What Is a Club Sandwich, Exactly?

Wikipedia, of course, has a very useful definition: "A club sandwich, also called a clubhouse sandwich, is a sandwich with toasted bread." That leaves a lot of questions open, but most importantly: does anyone actually call it a clubhouse sandwich? Wikipedia goes on to list the classic ingredients as turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise, allowing for variations on the turkey (chicken, roast beef, etc.), the addition of cheese, and condiments such as mustard or honey mustard. Is it obligatory that a club sandwich have three pieces of bread? Must it be quartered and skewered with fun toothpicks? If you add turkey to a BLT and stack it on top of another BLT, does that make a club sandwich? Let the grand debate begin. Leave a comment below to share your definition.

David Nevins, culinary director at The Biltmore Bar & Grille in Newton, offers the following as the "proper" building procedure:

· toasted bread
· mayo
· sliced turkey
· bacon
· toasted bread, mayo both sides
· bacon
· tomato
· lettuce
· toasted bread, mayo

For Nevins, "a good club is all about size. It needs to be huge, so huge that it's hard to take a bite. When I want (or make) a turkey club it needs to be simple, properly built, and fresh. House roasted and sliced turkey breast piled high, not skimpy; toasted bread; tons of bacon on all levels; good quality tomato and lettuce. Oh, and tons of sloppy mayo, of course, on all sides of the bread."
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