The Jiggle Griddle [RECIPE]
The Jiggle Griddle
Makes 4 heavy-duty breakfast sandwiches
Ingredients
Pancake Buns
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2¼ cups buttermilk
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 4 tbsp butter, melted (but not hot)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 (14-oz) can Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce
- Cooking spray
Square Eggs
- 12 large eggs
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp salt
- Cooking spray
Sausage
- 1 lb ground pork
- 2 tsp chopped fresh sage
- 1 tsp brown sugar (I used maple sugar. That stuff is hard to find, but worth it if you can.)
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp black pepper
- Generous pinch of salt
- Neutral oil, for cooking
- 4 slices American cheese
Hot Maple Syrup
- 1 cup maple syrup
- Leftover cranberry sauce
- ¼ cup of your favorite vinegar-based hot sauce
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 dried morita chiles
Instructions
Make the square eggs
- Preheat the oven to 275°F. Use convection bake if you have it; if not, regular bake is fine.
- Blend the eggs. Blend the eggs, heavy cream, and salt with an immersion blender.
- Strain. Spray an 8×8” baking dish with cooking spray and strain the egg mixture into it through a fine-mesh sieve. Scoop any foamy stuff off the top and toss it, so you get a smooth, silky egg at the end of all this.
- Set up the steam bath. Set the baking dish on top of a larger baking sheet and pour a thin layer of hot water into the sheet around the baking dish. It’s like your baking dish with the eggs in it is taking a shallow bath in the larger baking sheet. Cover everything tightly with foil.
- Bake for about 40 to 45 minutes. While these cook, move on to prep all the other ingredients.
- Cut the eggs. You’ll know the eggs are done when the edges look set but the center still jiggles ever so slightly when you shake the pan. When they’re ready, pull the eggs out of the oven, trim off any rounded edges, and cut them into four equal squares about the size of your pancake buns. Those trimmings are your little chef snack before the sandwiches are ready.
Make the pancake buns
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, sugar, and salt.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk the buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter until smooth.
- Combine and rest. Add the wet to the dry and mix until there’s just a touch of lumpy bits left. Let it sit on the counter while we prep the cranberry frisbees that go inside them.
- Cut the cranberry sauce. While the batter rests, open the can of cranberry sauce and plop that jiggle cylinder onto a cutting board. Cut 8 rounds about ⅛” thick. Save the rest for the hot maple syrup.
- Prep the pan. You’ll need two ring molds about 4” in diameter. Heat a cast iron pan over medium heat. Set the ring molds in the pan, and spray them with cooking spray.
- Layer the buns. Pour a thin layer of batter into each ring mold and let it set for about 30 seconds. Then drop a cranberry round right in the center, and pour another thin layer of batter on top to cover it.
- Steam and flip. Cover the pan with a lid and let them steam for about 2 to 3 minutes, until the buns start to rise and turn a little paler around the edges, and the edges look more solid. Once they’re set, jiggle the ring molds off; the buns should hold their shape. Flip them over and finish cooking the other side without the molds, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Repeat until you have 8 buns (4 sets for your sandwiches).
Make the hot maple syrup
- Warm the base. In a small saucepan, warm the maple syrup and the leftover cranberry sauce, whisking until the cranberry sauce loosens up and gets incorporated.
- Spice and steep. Add the hot sauce, cayenne, and morita chiles. Just drop the chiles in and let them steep until you’re ready to serve. We want to infuse their smoky flavor and some of their heat but we don’t need the actual chiles in the final sauce, so pull them out right before serving.
Make the sausage
- Mix. Mix the pork with the sage, brown sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and salt until evenly combined.
- Form the patties. Divide into four quarter-pound patties. These are hefty boys.
- Fry. In the same cast iron pan you used for the buns, add a layer of neutral oil. Fry the patties until they’re nice and crispy on each side and the pork is fully cooked, to an internal temp of 160°F.
- Melt the cheese. After you flip, put a slice of American cheese on each patty and let it gently melt for about a minute. We don’t want it dripping all over the place, just a nice softened, melty slice.
Assemble
- Build the sandwiches. Start with a pancake bun, then a big square egg, then a cheesy sausage patty, then the top bun.
- Serve. Ladle a little hot maple syrup into a small cup on the side and pour it over right before each bite. Use it like you would a hot honey. I don’t know why everyone’s making hot honey and nobody’s making hot maple syrup. It’s real damn good, and people should.
