Southerner says bacon butties are best covered in marmalade rather than brown sauce or ketchup

A cookery writer has sparked outrage across the North of England for saying bacon butties are best slathered with marmalade instead of brown sauce or ketchup.

Award-winning British culinary writer Felicity Cloake, from Hertfordshire, told the Guardian that marmalade and bacon sandwiches are a secret match made in heaven, with her even preferring mustard to the more popular condiments of brown sauce and ketchup.

She said: “I feel like a bad British person for saying this – I much prefer English mustard in a bacon sandwich. And marmalade.”

Defending her controversial opinion, she added: “Think about it – ham is often glazed with mustard and honey. A friend introduced me to it, and it feels like Damascene moment every time I eat one.”

Cloake, who has been researching whether red or brown sauce go best with a bacon butty for her book Red Sauce, Brown Sauce: A British Breakfast Odyssey, admitted that brown sauce would be her preference over ketchup, saying she believes the red condiment is ‘more southern and middle class’.

She said: “It felt as though brown sauce was more Northern and ketchup was a bit of a newcomer, more southern and possibly more middle class.

“If I had to join a camp then I’d say brown sauce, with its spices, is the connoisseur’s choice. Ketchup just makes everything taste of ketchup.”

Read More: Tomato ketchup has been voted the best sauce for a bacon butty

Of course, Cloake’s comments didn’t sit too well with die-hard bacon butty fans, particularly those in the North. 

One person furiously wrote: “I like an occasional bacon sandwich but I would draw the line at MARMALADE! Never.”

One puzzled social media user simply wrote: “Marmalade in a bacon sarnie… MARMALADE?!”

However, some people (all presumably from the south) admitted that they already enjoy a bacon sandwich paired with marmalade, with one social media user proclaiming: “I have been advocating marmalade on a bacon butty for years!”

Another person even said they enjoy their marmalade on sausages, writing: “Award-winning foodie is right (as per). This reader has been using this recipe for 45+ years since first accidental encounter at mid-70’s prep school breakfast.

“Sausages, on the other hand, go well with either marmalade or ketchup.”

Now that’s taking things too far.