Summer, especially August, has always been my favorite time of year to enjoy the bounty of amazing produce that peaks in both California and Michigan. While California seems to have good produce year-round, the peak for some of my favorite crops is late summer, and that is definitely the case in Michigan.
Though restaurants do take advantage of this plethora of fruit and vegetable goodness, I find that some of my favorite summertime dishes are best prepared at home. With that, I’d like to share one of my favorites, along with some detailed preparation techniques.
Since vine-ripe, homegrown tomatoes are my absolute favorite, I always try to find a local source if I’m not growing them myself. This could be a friend or a small local farm, as it’s rare for a grocery store to have tomatoes worthy of the task — though heirlooms will do in a pinch. I want a deep red, fully ripened, juicy beefsteak tomato for my first and most prized dish of late summer: the glorious bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, or BLT as we all know it.
While I can be somewhat obsessive about the ingredients and preparation of several dishes in my repertoire — loaded New England clam chowder, cassoulet, ribs, risotto, poke, and the perfect Sonoran-style hot dog come to mind — nothing approaches my level of ingredient obsession as it does for my BLT.
I’ve established that the tomato is the essential ingredient here and why this time of year is really the only time to attempt the perfect BLT. I’ll make an exception for a beautiful heirloom from one of our fancier purveyors of grocery goodness, which we have in abundance in North County. Again, either grow them yourself, buddy up to someone who does, or find a farmers market stand with locally grown tomatoes.
And please, don’t even attempt this dish with a hot-house tomato they sell year-round. Ideally, I prefer a tomato large enough that one thick slice will cover the sandwich. If that’s not possible, try not to use more than two slices, as you don’t want your tomatoes sliding out of the bread.
Next up is the bacon, an equally important part of the BLT that should not be taken lightly. While there are plenty of decent choices in most stores, I always go with the thicker-cut, applewood-smoked variety. If you really want to take it to the highest level possible, find a store that sells Nueske’s and go out of your way to get it.
This Wisconsin-based maker of splendid pork products is the gold standard in bacon, and their applewood bacon is the best I’ve had. It will also make your kitchen smell like a beautiful smokehouse—and, well, I tend to fancy that aroma. You can also order it on their website or through Amazon: www.nueskes.com.
The lettuce portion of the perfect BLT is the universally agreed-upon iceberg. This is really not up for debate, as no other variety can even come close to providing the crisp, crunchy, cool goodness that iceberg offers. Make sure it’s a solid head, and go for the layers just inside the outer edges, with a large enough piece to cover the entire sandwich.
Mayonnaise is the only condiment needed for a BLT, and the general rule of thumb among purists is to use either Best Foods or Hellmann’s. Some might argue for Miracle Whip, but I ignore them. The mayonnaise is there to blend in and complement the other ingredients, not to stand out and distract from them.
Finally, the most hotly debated portion of the perfect BLT is the choice of bread. Let me preface this with my deep appreciation for crusty baguettes, sourdough, or similar artisanal loaves of gluten-laden goodness. That said, there are two times of the year when what I refer to as spongy white bread is the only way to go. The first is the day after Thanksgiving, to mold around and hold together the turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce sandwich. It’s also the best possible choice for the perfect BLT.
The chances of the ingredients sliding around or out between the bread are plentiful, and who wants that? That said, I do want a bit of crunch to my bread, so I take a page from the British and fry up my spongy white bread in bacon grease to a light toast. It perfectly completes my BLT masterpiece.
Cut the sandwich on the diagonal and serve it up with the sweetest, freshest corn on the cob you can find and your favorite potato chips. I’m also a fan of Vernors ginger ale as my beverage of choice — it’s a Michigan soda you can now find in California stores.
And there you have it, the official Lick the Plate BLT to savor in these last days of summer!
