While your oven is heating up to 305 degrees, stuff as much bacon as you can fit into the largest cast iron skillet you own.
Also, buy the largest cast iron skillet you can find.
Thin sliced bacon is barely even bacon. Thick cut only.
Put it in the oven and come back to check on it after 20 minutes or so and see where you’re at. You’re cooking the bacon a little slower, because it creates an incredible airy texture to the bacon which delivers a truly satisfying bacon experience.
While you wait, get some eggs – bread – cheese – butter – ready for their part in the show. It’s helpful to have a wide skillet for this step, but any pan wide enough for one or more slices of bread will suffice. Two slices wide is much better, though.
When your bacon is 95% of the way to as much as you want it cooked, pull it out and set in on the top of the oven.
At this point, let the bacon continue to cook a little in the cast iron skillet as it gradually cools, and use that time to make the egg-toasts which will serve as the exterior of the sandwich.
A wider slice of bread is better for this, FYI.
In the middle of the slice, use a measuring cup or cookie cutter or some such similar circular (or whatever shape honestly, we’ve used stars and hearts before and my daughters were quite fond of that) implement to cut a hole out of the center of the bread.
I’ve found that a circle approximately 2″ across works best.
Once you’ve got your slices ready, or even as you’re preparing them, melt some butter on your pan or skillet over medium heat. I prefer butter from grassfed cows.
Take your bread-with-a-hole-in-the-middle and place first one side and then the other in the melted butter and then leave it lying flat on the cooking surface. Crack an egg and drop it into the hole in each slice. Let the bread toast as the egg solidifies and fries on this side for a couple minutes.
It’s important that you cook this on a low enough heat. You want the bread to toast and the egg to fry at the same time, and be sure you won’t burn them. You also want to be able to toast the bread and fry the egg while maintaining a viscous yolk. That semi-liquid yolk makes the whole sandwich another order of magnitude more delicious.
Flip the sandwich once the first side is ready. You will likely have a pretty runny egg on the face-up side. No worries, just do your best to flip the slice in a smooth motion to minimize splash or spreading. If the egg moves beyond the edge of the bread when you flip the slice, let it solidify a little, and then scrape it away from the edge of the bread.
Immediately after flipping the egg-toast, place a slice of cheese on one slice (or both, if you prefer) of the two you’ll use for each sandwich. Put three or four slices of bacon atop the cheese.
When the second side has toasted and fried, flip the slice without the cheese and bacon atop the slice with them, scoop that sucker onto a plate and yell, “COME AND GET YOUR FOOD!” at your family and guests.
You can also replace or include breakfast sausage patties/links to the mix. Feel free to experiment and adapt.
My kids really love these. So does my wife. Also, they’re really easy to make and delicious. Perhaps not the healthiest option on the block, but it’s a great special breakfast you can make part of your repertoire.
Cheers, and let me know how you liked the sandwich.
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