How to Make the Best BLT. Ever.

Do like to eat delicious food? Do you like to eat delicious food that is fast and easy to create? Do you hate making all of your dishes dirty and are looking for a one pan solution to dinner? Bacon? Cheese? Eggs? Need I really say more? If so than you came to the right place! A twist off from a classic sandwich - this BLT has everything a person could want on a sandwich - bacon, lettuce, and tomato of course. Now, however, with the addition of melty cheddar cheese and a sunnyside up egg, the result is: Yum!

After extensive time tested ingredient selection, and perfected ingredient preparation, The Best BLT. Ever has finally been perfected and made available to you! Yes, you! So check out the ingredients list below and get ready to be amazed as your taste buds will be transported to Incredible Flavor Town upon first bite. Enjoy!

Quality ingredients are the key to recipe success in the kitchen. That being said, be sure to follow the ingredients list carefully.

2 large free range eggs

4 strips of thick-cut, butcher style bacon (thicker bacon = better bacon)

2 large leafs of lettuce (washed)

1 roma tomato thinly sliced (1/8 inch)

2-4 slices of sharp cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon of real mayonnaise

4 slices of thick-cut country style wheat bread (buy a loaf at your local bakery and cut the bread yourself but keep in mind the slices will need to fit in your toaster or use a toaster oven)

1. Use caution handling raw meats - avoid cross contaminating other areas of the kitchen, utensils, etc. by cleaning all surfaces and hands properly.
2. Be sure to fully cook eggs and bacon to completeness as raw foods can carry pathogens.
3. Wash all vegetables! Raw veggies can be just as dangerous as raw meat so DO NOT skip this step!

Bacon first!

1. First prepare a plate lined with a few sheets of paper towel to soak up the grease from the bacon once cooking is completed
2. Remove bacon from packaging
3. With a pan preheated to medium-high heat, gently lay the bacon strips in parallel to one another.
4. Be sure the strips do not overlap one another
5. Bacon should only be turned once (after roughly 5 minutes)
6. Cook until the bacon is just beginning to get crispy (1-3 minutes after flipping).
7. Remove bacon and lay on paper towel covered plate

Tips:

1. Bacon can splatter when placed in a hot pan as well as during the cooking process
   1. Take caution and wear a long sleeved shirt or use a lid over your pan
2. Bacon will continue to cook a little even after removed from the pan as there will be residual heat within the meat.
   1. Do not leave on the pan and overcook as it will cook even more on the plate and ruin the bacon.

Eggs second!

1. Now that the bacon is finished cooking in the pan, pour off any bacon grease but DO NOT wipe the pan out.
2. Use the little remaining bacon grease to fry the eggs properly
3. Gently crack two eggs in the pan and try to keep the eggs evenly distributed with the yoke in the middle of the white
4. Let eggs cook uncovered at medium-high heat for about 3 minutes.
5. Gently lay a tablespoon of water into the pan and let flow around the eggs
6. Turn down heat to low
7. Cover pan and cook another couple of minutes so the white is cooked and the yoke is runny

Tips:

1. You can add more water to the pan to help steam the eggs if needed
2. If you do not have a lid for your pan, you can use another pan turned upside down or a large plate
   1. CAUTION: Plate will be hot after removing from pan so use mitts or a towel
3. Keep in mind that eggs will have residual heat similar to the bacon so they will cook a little more after removed from the pan so cook according to yoke runniness preference

Oh, you're getting so close!

Time for toast!

1. When the eggs are cooking away, pop your bread in a toaster, or toaster oven at medium heat.
   1. If you went with a super thick bread slice you may not be able to use a traditional toaster so just use a toaster oven if you can.
2. Remove toast when cooking is completed and set two slices aside
3. Take the remaining two slices and put your cheese slices on one side of each piece of toast
4. Place face up in toaster oven or oven set on broil for a few minutes on low heat to melt the cheese.
5. Remove melty, cheesy toast promptly and set aside
6. Spread 1/2 table spoon of the mayonnaise on each of the two remaining slices of toast
7. Set two slices of each on a plate for sandwich building
   1. Each plate shout have one cheesy toast slice and one mayonnaise toast slice

Stop. Don't move.

This part is important. More important than you may realize.

Order is critical. Without order, you have chaos. If you have chaos, you don't have tasty sandwiches.

Okay, now you can move a little. But go slow.

Follow these steps IN ORDER:

1. You should have two plates with two different slices on toast on each. Yes?
   1. If you answered 'no', you need to go back and reread the previous step
2. Lay two strips of bacon across each cheesy toast slice being careful not to overlap the slices
3. Gently lay an egg on top of the bacon keeping the yoke as centered as possible
4. Lay sliced tomato on top of the egg
   1. keep the tomato divided so that there is a defined center line that runs through the center of the Sammy
   2. Keep this centerline uniform with the location of the yoke
5. Top it all off with a single, large leaf of lettuce
6. Finally, put your mayonnaise-toast lid on the lettuce so the lettuce and mayonnaise marry
7. Using a serrated bread knife, gently saw each sandwich in half cutting through the yoke and letting it run down over the rest of the other bits below

Now that the work is done, tuck your napkin into your shirt and eat up your beautiful creation.

Oh, are you wondering why you made two sandwiches? Eat the first one, you'll want to eat a second.

Unless of course you feel like sharing, that's a pretty nice thing to do too.

Go on now, impress your friends with your new culinary skills and foodie creations. Congratulations, you made a sandwich!