A BLT is a perennial portable provision teeming with garden-fresh veggies and hearty slices of salty, satisfying, umami-rich bacon. Not only are BLTs easy to scarf down faster than you can say sandwich, but they’re just as easy to assemble — simply stack your ingredients between two mayo-smothered slices of bread and enjoy. But just because it doesn’t require Michelin-star skills to make one, doesn’t mean it’s impossible to spoil a BLT. One of the most common BLT blunders occurs when the ingredients are layered out of order.
Tomatoes are exalted for their juicy consistency, but when they’re stacked directly underneath the bread of a BLT, all that drippy goodness seeps into the bread, leaving it soggy and wet. To prevent a wilted BLT, you have to respect the order of operations. It’s best to place the tomatoes between the bacon and lettuce to preserve the integrity of the bread. Not only does this sequence prevent your bread from disintegrating in tomato juice, but it also puts tomatoes, be it beefsteak or heirloom varieties, at the epicenter of the sandwich, right where they belong.
Additional ways to prevent a soggy BLT
How you arrange your tomatoes within a BLT is just one way to prevent soggy sandwich bread. By combining strategic ingredient placement with other simple techniques, you’ll never have a swampy sub again.
Instead of using fresh slices of bread, toast them to develop a crispy barrier that helps prevent the absorption of moisture. Not only does this quick hack keep your sandwich fresh and sturdy, but toasting bread also triggers the Maillard reaction, a chemical heat reaction in food between amino acids and sugars that facilitates browning and a deeper, toastier, and more complex flavor. To reduce the amount of juice that will seep out of them, opt for tomatoes that aren’t overly ripe. Select tomatoes that are firm with a slight give, and save the ultra-tender ones for making homemade pasta sauce, fresh tomato juice, or salsa. To draw out any potentially problematic excess moisture, salt the tomatoes before introducing them to your BLT. Et voilà — a well-fastened, nicely textured, picture-perfect BLT held together by uncompromised slices of bread.
