Learn how to Make the Excellent Breakfast Sandwich

Having spent most of my childhood in Hong Kong, I do know it’s a metropolis that’s not notably obsessed with sandwiches. There’s, nonetheless, 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 swiftly scrambled eggs and crisp, savory Spam between two slices of toasted white bread. It’s a typical breakfast for a lot of in Hong Kong, usually 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 seashore with my dad as a child, the place we’d typically meet my grandpa after his morning swim on Sunday mornings. There was somewhat 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 maintain me occupied with a Spam and egg sandwich. We have been all completely satisfied campers: They acquired to catch up and I acquired 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 all the time know what I’m going to get.

Learn how to Make Creamy, Tender Scrambled Eggs the Hong Kong Manner

You could be considering: What might 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 comfortable scramble, these eggs have a bit extra chew to them, however nonetheless handle to have a delightfully custardy texture. And, in contrast to a French-style comfortable scramble, there’s no standing over the range, patiently stirring the eggs over low warmth till they start to set into comfortable curds. The tactic for these eggs is simple, speedy, and…dare I say, foolproof?

The key to attaining the custardy texture of a Hong Kong-style scramble has all the things 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 reasonably priced, speedy, and engaging, and also you’d be hard-pressed to discover a farm-to-table CCT.) It’s a way 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 technique of constructing an extra-creamy scramble within the New York Instances.

To grasp how incorporating a slurry into eggs makes them ultra-tender, we first want to grasp what occurs after we prepare dinner eggs. In his guide 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 prepare dinner eggs, nonetheless, 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 further 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 prepare dinner. 

As a result of our slurry is made with half-and-half, we’re additionally contributing fats, which will help additional forestall 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, however, is skinny sufficient to make a slurry with, and although it isn’t as fatty as cream, it’s nonetheless richer than complete milk and lends the eggs a buttery taste and texture.

By incorporating a slurry into our scrambled eggs, we’re making it harder 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 have been ever so barely silkier than these made with a cornstarch slurry. Utilizing a cornstarch slurry nonetheless produced eggs that have 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 technique is how fast and easy it’s. When you’ve whisked your eggs and slurry collectively, all you must 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 might be overcooked—even when your eggs spend an additional minute within the sizzling pan, they’ll nonetheless have a fragile texture. Eggs cooked this manner 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 you must do is take away it from its can, slice it, and pan-fry till it’s evenly golden, a simple 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 purpose for about 1/4-inch, and that’s what I’ve really useful right here. How browned you need your Spam is totally as much as you, however probably the most scrumptious sandwiches have evenly bronzed slabs of meat which have spent sufficient time within the pan for a few of its fats to render. The bread will absorb any lingering fats on the meat, making the sandwich much more savory. 

As for the most effective type of bread to make use of, you’ll solely discover one variety at most cha chaan tengs: white bread. I like milk bread’s fluffiness, however for those who can’t discover milk bread (and don’t need to make it), any type of comfortable white sandwich bread will work. Some cafés lower the crusts off, some go away them on; there’s no exhausting rule about it. Whereas I typically 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 nearly scent the salt air and listen to my dad and grandpa chatting away.

March 2024

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