Bon Appetit – September 2019

30 – SEPTEMBER 2019

Grilled Bacon BLTs

4 SERVINGS Thick-cut bacon grills much

better than thin strips, which have a

tendency to get burnt and overly crisp.

½ cup mayonnaise

1½ tsp. (or more) Sriracha

1 lb. thick-cut bacon

8 ½"-thick slices white sandwich

or Pullman bread

2 ripe medium beefsteak tomatoes,

cut into thick slices

Flaky sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

½ head of iceberg lettuce,

leaves separated

Prepare a grill for medium heat.

Stir together mayonnaise and Sriracha

in a small bowl. Taste and add as

much Sriracha as desired to meet your

preferred level of spiciness.

Arrange bacon strips across grate

and grill until lightly charred around the

edges, 5–7 minutes. (Flare-ups are

common, so lower the lid if needed and

carefully raise just to check doneness.)

Turn bacon over and grill until browned

and crisp, about 4 minutes. Cooking

times can vary significantly based on

how thick your bacon is and the heat of

your grill. (If you’re grilling bacon for

the first time, keep a close eye on it and

check often.) Transfer bacon to paper

towels to drain.

Arrange bread on grate and grill

until toasted, about 30 seconds per side.

Transfer to a cutting board.

Spread Sriracha mayonnaise over

1 side of each slice of bread. Season

tomatoes with salt and pepper, then

build sandwiches with lettuce on the

bottom, tomatoes in the middle, and

bacon on top (tear lettuce leaves and

cut bacon in half to fit nicely if needed).

Close up sandwiches and slice in half

on a diagonal.

You can also serve this as a BLT buffet:

Arrange toast, bacon, tomatoes, and

lettuce on platters with Sriracha mayo

and salt and pepper alongside and

let everyone make their own.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ALEX LAU

Home – Picky Eaters’ Club

No Substitutions, Please

When feeding her kids, Deb Perelman is all about the healthy

stuff. But on BLT night she makes an exception

A FEW YEARS AGO, on a summer evening when some friends and

their kids were over for dinner, I decided to make “healthy” s’mores.

In an effort to avoid overly processed stuff, I bought whole wheat

digestive biscuits, organic dark chocolate, and natural marshmallows.

The result was, unsurprisingly, terrible. Nobody even finished them.

When feeding kids, there’s a feeling of obligation to make what we

believe to be wholesome decisions: Replace butter with olive oil; pasta

with whole grains; fatty meats with leaner alternatives. But some foods

shouldn’t be messed with. Wouldn’t it be tragic if my kids grew up

thinking s’mores tasted kind of average?

So when I recently decided to make us BLTs, I vowed not to mess

with them. I would use white bread and full-fat mayonnaise. I wouldn’t

use kale in place of iceberg. Definitely no turkey bacon. A perfect BLT

is a pure and delicious thing that I wanted my kids to experience

properly, especially since we only have them a couple of times a year.

Grilling the bacon helps stretch the summery vibes into fall, and as

a bonus you’ll also save your kitchen from a greasy mess. Thick-cut

strips get evenly crisped with a light char at the edges. (Keep the lid

closed and vented and the heat relatively low to control flare-ups.)

While you’ve got the fire going, grill some bread. Thickly slice a couple

of ripe tomatoes. Pile on crisp lettuce and a generous swipe of mayo

(we adults love a little Sriracha mixed in). Create what has got to be

the highest calling of a summer BLT and serve it with unwavering

confidence that not a speck will go uneaten. FOOD STYLING BY SUSIE THEODOROU. ILLUSTRATIONS BY SUPER FREAK.