In recent years, you may have read online that a club sandwich is named that because it’s actually an acronym for “Chicken and Lettuce Under Bacon”. However, this was debunked by the fact-checkers at Snopes back in September 2022.
It’s an understandable conclusion to come to given that another popular sandwich, the BLT is an acronym for bacon, lettuce and tomato but the origins of the club sandwich likely do come from an actual club.
Where does the name club sandwich come from?
So, the earliest record of the name was actually way back in November 1889 when the New York Evening World asked, “have you tried a Union Club sandwich yet?”.
They then went on to say the sandwich consisted of “two slices of Graham bread, with a layer of turkey or chicken and ham between them, served warm”.
This then evolved into something a little more similar to what we know the sandwich to be now. According to The Sandwich Tribunal, one of the earliest published recipes for the sandwich was in an 1894 book called, quite simply, “Sandwiches”.
In this book, the author Sarah Tyson Rorer said that the sandwich should be made with a thin layer of broiled ham or bacon, a thin slice of pickle, on top of that a thin slice of cold roasted chicken or turkey and then a leaf of lettuce in the centre in which you are to put a teaspoonful of mayonnaise dressing.
Finally, this should be covered with another slice of buttered toast before pressing the two together, cutting from one corner to another making two large triangles.
So, not an acronym, but definitely a sandwich steeped in history.
I know what extravagant sarnie I fancy for lunch today.