I know a lot about eggs.
I know I like them.
I know I like them in the morning, and in the evening. I like them soft, I like them hard boiled, scrambled or served over spaghetti. That’s right, spaghetti Bolognese and a perfectly fried runny egg dripping over the meaty glossy ragu is truly a beautiful midnight snack in bed.
In culinary school our first lesson ever was about the art of cooking the egg. It is the easiest thing to make but also the easiest thing to mess up. Some people really overcook the heck out of their scrambled eggs leaving them with a dry, non appetizing dish that belongs only one place, the trash. I still cannot understand how this is still done across the world. Sad face.
There are many ways to cook this versatile food and they all involve respecting the process in which you choose to cook them.
If you are trying to hard boil an egg, just place the egg in a pot with water when it comes to a boil cover and let steep for thirteen minutes. Done. If you cook any longer you will create that green lining around the yolk usually seen when you overcook a hard boiled egg. Might as well eat plastic.
If you’re trying to make an egg over easy start with a cold pan and a melt some butter, add the eggs and use medium to low heat and flip three fourths the way done for maximum ooze of yolk and fully cooked whites. Low and slow.
If you want a crunchy sunny side up egg that has wonderful crispy egg white and a soft runny yolk, start with a hot pan and melt some butter and olive oil, and crack your eggs in and watch out for the crackling!
If you put a gun to my head I would choose one way to eat this delectable food. I grew up eating it soft boiled with butter and mashed with a fork with Lavash bread. There is something so comforting when butter meets egg that takes me back to my childhood and Sunday barefoot mornings running around the backyard picking fruits off the trees and playing with my dog in the backyard and having this bowl of yuminess waiting for me for breakfast on a Saturday morning.
Even now wherever I am in the world I can trust in the feelings this dish brings me not just due to its low level of difficulty, rather the innocent childlike memories it gives me with each buttery creamy bite.
