Egg Cake (part 2) -- A Medieval Syrian Recipe

Yesterday I wrote about my first attempt at making a medieval Syrian egg cake.  They turned out more like patties and I wasn't convinced I had done it right.  You can read about it here.

I tried it again.  This time I started with 1/2 pound of my homemade sausage (flavor blend #1; you can see the post about it here) and I didn't use cheese inside (honestly, because I forgot!).

First I browned the sausage, breaking it up into smallish pieces.  This was in a big frypan.  While the sausage cooked, I started heating up two small frypans.  I used medium low heat, 3 out of 10.  Once the sausage was ready, I put about one quarter into each small pan, which had been lighted coated with olive oil. 



Then I poured three beaten eggs over the meat in each pan.  This filled the pan nicely.



At this point I patiently waited for the eggs to cook all the way through to the top.  I was concerned about the bottom burning or scorching but I saw no signs of that happening.  It seems the medium low heat was just right.

The recipe says:

Fill the pan with the flavored eggs, leave until dried out, and overturn into a bowl.  Turn it over and fry the other side for a long time.

I wondered how I would do this bowl maneuver; my thought was that any runny egg bits would smear all over the bowl and be difficult to cook.  Now I think "leave until dried out" means really, truly wait until the eggs are cooked all the way through, but I didn't think that when I was right there cooking. 

I managed to wait for the eggs to be cooked all the way for one pan and almost all the way for the other.  Instead of using a bowl, I used the large pan that the sausage was cooked in:  I just flipped the egg cake over into the heated pan.



This is the one that I didn't cook until the top was entirely dry, and you can see that some of the liquid egg splashed out and made the cake look sloppy.  After that egg cooked, I simply cut it off with the spatula to tidy up the cake's look.

The second egg cake was flipped into the pan of the first egg cake.  It was nearly dry on top so there wasn't much that slopped and the cake fit in the pan nicely.



I cooked them both just a little while longer to make sure they were done, then I served them up with toast and the rest of the sausage on the side.  I sprinkled the tops with the spice mix I had used before and some Parmesan cheese.

Homemade Swedish rye bread.  I love cooking.

The Verdict

Definitely more cake-like in its form.  I believe I achieved what the recipe's author intended this time.  

The flavor was fine -- not overcooked eggs and still moist.  The spice mix and cheese on top were good, although I wish I had remembered to put the cheese inside the cake, too.  

The sausage added a nice spice "zing" that I had wished for the first time I tried the recipe.  It still could have used more spice and I think an asiago cheese would have been better.  To me, eggs are pretty bland and need more flavor to make them interesting.  

This would be good to serve to multiple people by cutting it into wedges.  I think it would work for a buffet brunch meal; you could adjust the flavorings to suit your guests just like you would an omelet.  

Success!  Both in flavor and in form.