The BLT – A Classic Sandwich

The BLT Cookbook - Our Favorite Sandwich

The BLT Cookbook

This week, I have mainly been eating BLT Sandwiches (borrowing a phrase from The Fast Show). There certainly isn’t a lot that can be said about the BLT (Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato) sandwich. They are one of the most popular sandwiches worldwide, so much so that a 160 page cookbook has been written on the subject about the perfect tomato, bacon, bread, etc. This is maybe taking the passion for BLTs a little far, as there are only 5 ingredients for a classic BLT, and a recipe hardly seems necessary, let alone a whole cookbook.

The classic BLT ‘recipe’ comprises of bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and sliced bread. That’s it. Nothing more. Simple. There maybe some discussion on the type of ingredients, but surely some of the many variations such as hollandaise instead of mayonnaise, turkey bacon instead of pork, a fried egg or even cheese are straying from the classic recipe, and though these additions maybe be tasty, the sandwich they help produce cannot be called a BLT.

There is little evidence of BLT sandwich recipes prior to 1900, although the ingredients of the BLT have existed for many years, and it probably evolved from tea sandwiches around the same time as the Club Sandwich evolved (a close ‘cousin’ of the BLT).

Double Decker BLT

Double Decker BLT

Putting arguments of particular ingredients to the side, the secret to a good BLT is

  • Firm tomatoes, that are juicy without being mealy. You don’t want the bread to become soggy.
  • A few leaves of lettuce, not a whole wedge salad.
  • Lightly toasted sliced bread.
  • Not too much, but just enough bacon.

All other components / ingredients are purely down to personal taste, and one persons idea of the best BLT sandwich may not appeal to someone else. I personally prefer lightly toasted wholemeal bread with Hellman’s mayonnaise, sliced and de-seeded plum tomatoes, salad greens and grilled streaky bacon, without any added salt or pepper. Also I don’t want an over-stuffed or ‘double decker’ sandwich that is too hard to hold, let alone eat. For me the perfect BLT is a blend of slight crunch, saltiness and juiciness.

My ideal BLT Sandwich

My ideal BLT Sandwich

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Peking Duck (Crispy Aromatic Duck)

Peeking Duck

CC Image courtesy of W9NED on Flickr

A couple decide to celebrate their anniversary at their local Chinese restaurant. After looking at the menu, they finally decide to share the Chef’s Special Chicken Surprise.

The waiter brings them their dish served in a large cast-iron pot.

Just as the wife is about to start, the lid of the pot rises a little and she sees two beady little eyes looking around before the lid slams back down. ‘Did you see that?’, she asks her husband, just as the lid rises again and two beady little eyes look around again before the lid slams down.

Rather perturbed, the husband calls for the manager, and asks for an explanation.

‘What did you order sir?’, asks the manager.

‘The Chef’s Special Chicken Surprise’, says the husband.

‘Oh, I do apologize’ says the manager, ‘The waiter has made a mistake and brought you the Peking duck.’

 

Whole Peking DuckPeking Duck (北京烤鴨), or Crispy Aromatic Duck (香酥鴨), a similar dish in the UK, has been another thing that I miss on occasions while in the states. Peking Duck, or maybe now it should be called Beijing Duck is a very old dish from China and the dish that we know today was fully developed during the Ming Dynasty. It seems to be missing from every Chinese restaurant or take-away we’ve visited so far. This maybe because the majority of Chinese restaurants we have seen so far, seem to be Hunan (a province of South-Central China) and a large majority of UK Chinese immigrants originally came from Hong Kong and therefore they may have different food cultures. Another thing I cannot find here in the US, is Crispy Shredded Chili Beef, but I have a method for cooking that.

Last night the craving for Peking Duck, became too much and I was sent on a search to find it. First stop was a nearby Asian supermarket and after looking for pre-packaged frozen duck and pancakes, I found whole roasted Peking Ducks at the barbecue counter with a whole roast pig and other delicious looking goodies. The lady who served me asked if I wanted the duck chopped up. I declined as I wanted to take a photo of it at home, but also to ‘scare’ Ems with it, as the head and beak were still attached. Finding the other supplies was easy.

Duck is fairly difficult to find the the US and is not readily available even in the biggest stores. However I did find fresh and frozen whole ducks in the Asian supermarket, but no duck breasts. There wasn’t a huge saving to be made by buying a fresh or frozen duck and preparing it myself compared to the pre-roasted duck, but see below the method for preparing your own Peking Duck if required. This is a simplified method of perparing the duck at home, without the need for bicycle pumps and days of drying.

Simple Method for Preparing Peking Duck

After washing and drying your duck, rub it all over, inside and out with a lot of salt. Sprinkle Chinese 5-Spice all over the outside of the bird and rub some grated fresh ginger inside the cavity. Place the duck on a roasting tray in a 170C (325F) oven for about 2 hours. Check on it every so often and spoon out the excess fat to prevent smoking. The duck will be ready when the leg meat pulls away from the bone and the skin has become wonderfully crispy.

Peking Duck-Sauces-Pancakes-VegetablesI shredded the meat and skin with two forks and put it the oven for 20mins to re-heat. While waiting, I shredded some spring (green) onions, made cucumber ‘matchsticks’ and laid out the moo shu pancakes, I had bought with some hoisin and plum sauces.

To eat, just spread a little of the hoisin or plum sauce on the pancake, add some onions, cucumbers and some duck. Roll up into a tube, eat and repeat.

Peking Duck Pancake

Oven Baked Salmon Goujons

We eat fish usually about once a week, and a lot of the time we either oven bake or grill the whole fillet with nothing more than some herbs or a little seasoning. What fish we buy depends on what is on offer at the time and this week it was salmon. I was in the mood for a bit of comfort food, and as a kid I loved fish finger (fish sticks in the US), but as a adult (debatable) I felt that I had to make something a bit more grown up. The answer was oven baked salmon goujons and a honey mustard sauce, but to help boost the flavour I used mayonnaise as the base for the sauce and to coat the salmon before breading it with cornmeal.

Making Honey Mustard MayonnaiseIngredients

  • 1lb Salmon fillet
  • 1 cup (130g) coarse cornmeal
  • 4 tbsp of mayonnaise
  • 1 tsp of paprika
  • 1 tsp of garlic powder
  • 2 tbsp of white white vinegar
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • Freshly ground black pepper

 

Breaded Salmon Goujons ready for the ovenMethod

Mix together the mayonnaise, paprika, garlic powder, vinegar, mustard and black pepper and reserve half the mixture for serving. Cut the salmon into strips across the fillet about 2cm (3/4″) thick. Mix the salmon strips with half of the honey mustard mayonnaise to coat thoroughly.  Next dredge the salmon pieces through the cornmeal until coated thoroughly. Place the salmon onto a greased baking sheet and place in a 190C (375F) oven for approx 15mins. Serve the salmon with the other half of the mayonnaise, note: you may want to water down the mixture with a little water to get it to pour.

 

Oven Baked Salmon Goujons with Honey Mustard Mayonnaise