Today we make a fried egg bacon egg and cheese sandwich with caramelized pickled red onions from the red onions we pickled in the last episode. This breakfast sandwich is a NYC bodega staple and I'm gonna make it exactly how I like it. 2 fried eggs, slightly runny yolks, crisp bacon, melty cheese and caramelized pickled red onions with some ketchup and hot sauce. The breakfast sandwich of champions.
INGREDIENTS
2 Large Eggs, Good Quality
2-3 slices of Thick Cut Bacon, sliced into strips
3 Slices of American Cheese
1/4 Cup of Pickled Red Onions (Link to the recipe)
1 Kaiser Roll
2-3 Tablespoons of Unsalted Butter
Salt and Pepper
DIRECTIONS
Cut your bacon into little strips, or “lardons”. Slice your roll in half. Crack your eggs into smaller ramekins. Gather some pickled onions. That’s all it takes to prep this one.
Throw the bacon lardons into a cold non-stick pan and then put that on medium heat. Cook that until the bacon browns and gets crispy. But you are not gonna cut it until it’s crispy in the pan. If your bacon is crispy in the pan, it's going to be overcooked and brittle once it cools. So when you can see the bacon fat has rendered nicely and is browned and the bacon meat is browned it’s probably ready even if it's not crispy yet. Then strain the fat into a bowl and let them cool. As they cool, you’ll see them start to firm up and become crisp. You want there to still be a little meaty texture in there.
Then put that pan back on the heat with a small knob of butter and toast the rolls. After the rolls are toasted, add another knob of butter and sauté the pickled red onions until they begin to caramelize and the edges get a little crispy then season them with salt and set them off to the side.
Put that same pan back on the medium heat and then add a little of the bacon fat back into the pan and another knob of butter. Then add the two eggs. Let them cook on one side for about 1-2 minutes. Then flip, immediately, season with salt and pepper and add the cheese on top of each egg. Cook it on the side until the just starts to melt, another 1-2 minutes. I like it when my egg yolks are half cooked and half runny.
To assemble, add a little ketchup to the bottom roll if you like ketchup on it. Some people hate it, some people love it so do what you love. Then add the two eggs, then the bacon, and top with the caramelized pickled red onions. Close it up with the top bun and cut into the bad boy and appreciate what you just accomplished.
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