It’s important to note that while the ideal Christmas Sandwich is subjective – the objective is the same: it has to taste like the Christmas that you’ve just had. For example, I love mine because it tastes like the Christmas I’ve just had with my family. So with that in mind, you can follow the same principles.

I believe that a leftover sandwich is an eight-step process:

Part one – bread

I use my dad's sourdough. He makes a killer one and always bakes a few loaves at Christmas time. But your bread needs to be thick cut – it needs structural integrity to be able to hold everything without disintegrating yet soft enough to absorb sauce and juices without collapsing or becoming stodgy. 

Part two – the sauce

I like to go for a two-sauce approach, I have cranberry sauce and gravy mayo which is slightly warmed up gravy so that it liquefies, mixed with mayo. It sounds really gross and conceptually it is. But to make the sandwich, it's necessary. I always double down on cranberry sauce because I love it.

Part three – protein

I always go for turkey. For me, the best Christmas sandwiches are made with turkey, although some people like to add some ham or go for duck, goose or beef. Whatever protein you’ve got is going to be good. But for me, the taste of the sandwich has to be turkey. I will roast off a turkey crown just for sandwiches if we’re not doing turkey for Christmas. That's how strongly I feel about it.

Part four – second protein

Some people question this, but the second protein needs to bring something to the sandwich that the first doesn't. So, for example, my family does sausage meat, we bake it on a tray and essentially have a loaf of sausage meat with our Christmas dinner. So that’s what I put in as a second protein. This needs to bring something else; in this case an element of fattiness, a different texture and dynamic. Some other examples would be pigs in blankets or ham.

Part five – the bulk

When I have a Christmas sandwich, I'm usually at least mildly hungover or sometimes very hungover. This sandwich should be an entire meal. I don't want to eat anything else other than this sandwich for 6-8 hours after, it needs to fill you up. So for the bulk I always do stuffing. I make my grandma's recipe using lemon, bread, bacon and parsley. I love that flavour of stuffing, which for me, other than the turkey, is the other most integral element of the sandwich. Some people use potatoes or Yorkshire puddings, whatever you use it needs to provide a secondary starch to really fill you up.

Step six – acidity

Any good sandwich is going to be really rich, so you need one element that is going to cut through and make it not just a turbo gout sandwich. For me, I always do braised red cabbage with any roast – it’s my go-to. My recipe has loads of red wine vinegar in it and grenadine. It's similar to pickled cabbage but softer as it's cooked. There is duck fat and onions in there so it's still very rich but also super acidic and cuts through everything in the sandwich. An alternative could be pickles, but you need something super sharp.

Step seven – greenery

It’s good to have a little bit of green in it somewhere, for me that’s always two very big crisp leaves of lettuce. Don’t put spinach in there, like supermarket sandwiches do, it sucks. It doesn't provide any texture – it’s just greenery for the sake of it. 

Step eight – more sauce and assemble

Then just repeat the sauce on the other slice of bread, it’s so key that the sandwich is moist – if it’s dry it's such a chore to eat. Sometimes I triple layer sauce, putting a bit between the proteins. And then finish it off with the last layer of bread. And, eat.