For a guy nearing the end of his 8th decade, friend Ed still gets around and appears to find life pretty damned interesting.
He was recently asked to give a presentation at a conference in Denver and attend a rather high-brown reception thereafter. His presentation was apparently well-received though Ed was much more interested in telling us about the food served at the reception that evening.
Summarizing Ed’s long-winded recitation of the events, the event hosts held some sort of VIP reception and at one point announced proudly how gifted and skilled the selected caterers were, even allowing the lead chef time to speak briefly to the attendees about his ‘inspired food’.
Ed described the catering crew as a ‘bunch of hipsters in skinny jeans (I’m not sure Ed fully comprehends the hipster concept, nor do I for that matter) who tried to take credit for inventing the PB and Bacon Sandwich’.
Ed went on to recount how his father used to make PB and Bacon Sandwiches over a campfire when Ed was just a child, hand slicing home smokehouse bacon, using thick-sliced bread baked in his mom’s trusty oven and preserves put up the old fashioned way. In typical geezer fashion he was even able to hold forth for what seemed like an hour on the merits of different jams and bread for this noble sandwich, extolling the virtues of using sourdough bread and fig jam in particular.
Once again, simple proves best.
A dozen strips of good, applewood smoked bacon, halved
8 slices artisanal bread (Ed’s partial to sourdough)
1/2 cup (or more) crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup (or more) jam (Ed’s partial to fig or strawberry)
Bacon makes things better. Cut the bacon strips in half while your cast iron skillet is heating over medium high heat for a minute or two. Fry the bacon until browned and crisp, though we differ with Ed a bit here. Pour the warm bacon fat into a small bowl.
[Ed insists that bacon in a sandwich be just beginning to get crisp around the edges when you pull it to drain the grease; we cook a minute or two further. You’ll have to make the call.]
The PB, the J and the B. Lay out the bread slices on a cutting board; slather 4 slices with the peanut butter and 4 with the jam. Ed’s right, go with the fig jam here. Place the cooked bacon slices on the peanut butter to cover (should have enough for 6 half-slices per sandwich); now cover with the jam covered bread.
Now make it more interesting. Preheat a grill pan or your panini press; paint the top slice of bread in the sandwich with bacon fat (pastry brush works wonders) and place it bacon fat side down in the grill pan; press with a spatula and cook until marked (1-2 minutes). Meanwhile paint the naked bread side of the sandwich with bacon fat, flip and grill until marked.
Serve. Remove from the grill pan / press, artfully slice in half to show off a bit and go to it. No cutting the crusts off this one.
Enjoy.
