Pork roll sandwich controversy in NJ: What to know about beloved breakfast meat from Garden State

When gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill recently dismissed New Jersey’s beloved pork roll as “gross,” she fired up the Garden State’s griddle.

“Who eats pork roll? I think that’s gross,” Sherill jokingly said during an appearance on the “Zach Sang Show” podcast. “I’ve had this fight multiple times. Nobody wants pork roll.”

The Virginia-born Democrat’s offhand remark, made during a casual conversation that caught the attention of Republican rival Jack Ciattarelli and went viral on social media, reignited one of New Jersey’s oldest cultural battles: the pork roll versus Taylor ham war.

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“I think it was a very short-sighted remark,” New York City chef Michael Brafman said.

Brafman spent years cooking in New Jersey before opening The Sandwich Board on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. 

Meat of the matter

Pork roll — or Taylor ham, depending on which side of the Raritan River you’re on — is New Jersey’s signature breakfast meat. 

Invented in the 1850s by Trenton businessman John Taylor, it’s a smoky, salty processed pork product fried, sliced and slapped onto an egg and cheese sandwich, according to the website Eater.

“I tell people it’s like a smoked salami — sliced thin and usually grilled into sandwiches,” Brafman said. “In lieu of sliced ham on an egg sandwich, people will get a Taylor ham.”

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And, yes, there’s a proper way to prepare it, Brafman said.

“It’s got to have the snip in it, so it doesn’t curl when you cook it.”

In New York City, bacon, egg and cheese is the breakfast sandwich of choice. But across the Hudson River, it’s pork roll country.

“Bacon, egg and cheese is the bacon, egg and cheese of New York City,” Brafman said. “Pork roll, egg and cheese is the bacon, egg and cheese of New Jersey.”

At Brafman’s former New Jersey shop, it was non-negotiable. 

“It was 100% a staple of the menu,” Brafman told Fox News Digital. “We sold more pork roll than we sold bacon.”

By any other name

Pork roll is so popular in New Jersey there’s even an annual festival celebrating the meat in Trenton, about 60 miles southwest of the city.

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But the state is split about what to call it.

“My understanding is that northern New Jerseyans call it pork roll and southern New Jerseyans call it Taylor ham,” Brafman said.

The sandwich shop owner said he understands why it’s so beloved, regardless of the name.

“It’s a great pork product,” he said. “It’s lightly spiced. It tastes great.”

Brafman said he loves pork roll because he grew up eating salami and eggs.

“There’s room for all of it,” he said. “It doesn’t need to be so polarizing.”

Now that his New York shop has been open for a year, Brafman said he plans to introduce pork roll as a breakfast special.

“Either way, it’s just an awesome egg sandwich.”

“I know there are tons of people in New York [who] know what it is,” he said. 

“Either way, it’s just an awesome egg sandwich.”