Thread by @modestproposal1

For no good reason, a thread on bacon, egg and cheese. To create the perfect BEC, break it down to its parts: bread, cheese, egg, bacon. The benchmark is the simple bodega BEC: Kaiser roll, fried egg, American cheese, griddled bacon, salt, pepper, ketchup. Close to perfection.

Bread. Your choices here are croissant or brioche. The choice in bread is mostly dictated by the manner you cook your eggs, scrambled do not belong on brioche, no matter how good Eggslut is. While I will travel far and wide for a great croissant, the winner is brioche.

Cheese. Cheddar, preferably sharp. American melts better but the tang of cheddar kicks it up a notch. The key question is how do you melt it. The best method I have seen is the Summit diner, lay a slice on each half of the brioche, blast it under the broiler right before serving.

Eggs. I am on the record that slow scrambled are the most underrated form of eggs, but for me, fried is the way to go in BEC's. Break the yolk in the pan to spread the deliciousness, cook to a nice over medium, so there’s the tiniest bit of oozing when you take a bite.

Bacon. This is perhaps where the biggest improvement over the classic has come. Griddled bacon is fine, not great, for a BEC. The texture ends up either too chewy, or too crispy. Thick cut pork belly is the answer. No one does this better than Daily Provisions.

So putting together the perfect BEC: get a brioche roll, place a slice of sharp cheddar on each half, put under the broiler right before serving to melt, fry an egg to over medium, cook thick cut pork belly low and slow. It doesn’t get any better.

Feedback:

Bagels. Poor bread to filling ratio. Overwhelms versus complements. Everything flagel if you must. But no.

Biscuits. Delicious but poor delivery vehicle. Rarely up to the task. Better side for by the bite egg dishes.

Anti-ketchup folks. Basically communists. Gtfo.