Kewpie? Duke's? Hellman's? ...Miracle Whip? Crispy, chewy, or barely-there bacon?
Molly and Declan figure out how to avoid the dreaded slip-sliding when building (oh, and solve that scratched-up-mouth problem).
Special thanks, and a virtual BLT, to our listeners who took the time to call in. We still need your help! Send your burning sandwich questions (not burning sandwich, you know what we mean) to podcasts@food52.com.
Filtered voiceovers: Peanut butter and jelly. Grilled cheese. Pastrami. Tuna salad. The sandwich universe.
Molly Baz: Welcome, everyone, to the sandwich universe, a place where everything is a sandwich.
Declan Bond: And a sandwich is everything.
Molly: Absolutely everything. I'm your host, Molly Baz. I'm a professional chef and a cookbook author, and a lover of sandwiches. And I'm joined here by my good friend, Declan Bond.
Declan: Hey everyone. I'm a professional sandwich eater, I'm a sandwich enthusiast, a critic, self-proclaimed. I don't actually cook in a kitchen but I'm a representative of the people who love sandwiches on this podcast.
Molly: And we met in kitchens while working together, um, at a place called Allswell in Brooklyn about a decade ago, which is a crazy thing to say, to be speaking in decades.
Declan: Ouch. Ouch.
Molly: But it is the truth. (laughing) And I was working the line on the sauté station, and Declan was working the pass, meaning he was kind of expediting the dishes, and that's where our friendship was born. And we found ourselves at the end of every night hungry, or should I say Declan found himself very hungry at the end of the night. (laughing)
Declan: I think we found ourselves hungry. I think--well--
Molly: I mean, I was always down to eat.
Declan: I was hungry, for sure.
Molly: And Declan would come into the kitchen and be like, "What's for dinner, Big?" That was like, the question every night at like 11:30. He calls me Big and I call him Big. And we made dinner, or I made him dinner, every night after service, and oftentimes that dinner ended up being a sandwich.
Declan: At least nine times out of 10, we were eating sandwiches with whatever was available on the mise en place, be it a lamb chop or a piece of fried chicken or whatever we could get our hands on.
Molly: Or like, an about-to-go-bad little burger patty or whatever, whatever you might have. We kind of found our joint love of sandwiches way back then. And so now here we are ten years later, launching a podcast that's all about sandwiches. So this is a podcast that's aiming to explore ten iconic American deli sandwiches. So we're going to kind of do a deep dive on them. We're going to answer all of your burning questions about them. There will be lots of debate.
Declan: Very rigorous lab testing, and...
Molly: Yeah. (laughing) It's honestly really scholarly work, and um, and hopefully lots of laughs. And at the end of each episode, we're hoping to find our way to one really epic version of each sandwich.
Declan: And so on this episode, we're starting off very strong with perhaps the biggest, most iconic, most magnanimous sandwich, and a personal favorite, the bacon lettuce and tomato, the BLT.
Molly: You're just going to come out the gates and call that the most iconic?
Declan: I think it's very iconic, at the very least.
Molly: Ok, but these are all icons. Like, you can't just declare that one an icon in this episode without like, consulting me about it. (laughing)
Declan: Oh, god, god. Okay.
Molly: Um, okay, I guess it's the most iconic sandwich. Um, Declan, I feel like of all the sandwiches, the BLT might be the one that I associate the most with you.
Declan: I do--I think the BLT could very well contend for my favorite sandwich of all time. It's just so simple, which I'm always for, like, simplicity in a sandwich, and reducing the number of ingredients, and with BLT, you kind of don't have to do that. It's, it's in the structure itself. Um, I also love that it's like, probably one of the most textural sandwiches. There's so many different textures going on and they're all working together. Crunchy, watery, freshness in the lettuce. Bacon is salty and crispy and fatty, tomato is just juicy and has acidity and a little bit of sweetness. Bread is toasty but also sometimes has a little bit of give to it. So yeah, I just think that that that textural quality is so pronounced in a BLT.
Molly: It kind of has it all. I think for me the reason the BLT is so special is because you really only eat them during one period of time of year. And that is of course, the summertime which is the period we're in right now. Because actually, if you ask me, a BLT Is a tomato sandwich with some bacon on it. And so there--it is entirely inappropriate to eat a tomato sandwich when it's not the summertime.
Declan: I have, I will admit, eaten a BLT outside of season, but I regretted it immediately.
Molly: Subpar. Yeah, and that's the other thing is I feel like, I feel like the BLT is a sandwich that's almost best made at home. I feel like a lot of people associate BLTs with um, delis and diners, and yet delis and diners are the places that don't necessarily reach for the in-season heirloom tomatoes.
Declan: Yeah, definitely. I feel like tomatoes are a particular weak spot for diners. It's always one of those like big, you know, uh, pale, mealy--
Molly: Pale, wan...yeah. And so I actually feel like the BLT is the sandwich you should be making at home.
Declan: Yeah.
Molly: Okay, so that's generally how we feel about BLTs. Um, I think it's time to see what Google thinks. I'm going to Google "what is a BLT" and see what the internet provides us.
Declan: The world wide web.
Molly: Yeah. (typing sounds) "A BLT Is a type of sandwich named for the initials of its primary ingredients: bacon, lettuce, and tomato. It can be made with varying recipes according to personal preference." Was that really necessary, that line? "Simple variants include using different types of lettuce, toasting or not, or adding mayonnaise. More pronounced variants can include using turkey bacon or tofu in place of bacon, or removing the lettuce entirely."
Declan: Wait, wait, wait, did I hear you correctly? Like a variant is adding mayonnaise? Like, I don't think so. That's core.
Molly: Yeah, I think what--I think what Wikipedia is saying, rightly so, is it's not a BLTM.
Declan: True. It's definitely not. It's a BLT.
Molly: It's a BLT. So the mayonnaise is by definition optional. But I will say, um, I'm not sure about a BLT being a TLT with tofu. That doesn't feel like it's a BLT anymore.
Declan: No.
Molly: Wait, this is kind of funny. Uh, in a Google search of "what does a BLT tastes like": "Slight bitter notes come from the lettuce, onion, and the mustard powder that's in most mayo formulations. And at these low levels they add an earthy base to the BLT without making the sandwich itself tastes bitter. Tomatoes contribute sweet and sour as well as a surprising amount of umami to the equation." That's what a BLT tastes like, apparently.
Declan: Yeah, I don't know about that.
Molly: I'm not getting bitterness out of mayonnaise, I don't know about you.
Declan: Okay, here's one of my favorite searches in Google, is, whatever you're searching, plus "Florida man." And here's what we turn up for "BLT Florida man." "Florida man arrested after a meltdown because there was no lettuce in his BLT sandwich." (laughing)
Molly: Amen, he got served a BL. Oh no, he got BT. (laughing That's a racket.
Declan: Poor guy.
Molly: Poor guy. When was that?
Declan: I don't know. Close the town.
Molly: Who cares? (laughing) So the internet knows nothing about BLTs. No, just kidding. Let's take a quick break and when we come back, we will hear from some of you guys and try to answer some of your burning BLT questions.
(midroll)
Declan: Time for some questions.
Molly: (load throad clearing sounds) Excuse me.
Declan: Nice, dude. (laughing)
Molly: Um, okay, this is a tough one, but I think it's an important one to address, Declan. This is from @susannahcaldwell.
Susannah: Hi there, I live in a place where finding good tomatoes can be really hard. And so I'm wondering what are some good substitutions for the tomato, um, or what are some ways that you can zhuzh up a sort of lackluster tomato?
Molly: Okay, we just kind of touched on this. I think we can all agree that it should only be eaten in tomato season, but what do we do if we're in tomato season and we can't find a good tomato? Like, is it fair to say that she shouldn't be eating a BLT?
Declan: Well, I definitely think that if you're, if you're at home and you can't--and you don't have a good tomato, I mean, it's like it's one of three pillars. Like, maybe it's time for a different sandwich. But if you really need to have a BLT and you have a lackluster tomato, uh...
Molly: Yeah.
Declan: I feel like, is there anything to be done?
Molly: I know this is like, sacrilege. I've never done this before, so I don't know. But for some reason, the idea of a plum keeps going into my head.
Declan: Molly, please.
Molly: Do you hate it? (laughing)
Declan: Molly, get ahold of yourself. (laughing) A plum? A PLT.
Molly: Ok, fuck it.
Declan: No, no, sorry. (laughing) A BLP.
Molly: Okay. A BLP. A bloop. Um, okay, I have another idea. I actually feel like this one is baller. I want to try this.
Declan: Okay.
Molly: Swap out the tomato for sliced dill pickles.
Declan: Yes, that's--that--
Molly: You approve.
Declan: I approve of this message.
Molly: That's the answer.
Declan: It also, it reminds me of--there's a BLT in Brooklyn at Saltie Sandwiches that had pickled tomato in it. Like big, juicy pickled green--
Molly: Pickled green tomatoes.
Declan: And man, that was a, that was a bangin' BLT.
Molly: Okay, and that wasn't even a peak summer tomato.
Declan: No, no, that was that was actually...
Molly: Pickled green tomato. It's kind of the opposite.
Declan: Maybe pickle your tomato.
Molly: Pickle, your tomato is a great idea, or use a dill pickle. Wow, I want to do that.
Declan: Love it.
Molly: Okay, here's one. Okay, this one is coming in from @ryanporman.
Ryan: Miracle Whip? Hellman's? Duke's? Kewpie? Which mayo goes best on a BLT?
Molly: We are big fans of Kewpie.
Declan: Yeah.
Molly: We love Kewpie.
Declan: If you can get your hands on Kewpie, it's, it's second to none.
Molly: You do that. I haven't had Miracle Whip in a while, but that shit is sweet, and I don't think you would like it.
Declan: Wait, what? Isn't that whipped cream?
Molly: No. Miracle Whip makes--
Declan: Mayonnaise? Sweet mayonnaise?
Molly: Oh my god. Yeah, Miracle Whip makes mayonnaise.
Declan: Wait, sweet sugar mayonnaise?
Molly: Yeah! Hold on, I'm looking it up.
Declan: (laughing) What?
Molly: Yes! (laughing)
Declan: Oh my God, you're right. You're really right.
Molly: It's, um, it contains water, and it's mayonnaise with sugar added. It's Miracle Whip dressing. I think you're thinking of something else. Reddi Whip. You're thinking of Reddi Whip.
Declan: Reddi Whip. Okay.
Molly: That is whipped cream, and no, I do not think you should be putting whipped cream on your BLTs.
Declan: I was going to be...yeah.
Molly: So I feel like, here's how it goes in my order of preference. Coming down the line, at the top, Kewpie mayo. Below that, Hellman's. Below that, Duke's. At the very bottom, and when I mean bottom, I mean like, so far down there, Miracle Whip.
Declan: (laughing) It's not on the, it's not on the register.
Molly: It's really not, it's like sub, sub zero.
Declan: I will say that the mayonnaise--and I feel like this question comes up, is like, how do you make, or like, can you do something special with the mayonnaise, which I actually really like as a, as a tactic for making your BLT a little bit more interesting, because I feel like if you mess around with the core ingredients too much, you just get away from it being a BLT. But if you, if you do something special with the mayonnaise it can really give it just a little edge, get, you know, push it into that next next category of, just like, special sandwich moment, you know what I mean?
Molly: Well, remember last week when I--we were recording the podcast, and we took a break and we made a tomato toast, and I made garlicky smoked paprika mayo for the tomato toast. And that was divine. And I'm just starting to wonder whether that wouldn't be delicious on a BLT too, or maybe it would tip things a little too smoky. I don't think so.
Declan: I love it. I, what I'm trying to say is that you could conceivably just have like a rep, repertoire of different mayonnaises that you cycle through for your BLTs, because I feel like they're a great way to make it more than just a classic variation. Like a dill mayo and uh, whatever.
Molly: Ooh, dilly mayo. Yum. Dilly mayo would be delicious, or like a dilly pickly mayo.
Declan: Yeah. Tartar sauce.
Molly: Like dill pickles and dill. Yeah, basically tartar sauce would be delicious. Um, also, try making mayonnaise from scratch. It's not that hard and it's just always more delicious than the stuff from the jar. And you can make aioli, and at least introduce a little bit of garlic.
Declan: Yeah, that's true. But is it more delicious than Kewpie?
Molly: Uhh, unclear. Have to do a side-by.
Declan: The jury's still out.
Molly: Yeah. Anyway, that's the take on the mayo. Okay, this one's from @under.the.umbells: "How to keep tomato from sliding out of the sandwich?" So this is an architecture question, which is an important one, because we should address not only the slip sliding tomatoes, but also just like the general order of operations that best respects all of the ingredients, and by that I mean, avoids the bread from sogging out within minutes of the sandwich being assembled. So in terms of tomato--
Declan: I feel like I eat the sandwich within minutes, so I'm--I feel like I--...(laughing)
Molly: That's true. That's true.
Declan: But I do think, yeah--
Molly: You don't have to worry about--
Declan: --the slip slide. I mean, one thing you can do for sure is just cut it in half. That will help.
Molly: Yeah, so slicing your tomatoes so that they're like a little bit more bite size earlier. They're halved. But then, I mean oftentimes when you think of a BLT, you just think of like one layer of tomatoes, one layer of lettuce, one layer of bacon. But I'm wondering whether it actually is--probably makes more sense to kind of go, uh, mayonnaise on the outside and then bacon, a slice or two on each side, and then two layers of, of lettuce, preferably iceberg, in my case, and then the tomatoes inside the lettuce. So they're kind of like in a little lettuce burrito.
Declan: Yeah. Although the only, the only change I'd make is I actually put the bacon inside the lettuce as well, because I feel like that bacon wrap, bacon and tomato wrap with bread on the outside is, it's the easiest structurally to hold on to, and, I don't know, somehow that, that seems to work for me.
Molly: Okay, So you're basically making like a lettuce wrap and then putting in between two slices of mayoed bread.
Declan: Exactly.
Molly: I can get behind that.
Declan: Okay, wait, but what kind of bread are we actually talking about? I mean, I think oftentimes when you go to like a diner something, this is also a vote against diner BLTs, but you get pretty classic squish bread, something, you know, white and squishy, and you know, I feel like you could crumple it into a tiny ball, and I feel like we have to be talking about something a little bit more sturdy, especially because, as you know, we've been saying, BLTs kind of have a tendency to fall apart.
Molly: Uh yeah, so on the bread question, if you--I guess what we're asking here really is if you don't have sesame sourdough, what are you eating the BLT on? Right?
Declan: (laughing) I mean, yeah, basically. Sesame sourdough is just, should be on hand.
Molly: I don't know. I can honestly--oh, oh my God, I know what I would want to eat it on.
Declan: Rye?
Molly: Milk bread. Japanese milk bread.
Declan: Milk bread? Oh, really? Like the briochey stuff?
Molly: Yeah, it's like somewhere between brioche and like, Wonder Bread, and it's just delightfully pillowy, but also like, when you toast it, I feel like, um, it's a little bit sturdier than a Wonder Bread. It's not, it's not squish bread, it's not as squishbready as squish bread. It's so delicious.
Declan: Yeah. But it's still, it still just--I think--doesn't end up having that, that kind of crispy texture. Like you're never going to get it really crispy, cause it'll just turn into, you know, a breadstick.
Molly: I don't need it to be crispy though, because I have crunchy lettuce and I have crispy bacon, and so there's already like--I don't want it to be soft and like disintegrating, but I don't know that it needs to--I'm not a big fan of like a super crunchy bread in my BLT. Like, although I know the BLT is all about texture, sometimes, I do feel they can get a little carried away, texturally speaking.
Declan: No, I think dial up the texture as much as possible.
Molly: Man, you're savage with the inside of your mouth.
Declan: (laughing) I am. If at the end of my BLT, I don't have at least a few cuts and abrasions--
Molly: If you're not bleeding from the mouth.
Declan: If I don't have have abrasions in my gums from eating a BLT, uh, it didn't really happen.
Molly: You failed.
Declan: So, um, but yeah, I don't know, the pillowiness, I just feel like, is not compensated for by the bacon, unless you put too much bacon, and the iceberg is just not the same kind of--it's not, it's not crunchy, it's crispy, but it's not an actual crunch the way you need from, like, the way you get from a a piece of toast.
Molly: So basically what you're saying is, you only want it on sesame sourdough, you don't even want to have a conversation about it.
Declan: No, no, no, no, I'm willing to have a conversation. Just not anything squishy. Like for example, I've considered in my time a BLT on a baguette. Like is that a feasible thing? I tried it once actually, and I had to put so much mayonnaise on it, uh, just to like make it, you know, slick and you know, lubed up and like, you know, work together, because the inside of the baguette gets all craggy and uh, that--it didn't work out well in that instance, but it's something I could consider returning to.
Molly: I think we just stick with the sour D. (laughing) Okay, I do like this one because it gets to the philosophy of the sandwich, which I--(dog barking in background) Tuna! From @natany:
(Voiceover): Does adding egg to a BLT sandwich make it no longer a BLT? At what point do you cross the BLT line?
Declan: Honestly, yes.
Molly: I kind of agree. It's like, that's an egg sandwich.
Declan: It's an egg sandwich with lettuce and tomato.
Molly: It's a bacon egg and hold-the-cheese sandwich.
Declan: Yeah. It's a veggie, veggie-filled egg sandwich. But yeah, I mean, you know, short answer is no, I think as soon as you add another element--
Molly: Another core element.
Declan: Another core element, you're changing the sandwich. Although I do weirdly make an exception for avocado. BLATs, I feel like, are a very-they're just a slight modification in my head, because the avocado becomes like kind of a textural condiment, you know?
Molly: But you're still putting mayonnaise?
Declan: I still put mayonnaise on, but it's almost like, it's almost like making your mayonnaise an avocado mayonnaise.
Molly: Yeah, I personally think avocados are ruining my BLTs, but yeah. Here's a question from @sweatycomrade: "Best way to make bacon, pan or oven?" Dec, how do you make bacon normally, typically?
Declan: I mean, so rarely do I make enough bacon to warrant oven. But I will say that if you're making a lot of bacon, like many, many BLTs, it's got to be in a, in the oven.
Molly: Yeah. So sheet pan, bacon, where you line it all up on a baking sheet and throw it in the oven is a really efficient way to make bacon for a crowd. I actually think the best way, if we're getting really particular about it, is to--you can, you know, put a wire rack inside the baking sheet and then put the bacon on top and that way the fat starts to drip down below and it gets crispier faster.
Declan: Oh, interesting. I didn't realize. Another thing I do all the time is, because bacon strips are long and sometimes my skillet's not that long, I just cut my bacon up. I feel like I don't see people doing that often.
Molly: Yeah, genius. You're going to break it anyway. That's honestly like, a mic drop.
Declan: (laughing) Just like, cut that bacon, cut that bacon before you start frying. It doesn't need to hang, you know, like one third of the bacon is just like hanging over the edge, like, dancing with the flames.
Molly: I've never done that, Declan, and it's kind of blowing my mind. I would never dare cut bacon in half. It just would feel so wrong to cut raw bacon in half and put it in there, and yet it makes so much sense.
Declan: So easy. Love it, love that.
Molly: You're a freaking amateur-ass genius.
Molly: Okay, this is an important one. We have a question from @Megan0123456. (laughing) "Crunchy, crispy bacon, or barely there?" So this is a question of the texture of the bacon, how long to cook it. And and really at this point also, we should talk about like the thickness of the bacon, because that informs those qualities. Do you like crispy bacon?
Declan: I mean, yeah, I love crispy bacon. I don't know. I've never, I've yet to meet someone who's like, "Oh yeah, no, just, I'll have floppy bacon please. I'll just have a slice of floppy bacon."
Molly: (laughing) I just don't think they would frame it that way.
Declan: What would it be? Barely there? That's--
Molly: Chewy.
Declan: Chewy bacon? Okay. Barely there, though...
Molly: (laughing) "Barely there" is like a really gentle way to say floppy bacon. This one is from @empschultz, and I know who that is. That's Emily Schultz, who I used to work with.
Emily: What's your preferred lettuce method? Or lett-oose, as you would say. Is it romaine? Is it iceberg? Is it shredduce? Is it sort of like, layering on the lettuce? Tell me.
Molly: Answer to the first question, for me anyway, is iceberg. The king of the lettuce kingdom.
Declan: I just--
Molly: Would you--fair to say?
Declan: I don't think so, no. And I'll give you a few reasons why. I'll give you a few reasons why. One, when--I mean, at least for me, like, I just don't ever have iceberg on hand. I'm never, like--
Molly: I literally always have iceberg. Never catch me without iceberg.
Declan: Really? Okay, well, I never have iceberg on hand because like, I don't use iceberg in a normal salad context. I would just almost always prefer a different one. So I don't have it very regularly.
Molly: Like, shredduce is an important thing in this world, and I just don't understand why you don't care about it.
Declan: (laughing) I do care about it, but--
Molly: Have you no love in your heart for shrett-oose?
Declan: Yeah, I guess, I don't know, I just never have iceberg lettuce. I always have romaine. That's like, the go-to, is just a big couple hearts of romaine. But I think uh, if you're gonna use romaine, you need to, A. use some of the smaller leaves that have still a good bit of crunch, and have that big, juicy, you know, crispy rib. But also you need to actually break that rib in half the long way, because the rib itself is so, so much volume that it can disrupt the layout of your sandwich, and it can lead to slippages and slidings. So I actually like, press my, my lettuce rib down and kind of break it down the center, and that helps like, flatten the overall architecture of the sandwich, which makes it a little bit more manageable.
Molly: I feel you on the romaine, although I, I just, I feel like I really like the fact that an iceberg, that iceberg is so watery, and romaine only gives me the watery crunch in the ribby parts. But then, some of those other, like, just leafy parts feel a little lackluster to me in the context of the sandwich. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great for a caesar salad.
Declan: I think, I think that's fair, but I would, you know, just counter that tomato should be doing all the work in terms of the juicy wateryness that you need. Like, you shouldn't need a big juicy heirloom tomato and also the wateriness of iceberg lettuce, because then you're really going to end up with a diluted, you know, mayonnaise sauce water. Boom.
Molly: Well, not if you season your lettuce, which I always do.
Declan: See...you know, okay, fine. (laughing)
Molly: Ha! (laughing) Wait, wait. I have a good compromise though. I'm just--sorry, I'm just always putting--like, when we last made our sandwiches together, maybe we used romaine, but we did dress the lettuces. We may--we used lemon and salt on the lettuces.
Declan: Yeah, we did.
Molly: And I think that's an important element that often gets overlooked, and I think it's important on a BLT.
Declan: Well, I'm just wondering because sometimes with lemon straight on the leaves, you, they can get a little wilty.
Molly: Oh, please, you're eating it so quickly.
Declan: I know. It's true.
Molly: Um, but here's a compromise for us, which I think we'll both agree on. Little gems.
Declan: Love a little gem. I mean, it basically is the marriage of two brilliant...
Molly: Exactly. Let's just agree that little gems are the best lettuce for for a BLT. And though I do love shredduce in general, I don't think that shredduce is the best preparation of iceberg lettuce for a BLT. I feel like actually it, it kind of gets like, stringy and, and uh, wilted down by all of the mayonnaise and the bacon fat, and like the heat of the sandwich. And um, I would rather shredduce on an entirely cold sandwich, such as the Italian.
Declan: 100% agree there. Alright, so starting from the outside in?
Molly: Yeah, let's do it. Bread.
Declan: Bread. Got to be sesame sourdough. I just can't get it out of my head. I wish--
Molly: Okay. (laughing) Okay, fine. And then mayonnaise. I would like to do a zhuzhed up mayo here.
Declan: Let's do it.
Molly: And I think I just have been feeling the smoky paprika mayo with garlic. It's like a little bit aioli, a little bit mayonnaise, a little bit something else entirely, like pimentón aioli, basically.
Declan: Yeah. And I am curious--I mean, I think that the jury is out, but I'm curious about adding something with a little heat to it, because I think BLT is so classically not spicy. It doesn't have anything like that, spices it up. And so it'll be interesting to see. I generally love the spicy stuff. So...
Molly: We could do the hot smoked paprika because it has a little bit of heat.
Declan: Yeah. Perfect.
Molly: Okay. And then next up we're going lettuce on the outside, right?
Declan: I think lettuce on the outside.
Molly: So little gems.
Declan: Little gems.
Molly: No further discussion needed.
Declan: On both sides of the sandwich.
Molly: Yes.
Declan: I think the other thing is, uh, letting the lettuce kind of go to the edge of the sandwich and maybe even hang out a little bit, because I feel like there's always more lettuce. I almost have like a piece of lettuce just like, hanging out on the side of the sandwich, to just like grab a little bite here and there when I need a little extra.
Molly: Totally. Okay, extra hanging little gem lettuces. Um, what's next? Tomatoes. We have access to heirloom tomatoes right now because tis the summer. So uh, a fat slice of heirloom tomato, and I season my tomatoes. I think this is a really important part of the sandwich, and I feel like you don't do this, Declan.
Declan: No, no, I definitely season...
Molly: It's not my favorite thing about you.
Declan: I definitely season my, my tomatoes. Uh...
Molly: You do?!
Declan: I absolutely do. Lots of salt, lots of pepper.
Molly: Oh my God. For some reason I thought you didn't season your tomatoes.
Declan: No, I definitely do. I don't always, I admit, season my lettuce, which is something that we've done before, but I don't always do it, because I don't really know that lemon has a place in the BLT.
Molly: Well, season your tomatoes, is kind of the bottom line here. If you've never--here's the thing. If you've never just taken a slice of tomato, sprinkled a little bit of salt and black pepper on it, freshly ground of course, and just taken a taste of that, you may not know how delicious a tomato can really be, because it just brings out so much flavor in the tomato, um, and really allows the tomato to be the star of the sandwich, which of course it is, because it's a tomato sandwich with bacon. I think that my tomatoes are sliced, like, I would say like a third of an inch is ideal for me.
Declan: A third of an inch. 100%.
Molly: And I kind of like to as I lay them out, shingle them--
Declan: Of course.
Molly: --so there's a couple that overlap, but they're not like stacked in stacks. So it's sort of like a domino effect. A fallen domino effect.
Declan: Yup. Exactly.
Molly: Because you never--God forbid there was a tiny section of the sandwich that had no tomato.
Declan: Yeah. You don't want to have like two discs, like butting up against each other--
Molly: Yeah. With all this negative space.
Declan: Exactly.
Molly: Never.
Declan: Yeah, that's the worst.
Molly: So cover your surface area with tomatoes. And yeah, you can cut them. If you have a weird little section of your sandwich that needs a tomato, cut a slice to fit the shape. That's totally fine. Um, and then the bacon. Thick or thin?
Declan: I don't have a strong preference, but my inclination is generally something kind of thin.
Molly: Me too. Like, because again, I feel like it's the condiment and not a ingredient itself.
Declan: Exactly, yeah. Like if you have a thick cut piece of bacon, I just feel like it's overwhelming. It's going to just like dominate the sandwich no matter what else is going on, unless you have a ton, obviously, of other ingredients. But just to keep the proportions like, manageable and edible, I feel like something thin, something--break it up a little bit, almost--not fully broken up into tiny little bits, but like, you know, a fourth of a strip, or, you know, a third of a strip long, and like lay them diagonally across your tomatoes that are nicely shingled.
Molly: Yup. And I think there should be--depends on how big your bread is, right? But between two and three slices per sandwich. Like I don't--I think--you shouldn't have a bite without bacon in it either, but I don't need multiple layers of bacon.
Declan: Absolutely. Yeah. Two and three is generally right.
Molly: It's an even single layer of bacon on the sandwich throughout. Okay, so let's go shop, get our ingredients and make our ultimate BLT.
Declan: Let's go.
Molly: Okay.
(musical interlude)
Molly: Have you made homemade mayo before?
Declan: Uh, yeah, in a Vitamix. Do you have a Vitamix?
Molly: Oh, let's just whisk it.
Declan: That, I've never heard of.
Molly: A hand-whisked mayo, you've never heard of such a thing?
Declan: I've literally never heard of such a thing.
Molly: Oh my God, this frickin' dude. Okay, let me teach you then. Crack the egg.
Declan: Just want that yolk.
Molly: Just--yeah, release everything but the yolk. And we're making aioli, so we're grating garlic into it. Oven's open, right behind! Don't we feel like we're in a restaurant again? (laughing) "Hot behind." Perfect.
Declan: Is that enough garlic?
Molly: Yeah.
Declan: Perfect.
Molly: And then, so, whisk the yolk together with...and then going, constantly whisking, drop by drop, like, in a really really thin stream. (whisking sounds) And you want to go thin at first and it gets thicker as you go. (laughing) You made mayo, Big! It's beautiful. It's fluffy.
Declan: Oh, man, it is. Nice.
Molly: It's very satisfying.
Declan: It's got a nice yellow hue.
Molly: Yeah, that's from those good eggs. Those good good eggs. Okay, let's taste it. Mmmm!
Declan: Nice one.
Molly: Okay, I have the hot smoked paprika. We'll just add it a little by little until it starts to taste right. Or should we do one BLT without the hot smoked, in case we're like, this isn't right?
Declan: Okay. One and one.
Molly: Yeah, let's move--put half of it in another bowl. Homemade mayo, the ultimate BLT level up. Homemade mayo plus in-season tomates. (sound of running water) Okay, let's line her up. We have four slices of bread on the cutting board. They're all toasted on one side and the toasted sides are up.
Declan: Toasted sides are getting mayonnaise.
Molly: So lettuce on both sides.
Declan: Yeah.
Molly: Because we want to make a basically a lettuce sandwich with all the other ingredients inside, because that's going to help us, we think, at least, prevent all the slip sliding. People seemed very concerned with that. I'm going down with the tomatoes now only on one side of the bread, and it looks like three slices is perfect for this diameter.
Declan: Okay, bacon. I usually just rip it in half and then like, lay it down kind of train tracks on diagonal.
Molly: Like a bias across the width of the sandwich?
Declan: Exactly. Exactly. Because then later when I cut it, it just cuts right on the same bias and you don't have to cut through any of the slices.
Molly: So you cut your BLTs on the bias?
Declan: Always.
Molly: Okay, I support. These are looking stupendous, if I do say so myself. (laughing) Okay, now top, the top layer is going right on top. We have our sandwich.
Declan: Nice and soft for our delicate palates.
Molly: Okay, and you go in for the bias cut.
Declan: Ready?
Molly: Yeah. (slicing sound) Ooh, very satisfying. Okay, let me see the big reveal.
Declan: Alright.
Molly: Is she beautiful or is she beautiful?
Declan: Bam.
(musical interlude)
Declan: (sound of a can opening) Let's eat BLTs.
Molly: Okay, one for one, because I want to try both of them. So I'm splitting these up.
Declan: Okay. Are we gonna start with...
Molly: Should we start with the classic?
Declan: Okay. Here we go.
Molly: (crunching sound) Ooh, good crunch, Big. Mmhmm, oh my God.
Declan: It's a no-talker.
Molly: Stop!
Declan: You know, like, a sandwich when you eat it you can't talk? Sorry, I'm talking.
Molly: Yeah. You're talking.
Declan: It's a no-talker.
Molly: Mmm. I have to say, the aioli is killer.
Declan: Mmm. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time.
Molly: On the Sandwich Universe, which is brought to you by Cabot Creamery on the Food52 Podcast Network. The Sandwich Universe is produced by Coral Lee and the theme music for our show was created by Jeffrey Brodsky. If you're pickin' up what we're puttin' down, be sure to like subscribe, share, and we'll see you next time on The Sandwich Universe. On The Sandwich Universe.
Declan: (deep voice) The Sandwich Universe.
Molly: (laughing) Yeah, that.