan. Make it a little wet and pack it tight and you can just cut off a slice of the stuffing for your sandwich. Stays neat as well.
Mac from Oregon
Best T-day sanny. Wonder bread (white), Turkey (white), Mayo (white), Cranberry sauce (jelly in a pinch). Eat by the pound, always soggy and oh so good.
Captain Goto
@asiangrrlMN: Thank you, dear!!
Corner Stone
Having our T-giving meal today due to family scheduling conflicts. So I will be enjoying the spiral cut honeybaked ham in a coupla hours, for reals. My fatness marathon has yet to begin.
And I, for one, enjoy the idea of kraut on there.
smiley
I have to concur on the no kraut. Everything else sounds great. I’m having a turkey sandwich but all that’s on it is swiss, turkey, lettuce and a little mayo. I don’t have all the other stuff. Unfortunately.
Martin
@TruthOfAngels:
Gravy must go in the sandwich as well. That’s arguably more important than the turkey. And the cranberry is a necessary balance against all of the savory going on. It’s like a mid-bite palate cleaner.
Gordon, The Big Express Engine
mmmmm….
open face club sand wedge….
Corner Stone
@Alex:
This is almost too funny for words. I have never, ever heard of someone having this predilection.
I hope it serves you well, but may I humbly suggest that the suspicious lack of stuffing leftovers proves otherwise?
If there is anything *better* than stuffing/dressing leftovers to look forward to, I am unaware of it.
Captain Goto
Wish I had one’a those now.
Admit I haven’t tried the kraut on there. Might be worth a try…and that shepherd’s pie recipe sounds amazing! Mebbe next year…
TruthOfAngels
@Martin:
There can be no accommodation with the gravy-sandwich Fascists. Why do you hate Thanksgiving?
As for the cranberry – well, why don’t you put ice cream in it?
You people make me sick. So I best go see my doctor, which admittedly doesn’t cost me anything, but then I’m evilly British.
Incidentally, how’s that July 4 thing working out for y’all?
(I need hardly add that this place is one of my very favourite blogs, and bookmarked as such, and ‘Medicare For All’ beats ‘single-payer’ in framing terms all to to hell.)
Rey
Perfect! then wash it all down with some Pie, fall on the couch and enjoy the rest of the day. Heaven….
jeffreyw
Makin another batch of dressing today.
GeneralB
My leftover sandwich of choice:
Turkey, cranberry and cream cheese on a croissant
Genine
Congrats, Captain Goto! Best wishes to you and your love.
Zzyzx
@demkat620: Our cats get some tuna fish on Thanksgiving. After 5 years, they’ve figured it out and start begging when Mel grabs the can, even though they never do that for other cans.
Jager
My Grandsons and I love Thanksgiving Sundaes:
Heat up the left-overs. Then in a Sundae glass; layer, mashed potatoes, gravy, turkey, dressing, etc top with gravy and cranberry sauce…looks like an ice cream Sundae, tastes like Thanksgiving!
The Pour House on Boylston in Boston has Thanksgiving sandwiches daily. Great with a cold Sam Adams!
Corner Stone
@Rey:
I may and/or may not love you right now.
GReynoldsCT00
@kommrade reproductive vigor:
our family stuffing has breakfast sausage crumbled up in it, so we get that bit of win that way…
Bubblegum Tate
I’m in Canada now. Got here yesterday, so no Thanksgiving, and certainly no Thanksgiving sandwich. I’m not all that upset about missing Thanksgiving, but man, do I wish I could have the sandwich.
Corner Stone
Slightly OT, but since it’s food and all –
Thanks to all for those suggesting Honeycrisp apples. I have been devouring these damn things since that thread.
Growing up with Delicious Red and Granny Smiths, the Honeycrisp is a revelation.
Next I may try the Pink Crisp but I’m concerned I may pee myself at how damn good they are.
gilead
You forgot the butter.
I do have a cardiologist on speed-dial. And I do not eat like this. Anymore. One day a year? Go for it (not that you need my permission).
Martin
@Corner Stone:
Purists such as these are good markers for people that don’t know how to cook. How do you get an acceptable stuffing that didn’t come from the bird? It’s more than possible, but the purists have never encountered it. Sad, really, that in a nation as great as this we allow these people to stumble through their pathetic, miserable lives without a proper thanksgiving social safety net.
ilsita
I am as baffled as anyone about the sauerkraut.
I made a crown roast of pork instead of turkey, and today, on sandwich day, I regret that deviation from tradition.
Shell
Turkey, stuffing, some homemade cranberry chutney mixed into the mayo. A leaf of romaine lettuce almost looks too healthy. No mashed or sweet potatoes in the sandwich tho. A little messy and don’t you have enough carbs in there already.
Have leftover yellow turnips so gonna make turnip cakes with fresh thyme for dinner tonight. They’re almost spicy.
Shell
Ooh, aren’t they good? I got some this week too.
My absolute favorite tho is the Stayman/Winesap. It’s frustrating cause they don’t come on the market till late October, and not all markets carry them. The produce manager at my local Kings said. “There’s not much demand for them.” Hey, I got your demand, right here!
licensed to kill time
The best part of Thanksgiving is the leftovers. Turkey and mayo and good bread are all I need. Though I have been known to sneak spoonfuls of cold stuffing out of the fridge all day long until, sadly, it’s gone. There’s never enough stuffing. I want buckets and buckets of stuffing.
Comrade Mary
@Alex: Pro-tip: If you also put stuffing in between the breast and its skin, it keeps the breast moist and gives you MOAR stuffing.
I just got back from my annual physical, where I found out that my cholesterol is 147 and my triglycerides are at 70. I could so do that sandwich. Hell, I could do two of them.
Just no sauerkraut. Eww. If you need some more carbs, why not add some Yorkshire pudding?
Martin
@TruthOfAngels:
July 4 is working out fantastic, thank you. Great fireworks show visible from my house, barbecue all day long, out-drinking my English friends who come along (not easy, mind you, but I do it for pride of country).
And don’t be harshing on Thanksgiving. It’s a holiday started by your countrymen fleeing England for better food. It’s no wonder you can’t properly appreciate cranberries an a turkey sandwich.
eastriver
I hereby announce that the calendar day following Thanksgiving will from hereon be known as Pieforbreakfast Day.
Go about your business.
licensed to kill time
How about a nice strong beer to go with that sandwich?
The friendly yet anxious ghost of Christmas Future Hangover.
Corner Stone
@eastriver:
Umm, and why would it be any different, etc, etc?
Martin
@Shell:
No, and fuck you carb police. No, I do not want a half pound of 400 degree sizzling beef and cheese wrapped up in a piece of grease-resistant lettuce and shoved in my hands. Bread is good. Hell, bread is great. So are potatoes and pasta. Do I look like a T-Rex? No. I need starch in my diet.
And more carbs are good for you. Proof: beer.
Corner Stone
@Shell:
If they’re better I may lapse into a coma.
Honeycrisps have all the sweetness of delicious red but the texture is so much better.
Martin
@eastriver:
That’s more like it. A cup of coffee and a slab of mincemeat pie is the only way to wake up on a Friday when the whole world around you has gone insane with buying shit they don’t need nor likely even want.
eastriver
Corner Stone:
Do not question the naming. It is done. Eat the pie.
Corner Stone
@Martin: Motherfucker. I may absolutely love you.
Corner Stone
@eastriver: Yes. Pie. Eat the pie.
RandyH
This discussion reminded me of a cute promo that Discovery Channel is running for their “Deadliest Catch” marathon today.
Two fishermen from the show look into the camera. One says “You’ve got a fridge full of leftovers.” and the other says “Why not just put on your stretchy pants and call it a day?”
Ahhh, gluttony….
Corner Stone
@licensed to kill time: Holy Balls.
And I thought Maredsous #8 was the shiz.
serge
Non, mon ami…the best after-the-fact sandwich is one made and consumed under the influence of evil canabinoids at around 1:00 am, while raiding your best friend’s parents’ fridge, all under the wary eye of a St Bernard, Samson, who has long since established the fact that, though I could prove I loved dogs, he simply didn’t care for me…a sandwich made on whatever bread there was, with a little schmeer of mayo, your turkey, a layer of stuffing, and the amount of cranberry that that moment calls for as the last layer.
Oh, heaven…
licensed to kill time
@Corner Stone: Heh. I posted that accidentally in the shopping thread and added “Where’s Corner Stone?” Thought that might catch your eye ;-)
Bort
You know who else liked sauerkraut on his turkey and stuffing sandwiches? Hitler! Just saying.
Now a good German sausage sandwich with sauerkraut is another thing.
Fern
@Corner Stone:
Not tart enough, though the texture is nice. I’ve just discovered Braeburn apples. For me, they have the perfect balance of sweet and tart and are wonderfully crisp.
Shell
Ho, chill, guy. Have some more stuffing and trytophan. I could happily live the rest of my life with just bread, pasta, potatoes and sticky, sticky sushi rice. And proteins as they call ’em on ‘Top Chef?’ On the side, like a relish.
Martin
@Shell:
Sorry, that wasn’t directed at you – society in general. It’s always the messenger that gets it.
Martin
Oh, and I just made the best turkey gravy of all time – perfect texture, nice and herby. Expect the rapture any moment. Every previous turkey gravy you’ve ever had as of this moment tastes like shit. Got a quart and a half of it, which might get me through sandwich week.
I’m seriously tempted to mix it with some gin later and have an afternoon cocktail, it’s that good.
Wile E. Quixote
Mmmmmm, I love sandwiches like that. And since I have been blessed with genetically low cholesterol levels I can chow down on them. There is a sandwich chain in the tri-state area named Capriotti’s that makes a fantastic turkey, stuffing and cranberry sandwich. It should come with a warning label that says “do not operate heavy equipment after eating this sandwich”. I need to get some bread today so I can make one of these sandwiches, although I’ll leave the kraut, spuds and gravy on the side.
Wile E. Quixote
@Martin
As cocktails go that doesn’t sound any worse than a bullshot.
Wile E. Quixote
How appropriate that the ad server is popping up an advertisement for Bacon Salt on this page.
johnatparis
Was going to say don’t forget the cranberries, but you didn’t.
Works well with yams instead of mashed potatoes and also pickles or even relish instead of sauerkraut, but you do need the sour in there to offset the sweet, which you need because, well, you do…
Shell
Hey! You can’t post something like that without a recipe. Or at least a road-map.
With our yo-yo weather, I still had a lot of fresh herbs in the garden to play with. (Except the basil. That fragile green blackens if it gets below 55 degrees.) Sage, a ton of parsley and thyme. There’s nothing like the smell of fresh thyme.
Ruckus
@Martin:
A Martintini – 3 parts gravy and 1 part gin.
Would the brand of gin matter? Would extra olives be wrong?
How do you gently swirl the gravy in the glass before pouring in the gin?
Martin
@Ruckus:
I’m always preferential to Plymouth, but I’m thinking it’s not terribly important so long as you avoid the flowery french gins. Extra olives would be a very good move.
As for the gravy roadmap, it’s essentially as follows:
Take turkey drippings, strain out the aromatics, and separate, reserving the fat in a glass container and shove it in the freezer.
Put juices in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer. For 1 1/2 qts of gravy, I added about 1 tsp each of fresh chopped parsley, sage, and thyme. Mine was a little too salty due to the turkey brine drippings, so I traded some of the drippings with equal amounts of the turkey stock from the carcass. Gave the stock some salt (since we’ll make soup tomorrow) and toned down the salt in the gravy. A little ground pepper to taste.
From the stock I got about 1/4 cup of very small turkey bits – mostly dark meat that fell from the carcass. I chopped that fine and added it to the drippings.
Once the fat in the freezer sets up, scrape it out into a chilled metal bowl leaving any non-fat behind. To the bowl, add flour. I had about 2/3 cup fat which I added between 2-3 cups flour. Work the flour and fat together until fully combined. It should look just like pie dough when ready. Roll it into 1/2″-1″ balls and put in a storage container in the freezer. I got about 50 balls out of that much fat.
Bring the drippings to a rolling boil and add the fat/flour balls one at a time and after each one starts to disintegrate, whisk in until smooth. Keep adding balls until you get the consistency you want. I needed about six 3/4″ balls for 1 1/2 qts. and it took about 2 hours to get them all incorporated. The flour thickens the gravy and the fat helps keep the consistency smooth. By adding them together, the flour never clumps because it’s bound to the fat and the fat doesn’t separate because it gets bound to the liquid by the flour.
A lot of the other flavoring came from the turkey brine. Though it was a little too salty until I traded a bit with the stock, the brine also had aromatics and some sugar which probably helped the balance of the gravy. I tend to find most gravies to be too meaty and to have a gummy consistency – just meat juice and flour. The aromatics and sugar from the brine that has infused the turkey, combined with the aromatics from the roasting pan, along with the herbs really add a lot of other flavors to the gravy, and the fat/flour combo produces a very nice texture.
Corner Stone
@serge: I am eerily perved out by pretty much all of this post.
Nicely done.
Shell
The fat/flour balls are a clever idea. Kind of like a ready-to-go roux.
Martin
@Shell:
Yeah. I’ve done roux in the past, but it usually comes out a little too smoky. Probably because I’m used to making a very black roux for gumbo and have trouble backing off. But this works just as well and is quite a bit faster.
Nutella
Sauerkraut with Thanksgiving turkey? Is your family from Baltimore? Or of German descent? Or both?
Studly Pantload
Mr. Cole, I see you’ve been getting grief for the sauerkraut addition to your sammy, but I gotta tell ya, you inspired me to make a sausage-sauerkraut-pumpkin-seed stuffing* for our side dish, tonight, being as we had take out from an Indian food restaurant for our T-day meal. (*All vegetarian ingredients, as that’s how we roll in the Pantload homestead.)
Steeplejack
@Martin:
Recipe?
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
D’oh. Question answered. Tough to decide between reading thread and commenting as I go along or reading the whole thread and then forgetting what I wanted to comment on.
Corner Stone
@Fern:
I don’t really care for a tart apple for snacking. I think in a pie or other dessert a tart apple would go well with the cinammon and sugar, etc, but for just a breakfast apple or whathaveyou, I like a sweet apple. And the texture is to die for on a Honeycrisp. I always hated the way a delicious red would/could get grainy on you midway thru. Yuck.
I’m going to try a Braeburn next time I go to the store, just to find out.
Oh, and so far I’ve been able to find Honeycrisps produced in America so relatively low on the carbon footprint. I know a lot come from NZ at different times of the year.
Damn you TattooSydney!
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: It gets harder to do as you get older.
Like pushups.