Culinary Advisor
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A British BLT
Created by Chef Thomas
Back bacon crisped in a hot pan, a ripe tomato that actually tastes of something, crisp lettuce and real butter on proper toast. A sandwich that earns its place in the notebook.
There's a week in late July when the tomatoes at the market are finally warm and heavy and smell the way tomatoes are supposed to smell. That's when you make this. Not before. A BLT made with a tomato that isn't ripe is a bacon sandwich with a passenger, and the tomato deserves better than that.
The British version is not the American one. No streaky bacon, no mayonnaise, no iceberg. Back bacon, the proper sort, dry-cured and cooked until the fat goes golden and glassy. Real butter on toast that's been done thoroughly, not the pale, apologetic kind that folds when you look at it. Little gem lettuce for crunch. And a tomato that you chose at the market with your hands, pressing gently, smelling the stem end, knowing it was ready.
I don't know why this sandwich feels like more than the sum of its parts. Three ingredients on toast. But when all three are right, when the bacon is crisp and the tomato is warm from the sun and the butter has melted into every corner of the bread, it's one of the better things you can eat in summer. I wrote it down in the notebook years ago: BLT. Tomatoes from Jim's stall. Tuesday. Standing at the kitchen window. It didn't need more than that.
We're only making a sandwich. But a sandwich made with attention, with ingredients that are ready and deserve to be eaten today, is a meal worth sitting down for. Or standing up for. Your kitchen, your rules.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary AdvisorIngredients
dry-cured back bacon
Quantity
6 rashers
ripe tomatoes
Quantity
2
sliced thickly
good bread
Quantity
4 slices
white or sourdough
unsalted butter
Quantity
generously
softened
little gem lettuce
Quantity
a few leaves
flaky sea salt
Quantity
a pinch
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dry-cured back bacon | 6 rashers |
| ripe tomatoessliced thickly | 2 |
| good breadwhite or sourdough | 4 slices |
| unsalted buttersoftened | generously |
| little gem lettuce | a few leaves |
| flaky sea salt | a pinch |
| black pepper | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy frying pan or cast iron skillet
- •Bread knife
- •Good toaster or grill
Instructions
- 1
Cook the bacon
Get a heavy pan hot, properly hot, then lay the bacon in without any oil. Back bacon has enough fat of its own. Let it be. Don't move it, don't prod it, don't flip it every thirty seconds. You want the fat to render and the edges to crisp and curl, which takes three or four minutes a side. Listen to it. When the sizzle is steady and confident, not spitting or spluttering, the heat is right. Turn it once. The fat should be golden and glassy, the meat firm but not brittle. Lift it onto a board and let it rest for a minute while you make the toast.
Dry-cured bacon crisps better than wet-cured. If the bacon leaks white liquid into the pan, it has been injected with water and you'll never get a proper crust on it. Find a good butcher or a better brand. - 2
Toast and butter the bread
Toast the bread well. Not pale, not timid. It needs colour and crunch because it's going to carry a ripe tomato and it cannot afford to go soft. Butter it immediately while it's still hot, edge to edge, so the butter melts into every corner. This is not a health food. The butter is the point.
- 3
Prepare the tomato
Slice the tomatoes thickly, about the width of a pound coin. Season them with a pinch of flaky salt and a grind of black pepper right there on the board. A tomato that has been salted for even sixty seconds tastes more of itself. This step takes almost no time and makes all the difference.
If the tomatoes aren't ripe, don't make this sandwich. Make cheese on toast instead and come back in August. A BLT with a pale, mealy tomato is a sad thing, and no amount of bacon can rescue it. - 4
Build the sandwich
Lay the lettuce on the butteredtoast first. It acts as a barrier, keeping the bread from going soggy under the tomato. Pile the seasoned tomato slices on next, then the bacon, still warm from the pan. Press the top slice down gently, just enough to hold it all together, and cut in half. Not diagonally, not into quarters. Just in half. Eat it standing at the counter if you like. That's allowed.
Chef Tips
- •This is a sandwich of three ingredients, so each one carries the whole thing. The bacon should be dry-cured back bacon from a butcher you trust. The bread should be something with substance, a good white tin loaf or a sourdough with a close crumb. And the tomato has to be ripe. Not almost ripe, not will-be-ripe-by-Thursday. Ripe today, ready now.
- •Butter, not mayonnaise. I know the American version uses mayo and I've nothing against it over there, but this is a British sandwich and butter is what makes it right. Soft, unsalted butter, spread thickly on hot toast so it melts and soaks in. The richness carries the salt of the bacon and the acid of the tomato.
- •Don't refrigerate your tomatoes. Ever. Cold kills the flavour compounds that make a tomato taste like a tomato. Keep them on the counter, stem-side down, and eat them at room temperature. This matters more in a BLT than almost anywhere else.
- •If you have a garden and grow your own tomatoes, this is the sandwich they were born for. Nothing from a supermarket will come close to a tomato still warm from the vine, sliced thickly and salted on the board.
Advance Preparation
- •There is no advance preparation. This is a sandwich you make when the moment is right: the tomatoes are ripe, the bacon is in the fridge, and you're hungry. It takes ten minutes from start to finish and every one of those minutes should be spent paying attention.
- •If anything, take the tomatoes out of the cupboard an hour before so they're properly at room temperature. And soften the butter. Cold butter on hot toast tears the bread and that is a small but real frustration.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 310g)
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