Today’s Sandwich: Lobster B.L.T. (Homemade)

Notes: When the weather cools, and there is really amazing leftover thick-cut bacon in the fridge, a man’s fancy turns to B.L.Ts. And, being in Maine, and having unrestricted access to cheap, delicious lobster, we decided to ratchet up the richness quotient by making our BLTs with a quick lobster salad, made the old-fashioned way. For two sandwiches, I mixed some Hellman’s Blue Ribbon original in with about 1/3 of a pound of cooked lobster meat, some salt, pepper, and a few snips of chives. While that was in the fridge doing its thing, I made the other preparations.

Normally, I am against toasting the bread for my bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches. But in this case, because we had the extra softness being lent by the lobster salad, I thought it was important to get another crispy textural layer in there. I toasted the bread lightly, spread with the chilled lobster salad, some Boston Bibb lettuce (again, because texture is the key to a successful BLT), and some sliced tomatoes. Then, because I wanted to make sure every bite of the sandwich had some bacon in it, I wove two bacon carpets out of 3 strips of bacon each, cut in half:

Cooked in the oven at 475 for about a half an hour, much of the fat drips away, leaving you with perfect bread-sized pieces of bacon. Also, let’s take a moment to reflect on the fact that this was the first use of the term “bacon carpet” on this blog, but is sure to not be the last.

A dab more mayo on the top slice of bread, and we had two of the richest, butteriest, most filling sandwiches of our lives. The differences in temperature were wonderful, and the addition of lobster really pushed this humble BLT into new territories. They were deceptively filling; next time, I think we could split one, in the interest of maintaining some level of productivity for the rest of the day.

Tagged as: bacon, blt, lobster, sotd

About the Author: Malcolm Bedell

My first memories of cooking start in Maine at six years old, when I wore a yellow rainslicker to avoid getting spattered by the bacon I was frying in a skillet. My interest in both Mexican cooking and recreating classic New England dishes from scratch developed while living in Mexico, on a steady diet of pork and habanero peppers. You can see more of my writing and photography online on Serious Eats, the Huffington Post, BlogHer, and Foodista, as well as in print for Downeast, Indulge, and Cigar Snob magazines.