Pick's Place Archive

Sorry, pork roll is a Jersey staple. Otherwise known as "Taylor Ham".

July 23 at 10:07pm · Delete

Kelly Williams

hmmm.. never heard of it

July 23 at 10:07pm · Delete

salt + fat = delicious

July 23 at 10:11pm · Delete

Kelly Williams

lol k

July 23 at 10:12pm · Delete

Anywhere from Trenton on north, that'd be called a Taylor Ham, Egg and Cheese ~ and you always order it "with salt and pepper."

July 23 at 10:14pm · Delete

Kelly Williams

:) got it...

July 23 at 10:15pm · Delete

We call it that in these parts south of Trenton (Chreh-in) also.

July 23 at 10:16pm · Delete

The Taylor Pork Roll company invented this particular delicacy, pretty much unknown outside of NJ, *IN* Trenton.

The label clearly says "Taylor Pork Roll," but for reasons lost in history, folks in the northernm prt of the state call it "Taylor HAM," and further south it's just plain "Pork Roll" (omitting the "Taylor").

July 23 at 10:39pm · Delete

Oh, so maybe it's just ME who calls it "Taylor Ham" south of Trenton. You know, you can take the boy out of North Jersey, but.....

July 23 at 10:44pm · Delete

I'm just reporting what I've read on the internet.

Growing up in Plainfield (Central Jersey, but more north than south), I don't recall anyone talking about "Taylor Ham," but I did know and enjoy "pork roll." But, that was thirty and more years ago.

More recently, when living there for Katrina exile in fall-winter 2005-06, I saw referencces to Taylor Ham everywhere ~ at groceries and delis, on the menus at diners and sandwich shops, etc.

July 23 at 10:50pm · Delete

We always called it Taylor Ham in Bergen County. My wife, who grew up in Philly, never heard it called Taylor Ham until I said it. So maybe it is exclusively a North Jersey thing. I'll survey my SJ colleagues tomorrow and see what I can find out.

July 23 at 11:01pm · Delete

Wow. I feel like if anyone called the Pork Roll in the Rathskeller of the Dunellen Hotel "Taylor Ham," the universe would implode.

Fri at 1:47am · Delete

Huh, maybe it's a way-north North Jersey thing. Or maybe a NY thing that spilled over into the border counties.

Fri at 6:07am · Delete

wow...the most comments i ever generated!!!
of course its because that "sandwich" is THE BEST in the whole entire WORLD !!!

Fri at 8:28am · Delete

my vote and experience...Taylor ham in bergen county...
pork roll in ocean city NJ on the boardwalk in the 60's!
waynes vote..taylor ham...and he's from north jersey too
(actually hawthorne...passaic county on the border)...

Fri at 8:31am · Delete

Bev - glad you were finally able to weigh in on this important topic. It seems to me the consensus is, the farther north you go in NJ, the more likely you are to call it Taylor Ham.

Fri at 8:42am · Delete

of course..we are alsways right, arent we ???
we need to set the story straight! call Taylor ham ...
Taylor ham..it deserves respect! lol...hee hee!

Fri at 8:56am · Delete

My interpretation is that calling it "Taylor Ham" instead of "pork roll" is a growing trend moving from north to south. Must be so ~ a generation ago in the tri-county area of The Plainfields, it was simply pork roll, but now it's Taylor Ham all over that area (Sunset Diner on Rt 22, Sherban's in South Plainfield, the diner at 22 and Terrell Rd in ... Read MoreFanwood/Scotch Plains, a couple of places in Elizabeth, etc.)

I don't think it originated in NY, though. Taylor Pork Roll is a uniquely New Jersey phenomenon.

What did they call it at Rutgers in the 70s?

Fri at 2:52pm · Delete

Tom : My ability to recall facts re: Rutgers in the '70s is somewhat inconsistent. Your instinct is right on; Pork Roll is the sort of topic that should be burned into my consciousness along with Eksaa's birthday (Feb. 28th) and what the douchebag in line at Springsteen's 1975 show in The Barn said ("open the damn door"). Alas, it's gone. Jeff might be able to help.

Fri at 3:36pm · Delete

Bev - this is the longest string of comments I've ever had on my home page.

Fri at 3:37pm · Delete

I've never had one of those sandwiches, and I want one now SO BAD!!!!

Correction: I stated above that it is de rigeur to order this delicacy "with salt and pepper." Actually, my internet research told me that the preferred specification is "with salt, pepper, and ketchup," or "with SPK." My memory was clouded by the fact that I immeidately decided that I would want mine with salt and pepper but not ketchup. I've never been a ketchup-on-eggs person.

Fri at 3:42pm · Delete

I have no specific recollection of taylor ham / pork roll from the 70's Rutgers days. It would pale in comparison to Eksaa's birthday party, "open the damn door", and "this way - that way".

This has been some comment thread, we should archive it.

Fri at 3:44pm · Delete

At the legendary diner Hagler's in Oradell, you would sit at the counter, George the owner would walk over and glare at you. Then you would tell George your order, and he would turn around to Sam the grill man and yell: "TAYLOR HAM & EGG ON A HAHD ROLL!", and just as the word "roll" came out of his mouth, the sandwich would be on your plate.

Fri at 3:48pm · Delete

Ahh, the hahd roll. They're not the same now as when I was a child, though; I think the bakeries started using preservatives or something back in the 780s or 80s.

In the old days, they were much lighter and airier inside and crisper on the outside ~ not unlike New Orleans French bread. The downside is that this kind of bread goes stale within 24 ... Read Morehours.

So, in New Jersey, they started making rolls of the same size and shape that softer and denser and last longer. In New Orleans, the classic po-boy loaf is the same as ever, and all the restaurtants make a lot of bread pudding.

Fri at 5:16pm · Delete

There are still some Italian bakeries in South Philly and my town (home of many South Philly refugees) where they make the bread the old fashioned way. You only buy what you expect to consume that day.

Fri at 5:55pm · Delete

Dear God them hard rolls were great. We'd get them on Sundays after Mass, at Hy and Mim Glick's store. The were the only Jewish people in the world until I was in high school.

Fri at 6:51pm · Delete

Sounds like something out of a Philip Roth novel

Fri at 6:57pm · Delete

The Glicks ran the corner store (corner of Plainfield Ave. and W 5th St.) when we lived at Garndma's before you were born, Paul. They sold out and took over another store about a mile away on W 3rd, in a building that was once an A&P where Dad worked for a while in the 1930s. The former "Glick's" on our block then became "Norman's," which you might... Read More remember.

The Glicks had a son who was a very serious drummer who played with a jazz giant or two as a precocious young kid. I suppose you're aware of that ~ maybe that's why and how you remember the family store by name ~ ?

Fri at 7:44pm · Delete

Kathie Hagen

Taylor Pork Roll. That's how I grew up saying it. Didn't know any other way. My father is from Fairmount Avenue in Philadelphia & I grew up with Taylor Pork Roll (I'm a DC native & grew up here). I liked it but didn't love it. I AM a ketchup-on-eggs person, although my need for ketchup on anything has waned as I've aged (insomuch as I *have* aged... Read More...). Here in DC people had never heard of bagels until the 1980s, & even then they were relatively rare. How about scrapple? My Philly father introduced that to DC too I think. That MUST be eaten with ketchup.

Fri at 7:49pm · Delete

Never had ketchup on scrapple. If cooked right, coated with flour, on a skillet with oil until it gets a crust on the outside, it really doesn't need anything. But to each his/her own.

Is there such a thing as an indigenous DC food?

Fri at 7:56pm · Delete

Kathie Hagen

This grrl can *cook* some scrapple. I think ketchup just makes it all the more heavenly.

Fri at 7:59pm · Delete

OK, got it. It's a matter of taste. But what about my other question?

Fri at 8:02pm · Delete

Christine Wentz

My two cents: we definitely called it Taylor Ham in Bergen County (recently I mentioned it to a friend raised in Brooklyn who'd never heard of it and said oh, I don't eat ham). My brother moved to Ohio and craved it so much we had to buy pounds of it and bring it out there! It tops scrapple any day!

Sat at 7:08am · Delete

I believe we set a record of most-comments on one thread. But of course, this is a very important topic.

Sat at 7:36am · Delete

i've never been more honored to "meet ANYONE at the diner" in all my life ! glad i did !

Sat at 9:54am · Delete

and jeff...how do we archive it ???

Sat at 9:56am · Delete

Kathie Hagen

I think we should have a HUGE facebook Taylor Pork Roll diner party. I live in the DC area so I could drive some of us up to Jersey. I mean it! This would be SO FUN! (I don't bite people, just diner food)

Sat at 3:53pm · Delete

i'm there and we will pick up don and chris just off the parkway !!!

Yesterday at 10:48am · Delete