Bacon Like many folks, I’m a huge fan of bacon. It’s great in any role: the main attraction, a side dish, or an enhancement. Yes, it’s nothing if not versatile.
But I believe I like it best as an enhancement. I love a bacon cheeseburger, for instance, or crumbly bacon on a salad. I also nearly weep with joy whenever I get a big hunk of smoky bacon in a spoonful of potato soup. Oh god, I feel a stirring in my loins, just thinking about it…
And is there any better smell in this world, than bacon frying in the morning while camping? I submit that there is not.
I love a good BLT, and I’m also fond of the club sandwich, and the thick-cut stuff served with breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Any style of bacon gets a big thumbs-up from me. Even the fake bacon (fakon?), known as Bac-Os, will do in a pinch.
Canadian bacon, however, isn’t bacon at all. It’s ham. But that’s OK, I’ll eat that too.
Lettuce As unlikely as it might seem, I get irritated about lettuce. Because, you see, I prefer the good ol’ fashioned iceberg variety, and hoity-toity pains-in-the-asses always want to lecture me about it. They snicker in a condescending tone, as if they’re dealing with a large retarded boy, and tell me that iceberg lettuce has no nutritional value whatsoever.
And I always shout, “Who cares?!” If it’s important to you to impress your friends by eating slimy-ass hedge trimmings, then go ahead. But leave me out of it. All my life do-gooders have been preaching to us about eating more fruits and vegetables, and saying catty things like, “Hey, have you ever thought about maybe having a salad every once in a while?”
And when we do have a salad, they start bitching about that, too! And criticizing, and belittling… What the hell, man? They’re like overzealous Baptist ministers from the Florida panhandle, or something. Why can’t they just worry about their own lives, and stay out of mine? Man, if you have elitist views about lettuce, then perhaps you should take a good long look at yourself? I mean, seriously.
I’ve always enjoyed a good garden salad, and coercion was never necessary with me. I would happily eat a big bowl of the stuff every day. And I’m not the kind who dumps a tumbler-full of Kraft Thousand Island on there, either. I use a shockingly small amount of dressing, and if the iceberg lettuce isn’t as nutritious as the slimy kind, I’m perfectly fine with it. It’s something I’m able to deal with, on an emotional level. Sure, it took a little counseling, but I’m there now.
So, please feel free to blow it out your ass.
Tomato I don’t like a big juicy tomato, I prefer the firm kind with not a lot of residual run-off. I don’t really understand how this is possible, since I’ve spent very little time shopping for groceries during my life, but I have theories and techniques associated with the purchase of produce.
For instance, a firm head of lettuce will yield much more usable salad fixings than a spongy head. And cucumbers often have soft spots, and thus require an extra-thorough inspection. Tomatoes, I believe, should be firm and not too gigantic. I’m not a fan of the Gilligan’s Island radioactive seed produce. Outrageously large items often taste a bit… mealy.
I like tomatoes as a sandwich topping, and whenever there’s some kind of drought or whatever, and tomatoes are scarce, I still insist on them. They usually have passive-aggressive signs that say things like, “We’ll still give you a tomato slice if you specifically ask for one, but they’re really expensive and rare right now, and baby children might by dying somewhere…” And I always say, “Yeah, put it on there anyway! Give me the tomato!”
Because I will not be manipulated by fast-food signage.
Mayonnaise I’ve long considered mayo to be the devil’s condiment. It’s a disgusting substance. I never use it at home, and become enraged when restaurant workers ignore my emphatic “no mayo” directive. It’s as if they’re hard-wired to add that nastiness to every sandwich, and do not possess the ability to hold back on it. There’s a very real cult of mayonnaise that’s difficult to counter.
However, I don’t mind it on a Wendy’s burger, for some reason. Unless, of course, the burger-builder goes overboard and there’s a pronounced oozing. I can’t explain this phenomenon, but there you go. At Wendy’s I only tell ‘em to hold the pickles, and allow the workers to move forward with the mayo. Believe me, this is a big deal.
I don’t like it on a BLT, though. But I know most people do, and that’s why I’ve included it in today’s important exercise.
A memorable mayonnaise event: I was in a Subway sandwich shop early one afternoon, nursing a wicked hangover. This was years ago, in California (I think). There was a couple in front of me, each around 19 or 20 years old, and it was as if they were ordering the anti-Jeff sanglich. It was everything I hated, all in one place.
I think it was a tuna sub, and they wanted extra pickles (blecch) and loads of black olives (double blecch). Then the guy said, “And LOTS of mayonnaise… LOTS of it!” So, the sandwich engineer began moving that mayo nozzle back and forth across the hideous thing, and it began piling up at an alarming rate of speed. “More!” the couple encouraged with enthusiasm, and that nozzle just kept unleashing evil unto this world.
By the time it was over, there was a large, quivering, shiny pile of mayonnaise atop the sandwich, and I very nearly vomited into a potted plant. I don’t say that to be funny, my stomach literally began the launch sequence, and I was looking around for a place to blow it.
But I was somehow able to maintain, and I just stared straight ahead and thought about baseball until that awful thing was off the premises.
Toast It’s funny how the simple toasting of two slices of bread can turn a boring sandwich into something special, in two minutes flat. Even a dull ham & cheese sandwich is elevated by a set of heated-bread bookends, or ear muffs, or whatever.
A BLT must feature toast, in my opinion, but I’ve met people who eat them on raw bread slices right outta the sack. I find that to be ridiculous, but whatever.
Some sandwiches, however, cannot be made with toasted bread. Like peanut butter & jelly. Peanut butter on toast is fine, but the introduction of jelly changes things. I also like meatloaf sandwiches on plain white bread. Cold, leftover meatloaf on white bread: yum. Again, I can’t explain it, I can only report the facts.
Now, if you have anything to say about my assessment of the BLT components, please use the comments link below. Do you agree? Disagree? Want to add some additional data? Now’s your chance.
And I’ll see you guys again on Tuesday.
Have a great day!
Bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado, plenty of mayo on toast. Pickle on the side.
jtb
Salad: Lettuce (iceburg, fancy-shmancy…just throw them all in), plenty of tomato, one cucumber, two large avocados, two handfuls of fresh (if possible) shrimp, one entire can of large black olives or one entire can of small olives sliced, one thick slice of ham diced, a half-dozen stalks of asparagus blanched.
A litre of Paul Newman’s Two Thousand Island Dressing. A freshly made roll or two on the side with real butter. Water, diet Pepsi.
Now we’re talkin’.
jtb
No mayo. The only time I eat it is on a bologna sandwich every now and then. I with you on the revolution against mayo. Is there some kind of understood law that every fucking eating establishment has to smear that bird shit onto every sandwich unless otherwise specified?
I don’t care for bacon on my cheese burger. It overpowers the burger. I do love a good BLT though.
About the lettuce, tell them you eat it for roughage. Maybe that’ll shut em up. It may not contain any nutrients but I don’t think it really has any calorie either.
Did I sound like an asshole? I’m sorry if I did.
WELL within the Top 10! 6:45am and now I’m wondering if I have the ingredients for a nice BLT for lunch:
Thick southern slabs of bacon, Iceberg lettuce, a firm tomato slice and toasted white bread frosted (both pieces) with Helman’s Real Mayonnaise.
and I agree with everything you said about Mayo – if you’d said “Miracle Whip”. The Miracle there is that people eat that stuff
I like real mayo, but not overboard. If there is too much on a sandwich, I get a napkin and wipe the bun off. I also like iceberg lettuce and have felt guilty for years for its’ non nutritional value. But, I think I’ll adopt your attitude and say “Who cares?” and enjoy it anyway! Thanx, Jeff!
Bacon, baked, not fried, but lots of it, maybe ten strips. Three tomato slices, iceberg lettuce, Durkee’s. All on grilled bread with cheese.
Cold meatloaf on bread is awesome, smothered in mustard.
To this day, I despise peanut butter. Can’t eat it. Won’t eat it. Never have eaten it. Then again, I have never seen “E. T.” And still don’t know what a podcast is.
I’m sorry, but you CANNOT have a proper BLT without the mayo. If you tell me to blow it out my ass, I’ll just do the “whatever” on account of I know I’m right, as usual.
CNN is full of shit as usual. In the attached article they assert that cherries make you sleep better or faster or wetter or something. Bullshit. Whenever I eat a pound or two of cherries before bed I wake up with cramps or worse and end up sleeping very little. Just more bias by the liberal (red) media.
http://health.yahoo.net/caring/5-foods-that-help-you-sleep
jtb
As it happend, CNN IS full of shit. However, this important health notice is from Yahoo. One of them owns Time/Warner and the other owns one of the Hawaiian Islands.
jtb
‘…the other owns one of the Hawaiian Islands.’
I laughed out loud.
CNN is where I get the important news of the day. I just viewed a video wherein the Kardashians were doing keg-stands for Kim’s 30th birthday.
Goddam important!
Crusty white roll, buttered, half a pack of fried bacon. With the other half pack make another. Big mug of strong tea. Perfect.
I hate mayo too, but I’ve come to like a smidge of Duke’s mayo – it tastes rich like no other!
And I have to disagree about toasted peanut butter sandwiches. The heat makes the peanut butter melt a little and it is good! Especially with butter on the toast.
I like a light smear of light miracle whip on my BLT. But I don’t like it on any other sandwich.
My step dad adds peanut butter to his BLT along with the mayo. He says its good but I don’t think I could stomach it.
The only place I like bacon is on a BLT or in potato soup. Other than that I just can’t eat it.
I like most lettuces but I prefer iceburg for my sandwiches.
And I’m with you on the tomatoes. We grow them every year and I buy some amish heirloom tomato seeds that are known to be extra meaty with little juice in them. I hate when the seeds are gooping all over the place.
The sandwich I love at one of my fave restaurants here in the Cleve is served on toast. I don’t know what they do to that bread, but the way it’s toasted leads to a total Captain Crunchification of the roof of my mouth. Like Captain Crunch, I still eat it in spite of the shredding the roof of my mouth takes because it is so delicious.
Captain Crunchification! I always wondered what that glazed, shredded roof-of-the-mouth thing was called
Thanks for “Captain Crunchification” – that’s a keeper!
I always put mayo on my BLTs when I make them, along with heaps of Tabasco. I just can’t eat a BLT without mayo and Tabasco.
What a crappy start to a Monday and a whole new work week. Phone call (at work) from American Express. They are still looking for the asshole who worked here before me. This is more than 4 years now, and every time they call I politely tell them I have no idea who the douche is or where he may be. i also point out that this is abusiness number and they are bothering me. Every single time they say they have removed my number and won’t call back. Yeah, after 4 years they’re still calling.
So this morning I let the bitch have it. I asked to talk to a supervisor and when she refused I went off on her about how they had better leave me the fuck alone. I figured that using strong language MIGHT make some supervisor review the recorded conversation, and just MAYBE someone will decide to stop bothering me. But I wouldn’t bet on it.
Apparently someone being hounded by bill collectors previously had my cell phone number. Even though I have had it for several years I still get the collection calls. They won’t stop. Even when I scream at them. Assholes.
I had the same problem. Took two years for them to stop calling.
And here’s a tip for you… when they actually do record the conversations, they keep recording even when you’re on hold. Some people do… uhhh.. personal things… while they’re waiting.
Simple solution is to fax a letter to Amex (include the name of the person they are trying to contact as well as the phone number in the header) on company letterhead stating:
1. The number they are calling is registered to company X, not the individual they are calling.
2. Employee “Y” is now ex employee “Y” and has not worked there for over two years.
3. You have no contact information regarding ex employee “Y”.
4. The persistent calls are bordering on harassment. Please stop calling.
I’ve had to do this several times and never had a problem. Most collection people will assume that whoever answers the phone is the person they are trying to reach and that they are lying about who they are. They keep calling hoping to catch you off your guard one day.
I’ve always wondered where the hell the term ‘Canadian Bacon’ came from. My uncle raised hogs, so maybe being Canadian hogs they produced Canadian bacon? We have bacon, and we have ham on the grocer shelves. You want to fry up a slab of ham, be my guest, I’ll eat that to.
BLTs (no mayo) are my favorite lunch sandwiches. I make my own… with no mayo.
The term Canadian Bacon is only used in the US and it refers to back bacon. I don’t know why either.
All my childhood I thought “Miracle Whip” was mayo. We never had anything else in the house. When I moved away I tried a sandwich at a shop by the place I rented. I thought the gooey, snot-like, glop they put on my BLT was the worst stuff I’d ever seen. No to mayo… yes to “Miracle Whip”.
Here, here to that brother. mayo is flat and gross, but in some recipes (dips) is much more suitable than miracle whip not a good match for samiches in my book.
Bacon on toasted tomato samiches only and potato soup. No iceberg lettuce on samiches, it takes over the flavour.
Pet peeve at subway is when the engineers ruins my creation by smothering it with too much mustard and mayo – if they go overboard, I make them scrape it off.
If my arteries would let me, I’d eat Hellmann’s mayonnaise right out of the jar with a spoon. Gross, huh?
I have a device that allows me to cook bacon in the microwave. Baconator? Something like that. Most of the grease drips away leaving crispy goodness. MMMMM. I prefer romaine to iceberg but I won’t snarl at iceberg. A thin schmear of mayo is good on a BLT. Toasted homemade bread is the capper. Hmmm…it’s almost lunchtime.
And crunchy Jif straight out of the jar with a spoon is a great snack…maybe with half a sleeve of crackers.
I got something that cooks bacon in the microwave. It’s called a plate and paper towels.
I’ve done that too but had a problem with the bacon sticking to the paper towels. I don’t like papery bacon.
peppery bacon on the other hand is delicious!
Fat Dave – you’ve earned my laugh out loud award. Nice.
Crispy bacon is the food of the gods, and should not be wasted by being buried under/in things that might diminish its lusciousness.
Mayo is one of the most noxious substances on the planet and I will hurt anyone who gets it near my bacon. It always triggered my gag reflex when I’d see people add a ton of extra mayo to the school cafeteria tuna sub that was already mostly mayo; I’ve been out of school for almost 20 years, but the memory still makes me gag. (Miracle Whip can be allowed to exist, but must know that its usefulness is minimal and better stay the hell away from my bacon sammiches.)
Lettuce is such a boring food that it barely qualifies as food. If there must be lettuce on a sammich, it should be iceberg. Iceberg is also the best lettuce for tacos, tried romaine last week because someone else did the shopping, not crisp enough. Some other lettuces are okay for salads, but I’d prefer a salad that is mostly toppings (carrots, radishes, bell pepper, red cabbage, cucumber, cheese, & alfalfa sprouts).
Tomatoes are leaky, kinda icky things that are best left being turned into sauces – ketchup, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, salsa, but can be okay as a taco topping if all the leaky, seedy stuff is wiped off.
Toast is a wonderful thing; it’s like yummy fresh bread, but crunchy!
Ideal BLT – 6-8 slices of crispy bacon on lightly toasted white bread, no lettuce, no tomato, no mayo; just a tiny bit of butter on the toast just as it comes out of the toaster. I’ll get my veggies by having a salad, with more bacon crumbled on top!
I can trigger your gag reflex as well.
Wouldn’t give you the chance for all the bacon in the universe.
b-girl: Atta-girl. Spoken like a true Surf Reporter.
Hahahaha!
On the subject of ordering things in fast food joints, why do the zitsters always put cheese on your burger? Even when I emphatically say no cheese, I still get cheese half the time, although Wendy’s is a little better about it.
My wife makes bread – German style. The crust is hard as a rock and it’s very dense and dry. So I have to have some kind of condiment on it when I use it for sandwiches. Otherwise, I’d choke.
Bacon has almost overplayed its hand in some ways. I’ve had bad bacon before. Usually its the thin store brand crap. It’s impossible not to burn and it’s way too salty.
And the BLT is fine just as you described, except I need a little mayo. The only sandwich I can eat sans condiments is the original chik-Fil-a.
Here’s my take on the sitchation… Bacon is heavenly. I haven’t had a BLT since a blue moon but it sounds scrumptious. Crisp, thick, smoked bacon, iceberg lettuce, and a semi-firm tomato that is white on the inside and mealy, and a toasted thick slices of Mancini’s bread. And (sorry for those who hate it…) Miracle Whip and loads of it is a must. LOVE miracle whip. In fact at family gatherings, my BF’s mom makes potato/macraroni salad..one with MW the other with Helmans.
MMMMMM….PB & J on toast! Crunchy PB too! Yum!
Um…”that ISN’T white on the inside” …I meant to say… Jeez….
Wish you could’ve seen the look of horror on my face until I read your retraction. I was terrified there for a moment. Seriously. “white and mealy” tomato. YUCK!
I hate that there is no edit button. I guess we all have those brain-fart moments.
I’ll take spinach over lettuce when I’m supervising the construction of my sandwich at Subway. I’m a big bacon fan, too. Love it with strawberry jam on raw bread. It’s Lunch time, Reporters!
The BEST BLT ever! Tony’s in Birch Run, Michigan. Full pound of bacon!
http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g41995-d541666-Tony_s_I_75_Restaurant-Birch_Run_Michigan.html#27245872
If I were to live the rest of my life with only one condiment, it would be mayo. It goes with almost everything, I love it. I only use ketchup on bacon sandwiches and meat pie, that’s it. In every other situation, BBQ sauce and/or mayo is better.
Miracle Whip is tolerable once in a while. My cupboards are stocked with Hellman’s.
I’ve brought this up before but I am with you on the iceburg lettuce thing. I prefer Romaine for a Caesar salad, iceburg for everything else. This “spring mix” crap is disgusting yet so popular that one can barely order a garden salad in a restaurant anymore. Keep your damn dandelions off my plate!
There is no such food as Canadian Bacon, it is an American misnomer for back bacon (and a 1995 film.)
My MIL once brought over a huge container of Spring Mix for dinner that she’d bought at Sam’s Club or something. As we were sitting there eating, my husband looks down into his salad bowl, picks up a piece of “spring” and states that’s he’s pretty sure he mowed over this exact “weed’ out in the yard earlier that day. He was thoroughly disgusted.
Icebeurg lettuce all the way for my man!!
BLT with Avocado and NONE of the devil’s condiment. If I find a sandwich too dry, I’ll spread on a little Greek yogurt, but never mayo. Nasty. And don’t get me started on Miracle Whip.
Unfortunately, here in Italy, all we have is pancetta and it makes horrible BLTs BUT the trade off is they sell it already diced up for frying up golden and putting it in potatoes, salad, omlettes, what have you. I’ve never eaten this much pork belly in my LIFE.
I love bacon….
Happy Monday, Surfers!
We had two pounds of prosciutto di parma last night. Wonderful!
Avocado on the BLT takes it to another level…absolute genius.
My wife makes chocolate covered bacon for me all the time.
You cook the bacon until crisp, drain. Melt some chocolate chips in a double boiler. Dip the bacon in the chocolate then sprinkle chopped roasted almonds on top. Let it dry. It’s delicious!
I must have had something happen during my childhood that I’m repressing. I LOVE the mayo, especially on french fries, and HATE ketchup. Ketchup is basically red sugar sauce. Would you pour a packet of sugar on your burger? I think NOT!
Anything battered and fried tastes better dipped into an equal mixture of Mayo and Ketchup.
to clarify – that’s “Food that is battered and fried” – I’ve known several people that fit that description.
and Bacon is my preferred name for a pet pig.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/report-meat-now-americas-no-2-condiment,2011/
And here I always thought that BLT meant Bisexual-Lesbian-Transgender (or Transsexual). Thanks for setting me straight, Jeff.
Hey, did you guys notice the cute lil’ pun I managed to get in there?
No. Nobody noticed. Go fuck yourself, sir.
I can’t stand to have any of that tomato snot dripping and oozing out of my sandwich like it was whipped together by a 5 year old with a cold. I scrape and cut all the cum out if I use a tomato.
I only use mayo on homemade sandwiches. I put a dime sized amount on the peice of bread spread it thinner than a dime from Scrooge McDuck and scrape as much off as possible, and this is only if I don’e have some italian dressing I can use instead. The mayo keeps meat and vegetable juices from making the bread soggy.
I think I was almost arrested over mayo. I was at Sonic and ordered my favorite sandwich; Chicken Toaster Club. My direction, no may, was ignored. I checked th sandwich and told the …food bringer outer… to take it back and bring one with no mayo. She redid my order, but it still had mayo on it. So i took it to the little food hut where they do all the cooking and food sacking, opened the door and hucked the sandwich at the window next to the condiment station, yelling “No fucking mayo. How fucking hard is it NOT to do something? Make the damn sandwich with no fucking mayo!” All the little teenagers and homeless smelling employees looked at me like they had no idea some could ever not want mayo. Then somebody is some sort of charge asked me to leave. I told him to go fuck himself and that he owed me a sandwich with no mayo or $3.95 (or however much the sandwich cost). I guess it was quicker to just slap the sandwich together than to give me my money back cause that’s what i got. By the time I left I passed two cop cars swinging into the parking lot.
I don’t know if I was just paranoid from recently verbally assaulting the Sonic staff or if they wre really called, but I was driving with the rear view on my way home to eat the awesome sandwich. Yeah it was a dick thing to do over some mayo, but it really pissed me off at the time.
No, it was not a dick thing to do at all, and is what I would have done, except I would have made sure I threw it in and hit someone with it.
Just imagining the jail cell with you in it. “What’d you do?” “I shot my mother.” “What’d you do?” “I beat a blind man for $1.34” “What’d you do?” “I hit a zitster with my Chicken Toaster Club”
Toasted white bread, turkey bacon, thick beefsteak tomato slice, and Romaine or Iceberg lettuce. Absolutely NO mayo for I agree, it is the devil’s condiment.
Here’s something completely unrelated that I think you’ll like, Jeff:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/75-captivating-looking-into-the-past-pictures
Gretchen: That is right up my alley too… very cool indeed!!
Have any of you midwesterners ever had a St Paul sandwich? It’s basically a BLT on white bread, with an egg foo yung patty instead of bacon (lettuce, tomato, mayo, and an egg foo yung patty). This may sound a little strange at first, but it’s really tasty. I’ve only seen these at chinese restaurants in the midwest.
Miracle Whip is a crime against humanity.
I make my own home made mayo (yep raw eggs and all). It’s very good, but I agree with some of you, mayo restraint is necessary on my sammiches.
Hellman’s (Best foods) Mayo is a thing of beauty. Miracle Whip is disgusting. My husband is from the south and loves it so we have a container of both in our fridge. When I make sammiches, I use MW for him and mayo for me.
If I make his sammich first I have to wash the knife off completely before I spread the mayo on mine to avoid any kind of cross contamination. But if I make mine first, then I gladly use my mayo’d-up knife to spread out the MW on his bread. Maybe that’s wrong, but who’s gonna tell? Huh, HUH??
I once made the mistake of licking my finger when it had a little MW on it, thinking it was mayo and I literally gagged. How on earth can anyone eat that crap???
I also have a theory that if I secretly switched ot the MW with light or fat free mayo, he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. And I think I’d be doing my hubby a favor, as the light/FF stuff is much better for you, right? I’ve tested it a few times and he’s never noticed. Maybe I should just start stuffing the bottle. It’s for his health, right?
My take;
Bacon…Good.
Lettuce…Iceburg please.
Tomato…You can keep your firm, non-juicy store bought tomatoes to yourself, give me a garden grown, sloppy beefeater any day of the week.
Mayo…Miracle Whip.
Toast…Of coarse.
tee-hee, you said sloppy beefeater
I am allergic to tomato, don’t like the aftertaste of lettuce (spinach is about a million times better), and despise any kind of dressing or condiment, so I have never eaten a BLT and never will.
I make a mean bacon, egg and cheese sandwich though.
Also Jeff, in regards to #awfulsupergroups – I loved B.B. Top. I came up with the following:
AC/ZZ
The AeroSmiths
Garth, Brooks, n’ Dunn
The Alan Jackson Five
The Alan Jackson Project
Styx n’ Stones
All of which would be an abomination in every way imaginable.
I don’t care for BLTs at all except for the “B” part. I love bacon any way I can get it! I’m with Jeff, however, concerning iceberg lettuce. That other crap they put in salads looks like someone cleaned out their grass catcher on my plate–NASTY!
On the other side of the sandwich spectrum, my mom used to just love mayonnaise sandwiches. Yup, only mayonnaise (or Miracle Whip) and white bread…I think I just gagged a little!
Bacon: Baked, not fried, is best. Either way it should be crispy enough not to giggle, but not so crispy that it shatters when you bite into it.
Canadian Bacon – properly called BACK BACON: Is neither bacon nor ham, but it’s dammed good. Cut it into 1/2 inch+ thick slabs and either barbecue or broil.
Lettuce: I’m ok with iceberg or Romain. On a BLT iceberg is best as it complements the salty bacon.
Tomato: Beefsteak, thinly sliced (I don’t want tomato jizz seeping out). If you put Roma tomatoes on my BLT I’m likely to kick you in the junk.
Mayo: The only place I use mayo is on french fries, and for that purpose it’s dammed good.
Pickles: Dill pickles are awesome, especially kosher dills served at Schwartz’s in Montreal with a smoked meat sandwich. They don’t belong on a BLT. For the record I hate sweet pickles and will not abide them in my food.
Bread: Must be toasted. I prefer brown or rye bread for a BLT.
Those fancy-schmancy lettuces like Spring Mix and Bibb Lettuce are best when mixed with iceberg lettuce, the differences in flavor and texture really compliment one another. Throw in some shredded cheddar cheese, cubed cucumber, just a little bit of cauliflower and/or broccoli florets, some big ol’ croutons and Ranch dressing, and you got yourself a salad.
Sandwich-wise, my Dad introduced me to ham-and-peanut-butter sandwiches a few years ago; I balked at first, but it’s really good.
I’m sure many have heard this but I’ll repeat it anyway: Bacon is the candy of meats.
I would like to address the issue of bread – specifically, healthy whole wheat bread. It is better for you, but I don’t like using it for a sandwich. It masks all the flavor inside the sandwich! You can’t taste much else but the bread. Lousy old white bread let’s all the other flavors come to the forefront where they belong.
Mayo should only be there in the amount needed to transport the flavors over your taste buds. It could be mayo or any other variety of whipped-up grease.
“let’s” arghhh!
I am so glad to hear from other mayo dislikers. I get soo pissed when I specifically say, “no mayo” and get it anyway. My parents used to always say, “just wipe it off.” No. Wiping it off doesn’t erase the slimy nastiness of it. I remember eating lunch at school and watching kids eat their mayo ladened sandwich, and it would squirt out the sides of their mouth. Makes me gag just thinking about it. I happen to love tomatoes, but only the WV grown in the garden kind. We had BLT’s for supper last night and these sand grown GA tomatoes are like cardboard, but better than nothin’.
Mmm.. bacon. When I was pregnant the first time, I craved BLTs. Bacon was practically a food group. I can’t do dry sammiches — I need some mayo, but just a thin layer. My hubby on the other hand, he’s a mayo freak. He adds it to everything. Double quarter pounder with cheese, add mayo. Foot long meatball sub, add mayo..
I’m on a BLT kick now (about twice a week) and just made one last night. Iceberg lettuce…definitely…holds together the best in a sandwich. But I also include a fried egg (fried in the bacon grease, of course). Yeah, my arteries are clogged… what of it? I use those “tomatoes on the vine” since they taste more like real tomatoes to me. Those big single tomatoes taste like cardboard. Oh, and no mayo! I use Marzetti’s Slaw Dressing only. YUM!
In my view, there are three components that MUST be in a BLT. Determining their identities is left as an exercise for the student. I’ll have a *little* mayo, maybe some mustard too. Toasted sourdough bread.
I never used to like mayo, but around age 45 I started developing a taste for it. Hellman’s, nothing else. And of course homemade mayo is outstanding. Miracle Whip is of the devil.
Has anyone tried that bacon flavoured mayo? I saw it at the grocery but at 6 bucks for a little jar, and figuring one can would last me a few years (well past the expiry date), I thought I’d get an opinion before I tried it.
Big list of bacon goodness
Crap!! Try this
http://www.uncrate.com/search/bacon