Breakfast Sandwich Porn (THE RETURN): When New Jersey Met Yemen

The sandwich. Gaze upon it. (also, go birds)
Photo Credit: TH

Do you see the above picture? That, my friends, is perfection in breakfast sandwich form. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but honestly, whenever I make a breakfast sandwich, something askew always makes its way into my technique. The bacon is either under or, god forbid, overcooked. I mess up the eggs. The bread gets a scorch on it. I put too much sauce, hot or otherwise, on and it becomes a gooey, slippery faux pas. But this morning, I got it completely right, and my god, the results were as delicious as the technique. Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't described what's on that sesame seed bagel yet.

Obviously, the base is a fried egg. I opted for fried hard instead of over easy or sunny-side, because again, while I love a gooey egg yolk, it provides the same sort of pitfalls that oversaucing can. It's a matter of preference, obviously, but it all matters on how you cook the egg. I fried it in a combination of butter and fat left in the skillet from the second major ingredient... pork roll. The breakfast meat from New Jersey has long been a staple in my kitchen on Sunday mornings and for good reason; it's goddamn delicious. I toasted the bagel and melted some deli-sliced American cheese on it. The final ingredient is the sauce... zhoug.

Zhoug, or harif, is a Yemeni hot sauce that is herb-based instead of vinegar, like Western hot sauces, or strictly chili, like East Asian ones. Cilantro is the first ingredient, and it also contains some parsley in addition to the jalapeno peppers that provide heat. I discovered it first at Hummus Grill in Ardmore, PA, and I was hooked. So when I found that Trader Joe's also sold it, I was like "YOINK" and grabbed it with the quickness. Unlike most hot sauces, it provides a fresh note from jump. It smells bright and floral, and it has a clean, spring-like first note on your tongue before the heat comes rushing in. It provided a nice counterweight to the tang from the pork roll and the rich salt from the cheese.

And it was all done just right. Ingredients, distribution, doneness... all in perfect harmony. I may never get it this right again.