Breakfast Sandwich #159 - Almost Forgotten Salami Sandwich

Sandwich: Lab Sandwich - English Muffin, chicken egg, hard salami, white cheddar, avocado, mild pepper rings, red onion

Date: May 11, 2020

Somehow I forgot about Sandwich #159 and went right to #160 so things are a little out of order but I couldn't just leave #159 off of the list so I'm backtracking a bit. It's going to be OK.

Hard salami and other non-breakfast sausages are underutilized on breakfast sandwiches. They have the desired salty and fatty components and in proper hands can make for an exceptional sandwich. It can also be wasted when handled by amateurs but we can't really blame the sausage in these specific instances. It will not surprise you that we have messed around with alternative breakfast sausages in the lab, sometimes with success and sometimes to a somewhat shameful conclusion. That's fine. We have to take some risks here, nobody wants to hear about bacon all the time. 

It's pretty even though the top looks much bigger than the bottom.

Gratuitous.

The Sandwich - If I recall properly this sandwich was the result of me being awake very early on a Monday and desiring a breakfast sandwich. I then took stock of what I had on hand, got a little creative, and here we are.

The Result - I made and ate this sandwich almost 7 weeks ago. I'm not going to sit here and breakdown the flavors and textures of this sandwich at this point, but I know it was delicious. I know the egg was cooked nicely and it was a gooey mess. I know I have yet to regret adding red onion or avocado to a sandwich. And I know that hard salami is a great meat for a breakfast sandwich.

Breakfast Sandwich #160 & #161 - Lab Reports, Of Course

Lab Sandwich #160 - Sourdough English Muffin, Bacon, Egg, Morel & Leek Jack Cheese, Chipotle Mayonaisse.
Date: April 10, 2020

Lab Sandwich #161 - Sourdough English Muffin, Bacon, Gouda, Egg, Avocado, Red Onion, Spicy Chili Crisp
Date: April 11, 2020

First, some confessional house cleaning. I skipped Sandwich #159. It doesn't exist. Sandwiches #160 and #161 have already been posted to the Instagram page so in the name of consistency I'm posting here with the same numbering and my next sandwich will be #159. I know you don't care but sandwich historians will appreciate this information. We're all about historical accuracy here during the age of pandemic.

Let's get right into it.

What's not to like? As far as my photos go, this one is pretty decent.

It doesn't look quite as pretty here. It looks kind of normal. So much hidden beneath the surface.

The Sandwich - Sourdough English Muffin, Bacon, Egg, Morel & Leek Jack Cheese, Chipotle Mayonaisse. This was a quick lunchtime breakfast sandwich. I was working from home and had all the goods with a special cheesy twist - a Morel & Leek Jack cheese from Laack Brothers Cheese Company. I also had a new jar of Chipotle Mayonnaise from Sir Kensington's. Not making a breakfast sandwich would have been foolish. The morel & leek cheese had a subtle, earthy flavor and that matched nicely with the smokiness of the chipotle mayo and bacon and the gooey yolk. This was a quick and easy winner, no doubt about it.

Don't ever skimp on the avocado.

It looks kind of skewed and crazy but also packed with enough flavor for at least two sandwiches.

What you're looking at here is more or less a blueprint for a flavor bomb. It sprayed my taste buds with shrapnel and the collateral damage is every breakfast sandwich that comes in its wake. Note that I overcooked the egg a bit so there wasn't any runny yolk and it DIDN'T EVEN MATTER. I think we're all learning a lot during this pandemic.

The Sandwich - Sourdough English Muffin, Bacon, Gouda, Egg, Avocado, Red Onion, Spicy Chili Crisp. I think the caption above sums it up nicely and there isn't much to add to it. The Spicy Chili Crisp put it over the top. My first breakfast sandwich experience with Spicy Chili Crisp really opened my third eye, as they sorta say in Sandwich Hinduism, but they call it the third slice, like that middle slice of bread on a club sandwich. This is a real thing and you should look into it. I can't explain it, I can only point you in the right direction.

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Breakfast Sandwich #145 - Lab Sandwich on National Sandwich Day aka Throwing Our Vegetarian Friends A Bone

Sandwich: Lab Sandwich - Chicken Egg (puck style), Smoked Gouda, Avocado, Red Onion, Leftover Wheat Bun

Date: November 3, 2019

When I saw that National Sandwich Day was falling on a Sunday this year I knew that I would have to skip church and seek salvation in a sandwich. It's the only true path. Your absolution lies between the slices of bread. Accept this or be damned to an eternity of overly-mayonnaised sandwiches. The horror! I wouldn't wish that on most people but let's be honest - some folks don't deserve a good sandwich. 

My loose plan was to go out to one of my favorite breakfast sandwich joints and really wallow in the beauty of the day. That changed when I realized I had all the makings of a fine breakfast sandwich, sans meat. A lab experiment unfolded before my very eyes. A perfectly ripe avocado, leftover hamburger buns, smoked Gouda cheese, red onion. Never waste a perfectly ripe avocado.

The bun dictated that the egg be cooked puck style. We're going to go behind the scenes in the lab here for a minute while I confess that I broke the yolk of the first egg. I promptly ditched the egg and started over. Most days I would have gone with it but not on a National Holiday. I went outside, lowered my flag to half-staff and started over with a fresh egg. Somewhere a rooster crowed "Taps".

That Gouda didn't melt as Gouda as I would have liked it to but that avocado is in its prime.

That's the oozy yolk we strive for.

The Results - It was missing that salty and fatty flavor that dead animals provide but this was a real treat. Avocado and red onion are great together and a little Cholula Hot Sauce pushes it over the top. The Gouda didn't melt properly but did add a slightly smokey flavor - just not as much as bacon would have. Starting over with a new egg was the right move on this reverent day. 

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Breakfast Sandwich #144 - Return Of The Son Of The Forgotten Sandwich

Sandwich: Lab Sandwich - Bacon, Two Chicken Eggs, Havarti Cheese, Red Onion, Texas Pete's Hot Sauce, Brownberry 12 Grain Bread

Date: October 19, 2019

Oh, another sandwich from the lab? Just throw it on the pile over there. That's what you're thinking and that's OK. In fact, that's what I'm thinking too but I'm staying true to my mission - for if a sandwich is not logged into the internet, did it ever really exist? We don't have time to tackle such questions in the lab. We are all about data. Existential Sandwich questions are tackled down the hall in the Department of Sandwich Philosophy and although our work overlaps and is somewhat entwined it is indeed separate.

I didn't think this sandwich was a bold experiment although a quick glance through my files does not reveal past use of Havarti. Is that possible? It's a nice melty cheese although perhaps a bit mild for a breakfast sandwich. It's fun to say "Havarti" though and especially fun when you add a fake vampire accent. It's probably Dracula's favorite cheese for that reason alone. Texas Pete's Hot Sauce was also a new variable in the lab. I may get a bit Cholulacentric in my hot sauce usage but I know what I like.

That is perfect bacon right there. Crispy but still with some bend to it. (Bacon bend not shown).

That Havarti certainly did melt nicely. 

There was some runny yolk but I didn't cut through it when I sliced. Still, the eggs were a bit overdone. (Texas Pete photobomb).

I may have given away my results above. Havarti melts nicely but it really needed the onion and hot sauce to give the sandwich the flavor push it needed. That's not a bad thing, but it is the main takeaway from this experiment. It's a shame I cooked the eggs just a bit too long - perfect bacon and perfect chicken eggs deserve to be paired together but it was not meant to be on this day. Also, Texas Pete's is a fine hot sauce but I think I prefer the flavor profile of Cholula on my breakfast sandwich.

Breakfast Sandwich #143 - Lab Sandwich: The Forgotten Sandwich

Sandwich: Lab Sandwich - Bacon, Two Chicken Eggs, Sartori Black Pepper BellaVitano Cheese, Red Onion, Mild Pepper Rings, Cholula Green Sauce, Brownberry 12 Grain Bread

Date: September 29, 2019

I made and ate this two weeks ago but never officially logged it into the internet. That changes RIGHT NOW even though we know nobody cares about lab sandwiches. This has potential to be the least read post of this endeavor so if you're reading this you are a rare bird, indeed.

There wasn't anything particularly experimental about this sandwich other than it's a combination of ingredients I hadn't yet mashed together. The Sartori cheese was probably the biggest variable of this creation. It's a dense, hard cheese - not the kind you would normally use for a sandwich when you're striving for melty, gooey goodness. You aren't going to get that from a hard cheese. You WILL get a deep and nutty taste and this particular cheese is packed with flavor and is a personal favorite. I like their cheese so much that when I found myself coincidentally passing their cheeserie on my way to Chester's Drive-In, I nearly stopped just to see what they had to offer, but they were closed. That's right, I'm a regular Sartori Cheese Fan Boy and I can't believe they haven't sent me a baseball cap or cooking apron or whatever cheesy swag they have.

I remember the bacon was a bit overcooked but those yolks were really nice and the cheese and red onion and vinegary pepper rings mixed with the hot sauce and made for a real mouth-whollopin' sandwich. 

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Breakfast Sandwich #136 - Not a Lab Sandwich aka Which Came First, The Sandwich Or The Wrap?

Sandwich: Chicken Thigh, Chicken Egg, Buffalo Wing Monterey Jack, Avocado, Red Onion, Multigrain Wrap.

Date: July 4, 2019 

It's likely that most of you are not scientists or sandwichologists. Still, many of you are probably familiar with how laboratory testing works - you have constants and controls and you have variables that you are testing. This can be applied to sandwich construction as we've seen in previous posts.

This sandwich (actually a wrap but we're calling it a sandwich) was nothing but wild variables. It was closer to free jazz outfreakage than my normal lab work.

I thought I had items to make a breakfast sandwich. And I did, kind of. I had eggs and cheese. The lone English muffin was well past it's prime and I had polished off the last of the bacon earlier in the week. The only protein I had was leftover chicken thigh and the only decent bread-like material was a multigrain wrap. There were options for cheese but I already sensed this was going off the rails so I went with the last of the StoneRidge Buffalo Wing Monterey Jack. (Those folks at StoneRidge are doing some fine work and deserve your attention if you aren't familiar.) I scrounged for an avocado and red onion and felt like I had the makings for a decent sandwich. 

There was the question of how to cook the chicken eggs. I came *this* close to making them with a runny yolk just to see what would happen. That would have been foolish. No reasonable person would put an egg with a runny yolk into a wrap, but reasonable people don't have sandwich blogs. What would Ornette Coleman do? I settled for the responsible choice and scrambled the eggs. 

Don't worry, there is a layer of melted cheese under all that goodness. That's Cholula hot sauce.

Aww man, I used those fancy toothpicks with the colored curly thingys and then I cropped it off cause I got excited about the gooey cheese and avocado.

The Sandwich - I think we've covered that to the extent that it needs covering. 

The Result - The flavors came together really well but it didn't taste like a breakfast sandwich and wasn't actually a sandwich and truth be told it wasn't breakfast either. I sat down to eat this at 12:10 so it was really lunch, which is where wraps belong. A wrap doesn't feel like breakfast. But let's get back to the flavor. I think the reason it didn't taste like a breakfast sandwich was the lack of fat and salt that bacon or sausage provide. So, it was a healthy breakfast sandwich that wasn't a sandwich. This was more like a breakfast burrito than a sandwich. It doesn't even belong here but it's too late now. 

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Breakfast Sandwich #120 - Introducing the Big MacMuffin?

Sandwich - The Big MacMuffin
Date: June 20, 2018

It started during a short road trip a couple of weeks ago. It was late morning and we decided to hit a McDonald's for a quick breakfast sandwich and get back on the road. From a scholars perspective my interest in a McDonald's breakfast sandwich was not particularly high that day having already reviewed them for #17, #66, #83, #95 and #97. From a road-trippers perspective I was ready for one. But it was late morning and I kind of wanted a Quarter Pounder. I wondered aloud if they might put an egg on it but we knew that they wouldn't. They aren't "Have It Your Way" Burger King or "Think Outside The Bun" Taco Bell. They are "Billions and Billions served" which is another way of saying "this is how we make it and you'll like it just like everybody else".

Without getting too long winded here I screwed up my order and ended up with a "Sausage McMuffin with cheese" which does not include an egg and costs $1.84. It was kinda sad but I got over it, eventually. No egg - no review. That's how it works around here.

A week later I started thinking about Big Macs and what if McDonalds made a breakfast sandwich version of the Big Mac? I can see why they wouldn't want to mess around with it - branding, menu diversification, easily confused consumers and all that. Sure.

That's what the lab is for.

I wanted all components of a Big Mac represented and I already knew the song so I didn't have to research that.

Two all beef patties = two chicken eggs + bonus bacon
Special sauce = mayo on the middle bun (the "club" bun), Cholula green sauce on the crown.
Lettuce = fresh garden mix
Cheese = two slices of American
Pickles = finely chopped giardiniera mix
Onion = red onion
Sesame seed bun - 1.5 English muffins

Methodology - the eggs were puck-cooked in large Mason jar lids. (Side note - I'm done with those things. No matter how much cooking spray you use the egg sticks and they are a pain in the ass to clean and I'm going to buy some non-stick egg rings and do it right.) I wanted to cook the eggs over medium but I was afraid the sandwich would just become a mess so I went a little further. There was no runny yolk on this day. The English Muffins were pre-toasted (a little too lightly) and the finely chopped giardiniera was put on the heel so the pieces could wedge into the nooks and crannies. A couple of pieces of bacon were placed on top. Egg #1 was added along with a slice of cheese. The club bun had mayo applied and was added to the stack. Fresh greens were next, followed buy egg #2, cheese slice #2 and red onion. Green Cholula sauce was applied liberally before the sandwich was "crowned".

Tantalizing

Same sandwich, different angle.

The Result - This was a winner even though there are a few improvements I could make. Toast the English muffin a bit more. Go for the runny eggs, why not? The cheese wasn't melted quite as much as I would have liked. Still, the flavors were there and nothing was overpowering. The giardiniera, bacon, hot sauce and American cheese all came together like champs. Those mixed greens made this a well rounded meal, right? The club bun was crucial so don't you dare say it was a gimmick. This was one of those sandwiches you pick up and don't put back down. It all paired nicely with a glass of cheap sauvignon blanc. I didn't try to cut this in half for a cross section photo, I knew it couldn't keep itself together.

I'll be forwarding this to McDonald's so they can add me to their board of directors or some other cushy position that only requires a few hours of work per month.

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Breakfast Sandwich #107 - Mac 'n Cheese 'n Bacon 'n Red Onion 'n More Cheese 'n Chicken Egg

Sandwich: Homemade Mac 'n Cheese, Bacon, Red Onion, Extra Cheese
Date: 12/23/2017

The Sandwich Sciences don't take a break for Christmas weekend particularly when there is leftover mac 'n cheese in the fridge that you know needs to be tested in the lab.

And so I was back in the lab massaging flavors and taking notes even though the vast majority of you would prefer I go to Sally Jo's Pancake Emporium and review her Grit's 'n Griddle Grinder breakfast sandwich. If that restaurant and sandwich existed I too would be excited to eat and review it. Sadly, it does not.

Let's get right to this. I had leftover mac 'n cheese. I had eggs. I had bacon. I had English Muffins. I had to do it. There was no way not to to do it.

Just a bit askew but packed with jaunty flavors.

This is a lousy angle but you can see the layers and that little pool of yolk back there.

The Sandwich - You already know everything that is on this sandwich. The key was having leftover mac 'n cheese. (That isn't the recipe I used but it's close and you know Southern Living doesn't fuck around when it comes to things like mac 'n cheese.) For this batch I used provolone and a medium sharp cheddar but it wasn't particularly creamy so I added thin slices of sharp cheddar to the sandwich which also functioned to hold the onion slices in place. A slice of American cheese would have been perfect but it wasn't happening. I toasted the English Muffin with the mac 'n cheese on one half and red onion, bacon and the sharp cheddar on the other half. The chicken egg was puck-cooked (Is that a term? It is now.) with a Mason jar lid which is really the best way to have an egg on a English Muffin. I have to say this egg turned out perfect. The only thing left to mention is that I added a liberal dose of green Cholula hot sauce which mingles well with eggs and red onion.

The Result - I don't rate the products of the laboratory but this sandwich was a super tasty humdinger and it's probably worth your time to make some mac 'n cheese just so you can make one of these the next day. The pasta was a bonus texture and since the mac 'n cheese was somewhat mild the salty bacon and red onion didn't push it too far. I was glad I added the sharp cheddar just for a little extra bite and the green hot sauce was not too much either. This sandwich was a champ and if I had been served it in the restaurant it'd be a strong contender for best of the year. (I think? I'm just throwing that out there without looking back at the year. That will happen soon though.) I thought I might need a fork to get it all but it held together despite being used to mop up yolk and the few bits of macaroni that escaped were easily plucked up with fingers. If you do make one of these remember that it's not a low calorie breakfast so maybe wait for a day when you're going to have to go out and shovel some snow or tear down a barn or wrassle gators or something. You can't eat this and then just go do spreadsheet things.

This continues to not be a cooking blog, but you know what? There is a lot of Honeybaked Ham in my life right now and I still have some eggs so I'm going to have to find a fresh experiment that uses ham. Maybe a ham and baked beans sandwich? I will state this right here, right now - I will review one more sandwich from a local establishment before I do my end of year wrap up. It might be the McDonalds on Verona Road but I will have one more sandwich at a restaurant before we close out this year. I feel like I owe you people.

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Breakfast Sandwich #106 - I'm Like A Lab Rat For Sandwiches

Sandwich: Summer Sausage, Medium Cheddar, Red Onion, Chicken Egg, Chipotle Cholula Sauce, English Muffin.
Date: 12/2/2017

I had no intention of going back into the lab so soon after the Thanksgiving Leftover Sandwich Extravaganza of last week. Honestly, I didn't have any experimental sandwich combos gnawing away at my psyche that I needed to try. However, at some point during the late morning I was feeling a bit peckish and started poking pecking around in the fridge to see what I could gnaw on and the only viable option was a breakfast sandwich.

There were a few options for meat - summer sausage, hard salami and bacon. In the name of experimentation I dismissed the bacon. I had a quick taste test between the hard salami and the summer sausage and made my choice. You may recall that way back in December of 2015 (The Year of the Breakfast Sandwich TM) I had a delicious summer sausage sandwich at Graze. That's the last time I had a summer sausage breakfast sandwich as Graze appears to be the only place that offers one. It's that or you make your own, I guess. 

The rest of the sandwich ingredients were almost a given - the cheddar was my best cheese option and the English Muffin was a better choice than my bread. I only had egg of chicken as I have not secured an alternative egg source. 

The red onion was a bit of a curveball. Red onion really brings a lot to the party when you're constructing a sandwich. It blends well with many meats and cheeses and seems to pull more flavor out of it's sandwich neighbors. It has to be used sparingly though as it can take over and get a bit obnoxious. A few thinly sliced pieces are often all that is needed. You have to know your limits. I've probably said all of this before.

I've been using the Cholula Green Pepper sauce on eggs a lot lately but thought the smokiness of the Chipotle would compliment the sausage. (Narrators voice: It did). 

All the pieces fell into place.

OK, I went a bit long on the egg.

The Result - Well, hell, this sandwich was swell. It really was excellent and a pleasant change from the normal breakfast sandwich offerings. The onion, cheddar, chipotle hot sauce and sausage blended and danced together well. There were a couple of things that I could have improved on. The egg was cooked a bit too long but life comes at you fast in the frying pan and that's the way it goes sometimes. The English Muffin wasn't toasted as much as I would have liked as a result of putting the tray in the toaster oven to catch dripping cheese. It turns out the cheese didn't drip much and I would have been better off without the tray. Also, a little more cheese would have been ideal. Overall this was a winner and I recommend you make one for yourself, pronto.

This is still not a cooking blog.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNtefWOnWWk

Breakfast Sandwich #84 - Porter aka Hey, Porter

Sandwich: Breakfast Sandwich
Location: Porter
Date: February 11, 2017
Cost: $9

Hey, Porter Hey Porter...ok, now that's out of the way. I'll take the low hanging fruit every time when it comes to writing these reviews.

I don't do a very good job of keeping up with restaurant developments in this city. It seems like there is an awful lot of flux and I'm just a sandwich-face-guy with a day job. This is to say that I appreciate it when people let me know of new restaurants, or sandwiches specifically, which was the case here when Lindsay Christians let me know about Porter.

Breakfast Sandwich | $9 Heritage farms smoked ham, sharp cheddar, red onion, stone ground mustard and an over medium egg* on a brioche roll (mixed veggies available in place of ham on request).

*eating runny eggs or rare beef might make you sick, but probably not.

I really like that runny egg/rare beef disclaimer. I want to have a t-shirt made with that phrase on it.

Pop that in your pocket and get along little doggy.

You look nice today. That bun really accentuates your ham. 

The Sandwich - Breakfast Sandwich. I briefly considered getting the Porter Pocket in addition to the Breakfast Sandwich. It sounds delicious but that seemed like too much for one day so I'll just have to go back another time.

Right out of the gate I like that this sandwich is described as having an over medium egg, so you know it will be a bit runny, which could make you sick, but probably not. (It didn't.) If you're going to offer a ham based breakfast sandwich it had better be some damn fine ham, and that is the case here. Nobody wants regular-old-sweaty-deli-ham on their breakfast sandwich. Sharp cheddar cheese always pairs well with ham and I'm a big fan of mustard, stone ground or not. In my review of Breakfast Sandwich #74 I extolled the scant use of red onion to perk up a sandwich and they have that going on here, which plays well with the flavor of the mustard. 

As a whole the sandwich has a just-too-salty-enough flavor that was perfect for me. The egg and cheese give it the viscosity it needs and the ham, mustard and onion combo is a welcome change from standard breakfast sandwich offerings. Oh, the bun. The bun did it's job. I don't want to take it for granted but that's all I have to say about it. It was admirable in its ability to allow me to cram bite after bite into my face. 

Note - I usually cut the sandwiches in half so you can see a cross section of the goods. This sandwiches height is almost the same as its diameter and I knew that if I cut it in half everything would fall apart. I couldn't have that. 

The Result - 4.8 Runny Egg Disclaimers out of 5 Runny Egg Disclaimers. A strong contender for Sandwich Of The Year, this one came at me with a bit of hype but it lived up to it. I will try the Porter Pocket one day but it will tough to pass over ordering this again. I can't say what would give this sandwich a score of 5. Maybe a touch of hot sauce, which they may have had there, I didn't look. 

Aside - I'm hoping I can get to Sandwich #100 this year. It shouldn't be very hard and it's important to have goals. I was recently talking with one of the executives at my company and he asked me where I saw myself in five years. I said I hoped to have over 200 Breakfast Sandwiches under my belt, literally, and then I laughed but I was the only one laughing. 

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