I always feel extremely uninspired in the kitchen when there’s only myself to feed. These days, easy creations appeal to me such as a simple sandwich. I don’t normally like sandwiches – I’ve eaten one too many packaged ones in the UK – but when tomatoes are at their best, I’ll eat them every which way and now it’s time for a sandwich; this time, it’s in a BLT. Whoever created the BLT was obviously celebrating the finer things in life. Crispy, savoury bacon; soft, tender lettuce; and juicy, succulent tomatoes (I’m starting to sound like a M&S commercial): what a terrific combination!
I’ve always preferred to use American bacon here so that it can go crispy when a lot of the fat renders out during cooking. It’s a shame that you can’t find the really nice stuff here…we used to have a really lovely black pepper bacon back home. And the lettuce – I’ve never been fussy about the variety I use but a soft, floppy leaf, please. Do any of you prefer a crunchier leaf? The tomatoes have to be the finest obtainable. No middle of winter, supermarket “best of” packages but a lovely vine-ripened specimen towards the end of summer, grown yourself or purchased at your local farmers’ market. The bread’s the only place where I can hang my head in shame a bit. Sliced white from a supermarket – I forgot to buy a proper loaf. But hey, it was a nice sliced white!
It’s great to just pile all your ingredients on your bread and just eat it like that but there needs to be something to hold it all together. I like a schmear of mayonnaise on the top slice of bread (from the bottom: bacon, tomato, lettuce) and my current preference is Japanese mayo, Kewpie brand! Or if that’s too creamy for you, perhaps a little drizzle of olive oil?
Salt and pepper? No salt for me but I like a good grinding of pepper onto the mayo. And that’s it. Nice. While eating it, I can even sort of pretend that it’s really summer outside.
Sat, 18 Aug, 2007 at 05:34
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
I sometimes prefer the meatier back bacon as opposed to crispy streaky bacon. Both are wonderful though. If I have avocado I’ll add that in, too – a BALT! HAHA!
Sat, 18 Aug, 2007 at 08:33
i like Chinese food!
Sat, 18 Aug, 2007 at 18:54
supercharz: I prefer back bacon in a fryup but the streaky in a sandwich. I like the BALT idea!
lau31: Um…so do I!
Mon, 20 Aug, 2007 at 19:53
That looks fingerlicking.
Mon, 20 Aug, 2007 at 20:48
Thanks, Patricia!
Tue, 28 Aug, 2007 at 02:31
I adore BLT sandwiches, they’ve been my favorite since I was a little girl. I used to only get them when we went out to eat, since my mother didn’t like to cook bacon very often. Now when I make them at home, I like streaky bacon, tomato and crispy lettuce–romaine is good, but iceberg is okay. Kewpie mayonaise if I have it, regular is okay and sometimes a bit of wasabi mixed in the mayonaise. I like them on supermarket white bread, but I preferred it toasted. Oh, and I need to have the tomatoes next to the mayonaise. Just a bit particular in my sandwich making
Tue, 28 Aug, 2007 at 19:59
Donna: Toasted! Of course! How in the world could I have overlooked that! I like the thought of romaine lettuce…going to have to keep my eye out for some.
Fri, 23 May, 2008 at 20:38
[...] and half of it remained in my freezer until Blai came back. I’ve also gone the simple route – sandwiches – but that started to get [...]