Coop 'n' Turf

Sandwiches have a bit of a reputation as a convenience food, not something you'd serve at a dinner party and only classy when served in triangles with the crusts cut off. But I wholeheartedly disagree. Sandwiches are one of the greatest culinary achievements, and come in many forms. From the aforementioned crustless egg and cress right through to the core of the sun, molten rock, burn you alive from the inside baked bean toastie there is something for everyone in the sandwich realm.

Italy may have pizza and pasta, Japan has sushi and sashimi, India has curry and food poisoning but what is the greatest food to come out of America? The sandwich of course! The Americans have taken the idea of "some stuff between two bits of bread" and gone all Jamie Oliver on that shit! There is pretty much nothing you can't get in sandwich form in the land of the free and the home of the lard arse. And they aint shy when it comes to filling a sandwich either (probably why they're so chunky). I have had some amazing sandwiches in my time, and most of them have been purchased in the US. A BBQ pork sandwich from almost anywhere in the US is at least half an hour's worth of bread-hunting pleasure (it can't be called a sandwich if there's no bread, there must be some bread here somewhere...), but the real reason for going so much about sandwiches is to relate to you two sandwich recipes guaranteed to have you drooling all over your keyboard.

Firstly the Frank Skinner: I heard Frank describe this on the radio once and I immediately made one to see if it truly was as spectacular as it sounded. I made a couple of additions to the orignal recipe, but the core of the Frank Skinner remains true.

You start with the bread, which is a pretty obvious first step, but then things get all experimental. The first real ingredient is a meat and potato pie, then a Birds Eye potato waffle, three slices of cheese and finally a fried egg and some HP sauce to top it off. It's a little bit difficult to eat, and does your cardiovascular system no favours at all, but a great snack for weekend afternoons.

Now, the titular sandwich, the Coop 'n' Turf - a Higgins original: Unfortunately this goes against the rules of the bet so I can't have one until the world cup starts :-(

For the Coop 'n' Turf you will require 1 Big Mac Meal and a McChicken, or, and this is entirely up to you, 1 McChicken Meal and a Big Mac. Take the lid off the Bg Mac and place to one side, we'll use that later. Then take the bottom off the McChicken and place with the top of the Big Mac. You now have a topless Big Mac and a bottomless McChicken, so do the only decent thing and combine them into one giant McChicken Mac! But wait, we're not finished yet, there's a bonus. Take the bread we put to one side earlier and the chips from the meal and make yourself a chip butty as a reward. Adding sauces or gravy is optional and depends on what is available at your local McD's.

You can perform this magic with other combinations as well. Substitute a McSpicy for the McChicken as long as you aren't of a delicate disposition, or, if you time it just right, you could use a sausage and egg McMuffin instead of the McChicken. I'd like to say the choices are endless, but they're not - you're limited by needing to find two burgers with different meats,. If you tried this with two hamburgers you'd just have a double hamburger. There's nothing wrong with that, it's right there on the menu as a valid selection, but we're talking about making things that aren't on the menu here... Kind of like ordering off the Secret Menu at In-N-Out!

Anyway, it's day 5 today and everyone is still winning Charlie Sheen style, so bring on the weekend!