Make This Really Crazy Thanksgiving Leftover Sandwich
Halfway through turning the savory filling into French toast bread, I imagine what the man who created the first Scotch egg must have thought. “This is crazy, but it might just be fantastic,” I bet they whispered to themselves in rhythmic accents. Well, they were right, and I’m right this time too: converting a heavily spiced side dish back into a bowl of savory French toast works surprisingly well and provides the perfect remedy for the rest of your Thanksgiving leftovers. To prepare it, you will need a couple of loosely packed cups of filling and a refrigerator full of half-eaten side dishes. That’s right, my die-hard Thanksgiving sandwich lovers, it’s time to get in the pan and forge a new bread out of toasted, crumbled, rehydrated, and French-toasted old bread.
A good piece of sandwich bread should be strong enough not to fall apart, but soft enough to bite into. Between those two extremes, I needed to figure out exactly what was falling apart when developing this crazy recipe. I experimented with three ways. First, I pressed the filling into a rectangle and fried it in a small amount of oil. At first it worked, but after frying, the filling fell apart. In the next version, the crumbly filling was mixed with an egg, then shaped and then fried in oil. Not bad at all – this bread held up well and got a crispy crust on the outside from frying. I then tried first pressing the stuffing into a rectangle, letting it soak briefly in the mixed egg, and then frying it in a French toast style pan. This method worked well but lacked a crispy crust. The egg seems to be an addition to the clutch, but whether it should be mixed before shaping or soaked after shaping depends on the type of filling you’re working with.
If you have a dry, crumbly filling
A dry filling or mixture containing many additional non-bread ingredients such as sausage pieces or chestnuts works best if an egg is added before shaping, forming a kind of protein mesh to hold all these loose parts together. Beat one egg for every two cups of filling you are going to use. This mixture will make two pieces of toast.
In a medium bowl, add the egg to the filling and stir until it is evenly coated. Pour half of the mixture onto a sheet of waxed paper, parchment, or plastic wrap. Fold the edges over the filling and use it to push through and compact it into a toast shape. Melt a teaspoon of butter in a skillet over medium heat and add the topping bar. Fry for two to three minutes on each side until they are browned. Repeat with the other half of the mixture.
If you have a hydrated, sticky filling
The filling, which consists mainly of bread products, will stick together easily, deceiving with its seeming readiness to hold the shape of the bread. However, once it’s hot, the mixture will inevitably dry out in the pan and return to its original broken bread shape. In this case, the addition of the egg after molding creates a binder that holds the material together, giving the filling strength and flexibility.
Place the filling cup in the center of a piece of parchment paper, wax paper, or plastic wrap and wrap around the corners to form a rectangle shape. Whisk the egg in a bowl and pour it onto a shallow dish. Place the filled bread into the egg and, if you can, carefully flip it over so the other side is covered with the egg too. If you’re worried it will break when you toss it into the bowl, use a pastry brush or spoon to scoop up some of the egg and brush it on top (or use your fingers, I don’t blame you). . Let it soak for two minutes or so before placing it on a lightly oiled skillet. Fry until golden brown, about two to three minutes on each side.
When the French toast filling is toasted to your liking, let it cool for a few minutes. Stack it up a little with whatever you like on Thanksgiving and enjoy.