Mystery Meat with Music

Somewhere in the dim dark past I read or heard about Taylor's Pork Roll; New Jersey's version of Spam. Over the years I'd seen references to it on food blogs and even heard it celebrated in a song called "Pork Roll, Eggs and Cheese" by the band Ween. I was determined to try it if I ever made it to New Jersey - you know one of those Bucket List things...

So this morning about 4 AM when I was wandering through QFC picking up some Rotel Tomatoes and Velveeta I thought I was hallucinating when I looked down and saw three plump packages of Taylor's Pork Roll in the deli case.

At $9.95 a pound it seemed like a relative bargain compared to a trip to New Jersey. So I abandoned my plan to be at HAVL in SE Portland at 8 AM for a steaming and spicy bowl of Bun Bo Hue and set course on plan B.


When I got home I put away the groceries and did a few other chores while waiting for the sun to come up. Finally it was time to make a fine Saturday Breakfast.

One of the celebrated uses of Taylor's Pork Roll is the Jersey Sandwich. This Sandwich is what the song was about. It's what an Egg McMuffin aspires to be: a Kaiser roll topped with cheese, egg and the centerpiece "Taylor's Pork Roll". At least I hoped it would be what an Egg McMuffin aspired to be.

I had all the ingredients at hand. I'd picked up my favorite roll for burgers at QFC - they're called "Pub Rolls" and they're made by Portland French Bakery - if you've ever had a brisket or pulled pork sandwich at  Podnah's Barbecue here in Portland, you've had a Pub Roll. They're so much better than a hamburger bun, but still maintain the traditional soft white style - it's hard to describe, but once you've tried them you'll wonder why anybody uses anything else.

For cheese I had some Tillamook Vintage White Cheddar. This is my favorite for a toasted cheese sandwich or melting on a cheeseburger. This stuff is the bomb in Macaroni and Cheese. Martha Stewart would say "It's a good thing"

Sitting in the fridge were a dozen farm fresh eggs that I'd received as a peace offering from a coworker after a beef at work. A carton full of eggs in brown, white and green from her girls - the flock of chickens she raises. They ranged in size from a couple that weren't much bigger than a large olive to one behemoth that was double the size of any extra large egg I've ever seen.

New Jersey Sandwich

Ingredients:

• Pub Roll or Kaiser Roll
• A Couple of nice slices of cheddar cheese
• 2 eggs
• 3 slices of Taylor Pork Roll - it's traditional to put five or six slices in to the edges of the meat to keep it from curling when it cooks.

Method:

• Fry the pork roll until it's nicely browned and flip it over to brown the other side
• Put the a slice of cheese on the inside of each half of the buns and put them under the broiler - keep an eye on them - they'll cook quickly..
• crack the eggs and mix with a teaspoon of water - make a plain omelet - just like Julia taught you
• put the omelet on the bottom half of the roll and top with the three slices of pork roll and the top half of the bun.

This thing was so damned good I made a second one an hour later. The pork roll is really tasty. It looks vaguely like a roll of Spam, but the texture is firmer and the flavor is totally unexpected - a bit smoky and it's got a tangy cured flavor.

It's almost noon in Boise - but no cocktail for me - I'm driving.