Strange Food Combos: Would You Put Cheese on a BLT?

BLTs are pretty sacrosanct in our house. Bacon, lettuce, tomato. Mayo on the toast. Done. So you can understand why seeing a BLT(C) on a recent restaurant menu made us recoil in horror. At first. But then...Who knows, maybe it’s good?

The BLT is the BLT, no question. But what if we think of it as a grilled cheese sandwich, that other paragon of sandwichy perfection.

After all, it’s ok to put bacon on a grilled cheese sandwich. It’s ok to put tomatoes on a grilled cheese sandwich. It’s even ok to put bacon and tomato on a grilled cheese. But what about the lettuce?

Nope. Whether we think of it as a BLT with cheese or a grilled cheese with lettuce, it doesn’t seem to add up to something we want to eat. Call us old-fashioned, but we’ll just keep our BLT without the C for now.

What do you think?

(Image: Flickr member a loves dc licensed under Creative Commons)

Comments (44)

BLTs should never have cheese. Or anything else. Then they stop being BLTs. ;)

My personal strange food combo I don't get is Chicken on Pasta with Alfredo sauce. I like pasta and alfredo. I like Chicken. Mix them together and it becomes, in my opinion, a disgusting mess. I'm weird like that.

i ONLY eat my BLTs with cheddar cheese!!

Well, I guess it technically stops being a BLT if you add cheese, but what is so inherently wrong with the combination? I wouldn't use anything that is likely to sweat (like an English cheddar), but something smooth and at room temperature like a brie, or a soft goat cheese or a creamy blue would be a great addition. The post seems to indicate that you should toast a BLT with cheese, but i think if you start with a slice of toasted bread then the cheese (sliced thin so that the heat of the rest of ingredients around it have a chance to soften the cheese), then strips of hot hot bacon, then tomato as a buffer (salted), then lettuce, then mayo and the bread to finish it would be great. A nice creamy element for contrast to the crisp sandwich and deeply savoury to boot! Lovely.

I've had BLA(vocado)Ts before which were also nice.

I love bacon but BLT's have never been a favorite of mine. Some sharp cheddar would probably make it taste 10 times better. The trick is not to add to much cheese. I live in Nashville and fried fish with a side of spaghetti is normal here. I will never understand that as long as I live.

I had a BLAT - BLT with avocado. It was delicious.

Grilled cheese sandwich with bacon and tomato is delicious too. No lettuce, though, it would get soggy.

my boyfriend always gets cheese on his blt.

I like cheese on my BLT. I also put mayo on one half of the bread and HP sauce on the other half. Delicious!

My BLTs remain BLTs. Mayo for zing, and black pepper on the tomatoes = yum! BLT bagels were probably my number one breakfast in college.

I like to keep my grilled cheese super-simple: bread and cheese, toasted to gooey perfection. That, and I'm not sure how one would make a grilled cheese sandwich with anything else on it. I can MAYBE see myself adding bacon, because bacon goes with just about everything.

Not a fan of cheese on my BLT's. That being said, I *do* swoon for BELT's--'E' being for a nice runny fried egg :) Mmmmm!

But grilled cheese with lettuce? Eww....

It depends. If I have a BLT for breakfast, then I'll add an egg to it (beaten). In general, I love to add avocados to it too. And one in a while, I'll slip a slice of Provologne cheese too.

Making my BLT a "BLAT" (with avocado) is about as far away from the original version as I get. Once too many things start getting added, then it just ceases to be the original sandwich.

Case in point, a couple of weeks ago my husband said he was going to be in charge of lunch and was going to make some BLT's. Well, the sandwich that ended up on my plate had not only avocado on it, but also turkey breast. I told him that this was not a turkey BLAT but rather, a club sandwich, minus the extra layer. Delicious yes, but no longer a BLT.

My BLT has to have the usual with avocado, fried egg and good cheese.

I honestly think cheese makes almost anything better...but maybe it's not allowed to be called a BLT in that case. Surely there's a reason behind the name 'BLT' and the reason is a focus on simplicity and exclusivity?

I hate mayo so I wouldn't eat your precious BLT. If it has all the components of a BLT then it's a BLT to me. What if the lettuce is fresh spinach instead? GASP! THE WORLD ENDS. Not really... it's a sandwich, jeez.

Cheese=awesome, especially on a BLT. That said, I understand the idea of tradition, but there are way bigger problems to think about than the horror of a restaurant's cheese distribution. Worry about how the involved animals were treated before they became involved in your meal. Then maybe a slice of cheese on someone's sandwich will not seem like that big a deal.

A cafe near our house has a delicious Tuscan blt: on hearty white, applewood bacon, fresh spinach, sundried tomatoes and goat cheese. I get it veggie, without the bacon, and it is soo good.

I serve a blt with shrimp and avocado at the restaurant. It has lobster mayo on it.

I think a nice slice of 6 or 7 year Carr Valley Cheddar would work nicely on a standard blt.

Nothing wrong with cheese on it. I mean it's not the "proper" way to make it but who cares? I guess you do...

I've had the BLAT, which was pretty tasty, but the "T" was also fried....so I guess it was pretty far from a classic BLT at that point.

I have no problem with adding a slice of cheese to the mix. But it would have to be between the bread and the bacon.

I also love a grilled cheese with bacon. MMMMMMMM......

Whether we think of it as a BLT with cheese or a grilled cheese with lettuce, it doesn’t seem to add up to something we want to eat.

Seriously? Are you 4?

Cheese is always a welcome addition! I like mine with jarlsberg. And hold the mayo.

Remember, if you add cheese to your BLT, the terrorists win.

I put cheese on EVERYTHING.

My family always eats BLTs with baked potatos, on which we use shredded cheese. The first time my husband had this meal with us, he put the cheese on his sandwich, and I literally gasped (and then laughed at myself). He said his family has always eaten them with cheese. Butter side up/down, I suppose.

And I love a good BLTA on croissant. Yowzers, that's yummy.

That is the silliest thing I've ever heard! That it's *not* okay to put cheese on a sandwich. It seems wrong NOT to put cheese on a sandwich.

I think a slice of cold cheddar would be nice.

Just the other day, my husband and I had BLTs for a quick dinner, but we needed something a bit more filling to hold us through the evening. So we made what we're calling a COBALT- Cheese, caramelized Onion, Bacon, And Lettuce, andTomato. They were delicious. Adding avocado would be yummy, and it would fill out the acronym...

The only "cheese" I put (quite regularly) is Cream Cheese.. That is pretty much the only "cheese" on my BLT.. mmm.. BLTCC.. now i must go fry me up some bacon......

I grew up on "PLTs". Provolone, Lettuce and Tomato. Yum....I guess I just skip the bacon and the provolone slices are cooked in a skillet so they are brown and crispy.

Fried green tomato, basil and bacon is our standard.

I could definitely see cold cheddar, that would be delicious. I also wouldn't have a huge issue with lettuce on grilled cheese, but I love wilty lettuce, and I also put lettuce on PB&Js, so...

I love cheese and avocado on BLTs! :)

My uncle used to eat mayonnaise and sugar sandwiches. Now that is weirder than meat, cheese, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches. Which are rather plain, boring and normal.

I think I'd cheerfully put cheese on just about anything that held still long enough! But that's not to say it'd still be a BLT. It night end up as some other (less appealing sounding, but equally tasty) acronym... a CBLT?

I don't see why not. Cheese is almost always a great addition to a sandwich.

My family had very purist ideas about the perfect breakfast sandwich. Toasted BTs with a hint of mayo, but no lettuce, cheese or other fancy accompaniments, because the bacon and tomato sandwich is all about the tomato, preferably a nice toast-covering fat beefsteak tomato, still warm from the sun.

My husband likes cheese on his BLT. Me - I like fried green tomatoes on mine http://www.lanascooking.com/2010/09/07/georgia-blt/

Australian cafes often have BLAT on the menu - (A = Avocado).

Somehow though, I don't think cheese would work - it would almost turn it into a pizza sandwich.

wait! it's like a cheeseburger without the burger.

One of the best sandwiches I've ever had was a BLT with fresh mozzarella melted on it. You should definitely give it a try!

There is a BLT with a C that is to die for! Crabcake BLTs are awesome! Had a few this summer on vacation.

My boyfriend hates tomatoes, so I make him BLCs - bacon and cheddar on a large leaf of lettuce (he's avoiding carbs). He thinks they are the best sandwiches ever. The lettuce stays pretty crunchy when served immediately.

I always add thinly sliced swiss and avocado to my BLTs. You can call it what you want, but whatever it is, I call it delicious!

Think of it as a bacon cheeseburger minus the burger.