German · Quick Meals

Strammer Max

Open sandwich of rye bread topped with ham and two fried eggs, ready in 15 minutes.

15 min total Serves 2 servings Easy
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Strammer Max

Photograph credit: Strammer Max auf blauem Teller, Ausschnitt-2433 (image of Strammer Max on Wikidata… by Raimond Spekking · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence

Strammer Max: Step by Step

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  1. Butter the bread to the edges and lay on the ham.

  2. Heat the frying butter in a pan over medium heat and fry the eggs for 3 minutes, covering for the last minute if the whites are not set.

  3. Slide 2 eggs onto each sandwich.

  4. Top with the chives and pepper and serve with the gherkins.

Keep an Eye on These

  1. Butter the bread to the edges.
  2. Fry the eggs gently so the yolks stay soft.
  3. Eat at once while the egg is warm.

About This Recipe

Butter the bread to the edges. That is the quick tip behind Strammer Max, an open sandwich of buttered dark bread, ham and a fried egg, which is the classic late supper in a German pub. It takes ten minutes and tastes better than it looks.

Use a good rye or mixed grain bread, sliced about 1 cm thick, and butter it right to the corners. A thin film of butter keeps the juices of the egg out of the crumb. Lay slices of ham over the bread, folding them to make a thick layer. Fry the eggs in butter over medium heat, so the whites set and the edges crisp while the yolks stay runny. Cover the pan for 1 minute if the whites need help.

Slide the eggs on the ham and finish with black pepper, chives and a few slices of gherkin on the side. Some cooks add a thin slice of raw onion under the ham. Eat with a knife and fork. The soft yolk runs into the bread, and the bread soaks it up.

What to Serve It With

Gherkins · Beer · Pickled onions

Leftovers

Best fresh.

Strammer Max Nutrition Facts

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (how much frying oil the food takes up cannot be known from the recipe). Why some recipes have none.

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Compiled by Turab

Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked.

First published ; last changed .