Some chefs really know how to make a great sandwich that satisfies both consumers’ demands for bold flavors and operators’ need for profitable menu items.
Increasingly, these culinary professionals are turning to turkey and pork as versatile protein components, and then adding a variety of flavorful ingredients to make winning sandwich combinations.
Among those restaurants that feature turkey sandwiches, 52.8 percent offer it in the form of a club sandwich, 10.2 percent menu a Reuben — often called a Rachel when using turkey — and 9.5 percent feature a melt, according to the 2015 Datassential MenuTrends™. Buffalo hot sauce as an ingredient climbed 41 percent. Breads that are gaining in popularity include flatbread, which increased 28 percent, and ciabatta, which is up 6 percent.
Among restaurants that menu pork sandwiches, pulled pork ranks as the most popular variation, appearing on 46.1 percent of menus, Datassential says. Cuban (or Cubana) is No. 2, at 17.9 percent, up 6 percent over the past year. Barbecue is the most common sauce, with 45.2 percent of all restaurants serving it on pork sandwiches.
See accompanying chart for additional noteworthy findings on turkey and pork sandwiches.
Those statistics reflect just a sampling of the on-trend accompaniments being featured on turkey and pork sandwiches around the industry. Of course, one of the major trends today is to menu carving meats raised without antibiotics. Perdue® Harvestland® offers flavorful NO ANTIBIOTICS EVER™ turkey and pork items raised on an all-vegetarian diet with no animal by-products. They also are lower in sodium, made with only all-natural* turkey or pork and contain no nitrates or nitrites.
Meanwhile, other restaurants are demonstrating how versatile turkey and pork can be when it comes to devising their own signature handhelds.
For its last weekly special in 2015, Sessions West Coast Deli, which has two locations in Orange County, Calif., offered the Holiday Porchetta. The sandwich featured housemade fennel porchetta, arugula, pickled fennel, salsa verde and pork cracklings on freshly baked ciabatta.
“I have a friend who is a food writer in Italy, and I asked, 'What have you seen that is successful and interesting?'” says Sessions Culinary Director Max Schlutz. “It was pork belly.”
Turkey also has a place on the Sessions menu. The Geno, named for the late local surfer Gene Peterson, features hormone-free roast turkey, bacon jam, habanero puree, jalapeño jack cheese, homemade guacamole, cherry pepper, shredded iceberg lettuce and sriracha aioli served on a freshly baked French roll.
“It gets ordered off the charts because you get three types of heat,” Schlutz says. “People want really forward flavors.”
At Utah-based Café Zupas, which has more than 30 locations mostly in southwestern states, Cuban Grilled Pork is a favorite. The sandwich contains slow-roasted pork, ham, pickles, citrus Dijon spread, roasted sweet red peppers, and melted Muenster cheese, served toasted panini-style on ciabatta bread. The citrus Dijon spread is made with whole grain mustard with orange peel, cumin and cilantro, and pairs well with carnitas pulled pork, says corporate chef Ethan Kawasaki. “We weren’t aiming for authenticity per se, but taking inspiration from the Cuban,” he says. “The idea was to have a hearty sandwich with bold assertive flavors.”
Bold flavors work well with turkey, too. Café Zupas’ California Turkey sandwich features house-made sun-dried tomato spread, avocado, and fresh vegetables such as crisp sprouts, freshly-sliced tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers and house-chopped red and green leaf lettuces. The Turkey Bacon Avocado sandwich satisfies customers who want both turkey and bacon, and includes freshly sliced tomatoes, avocado, house-made honey- mustard spread with Idaho mountain clover honey and Muenster cheese. The sandwiches are served on panini-grilled ciabatta bread.
Sometimes the bread is featured as a sandwich's bold element. At Bruxie Gourmet Waffle Sandwiches, co-founder Kelly Mullarney explains that the bread is not sweet breakfast waffles but yeast-driven, thin, Belgian-style waffles. “We layer the ingredients onto the waffle, and you fold it with your hands so you have a light, crispy exterior,” he says.
Bruxie, which has seven locations in California, occasionally offers the Turkey Reuben as a special. The sandwich contains roasted turkey, warm sauerkraut, melted Gruyère cheese and Bruxie’s proprietary version of the traditional Reuben sauce. For added flavor Mullarney does a quick griddle of the turkey slices before putting them into the sandwich. Also popular is the Turkey Club, which contains basil aioli, melted Gruyère, bacon, avocado, tomato and lettuce.
For some, the best type of turkey is the holiday-roasted version. At the 16-unit, Atlanta-based Fresh To Order, the House Turkey Club starts with roasted turkey to give it that post-Thanksgiving flavor and mouth feel, says Jesse Gideon, chief operating officer and corporate chef. The panini sandwich consists of house-roasted turkey, two cheeses, lettuce, tomato, and bacon-honey mustard on ciabatta bread.
“People are looking for something they recognize with a little bit of a twist,” Gideon says. “And what could be more comforting than Thanksgiving.”
Of course, pork is also a favorite comfort food. At the 48-unit, Tulsa, Okla.-based Billy Sims BBQ, the most popular sandwich is the Heisman, which contains pulled pork or brisket with a slice of bologna, topped with hot link cheddar mix.
“This has been one of our most popular sandwiches since we started,” says Jeff Jackson, who co-founded the chain in 1978 with Billy Sims, a former Heisman trophy winner. “We do come up with new sandwiches but people go back to what they’re used to.”