Breakfast Sandwich #152 - Lab Report: Lightning Round and Shitty Web Sites

Sandwich: Lab Sandwich - English Muffin, chicken egg, bacon and cheese with spinach.

Date: January 28, 2020

Let's just get right into this with the basic info: Newly Weds King Size Sourdough English Muffin (their web site is clunky but they have some good looking recipes on it if you're into that kind of thing), Usinger's Uncured Bacon (not shown on their site), scrambled chicken egg with some baby spinach mixed in cause I had to use it up, Kraft Deli Deluxe Sharp Cheddar (linked to some weird wholesale food site cause the Kraft web site is garbage and appears to only list about 2% of their products. That's probably the issue with Kraft - they're so busy gobbling up brands they don't even have time to add them to their site. They probably don't even know what they own anymore. Not cool, Kraft.) and finally Cholula Sweet Habanero Hot Sauce (this is the only site linked here that actually links directly to the product in question). 

This particular lab project was focused on processed cheese and hot sauce. 

When I first considered buying the Deli Deluxe cheese my thought was "this is silly". And it is. Deluxe processed cheese? C'mon. But we can't assume these things and the lab exists for this reason.

We also wanted to test drive the Cholula Sweet Habanero Hot Sauce. Full disclosure - this hot sauce was sent to me by the Cholula people along with a Cholula pajama set. These items were won as part of a contest and were not sent to me because I am America's Breakfast Sandwich Sweetheart, although I am that, obviously. 

I could have centered this on a plain plate and removed the rice cooker but I did none of that.

The Result - The Deli Deluxe Cheese isn't quite as creamy and melty as your good ol' regular processed American cheese but it does have a bit of that cheddar zip. It worked well on this sandwich but ultimately I don't think it's worth the higher price tag. In terms of flavor, I think you'd be better off purchasing your favorite cheddar cheese from a creamery such as Shullsburg Creamery and you'll get way more cheese for your buck. However, it does melt better than real cheddar and you may appreciate that for your sandwich. 

The Sweet Habanero hot sauce was new to me although I've been partial to Cholula brand hot sauces for years. The sweet and the heat hit the tongue immediately but the heat dissipates quickly, which is good for a guy like me. If you're a real heat seeker you might need to douse your sandwich with this to get the burn you crave. For me, it's the perfect amount of heat and not as hot as I expected when I saw "habanero". I still prefer their green or original hot sauce for a breakfast sandwich, but I'll be trying to find the perfect compliment for this flavor.

Finally, I recommend throwing a little spinach into your scrambled eggs. It gives the sandwich some color and all manner of vitamin and mineral. You don't get the runny yolk you get when the chicken egg is fried or whatever but you can do that next time. 

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Breakfast Sandwich(es) #108A & 108B - Tales Of Leftover Ham

Sandwich(es): Ham, Cheese(s), Spinach
Date: 12/30/17

Woe to be a reader longing for tales of sandwiches at local eating huts while I speak of lab sandwiches yet again.

I already knew this would happen and said as much in review #107. Any self respecting sandwich artiste with leftover Honeybaked Ham would have done the same and I will not apologize. As if the leftover ham were not enough I found myself sitting next to a Thomas' English Muffin truck while waiting at a stoplight and took that as a clear sign that I needed Nooks & Crannies in my life. Astute readers will note that recent experiments have been built upon Bays English Muffins but the lab is about R&D and you can't ignore clear signs such as seeing a semi truck trailer with a giant photo of a muffin on it. These things don't just happen by accident. (Well, honestly, I drive past a large industrial baking facility several times a week so seeing a muffin truck isn't particularly novel and yet it still excites me.)

There were already chicken eggs in the fridge so the only decisions to make were types of cheese, style of egg, and accoutrements. Those variables are important in sandwich experimentation and cannot be taken lightly and therefore it was clear that two cheeses were needed for two separate sandwiches. Have ham, will sandwich.

108A - Sharp Cheddar Cheese

108B - Muenster

108B on left, 108A on right. Leftover hash browns in foreground. Cheap-ass rice cooker in background.

The Sandwich(es) - The variables were muenster and sharp cheddar cheese. Baby swiss just barely missed the cut. Sorry Baby, we'll get you next time. You can see that the eggs were not done in the typical fashion - no puck-cooking, no runny yolks. These were scrambled with spinach. There may be a different name for scrambling in this fashion but they came out somewhat like a frittata. I don't know what the difference is, if any. (A dash of quick research reveals that adding the spinach before cooking makes it a frittata, at least that is my understanding and I don't care to delve into it much further at this time.) These were simple sandwiches. A liberal dash of Cholula green pepper sauce was the only other ingredient.

The Result(s) - I liked the change up in egg preparation. It held together firmly and yet didn't need any additional viscosity and I didn't even miss the runny yolk, which is saying something. The cheeses were melted perfectly and I don't need to tell you about Honeybaked Ham, do I? I hope not. Adding the spinach gave these a healthy angle that has been missing from the lab recently. I don't think the Nooks & Crannies changed anything but I was already a fan of both Bays and Thomas' and will not play favorites unless one of them decides to start sponsoring this blog. Just kidding, I have fucking integrity, which is why they both should sponsor this blog. Speaking of sponsorships, maybe I need to get some new hot sauce, I don't see any of those sweet Cholula pesos rolling in and I've been talking about that stuff for well over a year. My marketing team sucks. 

Overall, I gave the edge to the sharp cheddar sandwich, the cheddary bite went well with the ham but the muenster had a nice creamy quality to it. Personal preference plays a key roll here. I'm not going to ramble on about these sandwiches - they were both mighty fine and the end result is that you should get yourself some quality ham and make a breakfast sandwich, or two. 

This isn't a cooking blog. What is this, a lifestyle blog? I think it might be. 

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