A few weeks back I realized for two days my meals had all been sandwiches. Think about that, many Americans only eat sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The amount of technology and innovation that has been spent on sandwich advancement is actually shocking, and the imagination by some to try to one up the next guy with their new sandwich creation is scary. I saw one show where they had a prime rib meal in sandwich form, something that clearly damaged the taste of everything stuffed between the two pieces of bread. The innovation and creativity that used to go to projects like NASA now goes to try to make a microwaveable bread that isn't a hockey puck.
Breakfast particularly has embraced the sandwich culture. I remember as a kid when McDonald's introduced breakfast sandwiches to much chagrin from the public. The people who suggested it to Ray Kroc in 1972 actually wrote "...a crazy idea — a breakfast sandwich." Today, it's rare to see any restaurant not feature a breakfast sandwich, and the lines in the morning drive-thrus at fast food restaurants is fairly deep. So my waistline be damned, here's what I found:
Monday - McDonald's - Egg McMuffin with sausage, hashbrown and large coffee.
This was the second best breakfast I had last week. McDonald's, regardless of the chemicals they use to achieve it, actually have food that tastes like it's supposed to. Muffin, egg, cheese, and sausage all had good flavor. Their hashbrowns are too greasy but the coffee they make is very tasty.
Tuesday - Burger King - Sausage egg and cheese muffin with hashbrowns and coffee.
Poor Burger King. At one point they were a unique chain that was giving McDonald's fits, but now all they seem to be is a cheap rip off of Mickey D's. This breakfast barely beat out being the worst of the week. Outside of the sausage, which didn't taste that good, there was no taste differential between the biscuit, egg or cheese. When you bit into the sandwich it became a glob in your mouth that took awhile to chew down to swallowable size. I asked for a large coffee and they also gave me a large hashbrown, their interpritation being a tater tot cut into thirds and deep fried to a point where it was crunchy grease. Their coffee is B-A-D bad.
Wednesday - Subway - An egg cheese and sausage sandwich with coffee.
The new kid on the breakfast sandwich block had the third best sandwich of the week, but they really were closer to Burger King than to McDonalds. It comes down to two problems. One, the bread which is the same bread they use for their lunch and dinner sandwiches. It doesn't taste bad but it's really dry when you don't have mustard, mayo, or something else to moisten it. The second, and most glaring, issue is since they don't have a grill, their egg and sausage was pre-cooked and re-warmed in the morning. I did like the inclusion of veggies. Their coffee was good.
Thursday - SuperAmerica Gas station - sausage egg and cheese biscuit, hashbrowns(!) and coffee
If you really want to see what I mean by all the money and innovation that has gone into sandwiches, go to any gas station. Millions of dollars have been spent to make a microwavable breakfast sandwich. The goal of all of this invention was not to make it taste real good, but rather make it taste just good enough so that you reconsider the drive to a fast food joint. This was the worst meal of the week and, as I watched others sit in their cars and eat their sandwiches with the gloom of a thousand rainy days, the most depressing. Nothing in the sandwich had any flavor differential and really became a hunk of doughy nothingness. The hashbrown was disturbing (and uneaten) and their coffee was thinned tar.
Friday - DBrian's - Sausage Egg and cheese sandwich with hashbrowns and coffee
Easily the best meal of the week. If you're not familiar with DBrian's, it's a chain that mainly caters to the business lunch crowd, but they also serve breakfast. It was a very tasty sandwich, which I watched the cook make with fresh ingredients (or what goes for fresh nowadays). The hashbrowns weren't deep fried but rather actual hashbrowns and their coffee was good.
Here's the sad part, for all of the innovation and creativity put out by these companies to make the sandwich better, it still will fall woefully behind the best sandwich a person can have, the one they make at home. I know some people will say I have no time to make breakfast, but I disagree. Try this, on Sunday when you have some extra time, take some good sausage you get from the store, form it into patties and fry it up. When done, freeze them. Then on your weekday, take two pieces of your favorite bread, toast and butter them. Take one of your sausage patties and rewarm it in the microwave. Whisk up an egg with a little salt, pepper, garlic powder and dill. Pour that into a frying pan that's been preheated and buttered and let it cook for three minutes, then flip it. Put a nice slice of your favorite cheese on the egg and a minute later put the egg and cheese on a slice of toast. Place your sausage on top, add some fresh tomato, onion, and basil, top with the other slice of toast and done. Brew some coffee and grab and orange and you'll be the envy of your neighbors and co-workers.
As far as innovation, the taste will trump anything you can get on the road, but some will tout the time and cost as it being better from a restaurant. Time wise, if you factor the time not just from the time you enter the drive thru, but rather the total time from the point where you turn of your normal work route to the time you get back on the route, it probably is around ten minutes. Yes, the sausage on Sunday will add some time, but the sandwich assembly will probably take you less than ten minutes. As far as cost, the sandwich I describe and the orange and the coffee would probably cost you two bucks, far cheaper than anywhere outside of home. Yes you have to clean up, but it shouldn't be more than a few dishes.
As far as a creativity comparison, one word, spices.
I don't encourage anyone to do what I did last week as my digestive system still hasn't fully recovered, but know this, we all have the ability to be innovative and creative, but it comes from yourself, not a fast food bag.
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