In my opinion, there’s only one way to start your day—by nourishing your body, giving it some fuel to get started on the right path. Whether your idea of breakfast is an apple you grab before heading out the door or a hearty meal you’ve whipped up from scratch, breakfast truly is the most important meal of the day. Follow these recipes, and you may find it’s the most enjoyable meal of the day, too.
What Goes Into the Perfect Breakfast?
Bacon
I always buy center-cut bacon because it’s easy to cook it to crispy bacon perfection. For one thing, it’s meatier, so it contains less fat than standard or thick-cut bacon. Plus, it doesn’t have what I consider to be a rubbery consistency, like many brands of turkey bacon.
Most fast food restaurants cook their bacon far less than I prefer. The recipes in this book are written to mimic the original dishes as closely as possible. However, if you, like me, prefer your bacon to be cooked more, I encourage you to do so.
Sausage
I always make sausage out of extra-lean ground pork, turkey breast, or chicken breast. I’ve used pork in these recipes, however, because that’s what fast food restaurants do. But go ahead and substitute chicken or turkey if you prefer.
When buying ground pork, be sure to buy extra-lean. It should have approximately 4.5 grams of fat per 4-ounce serving. If you can’t find extra-lean ground pork, select a pork tenderloin and use this as another opportunity to befriend your butcher. Simply ask him or her to trim and grind it for you. Butchers generally oblige at no extra charge.
Egg vs. Egg Substitute vs. Egg White Substitute
As I explained in the chicken chapter, I usually prefer to use egg whites over egg substitute or egg-white substitute when breading. I don’t always feel the same way when making egg dishes. Granted, if I’m making an omelet, I prefer actual egg whites (again, it’s a consistency issue). But if I’m re-creating a dish that used whole eggs, I like to use egg substitute because I can achieve the same yellow color of the original without adding any fat. Plus, pouring liquid egg substitute from a carton is simply easier than cracking fresh eggs. Overall, I recommend you go with whatever ingredient you prefer.
Cheese
Although most available light-cheese singles found in grocery stores are ¾ ounce each, it seems to me that most fast food restaurants use ½-ounce cheese slices on their breakfast sandwiches. In cases where the recipes call for ½-ounce slices, if you don’t find them readily available, simply purchase ¾-ounce slices and then put only two-thirds of the slice on your breakfast sandwich. It will still cover most of the surface area of the sandwich, and you won’t have to go on a wild-goose chase.