New Jersey Comfort Foods by Kathleen Gibbons/Palace Line Cook
I love making food that is new and different. I love being able to use very high quality ingredients in my work. When I go visit my family back home, we eat at great New York City restaurants, and I always get to try exciting new dishes, and for this I am beyond grateful. But when it comes to comfort food, it is a completely different story. Disco Fries and Taylor Ham, Egg & Cheese Sandwiches are the two comfort foods that I will always return to. The descriptions don’t do them justice as one must experience them to believe them.
The Disco Fry came into my life in the early 2000′s. Thick cut steak fries, brown gravy, and melty mozzarella cheese on a plate hot from the broiler. I swear, if I could find a New Jersey-style diner in the city of Seattle, I would be completely broke all the time and I would have to be rolled out the door. This delicacy is certainly not something one should enjoy on the day-to-day, but every once in a while it’s important to indulge.
Now the Taylor Ham Sandwich has many components that make it fantastic. Taylor Ham, A.K.A. Pork Roll, is, in my opinion, similar to a combination of Canadian bacon and Spam. Sliced thin and seared on the flat top of my favorite North Jersey bagel places, the ham is then layered with slices of American cheese (no substitutions,please; it MUST be American cheese) and placed on a Kaiser roll, a roll that is so deliciously fluffy on the inside with a thin, chewy crust on the outside. The sandwich maker will inevitably ask if I care for salt, pepper or ketchup, but I roll with the original sandwich, no additions. Allowed to stay warm inside the aluminum foil cocoon for about 2 – 4 minutes and the cheese will be perfectly melted, bun heated through but not soggy, and ham still crispy.
Now, just imagine my excitement when I saw that Taylor Ham is sold at DeLaurenti’s in the Pike Place Market.
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August 20th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
I am happy to be living in Seattle now, but one of the things I miss most about living in NYC was the ham-egg-cheese sandwiches made at virtually every deli in the city. They are consistently fantastic, and consistently priced under $3. You are right – subbing out the American cheese is not an option.
The addition of jalapenos, however, is sublime.
August 21st, 2009 at 12:44 pm
The Taylor Ham Sandwich caught my eye. In fact anything with ham catches my eye.
But what about the egg? towards the beginning, Kathleen talks about the “Taylor Ham, Egg & Cheese sandwich”, but doesn’t discuss the preparation of the egg. Is it over easy, sunny side, scrambled or other? Looks like a great sandwich!!!
Ham… I like it so much, its part of my name.
Brian Cunningham