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Sheridan Park Club Sandwich
Toast and butter three thin slices of white bread; place a lettuce leaf on the lower slice, and on its top put slices of chicken breast. Then put another slice of toast on top of that with another leaf of lettuce, followed by thin slices of broiled breakfast bacon, topped by third slice of toasted bread. Garnish top with small pickles cut in slices lengthwise. Serve as soon as made. COLONIAL (CLUB) SANDWICH Toast and butter three slices of thinly cut bread; place slices of cold boiled chicken spread lightly with mayonnaise dressing on the lower slice, with a crisp lettuce leaf. Then put another slice of toast on top of that with a slice of ripe tomato spread lightly with mayonnaise dressing, topped by a third slice of toast spread with finely chopped celery that has been mixed with a little mayonnaise dressing. Lay on top of that sweet red peppers cut in ribbons; cut triangular.
Two three-decker club sandwiches from the era when the form was still being codified. Both are assembly jobs, so the only real variables are the bread, the doneness of the bacon, and how fast you get them to the table.
- "Breakfast bacon"Ordinary thin-sliced streaky bacon. Broiled here means cooked under direct heat or in a dry pan until crisp but not brittle; brittle bacon shatters and pushes the layers apart when the sandwich is cut.
- Bread thickness"Thinly cut" is not decorative. Three slices of standard sandwich bread make a stack too tall to bite, so cut a pullman loaf at about 1/4 inch, or use thin-sliced bread and toast it just to pale gold so it stays flexible.
- Butter every toasted faceThe butter is the moisture barrier. On the Colonial version, where mayonnaise, tomato and dressed celery all meet toast, unbuttered bread goes limp within a minute or two.
- Cold boiled chickenPoach a whole breast in salted water or stock and cool it in the liquid, then slice across the grain. Rotisserie or roast chicken works but is drier and needs a little more mayonnaise.
- "Serve as soon as made"This instruction closes the first recipe only, though it applies equally to the second; toast and warm bacon against cold lettuce turn soggy quickly.
- Sweet red peppers in ribbonsMost likely pimientos, drained and cut into strips. Roasted red pepper from a jar is the closest current equivalent.
- Cutting and holding togetherThe Colonial sandwich is directed to be "cut triangular," which may mean halved corner to corner or quartered. Cocktail picks through each portion help keep a three-slice stack upright once cut, though the recipe does not call for them.
- YieldEach set of instructions makes one sandwich, serving one as a light lunch or two as an afternoon plate.
The club sandwich turns up in American print by the end of the 1880s, and by the time this book was compiled it had already spread far enough that hotels and city clubs were each claiming a house version. The double-decker structure built on cold chicken is the through-line; the variations lie in what goes into the second tier, here a slice of ripe tomato and celery bound with mayonnaise. The name is generally traced to the private clubs and club cars where the sandwich was served, though no single origin story is documented and several competing claims circulate. Both versions also show off what a well-provisioned kitchen of the period could reach for cold: leftover boiled fowl, jarred pimientos, bottled or house-made mayonnaise, and small pickles kept on hand for garnish.