The Ultimate Breakfast Muffin
Tags: Food
(It’s been a while since I posted a recipe. This one has been honed within an inch of its life, so is about ready for sharing)
Once a year, usually the morning after a big work Christmas blowout, someone will have the bright idea to do a huge MacDonalds breakfast run. Now, I don’t consider MacDonalds to be food, and it rarely if ever occurs to me as an option when I think about getting something to eat. But I have to admit that there is something about the breakfast McMuffin that can turn my head on these hungover occasions where I crave salt and non-specific protein. So I set out on a mission to create the perfect breakfast muffin at home. How would I know when I had achieved perfection? I set myself the following parameters;
- the sandwich must contain at least sausage, bacon, egg and cheese. Any other breakfast items are optional
- the bread component must be an English muffin
- it must be possible to eat it like a sandwich, ie without need of a knife and fork. This requires paying attention to the thickness of the sandwich as well as ensuring that filling-droppage is kept to a minimum
What follows is the result of many experiments and iterations. Serves 2.
Ingredients
2 “English” muffins, sliced in half.
3 sausages of your preferred breakfast variety. Lincolnshire is my recommendation.
2 eggs
3 rashers of streaky bacon
Some (say 4 large, 6 small) mushrooms
A nicely mature cheddar, sliced
Equipment
2 egg rings, the same diameter as your muffins
Method
Get the measure of your muffins. You live or die by your diameter in this recipe.
Strip the skin off the sausages with a sharp knife and form them into two thin patties of the requisite diameter. Make a dimple in the middle of them with your thumb.
Chop the mushrooms and bacon into matchsticks.
Heat a grill to medium-high and put the sausage patties under. You’ll need to turn them in a couple of minutes.
Heat a non-stick frying pan with a little oil and fry the matchsticked bacon and mushrooms for a few minutes, until the mushrooms are softened and the bacon is starting to crisp up.
Arrange the bacon and mushroom mixture into two equal piles and put an egg ring around each pile.
Break an egg into each egg ring, and break the yolk with a fork. Gently stir the egg into the bacon and mushrooms.
You did turn your sausage patties, didn’t you? They can come out from under the grill now. Pop the muffins under the grill cut side up, with the cheese slices arranged on one side of each.
Flip your bacony-mushroomy eggs. Once the muffins are lightly toasted and the cheese is melty, assemble as follows (from the bottom up): Muffin half with cheese, then sausage, then bacon/mushroom/egg, then muffin half to finish.