Seeking your rowdiest breakfast sandwich concepts
February 26, 2019 2:04 PM   Subscribe

I love cooking breakfast for my partner, and especially making new and experimental breakfasts for her. Breakfast sandwiches are always a hit, and I'm interested to hear your breakfast sandwich concepts that are delicious but maybe kind of avant-garde.
posted by ITheCosmos to Food & Drink (28 answers total) 57 users marked this as a favorite
 
Last weekend I had an eggs benedict donut. It was unbelievable. I'm still shocked that it somehow all worked out and wasn't a big sloppy mess.

The donut itself tastes vaguely like brioche and is unglazed, for clarification.
posted by the milkman, the paper boy at 2:07 PM on February 26, 2019 [2 favorites]


A spot in Minneapolis called Colossal makes an eggcelent breakfast sandwich using a pancake as the bread. Pancake, layer with bacon, egg and cheese. So good.
posted by something_witty at 2:11 PM on February 26, 2019 [6 favorites]


Molly’s Rose and Shine is a breakfast diner in New Orleans that posts amazing concoctions to Instagram every day. Good source of inspiration.
posted by annathea at 2:19 PM on February 26, 2019 [3 favorites]


@ the Corner is a breakfast/brunch/lunch place in Little Rock. The last thing I ordered there was the Chicken Sammy, which consists of fried chicken, bacon, cheddar, apple butter, peanut butter, and pickles, served between biscuit halves. The next thing I order there will probably be the Canadian Sandwich: Canadian bacon, brie, onions & mushrooms, horseradish garlic aioli, honey mustard.
posted by box at 2:44 PM on February 26, 2019 [3 favorites]


This is a technique tip as much as anything: line a quarter sheet pan with a silpat or parchment and press your ground sausage or other meat mixture out into a sheet to bake. This allows you to create patties of the size and shape that best suits the rest of your sandwich. I've been planning to do this with some modifications on the keto ground chicken pizza crust to make a really flavorful chicken patty for breakfast sandwiches.

You can use the same methodology to make scrambled or fried egg sheets. With scrambled, you can make what I call omelet patties - eggs and filling all together in one stackable square. Best: pipe stripes or swirls of softened cream cheese into the eggs before baking.
posted by Lyn Never at 2:55 PM on February 26, 2019 [6 favorites]


Not sure about avant-garde, but for non-US-centric ideas of what constitutes a breakfast sandwich, perhaps you’d like smørrebrød? Every time I eat it I wish I did it more often. My favorite version is that moist dense German brown bread + ham + aged Swiss + cucumber + hard boiled egg.
posted by eirias at 2:59 PM on February 26, 2019 [5 favorites]


The Gorilla Cheese sandwich is a grilled cheese cooked in a waffle iron. You may fancy that up as you wish.
posted by Midnight Skulker at 3:27 PM on February 26, 2019 [2 favorites]


I think the cobblestone turkey panini (from, within my sphere of memory, Dayton’s, then Marshall Field’s, then Macy’s) could make a good breakfast: smoked turkey and bacon, Monterey jack cheese, and cranberry aioli, on cobblestone cinnamon bread, buttered and grilled.
posted by lakeroon at 3:30 PM on February 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


Fry an egg in butter that you've added a bit of garam masala to. Serve it on toast that's spread with warm (not cold! important!) garlic hummus.

Slice some red onion real thin, cover it in lime juice, leave it in the fridge overnight. Add it to a regular whatever-egg-and-cheese sandwich.

Pickled herring on thickly buttered bread is totally breakfast food and I will fight anyone who says otherwise.
posted by nebulawindphone at 3:45 PM on February 26, 2019 [5 favorites]


Get some fresh uni (sea urchin roe), scramble an egg/ sandwich. Fold uni into egg and fry crepe-style. Fold the egg-uni crepe into the shape/ size of your sandwich bread. Add a sheet of flavoured snack nori (seaweed).

For crunch, you can add furikake. It's kind of salty, so under-salt your egg if you normally add salt to your scrambled egg.

It's kind of like a super-umami bacon-egg sandwich of the sea.
posted by porpoise at 3:46 PM on February 26, 2019 [8 favorites]


In a similar vein to the Gorilla Cheese, the next time you have a turkey dinner you can use the leftovers to make a stuffing waffle sandwich with turkey and cranberry sauce inside.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 4:10 PM on February 26, 2019 [2 favorites]


I like a classic egg and cheese with arugula, but this french toast sandwich with mozzarella and bacon is more unusual and also pretty good.
posted by pinochiette at 4:16 PM on February 26, 2019


Not super avant-garde, but the previously mentioned Colossal Cafe makes my favorite breakfast sandwich: toasted sourdough with fresh tomato, a thick slice of feta cheese, a fried egg, and chopped green onions. I squirt a little homemade hot sauce on every bite.

An old friend once recommended covering a slice of peanut-buttered toast with banana slices, and applying one drop of sriracha per banana circle.

Great thread. Now I’m hungry!
posted by sucre at 4:23 PM on February 26, 2019


There's a bj made by my alma mater's dining hall that was, if memory serves, something like: eggo waffle smeared w peanut butter, layer of bacon, layer of pretzel sticks/potato chips (a salty element), waffle smeared with jelly (usually strawberry. it also might have been honey. A sweet element at any rate). Looking back on it, it might have been improved with a drizzle of dark chocolate sauce for some bitterness.

I'm not much for savory breakfast, but if you and yours are amenable to ALL THE GARLIC before noon, I'd recommend trying toum as a condiment on a breakfast sandwich.
posted by snerson at 5:24 PM on February 26, 2019


I sure like themes.
Breakfast sandwich with a "different country" twist?

I just discovered Salsa de Ajo and love it and want it on everything so I would start with Venezuela.

It would be fun to just have a nod to different countries/cultured instead of really being authentic.

You can do Boston/New England. New England Brown bread, eggs over easy, with cheddar cheese. Serve with New England corned beef hash. Cuddle up and watch a New England movie like Moonrise Kingdom, Jaws, or Little Women. (When you serve it he/she gets 5 minutes to guess the region before you push play)


Movie + Food for a new country every week. I wish my husband didn't like the EXACT same breakfast everyday. :)
posted by beccaj at 6:18 PM on February 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


My mom would do two different breakfast sandwiches when I was young drawing from each side of our family. One was a slice of kookoo sabzi (Persian style very herby frittata) with a little yogurt or maybe feta crumbles between toast or wrapped in lavash. The other was a Korean style square omlette (with tiny diced veggies and spam or ham) on sourdough with a lot of butter and a smear of gochujang (pepper paste). Mostly she made these because she had the egg component leftovers and wanted us to use it up. This reminds me I should make this on purpose because yum!
posted by Swisstine at 6:45 PM on February 26, 2019


In supermarkets in my area they've just started selling Goya Foods brand frozen chiles rellenos, which are deep-fried cheese-stuffed peppers with a battered coating made from scrambled eggs or egg whites. (You could make them fresh but obviously it's rather involved.) I'll bet they could serve as a component of a really great breakfast sandwich.

(But they still have the pepper stem under the batter, so make sure to cut it out before serving so no one chokes to death.)
posted by XMLicious at 8:09 PM on February 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


Understatedly subversive, Neven Mrgan favors a sandwich with egg, cheese, and...roasted broccoli! I can't attest to it but he is a repeat customer: 1, 2
posted by Maecenas at 8:47 PM on February 26, 2019


At the Sunnyside Cafe in Berkeley they do lots of variations on the Alameda which is a sandwich of ham, Swiss cheese, and sauteed mushrooms, using French toast for bread, topped with a sunny side up egg, hollandaise, and balsamic reduction, and served with roasted tomatoes and garlic. They are a ton of work to make at home, but an incredible bomb of rich flavors.
posted by agentofselection at 9:06 PM on February 26, 2019


Do you know harissa? It's amazing with eggs. You could make your own harissa (I've done it!) but eh, just go to a Middle Eastern market and buy a jar until you're going through enough of it that you naturally think hey, I could just make this! Speaking of Middle Eastern markets, do you know za'atar? Also a revelation with eggs.

Have you ever just put your leftover Indian food into an omelette? Holy shit, it's amazing. Likewise kimchi.
posted by desuetude at 11:13 PM on February 26, 2019


Bacon and a runny fried egg in toasted naan bread. There’s a restaurant in London called Dishoom that do this on their breakfast menu and it’s flippin delicious.
posted by like_neon at 12:00 AM on February 27, 2019


Oh yes I get rowdy. My breakfast sandwich of choice is a crumpet, toasted, with nduja and fresh ricotta. It’s addictive.
posted by capricorn at 4:00 AM on February 27, 2019 [3 favorites]


Grilled cheese with fried egg and kimchi. Mmm.
posted by fiercecupcake at 6:49 AM on February 27, 2019


A fave right now is:

a hard-toasted, halved slice of the really heavy German Pumpernickel
smeared heavily with a very buttery bleu cheese
gently reheated with a couple very thin slices of a very good tomato
each half topped with a soft-poached egg
itself topped with fresh cracked pepper

served open-faced in case that isn't obvious.

Bacon and/or avocado are of course delightful additions to the nether regions of the sandwich.
posted by aspersioncast at 7:47 AM on February 27, 2019 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: These are thrilling breakfast concepts! Thanks all.
posted by ITheCosmos at 12:54 PM on February 27, 2019


A few more:

Eggs kejriwal (the paowalla version with cheddar and green chutney is incredible and fun to try to replicate at home).

Bacon, egg, and sharp cheddar with chopped chipotles in adobo sauce (mixed in a little bit of mayo, or just kind of incorporated into the melty cheese, on a toasted English muffin (avocado optional).

Toasted everything bagel with swiss cheese, sliced ham, pickled peppers, tomato, and red onion.

Lavash or pita or another thin flatbread rolled up with labneh, fresh cucumber and tomato, za'atar, optional hard-boiled or soft-boiled egg.

Sourdough bread with menemen (spicy Turkish scrambled eggs) on top.
posted by karayel at 1:34 PM on February 27, 2019


I don't know if this counts as experimental for you, but migas are easy and fantastic. Sautee peppers, onions, and garlic making the kitchen smell great, scramble some eggs, add some corn chips for a pleasant texture. Wrap in tortilla for a breakfast taco (which is far superior to a breakfast sandwich anyway). This and this both look good recipes. Note that both recipes are Texas-themed, a useful indicator when searching for the best migas!
posted by bessel functions seem unnecessarily complicated at 7:25 PM on February 27, 2019 [2 favorites]


I was in love with breakfast sandwiches on a trip to England a couple years back. There, they're called a "breakfast bap." Search for that online and you might find some options you won't find elsewhere.
posted by msbrauer at 8:19 AM on February 28, 2019


« Older What to do when kids know, but can't understand......   |   (NHS) Dentist in London Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.