David Burke - David Burkes New American Classics

N ot so very long ago, for many people, labor was hard and demanding, with work beginning at dawn, so that a hearty, nourishing meal was a necessary beginning to difficult twelve-or fifteen-hour days. Meat and starch were featured with fruit, dairy, and sometimes even vegetables as side dishes. The foods were often grown, raised, or created by those who consumed them with only a few items purchased to fill out the larder. That was certainly a long, long way from an Egg McMuffin and a Styrofoam container of coffee to go.

So much convenience has replaced the slow-cooked and lovingly prepared breakfasts of the past. Oatmeal and other hot cereals are now either in ready-to-eat packets or are instant preparations. Juice is either frozen or in ready-to-pour cardboard containers. Potatoes come precut, precooked, or preseasoned. Eggs and typical breakfast meats are considered taboo by many because of cholesterol and fat concerns. In addition, every fast-food stop, convenience store, gas station, and corner deli features its own version of a quick-and-easy breakfast. Health concerns quickly get lost in all of this convenience.

For me, a quietly eaten, balanced breakfast offering some protein, fiber, and carbohydrates with a little fat and cholesterol is far better for your health and mental state than a doughnut and coffee on the run. It always stays with you for a better part of the day with no midmorning hunger pangs leading you to a quick fix at a snack bar.

Unfortunately, nowadays, about the only time a good, solid breakfast is eaten is late in the morning on weekends when it's no longer called breakfast. Either at home or in a restaurant, brunch has become a very social occasion with hearty main courses and, often, an appetizer and dessert added to make a many-course meal. The food is often preceded by light cocktails, whereas the farmer of yore might have ended his hearty breakfast with a stiff shot of whiskey or brandy to warm his body before going out to work.

For me, nothing is better than a hearty meal early in the morning with my children. Many of the recipes that follow come from just such times. My boys have enormous appetites, and I'm always trying to think of new ways to satisfy them. And I often make more than necessary because many Second Day Dishes have evolved from my own, at-home, breakfast repertoire.

I've gathered some pretty basic and familiar ingredients to create my first breakfast classics. One of my favorites, Eggs Benedict, has been on American menus for almost one hundred years. To me, it perfectly combines American ingenuity with some fine, French touches. In France, I never saw hollandaise sauce in the morning, nor did I see English muffins on those magnificent hotel buffets in Great Britain. Somehow, an American cheflegend says it was a chef at the grand, turn-of-the-century Delmonico's Restaurantdevised the dish for a demanding client named Mrs. Benedict and pulled many ordinary components together to make a delicious, now-classic, breakfast-brunch dish.

The egg is, to me, a perfect food. A total meal in its own container. Eggs are high in cholesterol, fat, and sodium, so they have come in for much criticism. I personally feel that they can be enjoyed on an occasional morning. As with all things in life, moderation is the key.

The evolution of the Contemporary and Second Day Dishes becomes pretty clear when you think of the way we now eat. The Contemporary Dish brings together the elements of Eggs Benedict in an up-to-date fashion and then adds a little ethnic splash with a Latino salsa. The Second Day Dish uses a bit from both dishes to make an easy but very au courant meal.