Cook a Breakfast

• TASK: Cook a meal in order to ensure that you are able to eat something besides cereal for breakfast.
• CONDITIONS: Given a pan, a stove, a spatula, a pair of tongs, a mixing bowl, a whisk or spoon for stirring, a pad of butter, 2 eggs, 3 strips of bacon, half a cup of pancake mix, and water.
• STANDARD: You must be able to cook bacon, scrambled eggs, and pancakes.

The most difficult part of cooking breakfast is timing everything so that it all finishes at about the same time but without overcooking anything. You can cook things in parallel if you have multiple heating elements and multiple pans or a large enough pan, but be sure to shift between the bacon and eggs regularly as it’s easy to lose track of time and burn one or the other or both! The pancakes are the most forgiving of being ignored so if you decide to cook in parallel, focus on the eggs, the bacon, and then the pancakes.

Bacon
Cook time is about 10 minutes

• Turn the stove heating element to medium heat.
• Check the readiness of the pan by flicking drops of water onto the surface of the pan about every minute. Once the water drops boil on contact with the pan, it’s ready for the bacon.
• Lay your strips of bacon on the pan
• Enjoy the sizzle and the smell
• Use the tongs to flip the bacon every few minutes until you’re happy that it’s cooked to the consistency you prefer, but keep in mind that the bacon will firm up and darken when it cools.
• Remove the bacon from the stove and place it on a napkin so that excess grease can drain.
• Either safely dispose of the grease OR leave it in the pan and use it to make dirty eggs.

Scrambled Eggs
Cook time is about 5-10 minutes. Slower and at a lower heat is better.

• Turn the stove heating element to low heat.
• Put the pad of butter or bacon grease in the pan to melt.
• Crack the eggs into a small bowl or cup and mix them.
• Once the butter or bacon grease is melted, pour the mixed eggs into the pan.
• Stir every 30 to 60 seconds. You can go longer, but I’ve found that the more frequently you stir the eggs, the better they taste.
• Optionally, add cheese to the eggs as you stir.
• Once the eggs have firmed up to the desired consistency, remove them from the stove.

Pancakes
Each side takes about 5 minutes to cook.

• Turn the stove heating element to medium-high heat.
• Put the pancake mix in the mixing bowl and add water. You can eyeball the amount of water. If your mixture is runny, then the pancakes end up thin. If your mixture is thick, then the pancakes end up fluffy.
• Pour the pancake mixture onto the pan so that it forms the shape and size of the pancake you want.
• Optionally, add blueberries or chocolate chips to the pancake right after pouring it.
• Keep an eye on the cooking pancake. When bubbles start to form on the top side, flip the pancake.
• After flipping it, give the pancake about 5 minutes and remove it from the pan.