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A lesson in fried eggs . . .

Maybe the most-common way eggs are cooked in the United States – but I’m amazed at how many times people say “I just can’t fry an egg!”

• A skillet with a non-stick surface makes it simple.  Without a non-stick surface, you need to be more careful with the amount of oil (or butter) and temperature to avoid sticking.    One reason people don’t think they can fry a good-looking egg is that they may be trying to cook the egg in the same skillet the bacon has been fried in.  Of course you can fry eggs in that skillet, but they may not be the good-looking eggs you wanted.  They’re worth their own skillet.
• Before adding the egg(s), heat oil, butter or margarine in the skillet over medium heat.  How much?  Less than a TBS would be about right unless you’re using a huge skillet.  Spread the fat around the bottom of the skillet before adding the egg(s).
• Skillet too hot = tough, brown, lacy cooked egg white.  Skillet too cold when egg added = egg sticking to bottom.
• Break egg(s) into medium skillet with the fat, maintain even heat until desired doneness.  You can cook the yolk to a solid or creamy consistency without burning or overcooking if you don’t have heat too high.

 You can cook the eggs on the other side by turning them over with a spatula, or a gentle way to cook the top is to put about 1/2 tsp. water in the warm skillet when the egg has set on the bottom, then clapping a tight-fitting lid on top.  This makes a beautiful, non-scorched egg, almost resembling that work-of-art, the poached egg.   Don’t overcook, no matter which method you use.  These are eggs, not Frisbees, and you can have a thoroughly cooked yolk without high heat or long cooking.   Season the egg w/salt, pepper, whatever, after you’ve almost finished it. 

Aside:  Some purists say the above method is ‘sauteing’, not frying.  They claim that ‘frying’ implies ‘deep frying’, as in French fries.  A famous painting by Velazquez “Old Woman Frying Eggs” is exactly that, an excellent rendering of two eggs just beginning to cook in deep fat.

Fried eggs you might not have thought of:

Cut center slices about ½” thick from a large onion or Bell pepper (green, red, yellow or orange - in the case of the pepper, remove any membrane).  Saute the onion or pepper (what else could you think of using – a tomato slice?) in fat until tender, turn over, and break an egg into the center.  Here’s a good time to use the ‘clap on a lid’ technique, so the egg yolk gets cooked w/o having to turn it over.  Could sprinkle with salt/pepper and fresh or dried herbs of your choice – even grated cheese or crumbled bacon – before serving.