A chicken sandwich is the burger’s lean cousin. Chicken doesn’t have the fat to carry a sandwich the way a beef patty does, so the salt goes into the meat (a brineBrineSalt water that meat soaks in before cooking, so it’s seasoned through and holds more of its juice., or worked into mince) and the crust supplies the fat and the crunch. After that it’s built like a burger: a toasted bun, something cold and crunchy, something sharp, and a sauce that sticks it together.
Whether it’s a sandwich or a burger depends on who you ask. A whole breast is a sandwich; a ground patty is arguably a burger. They share every part here, so they share a blueprint. Each build picks a patty and a coating, then builds around the crust.
Three on a cornmeal-fried breast and two on a breaded ground patty. Any patty works under any build, but a crunchy crust wants wet toppings kept off it.
The Italian chicken burger: a breaded, pan-fried ground chicken patty with marinara and mozzarella, on buns toasted in olive oil, with shredded lettuce and basil.
The crispy, mall-style chicken sandwich: a real chicken breast in a dark, thick, cornmeal-crunchy crust, on a chewy kaiser with mayo, lettuce, and maybe tomato.
The BCS (the Bruce chicken sandwich): a cornmeal-fried chicken breast with mayo on both buns, shredded lettuce, tomato, thin red onion, sour pickles, and mustard.
