Egg & Sausage Sandwich

This is a pretty quick and easy sandwich for breakfast, lunch or for a snack, and it's tasty.

 

As for oil, it will depend upon the type of sausage you use. If you use fatty sausage, you will likely only need a few drops of oil to get it started, and the sausage will then create its own "oil" to finish cooking it. If you use less fatty sausages, you will likely need a little more oil. Whatever you choose, when you finish cooking the sausage or sausages, you can pour off some of the oil/sausage grease to use to fry some potatoes, if you'd like. As for sausages, you certainly can use raw sausages if you have the extra time needed to cook them, but generally this recipe is for already cooked sausages like wieners or cooked bratwurst, so that frying them relatively briefly will brown them a little and heat them through. When I did the photos for this article, I used knockwurst (also spelled knackwurst). I used about 2/3 of a knockwurst per sandwich. I use extra large or jumbo eggs. Typically, I just use sandwich bread, but you could certainly use a little sturdier type of bread, if you'd like.  

 

Ingredients (per sandwich):

 

1/2 to 1 sausage, cut up

1 extra large or jumbo egg

1 tablespoon milk or water

1 slice Swiss cheese

1 tablespoon chopped onion

1 pinch ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt (I actually use seasoned salt)

2 slices of bread

ketchup

(oil to fry the sausage and onions) 

It's best to have the ingredients ready to go before you actually start cooking and I crack the egg into a small bowl first and then mix in the milk, black pepper and salt, then set it aside until needed. To a small skillet over medium heat, add the amount of oil you think you'll need to fry the sausage and onions. Add the sausage pieces and onions and cook until the sausage pieces begin to brown, then flip them over to brown a little on the other side. Always mix the onion around to keep it from burning. After you flip the sausage pieces over, add the egg mixture, trying to evenly distribute it in amongst the sausage slices. Lower the heat to low and cover the skillet briefly to let the top of the egg mixture set. When the egg is set, lay the slice of Swiss cheese on top for just a few seconds, then remove the egg/sausage/cheese piece to the bread, add some ketchup and the other slice of bread. You're ready to eat. 

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Entice (Enticement)-The ultimate origin of the main part of this word is unknown, but Latin had the noun "titio," meaning "torch, stick lit at one end, firebrand," which had the prefix "in" (from Indo European "en," meaning "in, into"); thus meaning, "to set in fire" (of course in English we say "set on fire," and "set afire," which does not seem to be said much today, but it was commonly heard when I was a kid). This passed to Latin-based Old French as the figurative "enticier," which meant "to excite, to stir excitement or anger, to incite," or as is sometimes said in American English, "to fire up (emotion)."^ English borrowed the word circa 1300, initially as "intice," with the spelling perhaps from Latin influence, with that same meaning, but also with the religious input of "to stir someone to sin," which helped to move the word to mean "to lure someone to do something by stirring their emotions" (bad intent is usually implied). The noun "enticement" was formed in French and it too was borrowed by English (about 1300) with the French meaning of, "the act of inciting someone to do something;" thus also, "instigation, incitement." 

 

^ I'm not sure if they also say that in England or in other parts of Britain, or in Australia.