While people have been known to rev up the classic BLT with fanciness (Prosciutto, even, I bet it is good but... that's a PLT!) I like it fairly simple and kinda homey. My preferences only:
Bacon should be thick cut and pan fried. I get that it is easier to toss it in the oven on a roaster/rack, but I love the pan frying. This is not the time for peppered bacon or fancy flavors, and I don't think a maple-glazed bacon adds to the sandwich.
Lettuce brings the fresh crunch, and god help us all, but Iceberg is king.
Tomato makes or breaks the sandwich, so we capitalize on our bounty of fresh-from-the-vine harvesting. We don't baby our Tomato plants but they just crank out the harvest. It is almost embarassing to admit that I neglect them but we end up with large bowls full of tomato after tomato after tomato. For BLTs, I quite literally pick the tomatoes while the bacon is frying and the bread is toasting.
Bread shouldn't be overlooked. Growing up my mom dragged out the whitest white bread that ever whited a white Corelle plate. I like a whole grain or whole wheat that isn't too dark, because that will add a bit of natural grain sweetness but not overpower or distract from the sandwich flavors. Toast it.
Mayo brings it home. But there's always the mayo... or Dressing decision. The Miracle Whip vs. Mayo argument must show up in at least one divorce proceeding per year. At our house we've agreed to disagree.
Salt & Pepper with a light hand. Sure there's sodium in bacon and the bread, but hey make two BLTs. Add a light sprinkle of salt & pepper to one but not the other. Taste test. Which is better? I won't say I told you so.
Assemble it tall. Toast with a smear of mayo & sprinkled with s&p, topped by thick slices of tomato, crowded with baon, layered with lettuce and finally topped with another perfect slice of toast. Slice to make for easier eating.
Cut on the diagonal and serve.
How do you like your BLT? Is it better when someone else makes it for you? How often could you eat one before getting sick of it?
Plenty of step by step "action" shot pictures from my kitchen attached.
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Comments: 19
Margaret, we've been having a lot of grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches too. I also do a tomato / egg / parmesan bake mess. That cheese + tomato mix can't be beat.
I like my bacon thin and crispy and my tomatoes thick and juicy
This is the ONLY time any one will see me eating iceberg lettuce with enthusiam and I prefer Mayo to dressing ANYTIME.....
Sonia, isn't it weird to be all about the Iceberg? Aside from BLTs I probably eat it like twice a year, usually as a wedge salad. We'll have to wave at each other from our separate bacon camps. If it isn't thick, it isn't on my BLT. *wave*
Sure, David, I'd love to send you one... But by the time it reaches you that mayo might be considered a biological hazard. You like bacon or tomato on your grilled cheese?
They were at UCLA my almamater last night and today they're on again, and now I'm listening again but a little softer, however, as I have hooked up me second receiver, I am listening in the den also.
But it all takes me back to the seventies when I was working at the corner of Sunset and Vermont, bowling on Friday evening down at Hollywood Stars Lanes on Melrose, and going out to diner at Sarnos afterwards. And there on Fridays and Saturdays they had a standup piano being played by some old coot with a cigar, and also an opera singer singing some Italian song at the top of his lungs, with the tan, tall and a little bleached blonde long hair, in the tangerine colored dress sitting on the lap of the eighty year old owner. Back when Michael Jackson both sounded and looked good.
You can laugh now Julia as the memories of the good BLT’s come back
Ah Richard B., if BLT can bring all that back, it's a powerful sandwich. You really need to write a series of memoir essays. As for The Who, they did get that revival this year didn't they? I keep waiting for Paul Revere & the Raiders to get their due.
Honey on a BLT?! Richard, I can try it for trying's sake, but I'm extremely skeptical.