From forbes.com
Eggs. Bacon. American cheese. Two pieces of soft, toasted, buttery bread. Maybe a dash of hot sauce, not too much, just enough to give it a little zip while still tasting that wonderfully melted cheese.
There is no better way to start the day than with the perfect bacon, egg and cheese (BEC), and no breakfast more synonymous with life in New York City. It’s the reliable grab-and-go sunrise feast found at every corner bodega, the routine morning repast of the 9-5 subway straphanger and a key ingredient of any tried and true hangover cure.
The sandwich’s history is ambiguous. Its ties to Industrial Revolution London street vendors, 19th-century Chinese rail workers and Basque immigrants who worked as miners and shepherds in the Nevada Territory make its heritage as diverse as the country that birthed it and as cosmopolitan as the city that made it an iconic, daily ritual.
Every person has their favourite spot to order one, and many restaurants, delis, bakeries and coffee shops throughout Manhattan have been touted as making some of the best.
So, when Romeo Regalli, chef and co-owner of RAS Plant Based, a popular Ethiopian-inspired restaurant in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, decided to add his own plant-based interpretation to the table, he did so with that heritage firmly in mind.
“When you’re working with such a classic dish, that people know so well, you have to be very careful,” Regalli says in a phone interview.
“My goal was to make something that wasn’t gimmicky, that respected the classic aspects of a bacon, egg and cheese.”
And the work behind any good sandwich starts with bread.
The best bacon, egg and cheese in NYC. Photo Courtesy of RAS Plant Based
Bread and Butter
The bread used for a BEC can be anything from the standard sandwich roll found at most bodegas to the browned pretzel roll or fluffy brioche bun often preferred by restaurants and coffee shops.
Picking bread is a seemingly simple decision that shapes the entire first-bite experience of any sandwich. If it’s too dry, too flimsy, too soft or too crisp, bread can ruin texture, scrape the inside of someone’s mouth or just turn into a soggy mess on the plate or in someone’s lap. If it’s too dense, it will affect the important bread-to-filling ratio, and if it has too much flavour on its own, it will overpower the other ingredients entirely.
At RAS, Regalli keeps things simple, choosing a traditional whole-wheat bread that is then brushed with a house-made vegan take on Niter Kibbeh, a traditional Ethiopian clarified butter mixed with cardamom and an herb called koseret. Lightly toasted, the bread is perfectly crunchy and warm, with a rich, buttery aroma and flavour reminiscent of a favourite neighbourhood diner.
The koseret, with its minty, herbal taste and hints of sweet basil and oregano, adds a layer of savoury sweetness to every bite. Regalli then adds a spread of rich, creamy plant-based aioli, mixed with berebere, a fiery, Ethiopian spice blend featuring chili peppers, garlic, ginger, basil, and a myriad of other spices, for a subtle yet delightful pop of relishing heat.
It is an exceptional and delectable union, then scaffolded by the crisp, chewy, and wholly comforting texture and flavour of bacon.
Bacon Me Crazy
Good plant-based bacon has long been considered an oxymoron within the diet. Too often, when chefs and restaurants attempt to replicate the pork protein, they fail to capture that specific, complex, and crispy texture of rendered animal fat, resulting in replicas that are either soggy, rubbery or overly dry, and also taste inauthentic or even chemical. Thus, most plant-based bacon alternatives fail to meet the standards that bacon lovers, i.e., most people, have come to expect.
Regalli’s bacon exceeds those expectations. Built on a plant-based protein prepared and seasoned in-house, he uses a measured ratio of liquid smoke, berbere for warmth and depth and korerima (Ethiopian cardamom) for a more aromatic, slightly floral note. The plant-based bacon excellently balances smokiness with savouriness, while delivering a texture that is a perfectly rendered crispy-chewy combo.
“We spent a lot of time refining how the bacon cooks, so that it has that balance people expect: a bit of crisp on the edges, some chew in the centre, and enough richness to carry through the whole sandwich,” says Regalli.
The end product is nearly indistinguishable from the real thing. Ordering an additional side is almost mandatory. Meanwhile, Regalli’s pursuit of near-perfect mimicry through painstaking manipulation of flavour is further expressed in the eggs.
As Sure As Eggs Is Eggs
Made from pureed and seasoned mung beans, a protein-rich legume that condenses and stiffens when cooked, these plant-based eggs look strikingly similar to their real counterparts thanks to the generous use of turmeric, which gives them a natural and pleasantly golden colour. And although many BECs often come with their eggs scrambled, Regalli wanted to provide his guests with a tidy, less messy dining experience and instead chose a delicately folded omelette for his sandwich.
The plant-based omelette is firm and fluffy, providing a pillow for the delicious, crispy bacon, which is blanketed with a silky, rich, melted plant-based American-style cheese, made from potato protein, and finally topped with thin wedges of tender avocado and bright, fresh arugula and served with a side of house-spiced fries.
The flavours are vibrant, complex, bright, subtly sweet, gently smoky and warm, and they all work together. Regalli has created not only a uniquely delicious breakfast sandwich but also one of the city’s best, and captured the familiar, craveable experience of a New York staple—without meat, eggs, or dairy.
“New York runs on bacon, egg and cheese,” Regalli says.
“I wanted to deliver the same simple satisfaction and nostalgia of that sandwich, while using plant-based ingredients and Ethiopian flavours to make it RAS.”
No comments:
Post a Comment