How to make the perfect morning sandwich

I spent most of my childhood in Hong Kong, I know this is a city that is not particularly enthusiastic about sandwiches. However, there is one Hong Konger acknowledges the pleasure: spam and egg sandwich. At Cha Chaan Tengs (Bread. It's a common breakfast for many people in Hong Kong, often a cup of strong milk.

As an adult, spam and egg sandwich were my favorite salty food from Cha Chaan Teng. I remember my dad went to the beach as a kid, where we sometimes met my grandfather after swimming on Sunday morning. There was a small red brick building with a tiny kitchenette that threw a bunch of CCT classics, such as instant dough with chicken wings and condensed milk on butter toast. While my father and grandfather were talking, they kept me beside Spam and egg sandwich. We were all happy campers: they had to catch up and I had breakfast. I put the sandwich in my mouth, the eggs spilled everywhere. To this day, I find this food extremely reassuring – simple and I always know what I'm going to get.

How to make creamy, gentle fried eggs in the Hong Kong way

You may think: what can be so special about spam and egg sandwiches? The spam is good (I mean fried lunch meat – what do you don't like?), But incredibly gentle eggs make the sandwich to eat so pleasure. Unlike the French -style soft thraipleThese eggs have a little more bites, but still manage to have a pleasantly pudding texture. And, unlike the French -style soft roll, there is no stove above the stove, patiently mixing the eggs at low heat until they start to become a soft cottage cheese. The method of these eggs is simple, fast, and… dare to say, crazy?

The secret to the texture of the Hong Kong -style coil pudding has everything to do with the sludge in the egg, not the egg, that is, the selection of daily eggs. (Cha Chaan Tengs is about food that are affordable, fast and tasty, and you will find it difficult to print a farm table CCT.) This is a technique used by many Hong Kong cooks and one that is Hong Kongi Based on blogger, Mandy Lee is employed His recipe For “magical” eggs. THE New York TimesOr

In order to understand that the mud into the egg makes them an ultra tender, we first need to understand what happens when we cook eggs. In his book About food and cookingFood scientist Harold McGee writes how egg whites remain “compact and separated” and float raw in the water. When we cook eggs, these proteins unfold and attached to each other and create a intertwined network. Eggs start to coagulate at 160 ° F (70 ° C), but when additional liquid is introduced to eggs such as water, milk, or in our case, potato or tapioka starch and half and half dilute, increase The temperature on which they cook.

Because our sludge is half and semi -made, fats can also contribute, which can further help the protein molecules too tight. Originally, I was hoping that I would use a heavy cream in my mud, but the dairy product turned out to be a bit too thick. Half and a half, on the other hand, is thin enough to make a mud, and although it is not as greasy as the cream, it is still richer than full milk, and it gives the egg butter flavor and texture.

By incorporating a sludge into the fried egg, we make it difficult for the protein molecules to connect and connect to each other. The moisture is also located as the starch granules swell and gelatinize when mixed with water and heated to a certain temperature and kept on a liquid that would otherwise evaporate. (Tapioca starch gelatinize 138-149 ° F or 59-65 ° C; potato starch gelatinize around 140-149 ° F or 60-65 ° C;

While the potato starch, tapioca starch and corn starch all resulted in velvety sinking during my testing, eggs made with potatoes or tapioka starch were always as milder than the corn starch sludge. The use of corn starch mud still produced gentle eggs like the average roll; They weren't just as satin as potato or tapioka starch.

Beyond the texture of the eggs, one of the main benefits of this method is how fast and easy. Once you have closed your eggs and collapses, all you have to do is heat the oil in a frying pan, until the eggs and then pour the eggs. It swirls with a rubber spatula and only adjusts the egg – The A A A A A process lasts only about five minutes from start to finish. It is not so painful that your eggs are over cooked – even if your eggs spend extra minutes in the hot pan, they will still have a delicious texture. Eggs cooked in this way are great on themselves or in any sandwich, including this spam.

Cooking SPAM and assembly of sandwich

Since the canned lunch is already cooked, the preparation is about as simple as it gets. All you have to do is remove it from the kettle, slice and pan until slightly gold, a simple process that takes less than 10 minutes. Since spam is filled with a high pile of fried eggs, it is best to slice it thinly; Most CCT strives for about 1/4 inches and I recommended it here. How brown the spam is up to you, but the finest sandwiches were slightly bronzed meat plates that spent enough time in the pan to make some fats appear. The bread absorbs all durable fat on the meat, so the sandwich becomes even tastier.

As for the best type of bread, you find the most kind of kind: white bread. I love the fluff of milk bread, but if they don't find milk bread (and you don't want to make it), any soft white sandwich bread will work. Some cafes cut off the bark, others leave them; There is no difficult rule about it. Although I usually keep the bark on the bread, I think their removal here results in a smooth eating experience and reminds me of the increased sandwiches. Biting the spam and egg sandwich, I can almost scent the salty air and hear my father and grandfather talk.

2024 March

Cooking method
(Keep on the screen awake)

• 4 slice white sandwichthe bark removed and slightly toasted

• 2 tablespoons (28 g) salted butter

• Four 1/4 inches thick slice Spam

• 2 tablespoon (30 ml) half and half

• 1/2 teaspoon Potato or tapioka starch (See notes)

• 1/8 teaspoon diamond crystal kosher salt; Use a pinch for table salt

• 3 large egg

• 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil

1. Using a offset spatula or butter knife, divide a thin layer of salted butter on one side of each piece, slightly roasted bread. Set aside.

2. Medium non-adhesive or cast iron frying pan, with medium-high heat, cook the spam until the lower golden brown, approx. 2 minutes. The use of chopsticks, pliers, or an offset spatula, turn and cook until crunches on the second side and golden brown, approx. 2 minutes. Remove from heat and share the spam slices between 2 slices of bread and set aside. Wipe the pan with a paper towel.

3. In a large bowl, mix half and a half, potato starch and salt until combined well. Add the egg and whisk until the traces of the whites are visible and the eggs are slightly relieved, approx. For 1 minute. Add vegetable oil to the now empty pan and heat medium to high heat. Add the egg mixture and fold the eggs and turn the eggs until they stand for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the fire.

4. Fill each spam portion with eggs, close the sandwiches with the remaining bread slices, and serve it immediately.

Note

While the corn starch will continue to produce a gentle roll, activated at a slightly higher temperature and its eggs will not be as velvety as the potato handle or tapioka starch.