Fool's Gold Loaf

Fool's Gold Loafis asandwichmade by the Colorado Mine Company, a restaurant inDenver, Colorado. It consists of a single warmed, hollowed-out loaf of bread filled with the contents of one jar of creamypeanut butter, one jar of grapejelly, and one pound (454 g) ofbacon.
The sandwich's connection to the singerElvis Presleyis the source of its legend and prolonged interest. According toThe Life and Cuisine of Elvis Presley, Presley and his friends took his private jet fromGraceland, purchased 22 of the sandwiches, and spent two hours eating them and drinkingPerrierandchampagnebefore flying home. The story became legend and the sandwich became the subject of continued media interest and part of numerous cookbooks, typically focused on Presley's love of food.
There are two accounts on the origin of Fool's Gold Loaf. According to Graeme Wood, it was created by Cindy and Buck Scott, owners of the Colorado Mine Company restaurant. Wood writes that Presley obtained the recipe from the Scotts so his personal chef could make it, but noted that "the Fool's Gold Loaf never made a recorded encore".
According to Nick Andurlakis, he helped create the sandwich while he was a chef at the Colorado Mine Company and suggested the dish to Presley. Andurlakis said that he personally delivered the sandwiches to Presley on the night of his visit.
The sandwich was named to fit the restaurant's mining motif.At the time of Presley's visit, it costUS$49.95(equivalent to $267.45 in 2023).
The recipe has been repeated by numerous sources, includingThe Life and Cuisine of Elvis Presleyand Andurlakis, a chef at the Colorado Mine Company.The Fool's Gold Loaf begins with a loaf of French (which can also be substituted with Italian) white bread that is covered in two tablespoons of margarine and baked in the oven at 350 °F (177 °C) until brown.  One pound (454 g) of slicedbaconis fried in oil until crisp and drained. The loaf is sliced lengthwise, hollowed out, and filled withpeanut butter,grape jellyand bacon.
According to Andurlakis, he personally served Presley the Fool's Gold Loaf with bacon, peanut butter, and blueberry preserves on a loaf of French bread.The specific type of preserves was allegedly Dickinson's blueberry preserves.
David Adler's book contains a detailed account of the event that made the Fool's Gold Loaf sandwich famous.  On the night of February 1, 1976, Elvis' daughter Lisa Marie's birthday, Presley was at his home atGracelandin Memphis, entertaining Captain Jerry Kennedy of theDenver Police Departmentand Ron Pietrafeso of Colorado's Strike Force Against Crime. The three began discussing the sandwich, and Presley decided he wanted one right then. Presley had been to the restaurant before, while in Denver.
Kennedy and Pietrafeso were friends of the owners, so they were driven to the Memphis airport and boarded Presley's privateConvair 880jet, theLisa Marie, and flew the two hours to Denver. When they arrived atStapleton International Airportat 1:40 AM, the plane taxied to a special hangar where the passengers were greeted by Buck Scott, the owner of the Colorado Mine Company, and his wife Cindy, who had brought 22 fresh Fool's Gold Loaves for the men.  They spent two hours in the hangar eating the sandwiches, washing them down withPerrierandchampagne.Presley invited the pilots of the plane, Milo High and Elwood David,to join them. When they were done, they flew back to Memphis without ever leaving the airport.
The Fool's Gold Loaf connection to Elvis Presley dominates the media's coverage of the subject. It was widely reported as "legend" by the media; including theNBC'sToday,The Joplin Globe,and theGloucester Daily Times.Doug Clark, a columnist forThe Spokesman-Review, recounts the popular story and writes that the Fool's Gold Recipe is "surprisingly tasty" and notes that it contains around 8,000 calories (33,000 kJ).The popular legend and sandwich were also noted by theSmithsonian.
The Fool's Gold Loaf has been detailed inRamble Colorado: The Wanderer's Guide to the Offbeat, Overlooked, and Outrageous.The Peanut Butter and Co. Cookbookrefers to the Fool's Gold Loaf legend and ties it to thepeanut butter, banana and bacon sandwich, also known as the "Elvis sandwich".