The Hobo Sandwich

So there was all that talk recently about the egg and cheese sandwich. Hell, there was even a tour, which I sadly could not attend.

And while I do enjoy the occasional ECS, it is not my favorite breakfast sandwich. But it’s almost there. Almost.

It just needs a little spud love.

The hobo sandwich. Have you ever heard of it? No? Well you should, because it is a damn fine sandwich. It puts meat on your bones, hair on your chest, and other macho sayings to justify how great this sandwich is.

I discovered the hobo years ago. Almost a decade now.

A decade of hobo love. This is a glorious thing.

At the time I was working in Baltimore, and the Monday morning routine in the office was to fax our breakfast orders when we first got in so that they would arrive at the conclusion of the weekly meetings. There were people getting pancake platters, french toast, which don’t get me wrong isn’t bad. But I’d rather eat those in a restaurant, not on the conference table. So sandwiches were the only answer. There were basic ones, fancy ones, and the stand out… at least in my eyes. Hash browns in a sandwich? Unheard of. So I ordered it, saltpepperketchup.

Not bad. Not bad at all. And from then on, the Hobo was my go to sandwich for the morning meetings. And because it was only once a week (at least), I never tired of ordering it. But then I quit that job and moved back home. Where I forgot about it, at least for a little while.

There’s a bagel shop by my parent’s hour that makes the Hobo, only they call it by another name… Zebra or Patriot. I could never remember which was which. The difference between the two is the inclusion of meat, which I almost always didn’t include. Then there was the deli near my job in New City… and another deli in New City, only this one was by the courthouse. Needless to say, the hobo was available for my consumption.

But here, no. Not that I’m aware of anyways. So to remedy this hobo lacking situation, I’ve started to make them at home. Pretty easy, and you can (and should) make them as well.

Bread – It has to be a hard roll. It’s the standard for this sandwich. Be daring and have it on a bagel, but it’s just not the same. Butter it up and brown on the grill/frying pan. Or use the toaster. Just make sure it’s wide enough to fit, our you’ll have to find a way to take it out in one piece.

Eggs – Fried. I suppose you could scramble it up, but then you’d have egg chunks. There are no egg chunks in this sandwich. Just a flattened egg thing.

Cheese – I’m pretty sure these delis have been using American, and that’s what I’ve used on mine. I throw the cheese on top of the egg in the pan just before it’s done so you have some good melting going on.

Hash brown – It’s gotta be the patty. There is no other way. Loose potatoes, just like egg chunks would inevitably fall out and make a mess of your suit. And you wouldn’t want to pay that dry cleaning bill… would you? But this is under the assumption you’re having this while wearing a suit. You could wear your birthday suit and I really couldn’t judge you on that… except it would be weird if you tried to get dry cleaned. Just saying.

Saltpepperketchup – Your call. I like it. Gotta season somewhere.