4 Levels of BLT: Amateur to Food Scientist

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Hi, I'm Desi, and I'm level 1 chef.

Hi, I'm Lorenzo and I'm a level 2 chef.

Hi, I'm Lish,

and I've been a professional chef for 26 years.

[upbeat energetic music]

So today, I'm making the classic BLT the way it should be.

I'm making a BLT with candied chipotle bacon

and avocado mayo.

I'm making a BLT with braised slab bacon,

fried green tomatoes, homemade aioli, and homemade bread.

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Let's crisp this bacon up.

Bacon can be served at breakfast, lunch,

dinner, after hours, hungover, hangover,

and hanging out.

The star of the show, the bacon.

I'm just gonna lay this all down on my sheet tray.

If bacon is gonna be the star, let's make bacon the star.

So why not braise bacon?

Because it makes it sexy and delicious.

I am starting with a whole slab of bacon.

Cut it in half.

Cut a diamond pattern in the top.

All of the goodness from this fat on top

is gonna go into the braise.

And I'm gonna place this fat side down,

'cause I want a little bit of the fat to render out.

Put this baby in.

Gonna cook for about 10 minutes.

Take a little nap, go online,

play a little GTA, you're done, come back.

Check on your bacon.

Because I wanna candied my bacon,

and I wanna cook it a little bit first.

Before I do that, I'm gonna burn it.

So I'm gonna throw it in the oven at 400.

Oh, look at that, ooh!

And all of the flavor from that fat.

It's now in the pan.

This is what I need to candy my bacon.

How easy is this?

Brown sugar, chipotle.

我做not measure.

It sound like Lorenzo is trying to make a bacon

for Halloween.

I'm just gonna cook my vegetables right in that fat

to develop the flavor.

Fennel is gonna add that licorice, a little sweetness,

a little something that makes you go, Ooh, what's that?

A little bit of onion, carrot, smashed garlic,

A little salt.

Some coriander that I toasted and crushed.

Five strips of lemon zest.

And one last touch, black pepper.

这是要玩的培根本身。

All of these flavors are just gonna come together.

Get to know one another.

Little white wine goes a long way.

Some for the pot, some for the chef.

So I'm gonna nestle in my pork.

A little chicken stock.

Gonna cover these bad boys.

Slide 'em in a 325 degree oven,

low and slow for about an hour.

Then we'll check on 'em and address 'em later.

Bacon that's been cooking for 30 minutes.

Yum, yum, yum.

Now I'm simply just going to coat my bacon

and it'll absorb into that beautiful bacon

as it gets crispy.

Yes, I am ready for my pork facial.

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[exhale sharply]

This is gonna go back in for another hour.

And I'm telling you,

this is gonna be one sexy dish.

After another hour in our 24-hour bacon process [chuckles],

it looks gorgeous.

I wanna press this overnight for 24 hours

'cause a braise is always better the next day.

This looks and smells fantastic.

Oh, it's dripping with juices.

I have my pork belly here that has been pressed overnight.

It is just sitting in all that juicy fatty goodness.

Cut it across the grain

so that it looks like the bacon that it is.

That's a delicious big bacon slice. [chuckles]

I'm just gonna brown it a little bit because with bacon,

everybody kind of anticipates

a little bit of crunch, right?

I just wanna add a little bit of sweetness to this.

So I'm gonna just glaze it with a whisper, maple syrup.

[air fryer basket thuds]

Mm, sizzle, nice and brown.

Bobby Brown, I'll call it.

Let it cool down for about four or five minutes.

'Cause these three are ready for the sandwich.

I love tomato, this is a-

[Desi And Lorenzo] Beef steak tomato.

I'm actually gonna saute this tomato.

I'm gonna use a green tomato and I am going to fry them.

所以我切李ttle bit thick.

That way whenever I saute it in the pan,

it won't fall apart.

They shouldn't be doing that.

[Lorenzo] Little salt, pepper.

And now I'm gonna take some buttermilk,

and then an egg.

搅拌,真的很快。

As long as you got the vegetables in there,

this is considered healthy.

And now we dredge.

I find that rice flour yields a much lighter crust.

我有一些玉米meal.

I season both with a little bit of salt.

To the hot oil with this guy.

Whoo-whee!

I'm gonna add a little bit of olive oil.

Transfer my tomatoes into my pan.

So I'm just going to saute this

for a couple minutes on each side.

Saute tomatoes on a BLT would be interesting. [laughs]

I cut it thick so it's not gonna be so mushy.

This is good enough.

There's no char here.

That's yummy. That's taste.

Whoo!

Yeah, you see that?

Nice and crunchy.

Give her a flip.

[food sizzling]

Fried food always needs a little bit more salt at the end.

Fried green tomatoes, check.

I like the crunch

that a regular iceberg lettuce might have

or a romaine lettuce.

All right, I'm not gonna do nothing fancy

with my lettuce neither.

Take a few pieces off.

Go thick, go skinny.

But one, two pieces of these, you're good to go

But guess what?

I also like the spiciness and pepperiness of an arugula.

Why now? 'Cause no, it's just BLT.

It's not BT arugula or BT.

No, it's lettuce, no.

Arugula has this very peppery taste to it.

This doesn't quite look like lettuce 'cause it's not.

It's basil.

Who doesn't like basil and tomato?

For me, there's nothing better than little gem

because it really holds its crunch.

I cut my basil in small ribbons and then I just add it in.

All those flavors are gonna play together

and it's gonna be yummy.

All right, we got our store-bought bread and our toaster.

Let's finish this thing out.

Toasted bread is a go to, it's a must.

If it's too dark and it's too hard,

it's gonna be crunchier than the bacon.

Pullman loaf is great for BLT

because it has a nice neutral flavor,

so you're not competing with the beauty

of the B, the L, or the T.

We're gonna start with a little bit of water

and sprinkle in our yeast.

And to that, we're gonna add some honey.

And then set that aside.

I as well, baked my bread here.

I already cut it.

I just didn't wanna show it on camera.

[laughs]

We have some bread flour, all-purpose flour, dried milk.

It's pure protein, which will help the bread rise.

We have some kosher salt,

and then we have some unsalted butter

because fat is flavor.

[mixer buzzing]

Yeasty water.

So this is gonna come together into a very rough dough.

It's almost like a magic trick.

I am just working this into a cute little ball.

And I'm just gonna put it in a bowl with some olive oil.

Rub it around.

I'm gonna let this poof for an hour.

I like Italian loaf.

My brothers and sisters hate me

because I go right for the middle,

因为它是洛杉矶rgest slice in the bunch.

That's why I do that.

An hour later, knock it down a little bit.

I let it rise,

and then I'm pushing it down

to get rid of the large air bubbles.

I'm gonna put it back in.

Flipper over and another hour, third time's a charm.

I need a pan too, whoop!

I'm just greasing it up a little bit.

A Pullman loaf has a nice fine tight crumb

and it gets that from actually swirling in on itself

and folding it in and voila,

it will fit perfectly into my pan.

So just a loose cover.

I'm gonna let it rise for another hour

and it'll be ready for baking.

No it's, okay.

Nah, I ain't do that.

[rhythmic percussion music]

I wonder if my bread is poofed yet.

Oh look, it is.

I'm fine with going to stop and shop, the corner stores,

spending $3 to get this bread.

What I'm gonna do is just slide her

into a 500 degree oven.

Once we put it in,

we're gonna turn it immediately down to 375

for about 30 to 40 minutes.

[toaster beeping]

That's it.

Nice and crispy toast.

It's ready for some nice little spread to go on it perhaps.

Bread. Voila.

It sounds hollow and that means that we're there.

So I'm just gonna cool it on its side.

You don't wanna slice it while it's warm.

Resist, resist, resist.

Can I have a BLT without mayo?

You need mayo.

It's like cereal with no milk.

Today, I'm gonna go a little fancy.

My mayo gonna be five star mayo.

Squeeze, squeeze.

I grew up eating mayo, combined with an avocado,

with a little bit of lime and salt.

I will show you my mom's technique.

Haiya!

I am smashing it now

and I'll scoop it in.

Mayo.

I am gonna make a smoky aioli

to really like amp up the smoky flavor of the bacon.

I'm gonna start with classic aioli ingredient,

(德和丽斯)——大蒜。

One egg.

The yolk is gonna act as our emulsifier.

Just a little bit of lemon juice.

[Lorenzo] I get this nice lime.

Smoked paprika.

Salt, good pinch.

[whisk scratching]

And begin with adding the oils, vegetable oil and olive oil.

Keep whisking.

[Desi] Stirring, stirring,

[Lorenzo] Combining.

So my avocado won't turn brown.

[Desi] Perfect. Perfect.

You're almost done with this masterpiece.

Almost ready to assemble our sandwich.

48 hours later. [chuckles]

Gotta hold it right so you don't, you know,

get a good grip,

so you can incorporate the swoop.

And I like to just simply spread a bunch on both sides.

Our smoky aioli.

[Lorenzo] Okay, next is my peppery arugula

with a little bit of basil.

Yum, I love it.

[Lish] Baby, little gems.

I'm gonna go in food order.

So you gonna start with the bacon.

You can fold it again for the extra crunchy.

Desi, you and I share something in common.

我们折培根。

Bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon.

No folding necessary.

Topped my bacon with just a little bit of the vegetables

from the braising of the bacon

so it has all of that flavor in it.

Now the lettuce.

Last but not least, the tomato.

One on here and another right here.

Our crunchy fried green tomatoes.

More sauce, aioli is delicious.

This one is dedicated to my man Sal from the deli,

I'll do Salt Bae, look at this.

Little pepper.

Last two strips.

A little chipotle just to add more smokiness.

[Desi] Boom. Bop, epic.

And that is my BLT.

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This is my BLT.

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And sandwich.

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[light playful music]

I mean, I can't wait to slice into this,

and take one big bite.

Yeah, this is gonna be a good song right here.

[crunchy BLT crackling]

Mm.

Oh my God.

The combination is lovely.

Everything is perfect.

The bread, from the fake diet,

you can't even taste the vegetables.

Tomato is good.

The lettuce not even there.

The pork is so melty, and smoky, and delicious.

Brightness from that tomato and crunch,

little spice from the hot sauce,

and of course the smoky richness of that aioli.

It is delicious.

BLT. Mic drop.

[video booming]

Bacon, lettuce, and tomato

is a classic sandwich for a reason.

It's salty, crunchy, fresh, and tasty.

Let's see how each of our three chefs made theirs.

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Desi used smoked bacon.

It's salt-cured,

so it's either dry-salted or brined

for several days to weeks.

This lowers available water for metabolism

of microorganisms that may spoil meat.

When salt is heavily concentrated outside

of the bacterial cells,

the water inside is drawn to the salty outside,

effectively bursting and killing the cells.

The flavor is complex, unique and delicious.

Lorenzo used smoked bacon as well,

but candied his first

by adding brown sugar and spicy chipotle powder.

He's combining most of our taste sensations together,

spicy, salty, and sweet.

Lish definitely goes through a labor of love with her bacon.

She braises uncured bacon so no nitrites are added.

Once the bacon is cooked with the fat side down,

so that she renders some of the fat into the braising pot,

she adds aromatics to season the oil

before adding it back to the bacon.

She cooled the bacon overnight under pressure

which concentrated the flavors,

and makes the bacon firmer and easier to slice.

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Desi used a beef steak,

which is a large diameter tomato with small seed cavities.

They'd stayed firm.

Lorenzo also used a beef steak tomato

but lightly sauteed it.

Cellular vacuoles, which hold water,

making them plump and juicy

break down very quickly when heated.

So Lorenzo's tomato was a little bit soft, warm, and wet.

Lish made fried green tomatoes,

a quintessential southern dish in the United States.

Green tomatoes have more hemicellulose,

a structural component in cell walls that keep them firm.

[dramatic drum music]

Desi used classic iceberg.

It's crispy, pale, green head lettuce,

that's mild in flavor.

It's still a very popular lettuce in the United States

in part because it's hearty and ships well

with minimal damage.

It adds a really crunchy texture to his BLT.

Lorenzo used a blend of basil and arugula,

with very tender leaves and a slightly peppery bite

from the hydrolysis of two compounds

found in the seeds and leaves,

glucosativin and glucoerucin.

He combined the arugula with basil,

an herb with distinct flavor

with hints of sweet, mint, lemon, and pepper.

Lish used little gem lettuce

which is a vibrant green, small-sized lettuce.

It resembles a small head of romaine lettuce.

It's harvested young and is extremely tender

with a slightly sweet taste.

You can see that with a BLT,

You have lots of options and levels of detail,

and no, there's never too much crispy fried bacon.

Next time you are hungry for a decadent sandwich,

we hope you'll take some of these tips

from our three fabulous chefs.

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