Bird's Nest Breakfast Sandwich (New Spin on an Old Favorite)

My grandma always made me what she called a "bird's nest" for breakfast when I was younger. This breakfast consisted of a fried egg buried within a slice of bread. That version of the recipe is a classic, but I have evolved the idea into what I think is the perfect breakfast sandwich.

It only takes about twenty minutes to prepare and requires very few ingredients. It also has room for infinite customization based on individual preferences and how unhealthy you want to be!

Let's get started!

Step 1: Gather Ingredients

Here's what you need:

1) Bread - Two slices - Any type will do. It would be fun to experiment with different, fancier breads.

2) Eggs - Two eggs - One for each slice of bread.

3) Bacon - Honestly as much as you want to attempt to fit between two slices of bread!

4) Cheese - I used two, but let's be honest, more cheese is better

5) Hot Sauce - I used a garlic Sriracha, but any hot sauce would do well here. You could also use ketchup or any other sauce you prefer with your eggs.

5) Other Seasonings - I think that extra seasoning is unnecessary for this recipe, but it's YOUR sandwich!

Step 2: Prepare the Bread

Carve a hole slightly larger than an egg yolk into each of the two slices of bread and drop one into a pan with a small amount of cooking oil. Lightly toast each side before the next step. Alternatively, you could use a toaster.

Hole making technique - Slightly bend the bread and take a sizable bite from the center. This will give you a nice, symmetrical hole in which to house your yolk.

Step 3: Start the Bacon

Timing is crucial! Be sure to put the bacon on the burner while the bread is in its preliminary toasting phase. I cook bacon for about ten minutes on medium heat, but this is highly variable based on your burner.

Step 4: Crack an Egg

Now simply crack an egg and pour its contents into the center of the hole. Likely there will be some egg white runoff. This is okay, as long as the yolk remains unbroken and comfortably in the center of the hole. Push the egg white runoff back onto the bread so it doesn't burn.

Let sit until you notice the egg white beginning to cook around the sides of the yolk (or about two minutes on medium heat). Flip carefully and do not slide the toast immediately after you flip it. Nobody likes a broken yolk!

Allow to cook for another two minutes or so. Now if you like your yolk to run, then this is probably sufficient cooking time. If you like a solid yolk, rinse and repeat.

Repeat this process twice, or if you're daring, do two slices of bread at the same time!

Egg Doneness Tip - Poke the center with a finger or spatula (after cooking both sides). How did the egg respond? If it jiggles, it will still be runny. Rock solid? You do the math.

Step 5: Don't Forget the Bacon!

Hopefully you have flipped the bacon at least once while you were tending to the eggs. I like my bacon to be cooked exactly halfway between raw and cremated, but it's up to you!

It is a conventional custom to blot your bacon with paper towels after cooking to soak up extra bacon grease. Make sure you don't pour the grease in your pan down the sink, it will congeal. Just dump it in the trash or save if you have other cooking plans that may call for it.

Step 6: Sandwich Assembly

This is pretty intuitive, but for the sake of completeness:

Toast then cheese then bacon then cheese then Sriracha then toast.

Did you get that?

No?

Let's go again:

1-Toast

2-Cheese

3-Bacon

4-Cheese

5-Sriracha

6-Toast

In that order!

Step 7: Enjoy

The pictures aren't great because the sandwich captivated my full attention.

Be warned, this can be messy depending on how runny your yolks turned out. Maybe not a breakfast-in-bed food item. If you don't like making a mess, it is acceptable to opt for a fork and knife at this point.

Or you could man up.

Either way