How to Make an Egg From Jimmy Dean
As a nation, we don’t necessarily know how to do things well, but we do it a lot . This manifests itself in our politics as well as in the way we eat, as evidenced by our collectively expanding waistline. It follows that our attempts to cut those waistlines are also incredibly redundant, just absolutely crazy things that no one else would do in any other normal, healthy culture. For the American dieter, nothing is too extreme, be it overly punishing workouts or diets that exclude whole macronutrients that have supported humankind for millennia.
(I can only speak with a spank, because I belong to the second group as an annoying keto person.)
All this means that only in America something like Jimmy Dean Egguich can not only exist, but also enjoy a seemingly respectable popularity. A sausage and cheese patty, encased in a pair of frittata “buns” instead of bread, “egg product” (a phrase I won’t print again) is the perfect artifact of American dietary culture: an overly thought-out, extreme reaction to a problem, easy to eat on the go …
It’s also pretty darn good, especially when your dumb, dumb diet more or less forbids sandwiches. But at my local store they cost $ 8 for four sandwiches, and “not bad for a frozen, inside-out egg sandwich” still means you’re eating frozen food. We can do better and at a lower cost.
There is no real “hack” here – what you see is all there is. You can simply break a couple of eggs in a skillet, put a sausage in between and eat. But for the sake of authenticity, I wanted to more accurately recreate the egg “buns”. To do this, I settled on cooking eggs in a pair of greased lids of large jars in a water bath. After beating a couple of eggs with salt, pepper and a little cream, I found that each lid could hold about half of the mixture. The lids will contain the eggs and prevent any part of them from darkening noticeably.
(If we were making perfect imitators, we would first chop very finely and then saute things like onions, broccoli, or peppers. If you want to spend an extra 45 minutes on that for your fancy low carb egg sandwiches, be my guest Less time consuming option will add flavor enhancers like herbs or even dry crumbly cheeses. Be so crazy and daring!)
Bring water to a boil over medium-high heat and cover with a tight-fitting lid. After about three minutes, you lift the lid and see something cool: the eggs have swollen, far exceeding their original volume, and now that the lid is removed, they quickly shrink like strange alien creatures moving away from the light. You know they are done when they are very beautiful canary yellow, with no visible liquid or undercooked egg. Pull them out with a towel or tongs.
Your path forward is up to you. If you grease the jar lids or spray them with non-stick spray, the eggs should slide out. According to Mr. Dean’s plan, you place a two-ounce portion of sausage between them with a little melted American cheese and have a snack. But since you are talking, everything goes. Upgrade cheese, replace meat, etc. The world is your insane low carb oyster. I went with a slice of hawarty and regular breakfast sausage and it was better than it should have been. For purely aesthetic reasons, I recommend collecting things with the flat sides of the eggs facing out.
I also find that their modular nature makes them particularly good for food preparation, which you are probably familiar with if you are on a diet that leads you to discover (and become interested in) egg sandwiches without a bun. One caveat: if you are preparing the bunch ahead of time, refrain from cheese. It is better to leave the cheese until the last minute, so that if necessary, you can reheat the components separately.
Jimmy Dean’s Homemade Eggs (turns four)
Ingredients
- 8 eggs
- 8 ounce breakfast sausage, sliced into four patties
- 4 slices of cheese
- 4 ounces heavy cream
- Salt and pepper for flavor
instructions
Place the jar lids in the pot (how many will fit) and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Fill the space between the lids with about half a glass of water and turn on medium to medium-high heat. Cook the sausage in a skillet or skillet over medium heat.
In a bowl, beat as many eggs as you have can lids, whisking them with salt, pepper and heavy cream. When the water in the saucepan starts to steam and slightly simmer, add eggs to the lids, spreading evenly. Cover the skillet and set the timer for three minutes.
The eggs are done if there is no visible liquid or undercooked egg in the rings. Remove them with tongs or a towel and set aside (eggs should come loose easily if the lids have been greased). Collect the sandwiches starting with the egg, then the sausage patty, cheese, and another egg.