Breakfast sandwich
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A breakfast sandwich is a sandwich served for breakfast at fast food restaurants and delis or bought as a fast ready to heat and eat sandwich from a store. Breakfast sandwiches can also be made from scratch in the home.
Breakfast sandwiches typically are made using breakfast meats (which are e.g. Spam, sausages, patty sausages, bacon, country ham and pork roll), breads, eggs and cheese. These sandwiches were typically regional specialties until fast food restaurants began serving breakfast. Because the types of bread common, such as biscuits, bagels, and English muffins were similar in size to a fast food hamburger buns, they made an obvious choice for fast food restaurants. Unlike other breakfast items, they were perfect for the innovation of the drive-through. These sandwiches have also become a staple of many convenience stores, that serve them as take-away items.
[edit] Variations
There are several types of breakfast sandwiches:
- Hard roll: The traditional breakfast sandwich of the northeast's tri-state region (NY, NJ, CT). Believed by some[by whom?] to be one of the earliest forms of the breakfast sandwich in the nation. Consists of a hard roll, eggs, cheese and sausage, bacon or ham. In New Jersey, a common breakfast sandwich is the Jersey Breakfast which consists of pork roll, egg, and cheese on a hard (Kaiser) roll.
- Biscuit: This consists of a large, or cat-head, biscuit sliced on which meat, cheese, or eggs are served. Popular biscuits include: Sausage biscuit, bacon, tomato, and country ham. Fast food restaurants have put smaller versions of fried chicken fillets on biscuits to create chicken biscuits. Scrambled eggs and/or American cheese are often added.
- Bagel: Due to its connection with German and Jewish ethnic groups, bagels often have foods popular in these communities. Deli meats, Canadian bacon, lox or other smoked fish, and cream cheese are popular on bagel sandwiches.
- English muffin: the American Egg McMuffin introduced this type of sandwich to the rest of the world. English muffins might have the same fillings as either the biscuit or Bagel sandwiches.[1]
- Toast: toasted bread is one of the oldest forms of breakfast sandwich. While any number of items might be served on toast, eggs and bacon are the ones most associated with breakfast.
- Egg sandwich: egg sandwiches are often served on untoasted bread as well.
- Fat Rascal: A type of cake, also referred to as cookies, similar to the scone in both taste and ingredients. This type of breakfast sandwich is popular at Betty's tea room in Harrogate, England.[2] As a breakfast sandwich the Fat Rascal may contain bacon, egg, sausage, tomato or beans, and optionally with a sauce.
In the United States the fat Rascal is considered a cookie as it uses plain flour and not self rising flour
- Specialty breads: mostly served by restaurant chains, there are other breakfast sandwiches that do not use one of the common breakfast breads. Burger King uses a croissant to make a breakfast sandwich called the Croissan'Wich, or croissant sandwich, depending on the market. McDonald's offers its traditional biscuit fillings on a sandwich made from maple flavored pancakes called a McGriddle. Dunkin' Donuts has a waffle sandwich that is similar to the McGriddle. These can be found at locations worldwide.
