#8 Simple Egg Dishes
OK, if you’ve come this far with me, we’re ready to cook. Although we can start anywhere, let’s start with eggs. Eggs are almost a complete food source within themselves. They are complex, versatile, and everywhere. Virtually every country in the world consumes eggs in one form or another. So, let’s limit ourselves to eggs in our society.
Eggs are so complicated and useful over hundreds of foods, that Harold McGee in his On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of The Kitchen (Scribner, 1984) devotes almost 50 pages to just eggs. Before we talk about what we are going to do with our eggs, let’s first review risk.
Eggs can carry salmonella, a deadly bacteria. That means that you should buy your eggs from a refrigerated source. Most supermarkets refrigerate their eggs, so as reasonably quickly as possible, get the eggs back into your frig from the store. If you have a choice of expiration dates on the available eggs, buy the ones with the latest dates because fresh eggs are simply better than older eggs. And, by all means, don’t go shopping and then leave your groceries in a warm car while you do other things. Get the eggs into the frig as soon as you practicably can. Once they are in the frig, keep them at 40°F (4°C) or below.
Almost all discussions about eggs recommend that you don’t consume undercooked eggs. That simply isn’t realistic. Most of us like undercooked eggs, such as poached or even raw in a Ramos fizz, Caesar dressing, Hollandaise sauce, and the like. The solution is to purchase pasteurized eggs. That may be a bit of a challenge, since most eggs sold in supermarkets are not pasteurized. The stores may carry pasteurized eggs but you need to look for them.
OK, let’s move on to cooking. The first thing we need to do is decide what kind of eggs we want. Let’s go for breakfast. You can have fried eggs, poached eggs, scrambled eggs, baked eggs, shirred eggs—pretty broad selection. In this installment, we will talk about fried eggs and scrambled eggs.
One more point before we launch into the type of egg you want. Use room temperature eggs for almost all egg dishes. So, if you are going to have eggs for breakfast, the first thing to do is pull the eggs from the frig and let them sit as you do other things (like make the bed). 20 minutes at room temperature is probably sufficient.
Fried Eggs Frying an egg can be accomplished any number of ways. No matter how you like your eggs, the first thing to do is gather everything you will need in one place near the stove. That is, a non-stick fry pan; two eggs (or more, if you have a crowd); butter; a spatula; and the plate to which you will transfer the eggs (I like warm plates for hot breakfasts). How do you like your fried eggs? Crispy edges or smooth? Your choice determines which cooking method to use. Let’s assume that you want eggs with a crispy circumference.
Heat your pan on medium heat and add a bit of butter to the pan to cover the bottom. Crack your eggs into a bowl and inspect for shell fragments. The best way to avoid those fragments is to crack the egg on some sort of surface, such as a countertop. If you crack the egg on the side of the pan, you are more likely to shove some egg shell into the egg which finds its way to the pan. I crack my eggs into a small bowl, first, but that is certainly not necessary. Slide your eggs into the pan, once the bottom is covered with butter. Turn the heat down and add about a tablespoon more of butter. Once it melts, tip the pan and baste your eggs with the hot butter if you want sunnyside up eggs. Try not to baste the yolks because that will overcook them; baste whites only. When the whites are cooked (you can tell by looking at them, but the edges should be crispy), slide the eggs onto the plate.
If, however, you want easy-over, cook the eggs until the whites begin to set around the edges, push your spatula under one egg at a time, and flip it. That will take some practice to do well because sometimes those little rascals don’t want to be flipped and they’ll slide off the spatula at a very inconvenient time. Let them cook for 50-60 seconds and then, on to the plate.
Suppose you don’t want crispy edges. Then, let the eggs cook for 30-40 seconds and cover the pan on lower heat. Leave covered for four minutes (the precise amount of time depends on how solid you like your yolks) and slide onto the plate.
Scrambled Eggs Believe it or not, you can find any number of ways to cook scrambled eggs. Since we’re in America, let’s start with the American way. Use two eggs per person. Beat the eggs well (I use a hand beater, but a whisk can also do the job, although that way is a good deal more physically demanding) with a tablespoon of water until none of the whites are still visible. Place a non-stick sauté pan on low heat, add a knob of butter and, when melted, pour the eggs into the pan. Using a rubber spatula, slowly push the eggs from the bottom of the pan to the top, pause a moment, and repeat. The eggs should become a little glossy and be a bit underdone when you remove them from the heat; push the spatula at least once more, maybe twice, through the eggs. Slide onto the plate.
The French style, according to Jamie Oliver, is to put the bowl of eggs over boiling water, sort of like a double boiler. Whisk the eggs as they cook. Add butter (about a tablespoon), salt, pepper, and whisk until cooked, but still loose. They’ll be a bit runny, so I think they are best served over something, such as toast or, perhaps, potatoes.
English style is to pour the eggs into a pan and continue to stir pretty vigorously as they cook. Add salt and pepper. That method will result in smaller curds, but the same flavor as American style.
So, there you are. Probably more than you needed to know, but eggs are really versatile allowing you to do so many things with them. One more installment on eggs and then on to other foods.