What's the ideal breakfast sandwich? An investigation

This week's mailbag brings us a culinary tour of Rochester, my kitchen gadget wish list, and of course, men's shorts opinions.

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What’s your ideal breakfast sandwich look like? Lots of variety out there these days.
-Andy

I have a hard time picking between sausage and bacon, recently, as my preferred breakfast sandwich protein. Sausage has a higher floor than bacon, but I think it has a lower ceiling. If I’m going to make an ideal sandwich, I think I’d pick bacon. A high quality bacon can provide the same meaty heft as a sausage patty, but also brings that lovely salty smokiness. I still think sausage is a better choice for a fast food sandwich, but if you’re getting your sandwich from a good restaurant that knows what they’re doing, pick bacon.

As eggs go, I think scrambled is fine for most occasions, but a fresh fried egg, preferably cooked to a gooey over medium, is the best choice. I don’t mind a totally runny yolk, but if you’re not sitting down at a table it is too messy. This may sound weird considering an egg is probably the defining feature of a breakfast sandwich, but I think it’s maybe the least important ingredient. The egg is the foundation on which the rest of the sandwich is built, not the star of the show. As long as it isn’t totally screwed up, I’m not too picky.

This may be divisive, but American cheese is by far the best choice for breakfast sandwiches. Cheddar doesn’t melt as well, and few things turn me off a sandwich harder than seeing a big slab of cold, unmelted cheese. If you’re going to stray off of American, you need to use something like pepperjack to make it worth it.

As for bread, it has to be a hard roll, I think. I also like biscuits and croissants for breakfast sandwiches, but a proper hard roll with a crusty exterior and pillowy soft interior cannot be beat. I don’t care for bagels as breakfast sandwich delivery vehicles, as their toughness and density makes it way too easy for the entire sandwich to squirt out the back when you take a bite.

But really, I think the perfect sandwich needs something extra beyond the standard meat, egg, and cheese. A bright herby sauce or spread usually goes great with eggs, I’m thinking of Peruvian green sauce, but really you need something to help cut through the richness.

And while we’re here, I had the pleasure of appearing on the Talkin Trash ROC podcast this week, hosted by my friends Andy, Rob, and Randy. The boys are in the middle of a bracket challenge to find Rochester’s best breakfast sandwich. My choice is the McCann’s 2x2x2x2 sandwich, pictured above. Look for them on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your podcasts. The episode should by out this Friday.

So I'm just one dude, looking to find the most cost-effective way to shop so that I've got stuff that can be used in multiple meals. What you would include in your grocery list if you were a single guy looking to be able to have stuff to branch out into different meals. I shop every 2 weeks.
-Fran

An easy way to step up your cooking without breaking the bank? One word: fresh. Fresh vegetables, fresh herbs, and fresh citrus can be used in a huge variety of applications and really bring big flavor. Fresh vegetables really pop compared to canned and frozen counterparts, and they’re cheap too. Depending on the season we rotate through green beans, Brussels sprouts, and asparagus, all of which are delicious when sautéed with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, and finished with some lemon juice. Those vegetables will last a week or longer in the fridge as well, so you don’t necessarily need to eat them right away after going to the store and spend the next 10-plus days without fresh produce. When you do run out of fresh stuff, I would go with frozen vegetables ahead of canned. Frozen peas and corn, in particular, hold up well when cooked.

Fran submitted a few meals that he regularly makes along with his question, and there was a noticeable Latin American presence. Fresh cilantro will keep for at least a week in the refrigerator if you keep the stems in water and cover the top with a bag. You can also use fresh parsley or scallions in a lot of the same dishes, and that bright, green note really changes the character of a dish. The same goes for lemons and limes. They’re dirt cheap and a squirt of fresh juice can take a dish from ordinary to special.

What kitchen gadgets do you use? What ones do you think are overblown. I like my instant pot and crock pot. I've been thinking of an air fryer, thoughts?
-Buffalocentric

I use a stand mixer, blender, food processor, and instant pot on a regular to semi-regular basis. I also have an Anova sous vide cooker, but that doesn’t get used quite as often. I don’t have an air fryer, but have been curious about them for long enough to maybe get one. The biggest issue for us is a lack of storage space. We’re basically maxed out, and in order to fit another gadget into the kitchen I would need to cull the herd a little.

I’d also love to get an Ooni pizza oven. I mean, look at this.

oonihq

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What is one meal you will always order out vs attempting at home?
-Chaz

Takeout Chinese is the easy call here. I’ve tried my hand at it a couple times and actually gotten good results, but it is such a huge pain and makes a gigantic mess. You’re better off just ordering takeout.

I recently melted the plastic to my instant pot lid when it was too close to the stove top and I didn't notice it. I was at a friend's house when a small fire broke out, but was quickly dealt with. What been your biggest or most embarrassing kitchen mishap you've had (aside from botching a recipe)?
-Joe

It’s funny that you should mention your instant pot. A few summers ago, we were coming back from a family vacation and I brought along the instant pot to make carnitas for tacos. When we came home, I opened the trunk and the instant pot, which had been crammed precariously on top of everything, fell out and smashed on the driveway. One of the handles broke off, but I’ll be damned if that thing doesn’t still work perfectly.

I also once left a tray of dip under the broiler during a holiday party, and forgot it was there until I noticed the smoke coming out of the oven. Thankfully we caught it before it became a huge ordeal, but it was a close call.

With the culinary offerings of Rochester, New York being largely a mystery to me, if I were to swing through for a full day, where should I eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? I want to both enjoy the food AND get a sense of what's special or unique to the area. Note: I do not want a garbage plate.
-Phil

Breakfast: Ridge Donut Cafe. This place makes the best donuts in Rochester, hands down, and their hand cut glazed donut is the best donut I’ve ever had in my life. You may be wondering what’s so special about a glazed donut, but I can assure you they are sensational. It’s a generously portioned cake donut — which automatically makes them superior to yeast rings — fried to a golden and deeply craggy perfection and dragged through a surprisingly complex glaze. I hope to never find out how many calories it has, but the truth is it doesn’t matter. It’s worth it. Their whole selection is good, though, and priced very reasonably. There are lots of places that offer a good savory breakfast, but I think starting the day with this working class institution is the way to go.

ridgedonut

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Lunch: Dogtown. The humble hots joint is a huge pillar of Rochester’s culinary legacy. Dogtown takes that idea and runs with it, creating a big menu of fun and creative hot dogs that have real substance instead of being gimmicks. My personal favorites are the Golden Retriever (a hot dog with bacon and melted cheddar) and the Coyote (Cilantro-lime sour cream, salsa, melted cheddar & jalapeños). 

dogtownhots

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They also have the best plates in the city, in my opinion. But that’s okay.

Dinner: Cure. The Public Market is the epicenter of the area’s food scene, and there may be no better example of a restaurant that uses fresh, local ingredients in inventive ways than Cure. Located right in the Market, they serve very high level French cuisine, but also focus on pickling, charcuterie, and cocktails. You can get good food from lots of places, but at Cure it usually comes with a delightful little twist. The last time I went, I had a truly wonderful steak frites with bordelaise.

cure_bar

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How can I improve my tuna melt making endeavors? I'm generally happy with how they turn out now, but I feel like I could be doing more.
-Taylor

I hate tuna. Absolutely bone-deep hate it. I have thus never made a tuna melt, and have no advice to offer other than find something else to make for lunch.

Do you have a favorite project recipe? Like, something that takes days/weeks/months to fully complete. A few years back I started doing fermented hot sauce- a Frankenrecipe's monster between It's Alive and Serious Eats' takes on it, and I've grown to love the annual tradition (and tweaking).
-Brandon

I honestly don’t have a recipe that I use that takes longer than, say, overnight. A lot of bread recipes need to rise overnight in the fridge, but that isn’t exactly demanding in the same way as a fermented hot sauce or homemade eggnog. Maybe I’ll start looking for one, this sounds like fun.

Where would you like to travel to this year?
-Joe

I think a lot of folks would love to drop everything and get away from home for a while after the last year. I’m certainly no exception. I already know I will be going on a family trip to the Finger Lakes this summer. It’s not exactly far, but I dearly love the Finger Lakes and cannot wait to go back for a week of good food and wine.

I’d love to go back to Europe, but that probably won’t be happening anytime soon. I’ve never been to France, England, or Spain, and I would love to get a longer look at Germany and Italy. The only part of Italy I’ve ever been to is the far northeast corner up in the Alps, which isn’t really what most people think about when they think of Italy. It was not lacking for scenery, however.

What is the correct inseam length for casual non-gym shorts?
-Harrison

7 inch inseams, or shorter if you’re feeling spicy. The world needs to see those thighs, fellas. Anything longer than that and you might as well put on pants.