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| Turkey Club Sandwich photo courtesy of http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/14237/classic+turkey+club+sandwich |
The other day on my way home from Boston I ordered a Turkey Club at Au Bon Pain at South Station. When I went to pick the sandwich up, I was asked if I had wanted the one without mayonnaise. I was confused and didn’t quite know why. Finally I wondered aloud, “Is a Turkey Club Sandwich without mayonnaise really a Turkey Club?”. No one bothered answering me, which is not surprising since everyone was busy getting ready to get on a train or a bus somewhere. But still it got me thinking about how this sandwich was an example of a system.
Well, I could be wrong about what defines a Turkey Club Sandwich. The Wikipedia entry for Club Sandwich states,
It turns out that the definition of a system is helpful:
So based on this admittedly non-technical set of categories I can see that for me, the mayo contributes something missing from all the other ingredients that comes from either the lemon or vinegar added to it. But this still is a bit reductionist for my "taste". For me it is ultimately the combination of all these components with their different attributes all interacting in my mouth at the same time that make up the "Turkey Club Sandwich Experience". It's like the toast, turkey, tomato, lettuce, mayonnaise and bacon are all having a rave party in my mouth!
“A club sandwich, also called a clubhouse sandwich, is a sandwich of toasted bread, sliced poultry, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. It is often cut into quarters or halves and held together by hors d'œuvre sticks [AKA toothpicks]. Modern versions frequently have two layers which are separated by an additional slice of bread.” [emphasis added]So based on the list of items, it would appear that mayonnaise is indeed critical to the makeup of a club sandwich. But I seemed to have an almost visceral response to the absence of mayo, so what else was going on?
It turns out that the definition of a system is helpful:
"A system is a set of interacting or interdependent components forming an integrated whole."So I think it was this concept of the "integrated whole" that unconsciously came to mind when I started wondering about the role of mayonnaise in a Turkey Club Sandwich. And it really does make sense when you apply this idea to other kinds of meals or snacks. Taken alone, each part of a club sandwich tastes good (tomatoes in season and picked ripe are essential here!), but when put together, the whole is really more than the sum of the parts. Each component - bacon, lettuce, turkey, toast and mayo - contributes along multiple dimensions to the overall experience. So I made up this table to help me think this through:
| Component | Crunchiness | Saltiness | Sweetness | Umami | Tartness |
| Toast | X | ||||
| Turkey | X | X | |||
| Tomato | X | ||||
| Lettuce | X | ||||
| Mayo | X | X | X | ||
| Bacon | X | X | X |
So based on this admittedly non-technical set of categories I can see that for me, the mayo contributes something missing from all the other ingredients that comes from either the lemon or vinegar added to it. But this still is a bit reductionist for my "taste". For me it is ultimately the combination of all these components with their different attributes all interacting in my mouth at the same time that make up the "Turkey Club Sandwich Experience". It's like the toast, turkey, tomato, lettuce, mayonnaise and bacon are all having a rave party in my mouth!
