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Generous chef shares secrets to better brunches

By Kim Davaz

Brunch, says chef Ron Silver in “Bubby’s Brunch Cookbook” is a flexible, forgiving and fun meal both to make and to eat. His restaurant, Bubby’s in New York City, is anything but fancy. That’s not his style. He prefers to feed people with the kind of food he grew up eating at home.

While plenty of fancy people you’d recognize in a second eat at Bubby’s, there are also plenty of people you’d never notice. All of them love Bubby’s food. Silver is a generous soul, never hesitating to give out his recipes. He wants you to cook at home because it doesn’t get any better than eating together with family and friends. I like a generous cook.

Silver suggests menus for groups from two to 60 people, but it would be easy enough to multiply the recipes for even bigger crowds. An early chapter explains how to plan and pull off the perfect brunch, which can be tricky if you’re feeding a big group. Don’t worry. You can do it.

Brunch doesn’t have to be served in the morning or early afternoon. These recipes would be perfect for a breakfast-for-dinner meal. There are pancakes and every form of egg you can imagine. The meat chapter has recipes for making your own corned beef, pastrami, sausages, smoked trout and smoked salmon, plus ways to use them. You have to be pretty passionate about brunch to make your own corned beef for hash.

Many of the sides could be served at a regular dinner. Gingered Sweet Potato Home Fries would dress up any meal, from brunch to dinner. I’d eat them happily all by themselves.
The instructions are very detailed, making this a good cookbook for a novice cook. It would be a good starter cookbook for a middle or high school student.

Mr. Crunch is what Smith calls the traditional French sandwich, Croque Monsieur. It’s a cross between grilled cheese with ham and French toast. It might be a way to persuade trick-or-treaters to eat a little something healthy (especially if you use a whole-grain bread ) before they go out on Halloween.

This sandwich is a great basic idea to fiddle with as you like: Add some Dijon mustard to the mayonnaise, swap Gruyere for Cheddar or pepper jack, or use bacon instead of ham.

Mr. Crunch, AKA Croque Monsieur

Serves 1.

• 1 extra-large egg, well beaten
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon mayonnaise
• 2 slices good French bread ( 1/2 inch thick )
• 4 ounces thinly sliced smoked ham
• 2 slices Gruyere cheese (1/8 inch thick)
• 2 teaspoons unsalted butter

Using a whisk or fork, beat the egg and milk together in a small bowl or deep pie plate; set aside.
Spread 1/2 teaspoon of mayonnaise on each slice of bread.

Arrange the ham and cheese on 1 slice of bread. Top with the other slice of bread, mayonnaise-side down.

Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat until hot.

Melt 1 teaspoon of the butter in the hot skillet. Holding the sandwich together carefully between your fingers, dip both sides of the sandwich into the egg batter. Let any excess drip off.

Lay one side of the dipped sandwich in the skillet. Cook for 3 or 4 minutes, or until golden brown on the bottom. Using a spatula, flip the sandwich at the same time that you add the remaining teaspoon of butter to the skillet. Lift the sandwich to allow the butter to run underneath as it melts. Brown the sandwich on the second side for 4 to 5 minutes.

Cut the sandwich in half or quarters and serve immediately.

Kim Davaz writes a biweekly cookbook review column for The Register-Guard.