An Ode to Breakfast:
I love breakfast. It's by far my favorite meal of the day, and I will have it at any point in the day, as many times as I like. If there's one thing other than my hairy feet that make people draw comparisons between myself and hobbits, it's that.
My obsession with breakfast began at an early age. My mom would regularly cook breakfast for dinner (or "Brinner" if you watch Scrubs), and I was fascinated by the fact that all the food I was told I wasn't allowed to have for dinner was now being served before me. I've always adored flipping flapjacks on our electric griddle (quite possibly the first thing I'd ever cooked), watching my mom whip eggs together for my morning scramble, and of course the scrumptious, just barely crisp bacon. (Hail Bacon)
Fast forward a decade or two and now I'm a chef that's deeply obsessed with breakfast. I've cooked breakfast shifts at every restaurant I've ever worked at save one, and two of the places I've worked at have used it as the cornerstone of their menu. This has done little to abate my craving.
My obsession has grown to include morning meals from any country or culture, and so far I've loved every breakfast I've ever tasted. Baked beans on toast is godly, and quite possibly the only delicious British food save fish & chips. A traditional asian breakfast is simply a bowl of rice with a fried egg on top; It's heavenly. Real, buttery, flaky, fresh croissants dipped in coffee or hot chocolate. I could go on, but my keyboard is soaked already.
When it comes to a truly divine breakfast experience, let me offer this nugget that I've found in my travels. Don't skimp on the fat. Everything good about breakfast, with the exception of cereals, is either covered in butter, fried, or in some other way made incredibly unhealthy for you. Hash browns fried in glorious duck fat. Biscuits with the finest lard worked into the dough, pancackes topped with a golden sunrise of butter, it's all in the fat. When I worked at the Bayleaf I felt I was more a nurse for tending hangovers than a cook. A bit of fat, combined with proper hydration, will chase one away before you can even remember you have one.
It's a curious thing, breakfast. Many cultures don't believe in a big breakfast the way we Americans do. For many breakfast is just a means to get something in your gut to fuel up before you go tackle the day, and then enjoy larger meals later on. Personally, if there's one thing that's 100% red white and blue about me it's that I'm never one to skimp on breakfast. So let me reiterate the old adege, from one 'murrican to another. Eat your breakfast; it's the most important meal of the day.
"Wakey wakey eggs and bakey"
-Gnome
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