Bacon, Lettuce, and OH MY GAWD THAT'S GOOD Sandwich

 Bacon, Lettuce, and OH MY GAWD THAT'S GOOD Sandwich 

Recipe by Robert Burnes 

 Bacon, Lettuce, and OH MY GAWD THAT'S GOOD Sandwich

    There are fewer sandwiches in this universe that inspire the oohs and awes like our BLT. After a literal life time of enjoying this sandwich in just about every form, I settled on this recipe to form the one sandwich that made a chef friend of mine state, "OH MY GAWD. That's good." 

INGREDIENTS 

Bacon

1. Thick cut, uncured bacon; 

2. About a teaspoon of brown sugar; 

3. A shake or two of chili powder; 

4. A shake or two of red chili flakes; 

Extras 

1. Butter lettuce; 

2. Heirloom tomatoes; 

3. 4 slices of Sourdough (Or French Rolls) per sandwich; 

4. Half a cup of mayo; 

5. One clove of garlic; 

6. A pinch of salt; 

7. 1/4 pepper; 

8. Tablespoon of fresh shredded parmesan cheese. 

9. Onion rings. We use a local brand, but you use what ever brand you want. You want them large and crunchy; 

PREP

1. Set the bacon in a warm pan and let that delicious meat sizzle; 

2. While the bacon is cooking away, give the bacon a decent dusting of the brown sugar, chili powder, and flakes. You don't want to cake the bacon-just a dusting. 

NOTE: Brown sugar loves to caramelize quickly, so you want to lower the pan temperature a bit. Turn the bacon over once to finish caramelizing the bacon (maybe a minute or two) then turn it back over. Remove from heat, sugar side up, on a surface that will permit the bacon to get rid of that extra grease. 

3. Place the mayo in a bowl and mix with the garlic, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese. Do not use that junk in the bottle or plastic container. Get the real deal and shred it up. You'll thank me. 

4. Toast up the bread this way: Place both sides together and place it in the oven. Place the oven on broil and toast the bread on both sides, leaving the interior of the sandwich area untouched. Be careful, it's going to be HOT in there; 

5. Thin cut the tomatoes and set to the side; 

6. Pull the leaves of the butter lettuce and wash thoroughly. Set aside on napkins to dry; 

7. Cook the onion rings as directed then set to the side. 

SERVE

1. There is some discussion as to how one keeps the veggies inside of a sandwich. Well, my friends, permit me to share that secret. It's all in the build; 

2. Lay out the four slices of Sourdough. You should have two outer crunchy sides and 6, soft hot sides. This is important to the texture and experience of this sandwich. Let's call them 1 Crunchy, 2 Soft, 3 Soft, and 4 Crunchy;  

3. Apply that beautiful mayo spread to all of the sides that are facing up. A healthy amount. No, and UNHEALTHY amount; 

4. Place the maple bacon on 1 Crunchy. Criss cross them as you layer; 

5. Place that delicious butter lettuce on 2 Soft; 

6. Layer up some heirloom tomatoes on 3 Soft; 

7. Put a few of those crunchy onion rings right on top of the heirloom tomatoes; 

8. Criss-Cross a layer of that bacon on 4 Crunchy; 

9. You're going to start with the middle to build this sandwich. Gently pick up the lettuce side with both hands and flip that over on top of the onion ring and tomato side and press down gently; 

10. Pick up the newly formed alliance of lettuce, onion rings, and tomato and place that on top of 4 Crunchy and give that a gentle press; 

11. Now pick up 1 Crunch with both hands, steady that bacon, and turn it over, placing it on top of that sandwich and gently press down. Place two long tooth picks through the sandwich, equal space from one another; 

12. Cut the sandwich in halves, but do not separate. You only want to separate the sandwich when you're about to bite down on all of that awesome and before you do that, give the sandwich a decent press down to ensure everything is set. It's going to get messy so have a towel handy. Or a napkin. I won't judge. 

13. Serve this up with your favorite side and drink. Round here, we love potato salad with some of those onion rings chopped up with some fresh shallot dressed over the top. The cups are topped off with mango iced tea. 

ENJOY!