The Egg Sandwich

[allenkelson]

Been making, eating, and (I hope) improving on egg sandwiches for nigh on 60 years. Current evolution makes 'em faster, easier to eat, more complex than ever (for my tastes). Start by putting a pita or two in oven to puff. While that's going on, grate lots of sharp cheddar (usually Cabot, Black Diamond, or Tillamook — or best, raw milk farm cheddar), thinly slice sweet onion and maybe tomato, and grab mayo (even low-fat if being "responsible").

Beat up eggs, scramble in hot pan with cheddar (I like 'em loose). Cut pita in half and spread mayo through opening. Spoon in egg, add onion (and tomato, and if you want, herbs or arugula) and stuff your face.

Fast, easy, scrumptious, and pretty good. Vary flavors with additions of sesame seeds, chopped jalapeños, or whatever is handy. If you're young, a great respite after (or between) coitus. If you're more, ahem, matured, good when you're watching a late-night movie on TV and reminiscing about coitus...or not.

[John Hammond]

A good way to do an egg and bacon on an English Muffin at home is to cut up a piece of raw bacon and put it in a glass custard cup and microwave it for about 30 to 45 seconds. Add an egg (don't pour off the bacon fat unless you really must) and break the yolk while giving a gentle stir to distribute the bacon. Nuke another 0.5 to 1.5 minutes (depending on power of oven) till egg is just firm. Run knife around sides and plop on a buttered, toasted Thomases English Muffin with a little salt and pepper and enjoy.

I learned to always break the yolk while cooking in a diner many many years ago. No one wants yellow goo dripping down onto his necktie from his sandwich. (Then, most of the customers wore ties.)

[Darienne]

I've had trouble with eggs as a separate item to eat since an unfortunate childhood incident.

But then I made my own scrambled eggs and loved them. And my own Egg Foo Yong and really loved it. And I can eat my DH's easy over fried eggs...most of the time.

Perhaps it's time to try a fried egg sandwich.

I'll still never even try a soft or hard boiled egg.

[kayb]

I made breakfast paninis this morning: Sourdough bread, bacon, eggs scrambled in the bacon grease (my house guest doesn't like fried) with a dash of half-and-half, and grated butterkase cheese. Quite respectable!

[Chris Amirault]

In the last few months, as our family goes through about a gazillion major changes, I've been finding myself sitting at a local diner (OV's on Allens, for the locals -- "Can't spell 'love' without 'OV'!") and ordering a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich on a well-toasted English muffin. Got my preschool daughter hooked, too.

Last week, as yolk dripped down her chin, her teacher said, "Hey, Bebe. Your initials are the same as 'bacon,' 'egg,' and 'cheese'!" It's an omen, I tell you.

[LRunkle]

My onetime Swedish girlfriend inroduced me to the egg and anchovy sandwich which is lightly toasted good white bread slathered with mayo and lined with anchovies. A broken yolk fried egg is used.

[nakji]

When I make them at home, (which is rare) I use toasted whatever-bread's-on-hand, an omelet, and maybe ham if it's around. English muffins and pre-sliced cheese are decadent luxuries. And I'm not dexterous enough in the mornings to slice my own cheese.

But really, I think these are the sort of thing that I enjoy most when someone else has made them. In Korea, street cart vendors sell "toast", which is two slices of white bread griddled in margarine before you, then a thin omelet made with egg and a mirepoix of Korean vegetables - usually carrots and something green - leek? Who knows. Sometimes they add sugar. This is an abomination, I know, but you kind of get used to it. They assemble the egg and bread with some deft flips of their griddle paddles, then offer ketchup, mayo, and shredded cabbage as garnishes. I always demur. The key to enjoying these is not having them for breakfast, but having them when you're staggering home after a night in the pub.

The best pre-made egg sandwiches I've enjoyed were made by the ladies that prowl Hanoi in the morning with their frypans, braziers, and eggs hung off their shoulders in baskets. They even have a ministool in there for you to sit on while they cook. They favour omelets, too, but beat in fresh Hanoi herbs into the eggs. Their eggs get folded into a crispy Vietnamese baguette, and the challenge is to eat it without the shards of the baguette shredding your upper palate, but before the bread gets soggy from egg steam.

[tonyrocks922]

A broken yolk is an abomination, if I do say so myself. I've no idea why the broken yolk meme is part of a fried egg sandwich, or in any fried egg application.

I would have to agree with you there Maggie. The whole point of a fried egg sandwich is the runny yolk, it's the gravy/sauce. Lightly toasted bread, a little ketchup then eaten over the sink.

Clearly non-New Yorkers in this thread

I think in the "classic NYC bodega/deli" egg sandwich, one of the reasons for the broken yolk method is that the sandwich is wrapped to go after it's cooked. Sometimes, it is eaten hours later. The fact that the yolk is broken and then cooked through allows for this...additionally, the roll is buttered, providing a barrier for the bread and keeping it from turning into a soggy mass.

This. A true fried egg sandwich is best when carried two blocks, up an elevator and eaten 10 minutes or so after you settled in.

[nakji]

Clearly non-New Yorkers in this thread

Well, certainly, you can get an egg sandwich the world around, and other places have their own ideas about what makes a good one.

It seems that generally, for those egg sandwiches that are made to order, whether it be New York, Vietnam or Korea, a fully cooked yolk is desireable, either for portability or food safety reasons. Although, once, at a McDonalds in Japan, I had an egg sandwich for breakfast that had a fried egg, runny yolk, with mayo on bagel. It was awesome, even though I got yolk all over my face and arm.

How many people, when preparing one at home, prefer a runny yolk - when you can eat it over the sink to catch any runs or drips, or when you have other cleaning infrastructure in place?

[weinoo]

How many people, when preparing one at home, prefer a runny yolk - when you can eat it over the sink to catch any runs or drips, or when you have other cleaning infrastructure in place?

Well, maybe there are some who prefer this. But it's not really what we're asking for here, to whit:

New York City has an old tradition for people on the go in the morning. And maybe other cities too; but here, it seems like you can pop into any "deli" or any "bodega" and grab a fried-egg sandwich on a Kaiser roll, along with a cup of coffee, for about $2.

It's all about the fried-egg sandwich, and especially to go. And about being able to eat it later. And not make a mess. Which pretty much makes the whole runny yolk thing a moot point, no?

[Chris Amirault]

Yes, but the topic has evolved past that origin, Mitch, as great eG Forums topics are wont to do! In addition, a runny yolk is what the careful wrapping job is all about. I think I need to stop at OV's on the to work so that I can demonstrate.

[Fat Guy]

I think the broken yolk was a concession to portability, but like many things has acquired after-the-fact justifications: food safety, longevity. There's no question in my mind that an egg sandwich with an unbroken yolk is more delicious, and also no question that you need to break the yolk in the context of a grab-it-and-go, eat-it-on-the-F-train breakfast. You can always ask the griddle guy to make the sandwich with the yolk runny, and in some percentage of delis they won't say no.

[weinoo]

Yes, but the topic has evolved past that origin, Mitch, as great eG Forums topics are wont to do! In addition, a runny yolk is what the careful wrapping job is all about. I think I need to stop at OV's on the to work so that I can demonstrate.

We await the photographic evidence... .

[Chris Amirault]

Alas, a different line cook at my regular haunt.

Delicious, but the yolk's a fail. Must be a damned Yankee fan....

[chappie]

Though the concept seemed like heresy in the beginning, lately I've been spreading a thin smear of mayonnaise on toasted Milton's whole-grain bread (good chewiness and balance) instead of butter. Well-peppered, plus the fried eggs, a handful of arugula and good applewood bacon if I have it -- but (and this is key and contradicts my former preferences) NO CHEESE -- and this is breakfast bliss. Perhaps a dash or two of simple hot sauce.

I don't know when it happened but I suddenly began to prefer fried egg sandwiches sans cheese. To me the flavor of the egg comes through better.

[Mr Pie]

A thread on fried egg sandwiches, I love egullet.

Ok, this is my take on the fried egg sandwich.

Bread - sliced white (cheaper the better), NOT toasted.

Eggs - fried until slightly brown and cripsy around the edge of the white, but with a runny yolk.

Seasoning - salt, pepper and brown sauce.

State of health - hungover.

Bacon is nice in the sandwich, but it is then no longer a fried egg sandwich. I can't imagine what cheese is like on it. Cheese and a runny yolk seems like a strange combination.

To me, an egg sandwich (rather than a fried egg sandwich) would be egg mayo. Which is obviously a whole different kettle of fish.

[Chris Amirault]

What is this "brown sauce" of which you speak?

[Mr Pie]

What is this "brown sauce" of which you speak?

Brown sauce is the generic term for HP, Daddies, etc. In a similar way as Red Sauce is the generic term for any variety of tomato ketchup (of which Heinz is clearly the best, but I guess that is for another thread).

[crinoidgirl]

What I grew up with - an egg fried hard, on white bread with Miracle Whip.

[ben]

I have 2 styles of egg sandwich I like, depending on how I feel and what I have in the fridge,

Style one muffin style,

this is inspired by the a certain fast food joint which I can not stand their egg so normally order their fried egg sando' without egg

English Muffin

Farm Fresh Fried Egg tell me how you want your egg and that's what I'll give you

Sausage Patty

American cheese

Style two bun Style

this style is inspired by the "roach coach" here in California specifically Los Angeles .

Hamburger Bun (preferably potato flour)

Farm Fresh Fried Egg tell me how you want your egg and that's what I'll give you (although on this style I like the egg over medium slight hint of run)

Grilled Onion

Sharp Cheddar Cheese Slice

Iceberg Lettuce (hand leafed)

Organic Haas Avocado picked from my Orchard (this is the ingredient that makes it from California)

Beefsteak Tomato (1/8" slice)

Smear of Mayo

[Kouign Aman]

Egg, cooked any style, on bread. With butter. (may try mayo, but ....)

Its all good!

Teenhood favorite variation: scrambled eggs pressed into a coherent 'patty',

toast, mustard, the egg patty.

Excellent.

[nakji]

mustard

Mustard? Hmm, I've never tried that. Mayo, yes. Mustard, no.

What kind of mustard?

[iriee]

egg salad on both sides of toasted kaiser roll with 4 ounces of fried bologna in the middle. please do not knock it until you try it! yummmmmmmmm!

[Chris Amirault]

We've just moved from the city to the suburbs, and the family has survived the associated traumas by grabbing bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches at the place (now) down the road, Phenix Square Restaurant. Over easy/dark muffins makes for the perfect sandwich.

[weinoo]

Over easy/dark muffins makes for the perfect sandwich.

What's a dark muffin? An english muffin really toasted well?