Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Have finished salt-only bacon and optional homemade ketchup ready. Over medium heat in a roomy skillet, cook the bacon until mostly cooked but still soft. Lift it onto a plate and leave the rendered fat in the skillet. Reserve a little fat for greasing a separate casserole dish if using one.
- If using the mushrooms, onion or both, add them to the bacon fat and cook until soft. Stir over the bottom of the skillet; lower the heat if onion edges darken before the centers soften.
- Add the ground meat, break into small crumbles and cook until browned, mixing with any vegetables. Take the skillet off the heat.
- Stir in the eggs, sea salt, and optional ketchup and prepared mustard. Turn the mixture from the bottom until evenly combined, with no pockets of plain egg.
- Heat the oven to 400°F. Spread the meat evenly in the skillet if it is oven-safe at that temperature. Otherwise, lightly grease a suitable casserole dish with the reserved bacon fat and transfer the mixture.
- Spread the grated cheddar over the meat. Cut the reserved bacon into small pieces and scatter over the cheese.
- Bake for about twenty minutes, until the cheese is melted, the bacon is crisp, and the egg-bound meat mixture is set through the center rather than wet with liquid egg.
- Let stand for five minutes before scooping or cutting six portions. Serve with optional homemade cultured sour cream. Cool leftovers promptly in shallow containers, refrigerate or freeze portions, keep sour cream separate, and reheat until hot through the center.
Notes
Ready components: Use finished salt-only bacon, still uncooked when the skillet steps begin, and optional ready homemade ketchup. Their curing and resting time is separate from the casserole time. Four slices is the recipe amount, not a fixed ounce or gram weight.
Optional flavors: Mushrooms, onion, ketchup, mustard and sour cream are optional. Keep the measured meat, eggs, cheddar, bacon and salt. The sour cream is a serving topping, not part of the egg mixture.
Mustard: Use plain prepared mustard made from allowed ingredients such as mustard seeds, water, cider or white vinegar and salt. The displayed tablespoons are not dry mustard powder.
GAPS: Full GAPS after cheddar and the other foods have been introduced. Natural cheese follows well-introduced yogurt, sour cream and kefir in the 2020 book. Use natural cheddar without added starch. This cheese-and-egg bake belongs with Full GAPS after those foods have been introduced.
Timing: Thirty minutes preparation includes chopping and the skillet cooking. Twenty minutes is the oven bake, followed by a five-minute stand, giving fifty-five minutes total. Ready bacon, ketchup and optional cultured cream preparation are not included. Check the actual melted cheese, crisp bacon and set center.
Scaling: 2× doubles all ten numeric ingredient amounts and plans twelve servings. Use sufficient pan area, such as two similar dishes, rather than crowding the mixture into a much deeper layer. Keep the bake as a starting schedule and check the center; do not automatically double baking time.
Storage: Cool portions promptly in shallow containers, cover and refrigerate or freeze. Keep the optional cultured cream separate. Thaw frozen portions in the refrigerator and reheat until hot through the center.