Bacon butty from the set
A hot, simple, filling sandwich: crispy bacon slipped between buttered white bread, spiked with a fermented brown sauce. Pure comfort, wolfed down between camera setups.
A hot, simple, filling sandwich: crispy bacon slipped between buttered white bread, spiked with a fermented brown sauce. Pure comfort, wolfed down between camera setups.
On a film set, you learn quickly that everything starts with the catering truck, long before the lights. I take my bacon butty in both hands, standing in the cold early morning, watching the crew wake up. I always put a bit of brown sauce, never ketchup — it's a matter of principle, almost of character. It's not much, a sandwich, but it's that silence, before the machine starts rolling, that I love to film.
- •Smoked back bacon — 3 rashers (main filling)
- •Soft white bread — 2 slices (base)
- •Salted butter — a little (binding)
- •Brown sauce (HP type) — a dash (fermented condiment)
Bacon butty from the set
A hot, simple, filling sandwich: crispy bacon slipped between buttered white bread, spiked with a fermented brown sauce. Pure comfort, wolfed down between camera setups.
Why this dish? On the long shooting days of *Weekend* or *45 Years*, the crew starts at dawn. The bacon butty — soft white bread, grilled bacon, a dash of brown sauce — is the universal fuel of British film sets, served from the catering truck before the first take.
On a film set, you learn quickly that everything starts with the catering truck, long before the lights. I take my bacon butty in both hands, standing in the cold early morning, watching the crew wake up. I always put a bit of brown sauce, never ketchup — it's a matter of principle, almost of character. It's not much, a sandwich, but it's that silence, before the machine starts rolling, that I love to film.
Ingredients (period version)
- Smoked back bacon — 3 rashers (main filling)
- Soft white bread — 2 slices (base)
- Salted butter — a little (binding)
- Brown sauce (HP type) — a dash (fermented condiment)
Ingredients
- Smoked bacon — 3 rashers (main filling)
- Soft white bread — 2 slices (base)
- Semi-salted butter — 10 g (binding)
- Brown sauce or Worcestershire sauce — 1 tsp (fermented condiment)
Method
- Grill the bacon in a hot pan without fat until golden and crispy.
- Generously butter both slices of bread.
- Place the hot bacon on one slice, add a dash of brown sauce.
- Close the sandwich, press lightly and eat immediately while hot.
How it was made : The bacon butty (from 'butter') is a 20th-century British working-class classic, popularised by corner cafes and factory canteens. On film sets, it symbolises crew solidarity: everyone eats the same thing, standing up, together.
The contemporary twist : Served on toasted sourdough with a runny fried egg: the 'director's cut' of the butty.
Andrew Haigh · Charactorium
