Bacon Sandwich
The bacon sandwich is one of life’s greatest pleasures. Salty, meaty, smokey, hot bacon served between warm bread, oozing with salted butter and drizzled with brown sauce. A quintessential British classic, a go-to breakfast on a bad weather or big event day and the most awesome hangover cure.
Serves 1
Ingredients
- 2 – 4 slices of smoked back bacon (depends on the size of the bread and the thickness of the bacon) Or use unsmoked or streaky bacon.
- 2 – 4 slices of bread (depends on the size of the bread) I use white bloomer or sourdough but brown bread is also delicious.
- butter, to taste. I like salted butter.
- Brown sauce. I like HP, or you could use ketchup.
Instructions
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Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.
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Heat a frying pan over a moderate heat and, when hot, add the bacon to the pan. Cook until the underside is lightly browned and the edges are crispy. If the bacon curls, press down onto the pan with a spatula or slice.
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Turn the bacon and cook on the other side, also flattening into the pan, if necessary.
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Remove from the pan, cut off any large areas of fat but leave any crispy, caramelised edges. Pop back in the pan to keep warm.
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When the bacon is nearly ready, slice and lightly toast the bread, if required.
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Smother the bread with butter, and top half the slices with the bacon.
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Remove any caramelised crispy bits from the pan and add to the sandwich. These are flavour bombs and really add to the sandwich.
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Add your chosen sauce, top with the remaining bread and dig in immediately.
Recipe Notes
Equipment:
- frying pan
- chopping board and knife
- toaster
Does the Bacon Sandwich really need a recipe?
It doesn’t really need a recipe; we all have our favourite way to make it and our favourite ingredients. However, here are some things to think about with my favourite options:
- smoked or unsmoked bacon? Definitely smoked.
- streaky, middle or back bacon? This may be contentious but absolutely, back bacon.
- white or brown bread? This is a difficult one but I think white bloomer or sour dough.
- butter or no butter? Butter, every single time, preferably salted.
- brown sauce or ketchup? No brainer, HP brown sauce.
You also need to make choices about how to prepare the sandwich:
- toasted or un-toasted bread? This is a difficult one and really depends on the bread. Super fresh, warm bread, I would serve it as it is. Otherwise, I like to lightly toast it.
- grilled or fried bacon? You could even oven-bake it. Your choice. My preference is to slowly dry-fry the bacon in a pan. No extra fat or oil is required, the fat will render and the bacon edges will caramelise and become crispy. Any thick fatty areas can be removed.
- butter or bacon fat? Instead of butter, you could replace it with the bacon fat from the pan. Honestly, this is a tough one and I’d be happy with both options. However, at a push, I’d go with butter but make sure I add any crispy bits from the pan to the sandwich.