AA sniffs out Blighty's best bacon sarnie
West Midlands cafe honoured
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The AA has judged that Bob's Big Bite in Stourbridge is where weary travellers can refuel with Blighty's best bacon sarnie - a combination "solid back bacon" between "robust" hand-sliced bread presented on "a real plate with a paper napkin", as the Telegraph puts it.
The agreeable task of choosing the winner fell to the AA's patrolman of the year, Andy Taylor, who spent a month on the road visiting 50 finalists nominated by the association's mobile units. Having gained half a stone in the process, he finally awarded Big Bite the bacon crown, while Mega Bites cafe in Portsmouth was judged to offer the best cup of tea - described as Taylor as a "proper cuppa".
In case you're wondering, the "best lavatories" are to be found in Mickey's Diner in Aylesford, Kent, for which it will pick up, in common with the other laureates, a set of plates or mugs.
Bob's Big Bite's Bob Hunt enthused: "We are so thrilled to have won this award. We work hard to give our customers the best quality food and service and look forward to showing off our plates with them."
We suspect Hunt is aware of Leeds Uni's vital research into bacon sandwiches, which in 2007 revealed the following recipe for sarnie success: Take two or three back bacon rashers, cook under a preheated grill for seven minutes at around 240°C and nestle between two slices of farmhouse bread around 1-2cm thick.
The Leeds experts, who toiled for 1,000 hours on 700 bacon sarnie variations, were finally able to offer this formula for hot sliced pork action: N = C + {fb (cm) . fb (tc)} + fb (Ts) + fc . ta, where N=force in Newtons required to break the cooked bacon, fb=function of the bacon type, fc=function of the condiment/filling effect, Ts=serving temperature, tc=cooking time, ta=time or duration of application of condiment/filling, cm=cooking method, C=Newtons required to break uncooked bacon. ®
COMMENTS
@Jake: The Sun Inn
I think you may be thinking of The Sun Inn, Osmotherly - which I think is in the Moors, not the Dales.
This had unbelievably good food for a while (you ordered what looked like slightly expensive pub grub and got Cordon Bleu) you were waiting for Jeremy Beadle to jump out at the end of the meal.
However, I heard that the reason it was so excellent is that a Michelin-Starred chef at the nearby Cleveland Tontine sacked a member of his kitchen, who was then reinstated by a manager with whom said staffer was having an affair. Result: Chef collects up knives and hat and walks to nearest pub and offers to do food for them.
It was pure heaven whilst it lasted.
@Zargof & @Scott Mckenzie
"Americans don't know what real bacon is!"
&
"American bacon - is a trades description act issue!"
Eh? Granted that I generally cure my own, rather than purchase the plastic-wrapped crap that most of America thinks is bacon, it's pretty easy to find real bacon, in several varieties, here in the states. It can get spendy, but if you know your butcher, even at yuppie chain supermarkets (Whole Foods springs to mind), they will be happy to get the it in if you ask. Locally, we have the Sonoma Market, which does a pretty good job with animal/fish/fowl protein.
As a side note, I figured out what "watery bacon" is ... Who in their right mind would EVER purchase ANY variety of meat that has been injected with a water-based liquid? Heathens!
@Zargof
I live literally 100 yards from it.. i will indeed sample it on Saturday for you and post back if able!
American bacon - is a trades description act issue!
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