Fool's Gold Loaf

01 / ABOUT THE DISH

About the dish

Fool's Gold Loaf is an oversized sandwich made from an entire hollowed-out loaf of bread filled with peanut butter, fruit preserves, and about a pound of crisp bacon. Created in Colorado in the 1970s, it became famous through its association with Elvis Presley. The sandwich originated at the Colorado Mine Company, a restaurant in Glendale, Colorado, just outside Denver. The restaurant had a mining theme, which inspired the name Fool's Gold. Owners Buck and Cindy Scott are generally credited with its creation, while cook Nick Andurlakis also helped develop and serve the sandwich. The original was deliberately extravagant. A large loaf of white bread, often described as French or sourdough-style bread, was coated with butter or margarine and warmed in the oven until the crust was lightly browned. The loaf was then split lengthwise, and much of the soft interior was removed to make room for the filling. About a pound of bacon was fried until crisp and drained. The hollowed loaf was spread generously with an entire jar of creamy peanut butter and an entire jar of fruit preserves, then packed with the bacon and closed again. Accounts differ on the original preserves: grape jelly is frequently given in recipes for Fool's Gold Loaf, while people connected with the Colorado Mine Company have described the restaurant's version as using blueberry preserves. Either way, the defining combination is the same—sweet fruit, salty bacon, and rich peanut butter inside a warm loaf of bread. Despite its size, Fool's Gold Loaf was originally sold as a single sandwich rather than as an ordinary sliced sandwich meant for several people. Modern recreations are often cut into portions simply because a whole loaf is difficult to handle and extremely filling. Estimates commonly place the complete sandwich at several thousand calories. Its fame comes largely from Elvis Presley. He first encountered Fool's Gold Loaf during a visit to Colorado and became fond of it. On February 1, 1976, while at Graceland in Memphis, Presley decided he wanted the sandwich again and flew to Colorado aboard his private Convair 880, the Lisa Marie. The plane landed at Stapleton Airport in Denver in the early hours of the morning. Staff from the Colorado Mine Company brought a large batch of freshly made Fool's Gold Loaves directly to the airport, allowing Presley and his companions to eat them without leaving the airport. The group served the sandwiches with champagne and Perrier before flying back to Memphis. Different accounts give different numbers for how many loaves were delivered, but the unusual overnight trip became the story that made the sandwich famous. The Fool's Gold Loaf is sometimes confused with the better-known "Elvis sandwich" made with peanut butter, banana, and sometimes bacon. They are separate sandwiches. Banana was not a defining ingredient of the Fool's Gold Loaf, whose characteristic filling is peanut butter, fruit preserves and bacon. Today, Fool's Gold Loaf is remembered as one of the most extravagant sandwiches associated with American pop culture.