Valentine Cascarino
food
‘Henry, darling, that food is getting cold. Bacon-and-egg isn’t worth eating when it isn’t hot.”
I was sipping a cup of skinny cappucino, waiting for my breakfast at De La Crme, at the bottom of Seventh Street in Melville, when my deer-like ears caught Henry’s distress signal. “This is ridiculous food,” snapped Henry, driving his fork through the yolk, which ran out on to the egg white and then the plate, like lava from a volcanic fissure. He sat back in his chair and lit a cigar the size of Cuba.
More people are rolling the curtain down on the bacon-and-egg break- fast, not because of its supposed high cholesterol content but probably because of the way it’s served. In this august suburb, restaurateurs are divided on the issue of how bacon-and-egg should be done. “Most people have problems with an oily bacon-and-egg. The bacon should be crispy at the edges and less oily, while the egg white and yolk should be a little bit hard to prevent it from running on the plate and to make it easy to eat,” says Nuno’s restaurant, way up at the top of Seventh Street. “No,” argues De La Crme from the opposite end. “The egg white should be hard and the yolk soft in order for people to know they’re eating egg. The bacon can be crispy or soft depending on the customer’s liking.”
Buzz 9, halfway up Seventh Street, thinks the bacon should be crispy and the egg white and yolk cooked. “If the egg is not properly done, consumers may never eat bacon-and-egg again.”
According to Mugg and Bean, bacon-and-egg breakfasts should contain little or no oil. A good way to do this is to grill the bacon and poach the egg.
It is generally believed that most men, especially gym-junkies struggling to put on weight and people suffering from hangovers, prefer oily bacon-and-egg, while women on a slimming diet will go for a dry one.
However, they all accept that if something creative and better is not done soonest to encourage eaters, this fascinating breakfast meal will become a thing of the past.
These conflicting ideologies and a relentless search for improvements have given rise to a variety of ways to serve this standard with bacon or soft corn tortillas, mushrooms or baked beans, sausages, fried tomatoes, even black pudding. One also has a choice of different bacons: smoked shoulder bacon, streaky bacon, back or shoulder bacon. Some restaurants, like the Mugg and Bean, even have bacon made from mutton, which they call macon. This is no doubt a welcome treat for folks whose cultures frown on the eating of pigs. For people with developed consciences, restaurants like the Exchange Caf along Main Road now offer free-range eggs, which they believe are more tasty and nutritive. Most restaurants here don’t distinguish between free-range and battery eggs. At Buzz 9, they serve an American-oriented bacon-and-egg breakfast bagel. It’s a traditional Brooklyn bagel, lightly toasted and topped with smooth cream cheese, egg and bacon, and garnished with lettuce, alfalfa and cocktail tomatoes. Some Melville breakfasters already know that the Full Stop and De La Crme don’t serve good bacon-and-egg. Perhaps their well-known names and De La Crme’s open-door policy to children justify their bank-breaking prices.
Nuno’s believe high prices are one reason people abscond from bacon-and-egg. “Why must it be expensive when an egg costs 25c and bacon less than R1,50?”
As the battle continues, restaurateurs are continuing to come up with new varieties, presenting breakfasters like Henry with a daunting choice.