If there were ever an illustration of what a wonderfully diverse and picky people we are, it was a couple of weeks ago when I tweeted innocuously ‘how do you like your bacon sandwich?’ I expected a sarky ‘with bacon in it’ response, the odd maple-cure bacon, organic mustard, sourdough bread preference and a whole heap of nothing, but the answers came flooding in.
There were only a few criteria offered:
Smoked or unsmoked bacon?
Back or streaky?
Red sauce or brown?
Toasted or untoasted?
There was little hesitation or compromise – each and every person had a very strong idea of how they wanted the porky loaf. We might not know our sumac from our za’atar, but we sure as hobnobs know how we like our bacon sandwiches.
The winning combination was the simplest – smoked back bacon with ketchup on untoasted bread; rather like the one above, but with a damn sight more bacon I hope.
How do you like yours?
Back bacon, Brie, lightly toasted granary bread.
Bacon optionally maple cured…
Brie…now that really is pushing the boat out. I think that makes it more of a lunchtime sarnie though, no?
Do you not think it is fundamentally unfair to make a post about Bacon at a time when us wage slaves have hours to go before a break?!?!?
Shame on you, it will be a torturous wait for me now!
Apologies…no, not fair at all. *Saunters to the shops to pick up more bacon* 🙂
smoked, back, red, untoasted… I totally agree with the concensus.
I always thought you were a gal of the people Rosie.
One my favourite Sarnies (possibly food stuff period) is the Blue Heaven.
Melted stilton over bacon with mayo and tomatoes. Has to be on very thick cut bread, a proper doorstep sarnie…
Dammit need to stop trhinking about lush food.
That would work…though mayo and Stilton together? I’d need convincing…
It goes bread, mayo, bacon, stilton, tomatoes, bread.
Give it a go, I promise you will be convinced!
This has now led to a massive “blue cheese” debate at work.
How can people be so blind about cheese? The mind boggles, oh well more for me I suppose.
Ha, brilliant. I love blue cheese but I’m convinced of its place in a bacon sandwich – too much salt?…still, only one way to find out.
Seems cheese debates are everywhere I go now.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-10787021
oh….
un-smoked
streaky (oven baked)
no sauce (you don’t deprive a Jew of bacon for 2000 years and then smother it in sugar… forget it)
un-toasted
x
No butter either Dom? That’s a very restrained bacon sandwich indeed…
it’s bacon purity… if you bake the streaky in the oven they bubble with their own fat and the butter is not needed, just two hunks of doughy white bread… oh, I think I may have to be excused!
Unsmoked back bacon, on white bread (untoasted) with either brown sauce or some of this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojo_%28sauce%29
Egg optional (but preferred).
God, I love bacon sandwiches. It’s been weeks.
Wow, Mojo sauce – like the look of that.
Mojo sauce, now that sounds super awesome.
Thats it, going to have to east my own hand to tide me over until break, only option….
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Smoked, streaky (maximum fat. mmm.), ketchup. Yes yes.
The streaky/non-streaky divide is basically just crispy versus non-crispy, non?
Smoked Streaky pan fried till crisp lovingly cushioned between two slices of cheap white that have been used to absorb the fat from the pan. One slice smeared with Marmite, the other liberally doused in Tomato and Chilli Sauce.
Served with a massive mug of builders tea!
Smashed into mouth when hungover this will make you feel like a king within moments.
Oh yes, tea is vital…
One with red, one with brown, both with butter on soft white bread… apply pressur and slightly squash. Wipe the grill of dripping with a few slices and eat as is or dipped in egg.
You’re right, the soft squash in the bread is all part of it. This is why sourdough, IMO doesn’t work. Not yielding enough.
Stay up all night drinking. Cook smoked bacon on BBQ to get the fat nice and crispy. Tuck inside some white untoasted bread. Squirt on tomato sauce. Devour. Heaven.
On the BBQ? Who has the time for that in the morning? Clearly a life of leisure you are living Browners.
Lots of rashers of crisp, streaky (got to be free range, pref organic) bacon are a must, as is fresh farmhouse style white bread. The rest depends on my mood – love adding fried mushrooms, or tomatoes, or eating plain but mopping up the ‘bacon dripping’ is a must. If I’m using toast I like to add a good splosh of HP sauce.
Also greatly enjoy a BLT or bacon & brie with red onion relish, but, tend not to think of them as a bacon sandwich, oddly enough.
A connoisseur of the bacon sarnie I see…mushrooms an interesting addition – will try that. J
Smoked bacon, untoasted white bread, ketchup.
The BA lounge in T5 does a mean bacon buttie but in a crusty bun. Still good tho.
The best bacon sandwich I’ve had was at Albion in Shoreditch. But you have to ask specifically for a bacon sandwich, otherwise they bring a breakfast bun which isn’t nearly as good.
Thick cut smokey back bacon, grilled until the fat is crunchy but not indestructible. Granary bread untoasted, lashings of sweet chilli. If you want messy luxury, it’s okay to add a perfectly poached egg.
Sweet chilli….controversial. But I do love a bit of controversy.
Bacon, no butter (no health thing, it just makes to too greasy!) HP sauce, big fat bits of bread. done.
It seems a lot of people go without butter. Jury’s still out for me. The Albion put melted butter in theirs…heaven.
St John’s Bread and Wine in Clerkenwell make the best bacon butties, apparently.
These were childhood holiday treats we called bacon baps — a magical combo of heavily buttered soft bap and crunchy bacon with a small blob of Ketchup (not too much or you can’t taste the butter).
‘Not too much ketchup or you can’t taste the butter’….love it Nibbles, a man/woman after my own heart.
Thick White bread, lots of unsalted butter, maple cured streaky bacon, just short of totally crispy and then lashings of brown sauce!
Am liking the idea of paul aka nonsensepipe marmite idea though!
Bring on Saturday morning I say!
X
I hope you’re tucking into a bacon sarnie right now!
You were right James, saturday morning was spent eating one or two sarnies! x
Smokey back bacon and halved cherry tomatoes bunged under the grill on a medium heat until crispy around the edges (but still chewy in the middle). Then cram into a floury white roll or (more likely in my house) some sliced brown/seeded bread. Possibly a spidge of tomato AND HP sauce. Maybe a few fried sliced mushrooms too.
It’s funny what people are picky about. I’ve listed the above but I wouldn’t turn my nose up at a differently crafted bacon sandwich.
What about you, James?
I like cherry tomatoes – good idea. It’s a tweak but avoids taking it away from the proper bacon sarnie and into the realms of BLT, bacon and brie etc…
For me it’s soft white bread, untoasted – but, ideally, ever so slightly warm – a little butter, smoked back bacon, ketchup. An egg for a treat.
I like all kinds of bacon. Yesterday I had a sublime BLT with butter and homemade mayo served on delicious thickly sliced toasted (at my request) white bread at a local new cafe in East Dulwich. Had the same there a few weeks ago. They have a wide choice of bread and their bacon was smoked back from a local butcher (not William Rose).
Those bacon sandwiches of yours–are they really called “bacon botties (sp?)” as they are referred to on Keeping Up Appearances?
Cate is on the right track. How does this sound:
toasted high quality bread such as brioche
thick cut applewood smoked bacon
heirloom tomatoes
Bib lettuce
mayonnaise
salt and pepper
(And as you Brits say when Americans order bacon, “Burn the bacon!” We just don’t like it flabby.
sweetpaprika.wordpress.com
Indeed, we call them ‘bacon butties’, though I believe that refers more specifically to bacon in a bap, not between slices of bread. It’s a delicate but important difference.
Sounds like you’ve crafted a seriously good BLT there, and what a lunch that would be, but a proper bacon sarnie demands simplicity and grease.
Surely, James, you know the 4 taboo topics of conversation? Sex, politics, religion and the brown v. red sauce debate.
Oh then you’re going to love next week’s discussion about which religion makes the best pasties.
Ha, I shall look forward to it!
This stuff:
http://www.waitrosedeliver.com/wdeliver/servlet/JSPs/shop/display_ind_fs.jsp?line_number=685207&prrfnbr=303686
Seeded bread (Warburtons for me normally), untoasted, spread with a very small amount of olive spread. No sauce.
This is the only bacon I know that that doesn’t shrink oddly and let out that horrid white stuff during cooking too… nom.
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Good James,
Wholewheat bread. Smother with softened Greek yoghurt. Layer some shredded and lightly steamed savoy cabbage. Sensibly drizzle with some olive oil. Place two thin slices of beef tomato. Further to that, add three or four thin slices of cucumber. Add three rashers of unsmoked Canadian back bacon. Generously top with any appropriate [brown sauce, etc] condiment and add a final layer of savoy cabbage to seal. The Greek yoghurt slice of wholewheat bread lightly pressed to seal and complete.
Enjoy.
Blimey, that’s fairly off piste! Will have to give it a go, J
I must say for me, at least temporarily, the Bacon Sarnie has bee supplanted in my affections by the chipolata roll, with lashings of mustard.
Mmmmmm…….
For me it’s a crispy bacon sandwich – unsmoked back or streaky, with buttered bread.
I love my smokey bacon. So its Smoked Streaky Bacon on a Floured soft white roll, buttered both sides. Then a liberal spread of Vegemite, again on boths sides (marmite is yuck), then bacon, then maybe a slice of mild mature cheese. Then lid on and munch. Plus must be served with super sweet English Breakfast Tea.
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