From scratch means: You grow your tomato, you grow your lettuce, you cure your own bacon or pancetta, you bake your own bread (wild yeast preferred and gets higher marks but is not required), you make your own mayo. All other embellishments, creative interpretations of the BLT welcome.

He judged the sandwiches based on best photo, best reinterpretation and best overall preparation. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to submit a recipe. Fortunately I have plenty of time to drool over the photos of mouth-watering BLTs.

In his commentary, Ruhlman hits the nail on the head. Most BLTs are too wimpy, the bacon is so slight that it feels more like a veggie sandwich topped with a little sprinkling of tasty pork. Instead he slightly refines the BLT as “[...] a pork belly sandwich, garnished with L, T and mayo.” Yes! It’s a bacon steak sandwich with some incidental accessories. I can’t wait for this bit of wisdom to percolate through the food industry and BLT’s arrive on plates heavy with pork-belly.

Did anyone here enter the contest? Have any other insights on the BLT?

Sandwiches fall into three categories:

5. Judging: The following guidelines will be used:
- Creative Use of Ingredients
- Taste
- Ease of Preparation
- Visual Appeal

Don’t go too crazy, because

4. Contest Guidelines: Recipes must use at least two (or more) of the following products: Mezzetta® Brand (specialty peppers, olives and gourmet foods), Mezzetta® Deli-Sliced (sliced specialty peppers), Napa Valley Bistro® (specialty pasta sauces and olives) or Kona Coast® (teriyaki and BBQ sauces).

Sandwiches will be judged based on:

5. Judging: The following guidelines will be used:
- Creative Use of Ingredients
- Taste
- Ease of Preparation
- Visual Appeal

Two second place prizes of $1,000 will be awarded for 2nd and 3rd place. That’ll buy a lot of sandwiches. When you’re ready, drop your recipe here.

What are you going to enter?

Ahem. Apparently their cheesy for-the-people experiment went so well, they’re having a grilled cheese contest on their facebook wall and declare April grilled cheese month [grilled cheese menu for studying, pdf]. You read that right, the place with $15 grilled cheese sandwiches has a facebook page. Here I thought facebook was for college kids and Artisanal is for business lunches! Times they are a changin’! (You need a facebook account to participate, but can read about the contest on their site)

The contest is pretty sweet. You have until April 17th to post your recipe on their facebook wall and if they like it they invite you to a judging on April 29th where Terrance Brennan (Artisanal / Pincoline), Eric Rpiert (Le Bernadin), Josh Ozersky (editor of CitySearch), Tanya Wenman Steel (Editor in Cheif of Epicurious.com), Rob Kaufelt (owner of Murray’s Cheese) will rate them on “taste, texture, and originality”.

The winning sandwich gets on the menu at Artisanal, dinner for two at Artisanala and a cheese gift basket, though you don’t get a cut of the sales of your sandwich.

Some sandwichy stipulations:

Recipe Guidelines:

* Sandwich recipes submitted should be in keeping with the artisanal, local and organic products used at Artisanal.
* Recipes must specify the thickness of the bread.
* Recipes should specify the approximate thickness, weight or amount of the cheese.
* Recipes should specify how to cook the sandwich including cooking time.
* Other ingredients should be measured in cups, tablespoons and teaspoons, not ounces.

I’m going to call it right here and now: the winning sandwich will feature some fancy cheese mixture with either bacon or pork belly. Two food’s of the moment join for contest winnings!

Anyone going to enter?

Bacon, cheddar and apple grilled cheese from Artisanal: