Pilgrim (sandwich)

A Pilgrim or Puritan is a sandwich which has connotations with the American Pilgrim Fathers and Thanksgiving Day. It was a traditional way of using up leftover food from Thanksgiving Day and thus is composed essentially of bread slices or a roll, into which are placed sliced roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries or cranberry sauce, gravy, and/or other toppings such as cheese, lettuce or mayonnaise. There is an enormous variation in its composition with a huge range of ingredients being employed in some sandwiches and a great variation of ingredients between recipes. A basic combination might include slices of turkey, herb stuffing, cranberry sauce and some gravy between two slices of bread.

More sophisticated versions of the Pilgrim sandwich include store-bought corn muffins, crusty hoagie, French bread, ciabatta rolls, extra virgin olive oil, butter, chopped apple, chopped onion, celery, flat leaf parsley, Thousand Island dressing and sliced/chopped pickled gherkins for topping.

A poll in Esquire, a well known international magazine, reported it to be one of America's favourite sandwiches, the version illustrated included Muenster cheese and lettuce in addition to turkey, stuffing and cranberry chutney.