The Terry Pratchett
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They don't go in for the fancy or exotic, but stick to conventional food like flightless bird embryos, minced organs in intestine skins, slices of hog flesh and burnt ground grass seeds dipped in animal fats; or, as it is known in their patois, egg, sausage, bacon and a fried slice of toast.
You don't always need something fancy; sometimes all you really need is bacon. Everyone loves bacon: adult or child, man or woman; it really doesn't matter. Hell, even vegetarians secretly like bacon; why else would people keep trying to create those vegetarian bacon products. Today's creation is directly inspired from the above quote, and consists primarily of the four ingredients listed: egg, sausage, bacon and a fried slice of toast; it's not fancy, but it is four flavours that everyone can appreciate.
On the bacon side of things I've gone for black forest bacon, which isn't an offical designation but does have a striking similarity to black forest ham; it's cured and heavily smoked. For the sausage, I've chosen a hot and spicy Italian style beef sausage; I wanted to balance out the pork in the bacon a bit, but I also knew that I could use the fat from this to help flavour the bread when it's fried. Of course, I had to go all rebelious and start tinkering with the basic non-fancy setup, so I've also thrown in shiitake mushrooms to add a little bit of bulk and a slightly woody flavour, and tomato to add a little sweetness to the spice of the Italian sausage. I also had to add a cheese in, so here I've gone for Monterey Jack due to its mild flavour; I didn't want it to overpower the bacon.
It's a little bit fancier than it should have been, but I think that's probably okay. Try it for breakfast instead of the usual fry up some time; you'll love it.
The Terry Pratchett
Serves: 2 People
Fried bread with layers of bacon, hot italian sausage, shiitake mushrooms, tomato, Monterey Jack and an egg; seasoned with a touch of dried basil and cracked black pepper.
Ingredients
- 4 Slices Sourdough
- 70g Monterey Jack
- 2 Large Eggs
- 1 Spiced Italian Sausage
- 3 Strips Bacon
- 3 Shiitake Mushrooms
- 1 Medium Tomato
- Generic Cooking Oil
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- A Knob Of Butter
- Dried Basil
- Cracked Black Pepper
Instructions
- Finely grate all the cheese and set to one side.
- Chop/dice the sausage, bacon, mushroom and tomato into pieces about 5-10mm across.
- Bring a skillet to a medium temperature and melt in the knob of butter; add the sausage, bacon, mushroom and tomato. Stir frequently to avoid burning.
- Bring a second skillet to a low temperature, add the generic cooking oil and crack in both eggs.
- After about five minutes, once the sausage and bacon mixture looks cooked, add some dried basil and a touch of cracked black pepper; stir in and cook for a further minute.
- remove the contents and set aside. Reduce this skillet to a low/medium temperature and add a touch of olive oil.
- Fry both sides of each bread slice in the second skillet until the sides start to take on a golden colour.
- Once the bread looks good, remove and set all 4 slices on a plate.
- Add half the sausage and bacon mixture to each of two slices.
- Add half the cheese on top of each of sandwich.
- Carefully layer one egg onto each sandwich, then add the two remaining bread slices on top.
Notes & Tips
As per Sir Terry Pratchett's original quotation, the key ingredients here are just the bacon, sausage, egg and fried bread; if you have a particular aversion to either mushrooms or tomatoes, feel free to substitute these with more bacon. The reason for re-using the skillet that had the sausage and bacon mixture in it is so that any fat and flavours that have bled out can be reabsorbed into the fried bread; this adds greatly to the flavour. Don't be tempted to rush the cooking of the eggs; a slow temperature ensures a nice soft texture with a supremely runny yolk.
