6 days of Christmas (Sandwiches) - day 5

Ah Waitrose, trust you to have such a middle-class offering this Christmas: the Three Bird Roast Wrap. I had high hopes for this, expecting a Heston Blumenthal surprise in the middle (liquid nitrogen balls or a duck basting itself in its own juices). But alas, it was merely a souped-up chicken mayonnaise wrap. Three birds? There was some darker meat in there which I think was duck but, to be honest, the mayonnaise drowned out most of the meaty flavours. The meat was on a whole succulent but I could not taste the cranberry at all. Average.

Description: Turkey, chicken, duck, cranberry, mayonnaise
Location: Waitrose
Accompaniments: Coke Zero
Companion: None
Rating: 6/10

Day 44 - Mexican Chicken Sandwich

Greggs has become a British institution. It is about the only shop that has done well during the recession. Probably because it's affordable and tasty. My memories of Greggs are from University when I would indulge in a "Meal Deal" on a daily basis. I decided to do the same on Day 44. I went for the limited edition Mexican Chicken. Spicy chicken, peppery cheddar, semi-sweet mayonnaise, jalapenos and lettuce combined to make a rather tasty sandwich. The quality of the bread (which was a crunchy baguette) was surprisingly pleasant and lifted the sandwich from above average to good.



Description: Spiced chicken, Mexican cheddar, jalapenos, lettuce, mayonaise baguette
Location: Greggs
Accompaniments: Coke Zero, Ready Salted Walkers crisps
Companion: None
Rating: 7/10

Day 40 - Homemade Tandoori Chicken Sandwich

I think this sandwich is the best sandwich I have ever made for myself. And, as you may have cleverly deduced, I have made a lot of sandwiches in my life. I started off by baking a chicken thigh fillets marinated (for a day) in a yoghurt and spice mix. Once cooked, and slightly charred, I cut a couple of fillets into strips, put them between two slices of buttered (not margarine) seeded wholemeal bread, added some date and lime pickle and finished off with a handful of rocket and cress. The result was wonderfully aromatic, spicy and succulent chicken with hints of sweetness from the pickle and pepperiness from the rocket. The textured bread and leaves added a nice bite to the sandwich as well. If I hadn't made this myself, I would have given it a 10, but for some reason I find it difficult to award my own creation a 10.



Description: Homemade tandoori chicken sandwich with date and lime pickle and rocket and cress
Location: Home
Accompaniments: None
Companion: Friends
Rating: 9/10

Day 37 - Boots' Coronation Chicken

Today I devoured another packaged sandwich. Yet again, my expectations weren't sky high, but, yet again, the result was a pleasant surprise. For the uninitiated, coronation chicken is a dish made from cold cooked chicken, mayonnaise, spices (such as turmeric and or curry powder), fresh herbs, raisins and almonds. It was invented in 1953 for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, hence the name. It shouldn't really work, but somehow it does. It's sort of a sweet and spicy version of a chicken mayo sandwich. And the Boots version was tasty. Each spice and ingredient complimented the next, with sweet sitting alongside salty and spicy, all of which enhanced the flavour of the chicken. The problem with this sandwich, as with yesterdays, was the quality of the bread. There was just nothing to it. Still, a reasonably tasty sandwich.

Unfortunately, no photo today as I forgot to take one.

Description: Prawn and poached salmon with chive mayonnaise and spinnach
Location: In the car, driving to London
Accompaniments: Walkers Baked Cheese and Onion crisps, Coke Zero
Companion: None
Rating: 6/10

Day 35 - Homemade Pizza Sandwich with Beelzeblood Sauce

Two of my friends, after reading this blog, proposed to make me a sandwich. I obviously said yes, as long as I could, anticipating disaster, ruthlessly rate their offering. So they made me what they called a "Pizza Sandwich with Beelzeblood Sauce". This comprised of spicy tomato sauce (the Beelzeblood Sauce), steak, mozzarella, smoked cheese and cajun chicken in between thick white toasted bread. The result was very impressive. The ingredients were distributed liberally, but not excessively, allowing for each mouthful to sample the individual components of the sandwich. The downside of the sandwich was that the steak was a little tough and the bread was sliced unevenly, meaning that the sandwich imploded halfway through eating. The best thing about the sandwich was the sauce, which is by far the best home made tomato sauce I've ever had. It married the flavours, without overpowering them, and added a nice amount of heat and zest to the sandwich. Overall, slightly flawed, but very enjoyable.



Description: Steak, chicken, mozzarella, smoked cheese, tomato sauce on white bread
Location: Friend's house, Northampton
Accompaniments: Nachos
Companion: Friends
Rating: 8/10

Day 34 - Spicy Chicken Sandwich Deluxe

As I post most of these entries a few days after I eat the sandwiches, unfortunately, I have missed one. But I'll slot it in at day 34 and we'll speak no more of it, okay?

For the uninitiated, Chick-Fil-A is a fast food chain that specialises in hot chicken sandwiches (think of a better McChicken sandwich or Zinger Burger). I've had it a few times before so by the time I got to the restaurant I was salivating in anticipation. I ordered the Spicy Chicken Sandwich Deluxe, which is spiced breaded chicken in a bun, with cheese, tomato and lettuce; pretty standard ingredients for a chicken "burger". This time it was a pleasant enough sandwich, although not as good as I remember because, unfortunately, the chicken was slightly on the dry side. The seasoned coating and the rest of the sandwich ingredients almost did enough to make me forget about the poorly cooked chicken. Almost.



Description: Chick-Fil-A Spicy Chicken Sandwich Deluxe
Location: Chick-Fil-A, Chicago
Accompaniments: Waffle chips, Diet Coke
Companion: None
Rating: 6/10

Day 29 - Chicken Venezia

As I was being lazy, and it's close, I went back to the Morgan Street Cafe to get another sandwich. This one proved that the last one was not a fluke: this place does make good sandwiches. The chicken was not as succulent as the California Dream but it was flavoursome nonetheless. The sauce, this time a pesto mayonnaise, was again the thing that drew this sandwich together. However, I thought the sandwich could have used something acidic, like a vinaigrette on the lettuce, and some spice, like red pepper flakes. Other than that, very good.



Description: Baked chicken, pesto mayo, swiss, onions, tomatoes, and lettuce
Location: Morgan Street Cafe
Accompaniments: None
Companion: None
Rating: 7/10

Day 28 - Chicken and Waffles

Okay, so today I didn't have a sandwich. But everyone's allowed a day off right? Anyway, I thought I'd still review this as it was a fantastic meal. For brunch, on the day of my fiancée's birthday, we went to a southern style brunch restaurant. The speciality of this place is chicken and waffles. Now, I've never had chicken and waffles before, but I like fried chicken, I like waffles, and I like sweet and savoury, so I had a feeling I'd like this. I didn't, however, expect I'd like it so much. The chicken was the best fried chicken I'd ever eaten; crispy on the outside, the meat perfectly cooked and very flavoursome, even without the skin. The waffles were light and slightly sweet and a mouthful of the two items, plus some Canadian maple syrup, was heavenly. Simply amazing.



Description: Fried chicken and waffles with maple syrup
Location: Table 52
Accompaniments: Bloody Mary and Bacon doughnuts
Companion: Fiancée
Rating: 10/10

Day 16 - California Dream

This sandwich is the best I have had so far. I purchased it on recommendation of my fiancé who herself had been recommended it by someone else. The sandwich consisted of grilled chicken breast, avocado, provolone cheese, sprouts, tomato, an amazing sauce and pretzel bread. I have never had bread like that in England, it's so flavoursome (sweet, salty, crispy, soft) that I'd be content just eating that on its own. The chicken was cooked perfectly, still running with juices and still hot from the grill. The other ingredients just danced around the chicken, complimenting it with every mouthful. To top it off, the sauce, which I am assuming was homemade, was spicy, creamy, acidic and fruity and married everything together perfectly. My only (minor) criticism is that I would have preferred iceberg lettuce instead of the sprouts, which I feel added nothing. Lettuce would have added a further texture to the sandwich and propelled it to a 10. Admittedly that is a minor point, and this is still a fabulous sandwich.




Description: Grilled chicken breast, avocado, provolone cheese, sprouts, tomato on pretzel bread
Location: Morgan Street Cafe, Chicago
Accompaniments: Water
Companion: Fiancée
Rating: 9/10

Day 6 - Part 2 - Dad's homemade fried chicken sandwich

My dad makes good "no nonsense" sandwiches. I think that's where my passion for sandwiches comes from. He doesn't fanny about making them look pretty, but he knows what goes and what doesn't. On this occasion he made me a sandwich consisting of left-over southern fried chicken, sautéed spiced tomatoes and cheese. The chicken, although processed, was nicely succulen and the tomatoes' acidity cut nicely through the fatty chicken. The bread was toasted to add a crunchy texture to the sandwich and the mayonnaise and hot sauce complimented the other ingredients without being overbearing. On a whole, very tasty.



Description: Homemade southern fried chicken sandwich with sautéed tomatoes cheese mayo and hot sauce
Location: Home, Northampton
Accompaniments: None
Companion: Family
Rating: 7/10

Day 4 - Homemade Chicken Mayo

Warning - this post is like this sandwich; boring. There's nothing exciting I can say about this other than I made a chicken and mayonnaise sandwich. As I like spice, I added some chopped jalapeños and drizzled some Cholula hot sauce over the mixture.

It's not my favourite type of sandwich so I can't rave about it, but it was pleasant enough. The chicken was pre-cooked breast from a packet, and was not really of great quality but the jalapeños were an inspired addition.



Description: Homemade chicken mayo
Location: Home, Northampton
Accompaniments: Salt and vinegar McCoys, 7up
Companion: None
Rating: 6/10

Day 2 - Chicken foot-long from Subway

I used to love Subway. Walking in, I used to feel like a spoilt kid in an Apple store. "A whole foot?" and "I can have all of that salad?" I used to scream to the confused server. Alas, those magical days are gone. Now, every time I go back to Subway I feel like I've somehow been cheated. It's just not how I remember it.

This time around I decided to have a foot long chicken special (or something along those lines). Basically, it is breaded chicken. It was supposed to be crispy, but after the salad was put on it, the layers and layers of flavourless salad, it became a hopeless soggy mess. That is was spite of the fact that it was "toasted". Subway must have the only toaster that makes things wetter.

Long story short, the sandwich was disappointingly below average.



Description: Chicken something something from Subway
Location: Subway, Northampton
Accompaniments: None
Companion: None
Rating: 4/10