Dirty Delicious

Oh my gosh! I live for developing recipes, no joke. Literally was just in the kitchen testing out new ratios of ingredients for a tamarind drink that I'm absolutely obsessed with creating (Sorry folks, that one is going in the Mocktail Book, because those choosing to stay sober need drinks toooooooooooo). What I love the most about recipe development is the challenge of finding balance. It's like yeah, sweet things are tasty and salty things are delicious, but a dish that can capture perfect harmony between those two tastes gives me an almost spiritual fulfillment. This sandwich was the first dish I ever created, at my first cooking job where I had to invent specials for the menu, that kindled that feeling.

It was not a five star, or even a single starred joint, but a neighborhood hole in the wall where the owner really only cared about what the bar sold, and just let me have free reign of the menu. After a month of putting up boring specials that you see everywhere (Hello Turkey Club), with all the uninteresting ingredient combinations you'd expect to find in a dish, I got bored as hell. So I decided to just get weird, and I hope y'all are down to get weird with me.

INGREDIENTS

1. Whole Wheat Bread. . . It does not taste the same on white, but if you must please use potato bread.

2. Breakfast Sausage Patties (The kind that comes in a log that you form yourself), and I'm serious. They have to be patties, because of the texture and flavor. If you are a sausage links only kind of person, this is not the recipe for you, it just won't taste good, in my opinion. Also, you'll want to form them yourselves.

3. Maple Syrup.

4. Now thus far the ingredients have been pretty standard, but we are going to deviate a little bit. Next thing you'll need is Creamy Peanut Butter. . . Personally I am a crunch peanut butter kind of person, but I found it to be too much for this sandwich.

5. Mayo. Now calm down! We are not going to be putting mayo in the middle of this sandwich that has maple and peanut butter. It is here simply for grilling the bread in the pan. I use mayo because it doesn't burn like the milk solids in butter; so you get less smoking while grilling and an even golden crust on the bread.

That is absolutely it.

First step is forming and cooking off your sausage patties. Measuring isn't my thing when I'm at home, so I just pinch off at piece about an inch thick and form the patties from that. At my house I am all cast iron, so I set that baby to medium, wait for it to get hot, and place the 2 thinly formed patties in the middle, with a light sprinkle of salt. Really make sure they are like no more than a quarter inch thick, it will make for a more pleasurable eating experience later; also they gonna shrink up with you cook em, so they won't stay that big. I like for them to be pretty crisp because it aids in enhancing the texture of the overall sandwich; a nice contrast to the peanut butter, bread and maple.

Once those patties are done set them aside and mix your peanut butter and maple syrup together. I have found the perfect ratio is 1/4 cup peanut butter, to 3 and a half tablespoons of maple. Per. Sandwich. I'm serious. Really mix them together as well, till the maple is fully incorporated; no slacking off in this department. Then spread the mix onto both sides of the bread, splitting it equally.

Now, place your patties side by side on one slice, and then place the other slice of bread on top; spread side down. . . Duh.

Let your sandwich hang out, and go wipe up (Or save, as I do) excess oil from cooking the sausages - leaving it in will make the sandwich too greasy, and a little soggy - and turn your burner back to medium. Meanwhile go ahead and spread a thin layer of mayo over the entirety of one side of the sandwich, and then place it into the hot pan, mayo side down. . . Again, duh.

Get yourself another dollop of mayo and put it onto the bare side of this sandwich and just hang out. Remember to be patient, we just turned the burner back on. When I start to hear it sizzling, I usually check about a minute after that, and then keep an eye until it's that beautiful golden brown color.

Flip and repeat.

When it's all done, I like to cut it in half (I prefer diagonal), plate, and then add a little extra syrup on top and eat with a fork. OR, put the syrup on the side and dip. OR! Just put the syrup on top and get freaky with your eating, use bare hands, get syrup all over your mouth. ENJOY!

Before I go, though, there is one last thing I want to convey. Creating dishes is so much damn fun, and I hope that you get that impulse to try it out for yourself. . . Yes, some things you make may taste terrible, especially at the beginning. After some time though, you start to get a feel for how to pair flavors, and you get really good at making guesses, because they are educated. That mocktail I was working on, has fish sauce in it. Yeah, freaking fish sauce. It tastes phenomenal though, and that ability to know I could use it with these other flavors, came from building on that knowledge that I came upon, when I figured out I could put peanut butter in a dish with breakfast sausage.

I'm not saying you have to go out and become a professional cook, chef, food writer, whatever (Unless you want to). What I'm saying is learn how to play around with food as a creative outlet. Art doesn't just have to be a painting. Like most people feel stuff when I look at a sculpture or hear exquisitely played musical notation, but, we can be moved by taste as well. I was when I first bit into this sandwich, and have been many times since. If photography, or watercolors aren't your thing, maybe flavor is your artistic avenue?