How To Make The Perfect BLT
As much as I loved all my mom’s home cooked Sunday meals and winter meals with meat and potatoes or stews, I just couldn’t resist the fresh meals we had in the summer all the time. With my parents' huge garden, we were able to go out and get vine ripened tomatoes, fresh cucumbers, plump ears of corn, funny shaped zucchinis and loads of fresh berries at any given time. We were so lucky! What I would give to have that now.
There is really just something about eating a vegetable that’s a little warm from the sun. I loved grabbing a fresh red tomato, sprinkling salt over it, eating it over the sink right after it is plucked from the garden. That’s a good summer memory for sure!
It seemed like towards the end of summer when all these vegetables were becoming ripe around the same time there was one meal that we had again and again and we all loved it no matter how many times we ate it! That would be a classic BLT, an ear of corn on the cob, and some freshly sliced cucumbers. Sometimes we even added the cucumbers to the BLT, but that is pretty controversial and I can’t get any members of my family now to enjoy that take on the classic sandwich.
A BLT is pretty straightforward, but here are a few tips just to make it absolutely perfect time and time again.
1. Get the right bacon. I love buying center cut bacon or thick cut bacon, but in this instance, the classic cut bacon is the way to go. The thinness allows the bacon to have the optimal crunch, almost brittle, where it basically shatters when you take a bite. Whereas thick cut bacon would make it more chewy than crunchy.
If you don’t have bacon on hand you can also use turkey bacon, pancetta or Canadian bacon. Each provides their own unique flavor.
2. Pick the very best tomato you can. If, like most of us, you don’t have your own tomatoes in your garden, I think you can find the very best produce at your local farmers market or I like to go with a nice organic tomato from a local grocery store. You can squeeze some of the juice out into the sink since you don’t want your sandwich to get soggy.
3. Toasted white bread is the best way to go. Because if it’s mild flavor, the white bread really lets the flavors of the other ingredients shine. Sourdough or rye would be great choices too, but they do bring a bit more flavor of their own.
4. Choose your lettuce adventure. The lettuce is really up to you and as a matter of personal preference. Butter lettuce is a go-to because it looks beautiful, but it is not quite as crunchy as a classic iceberg lettuce--while iceberg lettuce tends to be on the bland side. Romaine could be a good choice to get the best of both worlds— it’s got a nice crunch and has some more flavor.
If you like to spice up your regular BLT, here are a few ideas for OTHER DELICIOUS ADDITIONS:
There is really just something about eating a vegetable that’s a little warm from the sun. I loved grabbing a fresh red tomato, sprinkling salt over it, eating it over the sink right after it is plucked from the garden. That’s a good summer memory for sure!
It seemed like towards the end of summer when all these vegetables were becoming ripe around the same time there was one meal that we had again and again and we all loved it no matter how many times we ate it! That would be a classic BLT, an ear of corn on the cob, and some freshly sliced cucumbers. Sometimes we even added the cucumbers to the BLT, but that is pretty controversial and I can’t get any members of my family now to enjoy that take on the classic sandwich.
A BLT is pretty straightforward, but here are a few tips just to make it absolutely perfect time and time again.
1. Get the right bacon. I love buying center cut bacon or thick cut bacon, but in this instance, the classic cut bacon is the way to go. The thinness allows the bacon to have the optimal crunch, almost brittle, where it basically shatters when you take a bite. Whereas thick cut bacon would make it more chewy than crunchy.
If you don’t have bacon on hand you can also use turkey bacon, pancetta or Canadian bacon. Each provides their own unique flavor.
2. Pick the very best tomato you can. If, like most of us, you don’t have your own tomatoes in your garden, I think you can find the very best produce at your local farmers market or I like to go with a nice organic tomato from a local grocery store. You can squeeze some of the juice out into the sink since you don’t want your sandwich to get soggy.
3. Toasted white bread is the best way to go. Because if it’s mild flavor, the white bread really lets the flavors of the other ingredients shine. Sourdough or rye would be great choices too, but they do bring a bit more flavor of their own.
4. Choose your lettuce adventure. The lettuce is really up to you and as a matter of personal preference. Butter lettuce is a go-to because it looks beautiful, but it is not quite as crunchy as a classic iceberg lettuce--while iceberg lettuce tends to be on the bland side. Romaine could be a good choice to get the best of both worlds— it’s got a nice crunch and has some more flavor.
If you like to spice up your regular BLT, here are a few ideas for OTHER DELICIOUS ADDITIONS:
- Make it a BALT by adding avocado, or make it a BELT my adding sliced boiled egg in the middle.
- Add a thick slice of cheddar cheese
- SPICY: Turn it into a take on jalapeno poppers by adding in some cream cheese and sliced jalapenos, green chiles, horseradish or spicy mustard.
- VEGGIES: You can always add more delicious veggies to your BLT by trying slices of roasted veggies like eggplant and zucchini, coleslaw, onion or sauerkraut.
- PROTEIN: Add thin slices of ham, prosciutto, chicken, or sliced cheese.
Sources:
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- www.pxhere.com
- www.flikr.com
- www.wikipedia.org
- www.thekitchn.com
- www.spendwithpennies.com
Mary Richardson
Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2014
Email the author! mary@dvo.com
