It’s the day after Thanksgiving and your refrigerator shelves are littered with plastic bags. Some contain fine slices of breast meat, other bulge with scraps from the back. Here or there a leg or wing emerges.
Yes, you will have leftover turkey.
A typical response in the days after Thanksgiving is to prepare simple turkey sandwiches. Out of necessity people will cull the fridge by slapping shards of white meat onto pasty bread, perhaps first slathering a side with mayonnaise — a thoughtless ritual performed in households across the country.
Yet even a simple turkey sandwich can be redeemed.
For an example, try the Turkey Delight at Vintage Station Deli in Upper Lake. The basics speak of Thanksgiving and its aftermath, with a load of turkey and dollop of cranberry dressing. But the turkey struts with a swagger, rich and burnished from a turn in the deep fryer that lends a trace of bittersweet savor perked by the sharp wit of that familiar red sauce.
On top of this, owner Mercedes Marroquin and her team toss fresh sprouts — an unusual twist that comes to define the sandwich as much as the meat and dressing. You see, turkey breast in its common American form is mild, its barnyard ethos, its naturally pluckiness tamed by regimen and bloated beyond recognition. Somehow the addition of little earthy shoots awakens the natural beast. The sprouts find a wonderful, rustic gaminess buried in the juicy meat and lure it forward.
At the same time, mellow jack cheese drapes over the turkey in a calming fashion. It fills out the creamy gentility of good white meat while at the same time soothing some of the bitter edges wielded by cranberry.
The play between the sprouts and the sauce is something almost beyond description.
“There’s just something refreshing about cranberry and sprouts,” Marroquin said, also struggling to define the phenomenon.
She learned to prepare the sandwich some years ago while working at a deli in Healdsburg. Although she could not recall the exact arrangement she did remember turkey, cranberry and bean sprouts and went from there.
The key to the Turkey Delight is its balance.
“My thing is don’t put too much of one thing in,” Marroquin pointed out. “You don’t want to overpower the sandwich.”
Despite the presence of a tangy dressing, the turkey stands out. It truly is a delight — and an example of just what one can achieve in the bloated days after Thanksgiving if they put in some effort.
Or, better yet, just stuff the turkey remnants in the freezer and head to Upper Lake.
Dave Faries can be reached at 900-2016
