Merguez w Bayd

The sausage goes into the pan first. Let the merguez brown and give up its red, spiced fat before you add the tomatoes, because that fat is what seasons the whole dish. If you rush this, you get sausage sitting in sauce. Do it properly and the sauce tastes as if it was born around the merguez.

This is breakfast from the eastern towns, the kind of plate you find near the Sunday stalls, eaten hot with khobz and fingers moving faster than forks. It isn't delicate food. It is generous food. The tomatoes cook down until glossy, the garlic softens, the cumin wakes up, and then the eggs go in whole so the whites set while the yolks stay ready for bread.

Use good merguez from a butcher who knows his spice. The scale is in the eyes, yes, but sourcing comes first: no gesture rescues a tired sausage. Put the pan in the middle and tear extra bread. Une table, c'est une porte qu'on laisse ouverte, a table is a door you leave open.