Frying a Perfect Egg
Cooking the perfect egg is something EVERY elementary chef should master. Whether you like yours poached, scrambled, or fried, eggs are nowhere near as intimidating as many rookie cooks imagine.
Frying scares many because, well, the timing seems so crucial. You have to get that yolk just runny enough — or not runny at all. While timing the egg will require some trial an error, there are a few easy steps that will at least get you to the timing part more easily.
1) Do not try to fry an egg over high heat. Eggs do best over medium heat (or a low flame on your gas stovetop.)
2) Do use a non-stick skillet and a tablespoon of olive oil or butter/margarine.
3) Use fresh eggs. If those eggs have been in your fridge for 6 months, they’re going to turn rubbery — no matter how perfectly you cook them.
When you’re frying eggs, you need to crack them extra carefully, to avoid scrambling the yolks. Then slide them into the already hot (but not too hot!) oil, and salt and pepper while cooking. Turn the eggs gently with a spatula, unless you’re going for true Sunny Side Up, which are not turned. (Over easy are.)
For your info, and in case you’re cooking eggs to order for a crowd, common ways to prepare fried eggs include:
Sunny Side Up — the egg is only cooked on one side, the yolk is 100% runny, and the top white is also runny. Because of salmonella risk, some states will not allow diners to serve eggs this way!
Over Easy — the egg is turned, but the yolk is kept runny. The white should cook all the way through (thereby destroying the salmonella risk.)
Over Medium — the egg is turned, the yolk is relatively firm but still loose, the white is fully cooked.
Over Hard — the egg is fried to a uniform, firm consistency. The yolk is completely cooked.
If you want to be extra fancy, add a little marjoram or chervil — especially if you can find some fresh!
February 17th, 2007 at 6:47 am
I never thought I’d say this but I learned something about cooking eggs. I’ve always had trouble frying eggs. They would either get stuck to the pan or get burned. I’d still eat though. But now I feel a bit more confident that I can cook the perfect egg.
September 15th, 2007 at 11:56 am
Fantastic website and post!
I used to work in a restaurant on the weekends and I love over-easy eggs on top of hash browns.
The way I learned how to make the perfect over-easy eggs was to get one of those smaller, light-weight type of pans that was big enough to fry 2 eggs. You wouldn’t use a spatula to turn them over, but what you would do is essentially lift the pan off the stove and “flick your wrist” to make the eggs jump up and flip over on its own like a pancake. It takes a little practice, but it turns out perfect everytime without damaging the yolk.