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plllog

On fine chefs and fried egg sandwiches

plllog
13 years ago

Spoiler Alert--this week's Top Chef Masters is discussed in first paragraph below.

Last night on Top Chef Masters, they sent Susan Feniger home with the primary critique shown as being that in looking for a "Master" they want someone who will give them more than a sandwich. She had been assigned to make a dish for Aphrodite so did something with eggs (as a symbol of fruitfulness), coconut milk to stimulate hormones, and bread. Some of it was a custard. I didn't get precisely what everything was. Like the other chefs she had one "problem" bit in her dish, and the guests had a similar score to the judges, which was middling, so it was obviously not very exciting, but what sticks with me is the scorn for "a sandwich"--it was no ordinary sandwich!

Today I had lunch (for me, brunch) at a Fine Casual place. That's a new category where top chefs are bringing fine dining skills and methods of service to casual food and setting. (I.e., $30 lunch rather than $75, which is a better plan for a shaky economy.) My meal was the best fried egg sandwich ever!!!! I've made plenty of fried egg sandwiches. And liked them just fine. What I ate was on the standard menu, and obviously well thought out and very carefully prepared.

My conclusion: Yes, a sandwich can tell you the quality of the chef. Previously, I'd had a po' boy special there which was absolutely amazing, but while the whole thing then was well conceived and executed, it was the filling that made it amazing. Today's fried egg sandwich may not have been as amazing a flavor. It was, after all, a homey, well known taste. Today's sandwich was more completely perfect, however.

The egg was "soft fried", not at all runny, but the yellow was golden, soft and tasty. It was flat, and sized and shaped correctly to fill the bread and not hang out. The yolk was centered on the slice between the halves of the sandwich making it also very pleasing visually. The meat was crunchy, flat, and flavorful without overwhelming the egg. The bread was grilled sourdough which was not greasy, and just the right amount of hard. Hard enough not to squish the fillings, not-hard enough to be able to bite through cleanly and easily, and no hard bits digging into the soft spots in one's mouth. There was a little "mayo" on the bread, I'm sure to help keep that perfect balance of hard enough and soft enough on the bread, but no excess. This was more than just mayonnaise--it was very flavorful and more like a sauce than a sandwich spread. I'd make my own mayonnaise more if it could taste like this! The vegetables--tomato and arugula--were plentiful, and also flat. The tomatoes were cut thick and toothsome, without being squirty or making the sandwich too thick, and they formed an even layer. The arugula, too, was a nice dense stack, flattened out into an even layer. Tricolore. Yummy and beautiful.

All in all, just a truly perfect fried egg sandwich. Definite top cheffery going on there. (No, I don't think the actual chef has been on the show.) Actually, I think they've said on that show that eggs are proof of a chef's skill.

I don't know if the dismissed chef was robbed, but I do know that the sandwich I ate today takes skill!

Okay. I'll admit it. Even if I could duplicate it, I could never be bothered to try... Kudos to the chef. And to my companion who hand a hankering for this place. :)

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