It’s easy to snub Spam, but why would you after tasting these little sliders. Marinated in a spicy blend of sesame, soy and chilis, you might be reminded of the Hawaiian snack food masubi. But these little sandwiches are topped with a warm, oozing quail egg and a dollop of gingered mayonnaise– making them something else altogether. Sesame Marinated Spam Sliders with Quail Egg and Gingered Mayonnaise.
Sesame Marinated Spam Sliders with Quail Egg and Gingered Mayonnaise
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Ingredients
- 1 cup soy sauce
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 6 clove garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
- 2 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
- 1 Thai bird chili, minced or to taste
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 1 can Spam
- cooking spray, as needed
- 16 fresh quail eggs
- fine grained sea salt
- 16 slider buns, toasted or grilled as you prefer
- 16 slider sized pieces of crisp lettuce,
Directions
Prepare the marinade: In a medium sauce pan set over medium heat add the soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, rice vinegar, sesame oil, toasted sesame seeds, 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger and minced chili. Cook without boiling until the sugar dissolves, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to come to room temperature.
Make the mayonnaise: Add 1 tablespoon of the cool marinade and the remaining 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger to the mayonnaise. Mix well, set aside covered and refrigerated until ready to use.
Prepare the Spam: Cut the Spam crosswise into 8 slices, keeping them together in a block and then cut them all in half clengthwise to form 16 nearly square pieces. Lay the pieces in a single layer in the bottom of a shallow dish. Pour the remaining cooled marinade over the slices and marinate 2 to 4 hours.
Drain the Spam slices, discard marinade. Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium high heat. Spray with a light coating of cooking spray. Brown the Spam slices on one side until nicely colored, about 3 minutes. Flip each piece and repeat the browning. Transfer to a tray, loosely covered with foil.
Fry the eggs: Using a fresh non-stick or cast iron skillet set over medium heat. Spray with a light coating of cooking spray. Carefully crack each quail egg onto the surface, gently frying the eggs with a few grains of salt on top, until the whites have set but the yolks are still runny 2 to 3 minutes. Work in batches if necessary.
Assemble the sliders: Lay the bottoms of the slider buns on a work surface in front of you. Spread a dollop of the gingered mayonaisse onto each. Top this with a piece of lettuce followed by the a Spam slice. Gently place a warm fried quail egg on top, taking care to keep the yolk intact. Add the top to the slider and serve.
Kudos for using words that are much more exacting and compelling than best. I especially liked:
“Lazy writing on the other hand always, always ends up being “the best”. In fact lazy writing is so good that it usually has the phrase “the best” written all over it!” That’s what English Teachers call “telling rather than showing.” Another fave of mine is the reference to sesame seeds growing in the back yard; I have a pasta tree in mine.
If you’re a fan of good, down-to-earth writing about food (the antidote to pretentious foodie writing). check out the “Not Your Average Food Writing” edition of Talking Writing online magazine. After all, a lot of food does grow on trees … not at fancy ‑schmacy stores.
… like the phrase “Because creating the best anything takes a helluva a lot more than a great recipe and limited vocabulary”. GREG
You are just hilarious, Greg! Love it!
Now that sounds like one delicious lace cookie recipe!
Joanne Chang. I’ve met her a few times, and in addition to being a great pastry chef, she’s a really sweet woman. Making these awesome, best of the best cookies soon! — S
Chuckling a bit. Just published a post today about the BEST EVER Mashed Potatoes…what the heck is that anyhow?
So I always laugh at the Best Evers. In whose mind? But I must say…I do love the look of these cookies!
I just made some chocolate chip cookies recently that were better than the NYT and Jacques Torres. Molasses, brown butter and good chocolate? Oh yes, they are.
well i’m NOT an outstanding shopper it seems … and dang it all anyway, i missed the memo about planting black sesame seeds in my garden this year … BUT i will haul my a$$ outta bed to make these BEST EVER Sesame Lace Cookies . .. but only because you admitted to being a curmudgeon, albeit a cute one …
Fun cookies Greg. They seem pretty perfect to me. Like the seeds 🙂
Curmudgeon. Love that word. These cookies don’t zactly appeal to me on first glance, but you set up a taste intrigue and if there is ever a day I have those black sesame seeds on hand, I will try and let you know how bestest they are. Here’s a real question. Most people make chocolate chip cookies using the nestle recipe on back. But, WHY, I ask myself WHY all the time, that recipe yields anywhere between horrible and great and lot in between.
P.S. My blog is on hold for about another week and will redebut on wordpress. It’s nearly finished, and I’m excited.
I am dying laughing, this is THE BEST post!! 😉 But seriously, it did make me extraordinarily happy reading it. And tomorrow? I’m making these cookies. Best idea ever, right?
God love ya for this post. I get so irked by post titles that proclaim “the best” of anything. First of all, it’s all a matter of taste and second of all, I am not really sure I have a second of all. It’s annoying, in any case. You don’t want to risk annoying me!
But I do love sesame and I think I might like these cookies. Lucky for me, I live in Boston!
what?
These cookies remind me of those lacy cheese wheels because they are so thin. Is the texture brittle crispy or does it have some chew to it?
But I’m pretty sure that I do NOT have black sesame growing in my back yard.
I like the rant…in Lebanon, a lot of eateries go by ” King of something” like potatoes or falafel or shawarma. No queen ever, unfortunately.
Greg, I think it’s good that you’ve got an opinion about “The Best.” If you didn’t I wouldn’t know that 1) it would be good to avoid using The Best if I want to keep you as a friend 2) it’s incredibly annoying for the search engines 3) it’s lazy.
Thanks for The Best Lesson Ever!
Having done more than my fair share of posts on The Quest for “the best” and more than a few on Mr. Torres’ recipe I must also agree that the superlative does get thrown around a bit too much. However, the irony of this entire post is not lost on me. Good job!
How dare you make cookies when I’m out of town!
I make a great chocolate chip cookies with…wait for it…chickpeas! And it’s one of my favorites. But the best? No. Great post, Greg.
Okay… first off… I want Jacques Torres to just dip me in chocolate.(even if his recipe is all over the internet) He is fantastic and offers some of the BEST “how-to videos and explanations” out there for chocolatiers. love him and what he does.
Second… love cookies that, “whoops!” practically forget the flour. crispy, buttery and delicious. Thanks for passing on a GREAT cookie recipe. — megan
P.S… I always appreciate my math skills being tested. keeps me sharp!
Nice work Greg. I’ve really tried to avoid using phrases like “BEST EVER” when I write because it seems kind of pompous to say that whatever i’m making on any given day is the best thing ever…
That said… I’m sure I’ve done it… oh well, your point is super-valid.
And because I’ve never seen any other black sesame cookies… those are definitely the best ever in my world!
I’ve eyed the recipe in the Flour cookbook, and now you’ve confirmed it. This is definitely one to try!
For some reason the cookies that get the designation of “best” seem to be chocolate chip cookies and the occasional sugar or oatmeal cookie. As much as I adore those I think it’s nice to see some variety on the old classics.
Beautiful: thin, crisp, perfect lace cookies — all this from a cookie curmudgeon? — keep baking- from Bijouxs!
The best damn cookies are the ones where you open your cupboards and you have everything you need to satisfy your sweet tooth.
I so appreciate this post Greg — both for the “rant” and for the BEST Black Sesame Lace Cookie EVER!!Given their provenance, I am quite sure they are “the best” — now we will see how many other “the best” Black Sesame Lace Cookies come out of the woodwork!!
I have the black sesame seeds but no orange juice, so I guess mine would be the Most Half-assed Black Sesame Cookies Ever. But I was going for whole-assed. Darn.
oh honey you are funny.
i thought (b4 reading on) that these were a cc cookie gone wrong (judging from that 1st photo) and i was thinking ‘what the heck did he do to get them so flat?’
later realized all is good.
but can i say, that i really do have the perfect tomato pie. no no i do.
its the most copied, stolen, hi-jacked recipe of all time of mine.
But my chocolate chip cookies really are the best. At least in MY opinion.
They are certainly the PRETTIEST cookies ever!
I happen to have black sesame seeds in the freezer. So there. Neener neener.
I am always wary of such superlatives in newspaper recipe sections..but from you Greg I’d believe it. Can’t wait to try these
I don’t have orange juice, and I don’t have black sesame seeds in the cupboard or growing in my backyard.
But I will run to the grocery store, buy the missing ingredients and try these hum-dingers out for myself!
These do sound like THE BEST Black Sesame Lace Cookies EVER… but that’s mostly because they’re also the only Black Sesame Lace Cookies I’ve ever seen. 🙂 (That said, they do sound awesome and I must make them soon… black sesame is like crack to me.)
PS — I agree wholeheartedly with your rant, mostly because “The Best” and “The Most Amazing” is usually part of a larger set of stupid SEO tricks some bloggers like to use. It’s annoying, and it tells me the blogger cares more about Google than they do about their readers. Huge pet peeve of mine. /rant
I do have all the ingredients for this on hand. I must be an outstanding shopper!
Cookies suck. Oh, not yours of course! Yours look awesome (wait, that sounded kinda dirty)