B.E.C. with Tabasco Cheese Sauce

Long before it was shouted across a bodega counter, the bacon, egg, and cheese was a logistical solution.

Industrial workers in 19th-century London needed something hot, fast, and portable, protein, fat, bread, eaten with one hand and very little ceremony. The bacon butty. When the idea crossed the Atlantic, it found a new home in the American breakfast economy, especially after 1920s agriculture marketing campaigns convinced the country that bacon was less a food than a moral obligation.

By the 1940s and ’50s, the sandwich had settled into its permanent residence in New York City diners and corner delis: eggs, bacon, and American cheese on a Kaiser roll, wrapped tight, priced low, engineered to move quickly from griddle to table or griddle to sidewalk.

This version is not built for motion.

Here, the bacon is thick and deeply crisp, the eggs folded soft but structured, and the cheese replaced with a quick cream cheese sauce fortified with enough Tabasco to wake up the entire morning. It’s spicy, tangy, and unapologetically rich, melting into the layers, drifting toward the edges, and volcano-ing out the top. Everything is stacked on a toasted bagel sturdy enough to hold it, though not necessarily to contain it. This is a sandwich that assumes you are staying put.

Eat it on the sofa on a slow Saturday morning, foil still crinkled underneath, while watching a couple episodes of Seinfeld. The show, like the sandwich, is unmistakably New York—dense, conversational, slightly neurotic, and deeply invested in the small logistics of everyday life. Ideally, nothing else is planned. The sauce will drip. A crumb will land somewhere between the cushions. At some point, you will pause the episode to adjust your grip.

This is not breakfast on the go. This is breakfast that has decided you’re not going anywhere.

The Recipe

Makes enough for 1 B.E.C. with leftover cheese sauce.

Ingredients

For the sandwich

• 1 bagel, split

• Butter, for toasting

• 2 thick-cut slices bacon

• 2 large eggs

• Salt

• Pepper

• 1–2 tablespoons Tabasco cream cheese sauce

For the Tabasco cheese sauce

• 1 (8 oz) block cream cheese

• 2–3 tablespoons Tabasco, or to taste

• ½ teaspoon garlic powder

• ¼ teaspoon pepper

• Salt, to taste

Directions

1. Bake the bacon.
   Heat the oven to 400°F. Lay the bacon on a foil-lined sheet pan and bake until deeply browned and crisp at the edges, 12–18 minutes depending on thickness. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside.

2. Toast the bagel.
   Toast until golden and lightly crisp. Lightly butter the cut sides if you’d like. Set aside while you cook the eggs.

3. Cook the eggs.
   Whisk the eggs with a pinch of salt and pepper. Melt a small knob of butter in a nonstick skillet over medium-low heat and pour in the eggs. Let them cook undisturbed until the bottom is set but the top is still soft. Using a spatula, fold the eggs over themselves once or twice to form a thick, soft layer sized to your bagel. Remove from heat.

Tabasco cheese sauce

Place the cream cheese in a small saucepan over low heat (or microwave in short bursts), stirring until smooth and warm. Stir in the Tabasco, garlic powder, pepper, and a pinch of salt.

This makes more than you need. Refrigerate the leftovers for up to 4–5 days. Warm gently to use. A spoonful is excellent stirred into scrambled eggs, melted into grilled cheese, or spread onto anything that could use a little heat and excess.

Assemble

Layer on the folded eggs and the baked bacon and then spoon a generous dollop of the warm Tabasco cream cheese sauce on top.

Serve

Serve immediately, ideally not far from a plate or a napkin. This is not a commuting sandwich. Eat it hot with more sauce on the side.