Leftover Sunday Roast Chicken & Stuffing Sandwich
English
Chapter 2: Catholic School Lunches and Midday Comforts
The Sunday roast is a sacred family ritual, but the Monday lunch that follows is the true culinary reward. Wrapped tightly in wax paper and shoved into a battered metal lunchbox, this sandwich is a working-class masterpiece of parochial school thrift. By noon, salted butter softens into thick-cut bread, mingling with cold, herbaceous stuffing and tender shreds of leftover chicken. It is an unapologetic carbohydrate embrace, built to survive hours in a warm cloakroom and designed to get a kid through double math and afternoon catechism.
Before you start
Sweat two finely diced yellow onions in two sticks of butter.
Cook over medium-low heat until translucent and sweet. Do not let them brown.
Toss the onion butter with coarse white breadcrumbs, parsley, sage, and thyme.
Use a stale sixteen-ounce loaf for the crumbs. Drizzle in half a cup of chicken stock until the mixture holds together when squeezed.
Bake the stuffing at 350°F for thirty minutes.
Let it cool completely in the refrigerator overnight so it firms up into dense, easily packable scoops for the sandwiches.
Roast a butter-rubbed whole chicken at 400°F until the juices run clear.
Pick the carcass clean, roughly chop both the white and dark meat, and store it in the fridge with the pan juices.
Ingredients
- thick-cut high-quality white bread8 slices
- salted European-style butter at room temperature4 tablespoons
- high-quality mayonnaise1/3 cup
- cold leftover roast chicken shredded or roughly chopped2 cups
- cold leftover Irish-American stuffing1 1/2 cups
- sea salt and freshly cracked black pepperto taste
Method
- 01
Lay out the bread and spread butter over one side of every slice.
Take the butter all the way to the edges to create a waterproofing barrier that keeps the bread from getting soggy in the lunchbox.
- 02
Spread an even layer of mayonnaise directly over the butter on four of the slices.
These will serve as the top halves of the sandwiches, adding tang and necessary lubrication.
- 03
Pile a thick foundation of shredded roast chicken on the four bottom slices.
Include any bits of savory roasted skin or roasting jellies from the bottom of your leftover container, and season lightly with salt and pepper.
- 04
Mold the cold stuffing into flat patties and place them directly over the chicken.
Use your hands or the back of a spoon to press the stuffing into a shape that matches the bread so it doesn't fall out when you take a bite.
- 05
Top with the mayonnaise-slathered slices and press down firmly with the flat of your hand.
Compressing the sandwich slightly weds the ingredients together and ensures structural stability.
- 06
Cut the sandwiches diagonally into triangles and wrap tightly in wax paper.
Let them sit at room temperature for thirty minutes before eating so the butter softens and the flavors fully bloom.
Notes
Use wax paper instead of plastic wrap.
Plastic traps moisture and turns the bread soggy. Wax paper breathes just enough while holding the sandwich tight.
Serve leftover gravy on the side as a dip.
Pouring gravy directly into the sandwich destroys its structural integrity. Keep it warm in a ramekin for dipping au jus style instead.
Turn it into a hot toastie.
Butter the outside of the bread instead of the inside and cook in a skillet for three minutes per side until deeply golden.
From The Irish American Table.