I'll bring the mayo. Those are some nice lookin' tomatoes.

I’m not far, DC, I’d happily help you take care of some of those tomatoes!

(Now that's a problem I wish I had!) Oh. My. Heavens. Deconstructed BLT?!! The woven bacon (which DH would most likely kill for).... the brilliant splashes of color of all those lovely tomatoes... grilled toast... be still my heart. I am stuttering in my head.

Dcarch, I say this over and over, your plating is always surprising, always exciting, always creative, always a delight to the eyes, but of equal importance to me, I always want to eat everything on your plates : )

The first pic of all those tomatoes, the sizes, shapes, and colors... makes me want to slice each one and slowly taste them...

Oh...wow...the colors...beautiful!!!

Oh for goodness sakes, dcarch! You wove that bacon didn't you???? Tell. You did, didn't you? I LOVE THIS! HA! I see that 2Many called you on it too! Did you bake it on a rack then? This may be one of my most favorite platings of yours (and there are a lot).

Sheesh! I feel like I know a professional food stylist:)

CathyinSWPA

I think you need a holiday over here!

I'll be the NewYorker straight forward critic. I give it a C-. : )

Why do your tomatoes look so old, dry, and mealy?. Like cut yesterday and refrigerated uncovered? They look dry and over-ripe. I like a BLT with a fresh ripe tomato. It has been a tough season with so much heat and humidity/rain.

I know you just like to have fun with food. But those would go straight to the roaster for future sauce.

A fresh cut tomato should be juicy and glistening.

Or did you roast them first?

I am also over-run with tomatoes but I pick at blush...all week with a flashlight so I can ripen inside for a tasting menu tomorrow...a few hundred cherries and slicers for BLT's. (After the blind tasting.) If not picked early they split and get watery.

This was last weekends tasting, comparables, for an unreleased variety.

I do like crispy bacon but it looks hours pre-made and the bread looks stale, lol.

(I am so picky but not much really) I've done a bit of food styling over the years and that would not cut it. Not in NYC or any publication.

Yes, very pretty if a fresh presentation. I know you know that. (!) You make such beautiful plates but that is a minor fail. : ). (wink)

Thank you everyone for your very flattering comments.

Sleevendog, you gave a very reasonable and fair criticism for my BLT. Thank you.

Let me give you a little background on how I ended up with a somewhat challenging looking BLT.

First, it is always my preference that a sandwich should not be too thin. Thin is for making cookies and pancakes. Also, a sandwich should not be too thick. You should not risk dislocating your jaw trying to bite into one.

In trying to make a typical normal BLT with lots of flavor, there is a need to pack lots of tomatoes and bacon. So you end up with a drippy soggy mess that falls all over the place

Here I tried to re-engineer a BLT that is very flavorful but just thick enough to be a reasonable not too thick BLT, with lots of flavor and not soggy drippy, one that does not require you to wear a bib to enjoy.

Tomatoes – very thickly sliced juice fresh tomatoes, only sweet juicy center-cut slices, still warm from the hot summer garden, were put into the dehydrator for about 4 hours under low heat. The thickness of the slices were reduced to about ½. The slices were cut into halves so they would fit better on a square sandwich. They also happened to fit on my square platter.

Bacon – Normal fried or baked bacon rashes tend to be fatty or too overcooked. They also come in all kinds of shapes which can take up a lot of room if you want a lot of bacon on your BLT. I came up with a way to bake bacon so that the end result is a slab of high density bacon that is very uniformly done, very flat, very crispy without overcooking or fatty. I am not a fat eater. Again, because the bread was square, so the slab of bacon was square in shape, which also fitted nicely on the square platter.

Lettuce – from my garden, freshly picked, washed by rain.

The bread – bread needs to be very fresh, I used 100% whole wheat bread, slightly toasted.

Folks, I ended up with a very unusually tasty BLT with intense tomato and bacon flavor. I am spoiled. I highly recommend the above method.

dcarch

Good explanation. We all have our own preferred method. That would be great for a winter BLT.

I also don't care for bacon fat. I like a meaty bacon that has both chew and crispy. And bread toasted one side only, the un-toasted sides hold the juices of a fresh garden tomato and the woven bacon is like velcro holding the layers together. A nice slice of boule presses down at the table, not mile high or impossible to eat.

We are spoiled as well, : )

Looks great Dcarch!!! Love the bacon weave. In truth, much better than Sleeven's blurry yet "professional" attempts if I am to be an honest critic as well ;)

dcarch, I'm envious, my tomatoes are slow and sparse this year, although I am getting a few Pineapple, Jubilee and Great White. However, these were just cut into chunks for eating because every single one had a mouse bite, or a bad spot or a nick where the deer stepped or something, ugh...

I like the idea of the bacon weave, but would prefer my tomatoes sloppy and not dehydrated, so I want a mix of your technique and sleevendog's, thanks!

Actually, I don't even need bacon, I just want that tomato sandwich on white bread with real mayo, sloppy enough that the juice drips down my arms and I have to eat it standing over the sink. (sigh)

Annie

decarch.........great pics, great presentation, and YUMMY food!