In Don’t Mess with My Bacon, Egg and Cheese, New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells poetically describes the greasy, street cart breakfast sandwich as “a secret handshake that New Yorkers exchange, not with one another, but with the city.” Wells contends the BEC should stay a simple staple, steering clear of gourmet variations found on trendy brunch menus.
Across the Hudson, New Jerseyans skip the bacon and heap on juicy slices of Taylor ham—or Taylor pork roll, or simply pork roll, depending on your longitude. Listen to someone order this sandwich and you’ll learn which half of the state they call home faster than you can say, “What exit?” Taylor ham enthusiasts hail from the north, pork roll purists from the south. (Since New Jersey Monthly is based in Morristown, we say Taylor ham.) Technically, Taylor ham is a brand—like mistakenly calling all tissues Kleenexes—so South Jersey folks are correct to call it pork roll. All Taylor ham is pork roll, but not all pork roll is Taylor ham.
Thicker than deli ham and often mistaken for Canadian bacon, pork roll is cured, smoked and pre-cooked, then vacuum-sealed and shipped to delis and grocers throughout the state—even some lucky parts of Eastern Pennsylvania. Just before slapping it on the griddle, cooks make the signature slits to prevent the slices from rising, forming a decadent star fit for the state flag.
For the New Jersey palate, the deliciously unhealthy combination of salt and nitrates found in the cured pork roll is the perfect complement to fried egg and cheese on a Kaiser roll. While New Yorker’s might prefer bacon, and those south of the Mason-Dixon Line crave sausage and a biscuit, the Garden State will always choose Taylor ham/pork roll.
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What’s the best place in the state to get a breakfast sandwich? Let us know in the comments!
Is it still Taylor ham egg and cheese if you use a brand of pork roll other than Taylor. ???!!!!!!!
Well, it depends where you are from in New Jersey. You’re right that not all pork roll is the Taylor brand, but colloquially many Northern New Jerseyans, like myself, refer to all pork roll as Taylor Ham. In the North, the brand name is ubiquitous with the product, just like Band-Aids and Kleenex.
Taylor is a brand it’s not ham its pork roll. It says so on the label. Case is a brand as is Trenton & Allentown PORK ROLL!!!! You north Jersey people are just plain
We call it Taylor ham because our guy, John Taylor, invented it. Plain truth.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork_roll
That makes no sense it’s pork roll! Look at the label. It’s made from pork byproducts.