Find out how to Make the Good Breakfast Sandwich

Having spent most of my childhood in Hong Kong, I do know it’s a metropolis that’s not significantly captivated with sandwiches. There’s, nevertheless, one most Hong Kongers will admit to having fun with: the Spam and egg sandwich. Served at cha chaan tengs (茶餐廳, “tea cafés” generally known as Hong Kong-diners and CCTs), the sandwich is spectacularly easy, consisting of a pile of unexpectedly scrambled eggs and crisp, savory Spam between two slices of toasted white bread. It’s a standard breakfast for a lot of in Hong Kong, typically washed down with a cup of sturdy milk tea.

Rising up, the Spam and egg sandwich was my favourite savory dish from the cha chaan teng. I keep in mind visiting the seaside with my dad as a child, the place we’d typically meet my grandpa after his morning swim on Sunday mornings. There was just a little pink brick constructing with a tiny kitchenette that churned out a bunch of CCT classics, like instantaneous noodles with hen wings and condensed milk on buttered toast. Whereas my dad and grandpa chatted, they’d preserve me occupied with a Spam and egg sandwich. We had been all completely satisfied campers: They obtained to catch up and I obtained breakfast. I’d stuff the sandwich into my mouth, eggs spilling in every single place. To at the present time, I discover this meal extraordinarily comforting—it’s easy and I at all times know what I’m going to get.

Find out how to Make Creamy, Tender Scrambled Eggs the Hong Kong Approach

You could be considering: What could possibly be so particular a couple of Spam and egg sandwich? The Spam is nice (I imply, it’s fried luncheon meat—what’s to not love?) but it surely’s the extremely tender eggs that make the sandwich such a pleasure to eat. In contrast to a French-style tender scramble, these eggs have a bit extra chunk to them, however nonetheless handle to have a delightfully custardy texture. And, in contrast to a French-style tender scramble, there’s no standing over the range, patiently stirring the eggs over low warmth till they start to set into tender curds. The strategy for these eggs is straightforward, speedy, and…dare I say, foolproof?

The key to attaining the custardy texture of a Hong Kong-style scramble has every thing to do with the slurry that’s whisked into the eggs, not some nonsense about selecting laid-that-day eggs. (Cha chaan tengs are all about meals that’s inexpensive, speedy, and attractive, and also you’d be hard-pressed to discover a farm-to-table CCT.) It’s a method that many cooks in Hong Kong use, and one which Hong Kong-based blogger Mandy Lee employs in her recipe for “magic” scrambled eggs. Kenji has additionally written about this methodology of creating an extra-creamy scramble within the New York Occasions.

To grasp how incorporating a slurry into eggs makes them ultra-tender, we first want to know what occurs after we cook dinner eggs. In his e-book On Meals and Cooking, meals scientist Harold McGee writes about how egg proteins stay “compact and separate” and float in water when uncooked. After we cook dinner eggs, nevertheless, these proteins unfold and bond to at least one one other, creating an interwoven community. Eggs start to coagulate at 160ºF (70ºC), however after we introduce extra liquid to eggs, like water, milk, or, in our case, a slurry of potato or tapioca starch and half-and-half, we dilute them, growing the temperature at which they cook dinner. 

As a result of our slurry is made with half-and-half, we’re additionally contributing fats, which might help additional stop protein molecules from bonding too tightly. I had initially hoped to make use of heavy cream in my slurry, however the dairy proved to be barely too thick. Half-and-half, then again, is skinny sufficient to make a slurry with, and although it isn’t as fatty as cream, it’s nonetheless richer than entire milk and lends the eggs a buttery taste and texture.

By incorporating a slurry into our scrambled eggs, we’re making it tougher for the protein molecules to tangle and bond with each other. We’re additionally locking in moisture, as starch granules swell and gelatinize once they’re blended with water and heated to a sure temperature, holding onto liquid that will in any other case evaporate. (Tapioca starch gelatinizes round 138 to 149ºF or 59 to 65ºC; potato starch gelatinizes round 140 to 149ºF or 60 to 65ºC; and cornstarch gelatinizes at 144 to 162ºF or 62 to 72ºC.)

Whereas potato starch, tapioca starch, and cornstarch all produced velvety scrambles in my testing, the eggs made with potato or tapioca starch had been ever so barely silkier than these made with a cornstarch slurry. Utilizing a cornstarch slurry nonetheless produced eggs that had been extra tender than the common scramble; they simply weren’t fairly as satiny as these made with potato or tapioca starch.

Past the feel of the eggs, one main good thing about this methodology is how fast and easy it’s. When you’ve whisked your eggs and slurry collectively, all it’s important to do is warmth oil in a pan till it shimmers, then pour your eggs in. Utilizing a rubber spatula to swirl and fold the eggs till they’re simply set—the entire course of takes nearly 5 minutes from begin to end. There’s no agonizing over whether or not your eggs shall be overcooked—even when your eggs spend an additional minute within the sizzling pan, they’ll nonetheless have a fragile texture. Eggs cooked this fashion are nice on their very own or in any sandwich, together with this one with Spam, in fact.

Cooking the Spam and Assembling the Sandwich

As a result of canned luncheon meat is already cooked, making ready it’s about as straightforward because it will get. All it’s important to do is take away it from its can, slice it, and pan-fry till it’s frivolously golden, an easy course of that takes lower than 10 minutes. Since we’re topping our Spam with a towering heap of scrambled eggs, it’s greatest to slice it thinly; most CCTs goal for about 1/4-inch, and that’s what I’ve advisable right here. How browned you need your Spam is solely as much as you, however probably the most scrumptious sandwiches have frivolously bronzed slabs of meat which have spent sufficient time within the pan for a few of its fats to render. The bread will take in any lingering fats on the meat, making the sandwich much more savory. 

As for one of the best type of bread to make use of, you’ll solely discover one variety at most cha chaan tengs: white bread. I really like milk bread’s fluffiness, however in the event you can’t discover milk bread (and don’t need to make it), any type of tender white sandwich bread will work. Some cafés minimize the crusts off, some go away them on; there’s no exhausting rule about it. Whereas I usually choose to maintain the crust on my bread, I feel eradicating them right here makes for a extra seamless consuming expertise, and jogs my memory of the sandwiches I ate rising up. Biting into my Spam and egg sandwich, I can virtually scent the salt air and listen to my dad and grandpa chatting away.

March 2024

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