I made Martha Stewart's 'perfect BLT' sandwich and would never make the recipe without basil again

While scrolling through Stewart's website, I was immediately intrigued by her "perfect BLT" recipe. BLTs are usually pretty simple and call for only a few ingredients. What about Stewart's recipe set it apart from others I've tried, and what truly makes it "perfect"?

I decided to give it a try to see if Stewart's recipe would become my new go-to method.

For Martha Stewart's homemade mayo, you'll need one large egg yolk, one teaspoon of Dijon mustard, one teaspoon of fresh lemon juice, coarse salt, white pepper – I substituted in black pepper, as it's what I had — and a cup of lightly flavored oil.

Stewart's recipe called for grapeseed, sunflower, or safflower oil, but I used vegetable oil, which is also mild in flavor and already in my kitchen.

Then, you slowly – keyword, slowly – incorporate the oil. I found it was easy to control how much oil I was adding by mixing the ingredients by hand.

You really need to add the oil in drop by drop, or else your mayonnaise won't thicken. Then, when you're halfway through your oil, gently pour the rest of it into your bowl in a slow, steady stream while mixing.

Before long, I had something that resembled mayonnaise.

I was proud that I was able to make something remotely close to mayonnaise on my own. I also made more than I expected to use in the sandwich.

For Martha Stewart's "perfect BLT" sandwich, you'll need white sandwich bread, a vine-ripe tomato, two lettuce leaves, a slice of thick-cut bacon, basil, butter, salt, pepper, and your homemade mayonnaise.

In the photo of Martha Stewart's BLT on her website, she appeared to use regular sliced sandwich bread you can find at any grocery store.

The first step in making my BLT was popping the bread in the toaster.

I used Hatfield's extra thick-cut maple brown sugar bacon. I found that this slightly sweeter cut caramelizes nicely in the pan and adds a delicious element to savory dishes.

However, you could undoubtedly add more if you want a more filling lunch.

I washed and prepped two full romaine lettuce leaves and cut my vine ripe tomato into slices about a quarter-inch thick.

I've never added butter to a BLT sandwich before, so I was interested to see how it would taste.

I was also anxious to see how the homemade mayonnaise would fare. Out of curiosity, I tried a little on a spoon and found that while it didn't exactly taste like the mayo I was used to, it had a nice citrusy flavor from the lemon juice.

I followed Stewart's instructions exactly, placing the lettuce down first and then the slices of juicy tomato. Having the lettuce act as a base can prevent your bread from getting soggy from the tomatoes.

I wondered if this would add an Italian flavor to the BLT – as it turns out, I was spot on.

I then sprinkled a pinch of pepper and salt over the top.

It looked like the perfect amount and combination of ingredients.

The best part about this sandwich is that, although it's slightly out-of-the-box, you might have all the necessary ingredients on hand in your kitchen.

It didn't taste like any other BLT I've ever had, largely due to the homemade mayonnaise and basil. The ingredients tasted really fresh and light, despite it being a bacon-based sandwich.

The vine-ripe tomatoes were also perfectly sweet, juicy, and flavorful. Altogether, the sandwich tasted similar to an Italian Caprese salad, plus bacon.

It tasted special, not like a thrown-together BLT with your standard ingredients. I could tell that thought was put into getting the proportions exactly right, and it paid off.

The cooking and preparing process was a little longer than I would usually go for. After all, I wanted to get it exactly right.

However, by the time I polished off the sandwich and practically licked the plate clean, I couldn't disagree with Stewart — this truly is the perfect BLT sandwich.