Howard Hanna isn’t yet sure what to call the processed porcine meat offered at King G (500 E. 18th St., KCMO, kinggkc.com).
“In North Jersey, it’s Taylor Ham,” the chef says. “In the south side of the state, they call it pork roll.”
Whatever the name ends up being (“Trenton Pork Roll” is also a contender, being favored in the capital), it’s the base for a mean egg and cheese sandwich at the deli side of the new Crossroads beer bar and deli. Taylor ham—think of it as a salty mega-hotdog or a round and porky Spam—is a Mid-Atlantic deli staple, one of several simple but uncommon sandos on offer at King G, along with trendy Japanese egg salad sandwiches and a muffaletta.
The breakfast sandwich starts with thin slices of the pork roll, which are fried on a simple induction burner and topped with a slice of American cheese after the flip.
“We tried a better cheese from a local maker, and it was just too much,” Hanna says. “I probably hadn’t touched a Kraft single in, like, twenty years, but it’s right for this sandwich.”
