No Soggy Sandwiches

I'm very picky about sandwiches, and was contemplating the qualities of a great sandwich the other day. The short list I came up with included:

i) Toasted bread - No soggy sandwiches here.

ii) Hearty meat - I have a preference for leftover chicken or turkey that, while not necessarily fresh, usually seems to taste better than most deli-style meats.

iii) Great sauces - I'm partial to mayonnaise or jam. Or both at the same time. [1]

Over time I've honed my pickiness into a club sandwich recipe that seems to channel my preferences into the unicorn of sandwiches (at least my unicorn -- there are no doubt many people who prefer soggy unicorns / sandwiches).

Rob's Club Sandwich

Ingredients [2]

2 slices of 12-grain bread

1/2 fresh vine-ripened tomato

freshly sliced roasted chicken or turkey

2 strips of bacon

small handful of mixed green salad

mayonnaise

raspberry jam

Directions (not that you need directions on sandwich construction)

1) Pre-cook the bacon in a pan (very important - raw bacon is markedly less tasty)

2) Pre-toast the bread (this minimizes sogginess)

3) Construct the sandwich layering bread (bottom slice) - chicken - bacon - tomatos - lettuce - bread (top slice) with mayonnaise and jam generously spread on the downward facing side of the top slice

4) Eat. Groan. Lick crumbs off of plate.

Starter update

After an uneventful initial 24 hours of stagnation, my starter sprung to life on day two. After three feedings it is looking wildly active. Picture below.

Unfortunately, I'm running low on flour and even lower on time to bake over the next few days, so I'm wrestling with strategies to keep the starter alive until the weekend. This is complicated slightly by the fact that I now have a lot of starter. Will likely need to reduce and re-feed. Perhaps refrigerate for the night as well. That said, with the starter now active, delicious bread seems only a few days away.

Notes:

[1] I've had a few comments about the jam/mayonnaise combination. It dates back a few years - I was on a British Airways flight from London to Munich when the stewardess rolled down the aisle with the lunch cart. I'm generally fine with airline food, but the lunches are not normally very good (other than Porter Airlines). However, on this flight the stewardess handed me a box that contained a roast turkey sandwich with tomatoes, lettuce, and cranberry sauce on multi-grain bread! A bit soggy, but the cranberry sauce otherwise made it. It turned me on to the concept of some kind of jam or cranberry sauce on a meat sandwich. As for the mayo, I just like it.

[2] For those in Toronto, the Healthy Butcher sells delicious pork strip bacon and freshly cut roasted turkey (including a sun-dried tomato version)