BLT - One Sandwich to Rule Them All

Classic BLT is made of five ingredients: bread, mayonnaise, bacon, lettuce, tomato.

Of course, there's nothing to stop you from adding extra stuff. I always include a generous splash of ketchup on my BLT (go and try to talk me out of it!).

Here's the basic recipe (the way I prepare the BLT, anyway):

1. Fry bacon rashers until golden and crispy
2. Cut a breadroll in half, spread mayonnaise of top and bottom half
3. Assemble the sandwich: one leaf of lettuce, two slices of tomato, two rashers, splash of ketchup, two slices of tomato, another lettuce leaf
4. Dig in!

You may wish to toast your bread before (in a toaster) or after (in a panini grill) assembling the BLT.

To learn all there is to know about the Blt/bLT opposition, you need to read Terry Pratchett's Snuff - the idea originated there.

You see, there are BACON, lettuce, tomato sandwiches and bacon, LETTUCE, TOMATO sandwiches.

My man claims that the first option is the 'real men variety' while the other caters for women who enjoy nibbling on greens and are always on diet anyway :)

No need to add that with bacon being the least healthy but in the same time the tastiest ingredient of the BLT, you're facing a cruel dilemma here.

Solving it is entirely up to you :)

If you're worried about your cholesterol levels or calories, you should probably think twice before going for BLT. Let's be frank - fried bacon will never quite fit the 'healthy diet' definition. Neither will mayonnaise, and the modest (in most cases) quantities of lettuce and tomato really aren't that much when it comes to redeeming the BLT's image.

Being reasonably young and reasonably healthy, I usually answer these charges in the simplest possible way: who cares? Truth to be told, though, there are people who care and there are people who should care.

It is technically possible to skim a little fat off the BLT, so to speak. You can always use wholegrain bread or low-fat mayo. You can always pile so much lettuce and tomato slices on your bread that you will need a magnifying glass to find bacon. I've even heard of people using turkey bacon instead of the genuine article - don't even ask me what turkey bacon is, I got it off Wikipedia and have no wish of investigating further - but that's blasphemy.

The bottom line is this: authentic BLT is not exactly a healthy choice. If you have reasons to be concerned about this fact, avoid the BLT. Or consider it a rare treat, to be eaten once in a while, on special occasions.

Giant BLT, Claes Oldenburg's mixed media sculpture is housed in Whitney Museum of American Art and can be viewed here.

B.L.T. is a title of blues rock album by Jack Bruce, Bill Lordan and Robin Trower. Click here if you want to view its yummy cover.

The attempt to establish Guinness World Record for the biggest BLT in the world was first visualised by Michele Anna Jordan, the author of The BLT Cookbook.  This website tells the whole story (and includes some fantastic picture of the giant being made).  

According to Wikipedia, the record currently belongs to Bentley Dining Services for building a BLT 63.73 m long.  That's a lot of sandwich!

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