How Ina Garten Gives BLT Sandwiches A Luxurious Upgrade

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Bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches are among the most versatile preparations one can create. Just like grilled cheese sandwiches can be rendered heavenly with simple swaps and upgrades can make canned tuna salad taste bright and fresh, so, too, can the BLT be modified in myriad ways. And of course Food Network universe star, acclaimed author, and aspirational businessperson Ina Garten has a particularly impressive twist on the classic sandwich, elevating it with a luxurious seafood addition: lobster.

Ina Garten’s lobster BLT does not simply swap one spendy protein (thick-cut applewood-smoked bacon) with an even more expensive one (the titular lobster), it pairs them together and then takes the sandwich a step further. The recipe from her cookbook “Modern Comfort Food” also incorporates avocado for a real two-handed final product that threatens to require a knife and fork like the big burgers popular today. However, studiously portioned ingredients and Garten’s tips for constructing the sandwich can help you keep it all compact.

Read more: 13 Tips You Need When Cooking Bacon In The Oven

Building Ina Garten’s Lobster BLT (With A Seafood Shortcut)

If the idea of whipping up a lobster at home seems intimidating, requiring giant pots of boiling water and quick live claw-evading reflexes, worry not. Ina Garten’s recipe calls for a quarter pound of cooked lobster meat per sandwich; it does not mandate that you cook the crustacean yourself. It still isn’t cheap, but Phillips Seafood sells lobster that’s ready to go even absent any special skills or knowledge about how to correctly add lobster to boiling water.

Once you’ve made or sourced your lobster, architecture is key to maintaining such a loaded sandwich’s structural integrity. Garten toasts sliced white bread, which gives the BLT’s vehicle a bit of necessary rigidity. She also roasts the bacon in the oven, which yields flatter and thus more manageable strips. Crucially, Garten slathers the interior side of each piece of toast with a blend of mayo, ketchup, and relish, which serves as a creamy, tangy, and slightly sweet adhesive to better keep the bacon, lettuce, tomato, and luxe fillings all together.

Read the original article on Chowhound.