After the presents have been opened and the best Christmas TV binged, there's often a lull in festive cheer for many of us. But, come Boxing Day, all of us will be tucking into one of the tastiest meals of the entire holiday season: a leftover Christmas dinner sandwich. Arguably just as delicious as the dinner itself.
Packed with turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce, this Christmas tradition is so easy to get wrong – but if done right? Phwoar, are you in for a treat! You’ll have to follow a very strict formula to avoid any sandwich woes, though. Wrong quantities can lead to spilling ingredients and soggy bread.
Thankfully, the team at Greggs gathered up a group of Mindlab International scientists at the Sussex Innovation Centre and set out to discover the equation for the perfect Christmas dinner sandwich. And who better to trust with our sandwiches?
In a study involving 2,000 people, the scientists discovered that the perfect turkey sandwich requires seven vital ingredients: turkey, cranberry sauce, butter, stuffing, bacon and mayonnaise, all served on granary bread. No sprouts here, thanks.
But! That’s not all – the research also specified the exact amount of each ingredient you should be dolloping onto that bread. Prepare to get your weighing scales out...
How to make the perfect Christmas sandwich:
Turkey should make up 25% of the sarnie, stuffing at 19%, butter at 18%, cranberry sauce at 14%, granary bread at 9%, bacon rashers at 9%, and mayonnaise at 6%.
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While the study didn’t specify the order to add each ingredient, don't panic. Whack out your weighing scales, stick to these exact ingredients and ratios and you’ll have yourself a very pleasant Boxing Day sandwich - no matter what order you’re layering in.
And if you’re using vegetarian or vegan Christmas dinner leftovers, you can go ahead and replace the turkey with your alternatives such as slices of nut roast. If you’re skipping turkey altogether, lower the amount of sauce mentioned above to save your bread from going soggy.
Enjoy – and Merry Boxing Day, one and all!
Chloe Bowen is Cosmopolitan UK’s former Features Intern. She holds undergraduate and masters degrees in journalism, and ever since joining the Cosmo team, Chloe writes about everything from sex and dating to mental health, culture, body image and books. In her spare time, she’s likely to be cooking up tasty vegan food, in a yoga class, binge-watching crime documentaries or going on long walks with an over-priced oat milk flat white.
