It was early yesterday when I realized just how quickly Christmas and the new year are approaching. It won't be long before we have to keep reminding ourselves that it isn't 2019 anymore. But before we welcome 2020 and say goodbye to the last decade, I wanted to find some way to say thank you to all of you. Thank you for following the blog, the podcast, and on social media. Thank you for hiring me to come to your house to cook. And thank you for helping to make 2019 one of the best years of my life. So, as a way to thank you, I decided to create something just for you. Something special to show you all how much you all mean to me.
It isn't too often that I outright say that something is the best. I'm usually more of a "this is pretty good", or "you should try this" kind of guy. However, in the interest of truth and honesty, I have to tell you that what I created for you is the best chicken sandwich ever.
What Makes This Chicken Sandwich Better Than the Rest?
I am a firm believer that if you claim something is the best, it better be. So, what makes this chicken sandwich better than the rest? Well, it starts with a bun spread with what I'm calling "stuffing butter" then toasted. The toasted bun is then spread with a cranberry mayo of sorts, on top of which goes bread and butter pickles, spinach, and hot roasted chicken. It sounds pretty good, right? But that's not all. On top of the chicken goes a big bit of brie followed by crispy chicken skin to finish. Yeah, crispy chicken skin.
This sandwich is surprisingly simple, but when everything comes together, you have one hell of a sandwich, which may even be the best chicken sandwich ever. Let's take a closer look at each component.
It all hangs on hot, well-roasted chicken. If you'd rather roast a whole bird for it, this roast chicken with crispy skin leaves plenty for sandwiches.
Stuffing Butter
Because this is meant to be a Christmas themed sandwich I wanted to jam as much Christmas in here as I could. What better way to do that than with stuffing. But making stuffing and putting it on a sandwich didn't seem very interesting to me. So, rather than make the stuffing, I made a compound butter that tastes like stuffing.
Really, I just thought about the flavours that go into most stuffing recipes and I mixed those with butter. I spread this on a burger bun (Kinnikinnick Gluten-Free). The idea of building flavour through a compound butter is one of those simple food techniques that can elevate any sandwich. Check out the recipe below.
Recipe
Stuffing Butter
Ingredients
- ¼ cup Room Temperature Butter
- 2 teaspoon Summer Savoury
- ½ teaspoon Onion powder
- ½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1 teaspoon Ground Sage
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients together.
Cranberry Mayo
With the bread buttered and toasted I need something else to lubricate the bread. What's more Christmasy than cranberry mayo? Generally, when people make cranberry mayo, they just mix cranberry sauce and mayonnaise. Rather than do this I mixed mayo with bread and butter pickle juice and dried cranberries that had been soaked in blueberry juice. Yes, this sounds weird. Admittedly, it is. But, on the sandwich it was amazing. This is the kind of creative condiment work I talk about in my homemade condiments post.
Because the cranberries were dried and sweet they gave every bite a little pop of sweet and sour that worked really well. Mixing them in with the mayo really just helped them to be glued to the bun. Putting the pickle juice in the mayo just took it from being plain mayo to something a little different, dare I say, a little better.
Recipe
Pickles and Spinach
When I was growing up, for whatever reason, we always had bread and butter pickles on the table for both Christmas and Thanksgiving, which were always identical meals. So, even though these may not have any kind of Christmas meaning to you, they do to me. Also, the sandwich needed something mildly acidic and crunchy. Dill pickle would have been too strong, but these are perfect.
The spinach is on the sandwich because it can't be the best chicken sandwich ever without something green and leafy.
The Chicken
You'd be hard-pressed to find a truly great chicken sandwich without chicken on it. Let alone, the best one ever. For the chicken on this sandwich, I took three chicken thighs and seasoned them with salt, pepper, oregano, and summer savoury. Then, I roasted them in the oven at 400 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until they were cooked through. Then I took the skin off the chicken (more on that later), and pulled the meat off the bones. If you want more tips on cooking chicken thighs, check out my guide to grilling chicken for some overlapping technique.
Recipe
Christmas Roasted Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 3 Bone-in, Skin-on, Chicken Thighs
- 1 tablespoon Oregano
- 1 teaspoon Summer Savoury
- Salt and Pepper
- 2 teaspoon Olive Oil
Instructions
- Toss the chicken with the oil, spices, and seasoning.
- Roast in a 400°F oven for 35-40 minutes or until cooked through.
- Remove the skin from the thighs and set aside.
- Pull the meat off the bones and tear the chicken into chunks.
Brie
I put brie on this sandwich because it seemed like the right thing to do, and it absolutely was. The creamy, mild richness of the brie melts slightly against the hot chicken, creating a luxurious layer that ties the whole sandwich together.
Chicken Skin
I was originally debating putting bacon on this sandwich. Why not? Everyone loves bacon. But, after conferring with my wife, the conclusion was reached that bacon would overpower the rest of the sandwich. However, I still wanted a crispy, fatty flavour and texture. So, I took the roasted skin off the chicken and put it back in the oven for another 12 minutes. This didn't crisp it up quite enough, so I put it in a cast-iron pan over medium heat and flipped it a few times until it was super crispy. You could just keep baking the skin until it got crispy, but I was impatient.
The Best Chicken Sandwich Ever
The chicken skin was the last element of the sandwich. I put it on, popped the top bun on and took a big, thoughtful bite. I made sure to get a little bit of everything. All I can say is this sandwich really lives up to its name.
If you don't believe that this really is the best chicken sandwich ever, make it and taste it. I bet you'll change your mind. If you don't, then show me your best chicken sandwich ever and change my mind.
This sandwich is, without exaggeration, one of the most satisfying things I've ever built in my kitchen. Every layer has a purpose and every bite hits differently. Give it a try and let me know what you think.
