For many years, I labored under the assumption that all cooked eggs were rubbery, gross and sometimes a little slimey. I think it was a good solid decade in which I did not order eggs in restaurants at all because of a few bad experiences (normally had at a Village Inn/Dennys-like place at 2:00 am to be fair.)
But then I started watching the geeky goodness of America’s Test Kitchen and realized that eggs don’t have to have the hockey puck mouth feel to be done!
Classic American and French cooking techniques can differ wildly. Many French cookbooks and blogs will lead you down the path to coddled eggs but yet the methods seem to vary from cooking them over a double boiler to cooking in boiled water (seems like poaching to me) to cooking in an oven. I personally am itching to try the recipe that I found on I am a food blog. It’s a Thomas Keller recipe and we totally crush on him in this house. Sometimes we just read this for fun y’all….
nom nom nom, oh and pic courtesy of B&N
But enough fun stuff. How do I cook my eggs? Well, Sheldon prefers a high heat pan where he ultimately begins to brown the proteins. By doing this, he often removes most of the moisture and produces firm but still very pleasing eggs. Often these little beauties are cooked in bacon fat with mushrooms and onions, so it’s all good.
For me, I prefer a riff on the coddling method where I cook them low and slow in a fat pat of butter….oh yeah…and bacon:
Presentation is not my gift, but these tasted soooo good anyway!
It takes me longer to get there, but that end result is so pleasing to my picky palate. I have also made breakfast pizza and found it to be an awesome use of eggs that doesn’t require quite so much fat to cook.
But…I’m curious on how you all prepare your eggs? As our chicken population is currently on the upswing, I’m sure we’re going to have more eggs than we know what to do with! If you get a chance, respond with your favorite egg recipe!
Yummmmm, bacon grease! The biggest thing I have noticed with our fresh eggs is the difference in the color. Our eggs are almost orange as compared to the pale yellow store bought ones.
Isn’t that amazing on the color? We’ve noticed the same thing-truly fresh and raised in nature (versus poultry prisons) makes a difference!
I side more with Sheldon, my wife more with you. Any way you do it you have to love farm fresh eggs(which I miss). I want to try the oven method for hard boiled eggs.
Maybe it’s a guy thing on the cooking method. You’ll have to let me know if you try the oven method first-I’ve never tried it!
Let’s see… you mentioned America’s Test Kitchen, farm fresh eggs, and Thomas Keller! A perfect trifecta!!
Eggs are the perfect food, in my opinion. I love to make realllllly thin omelets by putting butter on a skillet and waiting for the sizzle to stop and then pouring a reallllly thin layer of beaten eggs. It cooks right up so I get chives, salt, pepper, and a tiny bit of really good cheese on it and quickly fold it up before it gets too dry. Heavenly!!
Is there a dish that is more classic than that??? For me, the three tests of any cook/chef are can they make a good soup, can they make a classic omelet and can they make a good sauce. Everything else is just extra!
Nice! I’ve recently started frying eggs in bacon fat and it makes them extra awesome. Other than that, I usually do an omelet which could involve any combination of seasonal and/or leftover ingredients from my fridge.
Bacon makes everything better. You are so right about the leftovers. Eggs are the perfect vehicle!