Ultimate Left Over Christmas Sandwich

If anyone out there is like me (and I believe that there must be some) I actually much prefer the food left over from the Christmas meal rather than the main event itself. It’s possibly a chef thing – the person in control of cooking the lunch just doesn’t have the time to truly enjoy it, all that stress and getting the timing right. By the time you actually sit down to eat you’re really not enjoying it all that much – and then there’s the Christmas pudding to get on with. So, for many of us, getting the chance to relax a few hours later and eat some of the food you’ve taken so long to prepare, without the hassle, is the best part of the Christmas meal.

I love a sandwich. Anything between two giant wedges of bread is good but particularly left-overs. There’s something genius about creating the perfect combination of ingredients that delivers the ultimate mouthful of Christmas lunch, with some added extras, that is comfort food at its best and The Moist-Maker is, in my opinion the ultimate version of this. Any fans of the 90’s TV show Friends will no doubt have heard of The Moist Maker. It’s the special sandwich that Ross leaves in the fridge at work, only for it to be stolen by a colleague causing Ross much consternation and loss of temper. My version is an adaptation of his but includes the all-important, gravy-soaked turkey at the heart of the sandwich. It is epic and unbeatable and I insist you take yourself away from the crowds, find a silent moment and create it and eat it.

Obviously the below is essentially a recipe for how to assemble left-overs and you can really use any left-overs you like. I’ve shown my favourites but feel free to use whatever you love. I believe stuffing is essential, as is a slaw of some kind as this adds a ‘salad’ element without being full blown leaves… but of course the truly essential bit is the gravy-soaked turkey. So hold onto your little paper hats, here we go.

METHOD
Let’s start with the turkey… we’re using cold turkey and cold gravy; no re-heating nasty bugs here. Before you construct your sandwich the first thing to do is pour some gravy into a bowl and slide your turkey trimmings into it and let them sit for 5 min whilst you start to build.

Next we move onto the bread, my preference is a light toast, just to add crunch. As most of the ingredients are quite soft it’s nice to have that added texture.

Now to start building. Start with your bottom layer and spread generously with butter, followed by the stuffing – I like to smoosh the stuffing into the bread – then layer up, vegetables, coleslaw, turkey, potatoes, more veg and finally spread the top layer of toast generously with cranberry sauce before slapping it on top and pressing down to seal it all in.

It is quite frankly, perfection… I’m even thinking of serving these for Christmas lunch this year!

Eat and of course, enjoy!

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