Heather says:
This tutorial has been a long time coming, it’s something I knew needed to be a part of Home-Ec101 back in March of 2007 when it launched, but as you all know by now, I am an expert procrastinator. Now that I have a gigantic project looming and it is time to play catch up on all of the other procrastinated projects. Do you see how that works? I don’t either, but I manage to muddle through, mostly.
Today we’re covering fried eggs -as new projects to procrastinate develop- I’ll also address: scrambled eggs, omelets, frittatas, quiche, and my as yet unnamed hybrid of the three techniques that feeds my family on a busy evening when I have no interest in effort.
So what is a fried egg? Well there are five ways to have them:
Got that?
If you do not have a nonstick pan before you even pull the eggs out of the fridge, you have a little prep work. Grab a bottle of vegetable oil, a paper towel, salt, and your pan. Wipe the pan with a thin coat of vegetable oil. Heat the pan over medium high heat until it is very hot, but not smoking. Turn off the burner and let it cool completely. Your pan is now conditioned and primed for use.
You must do this if you are using a stainless steel pan or the eggs will stick in the tiny scratches and pits on your pan’s surface. The vegetable oil seals these cracks and lets the eggs fry without making a horrific stuck on mess. If some bits of egg do stick to your pan, scrub with a little bit of salt and a paper towel between batches. If you use soap and water, you’ll have to recondition your pan before cooking more eggs.
Now we’re ready to fry some eggs.
Whether the eggs are basted, sunny side up, over light (easy), over medium, or over hard they all start the same:
Gather your conditioned or nonstick pan, your fat -butter, bacon grease, coconut oil, or vegetable oil,- and a spatula. Flipping eggs without a spatula will be covered in a future post. Just hang tight if that’s your goal.
The amount of fat you’ll use depends completely on the size of your pan. You want 1/8″ of fat / oil, less than that and the eggs may stick with more, they may be greasy.
Turn your burner to medium or your griddle to 325F. Allow the pan and fat to heat. To check and see if the pan is ready sprinkle a TINY -you read that right? TINY- amount of water. It should sizzle. If it pops, turn the heat DOWN.
Oil that is too hot causes brown, crispy edges.
Oil that is too cool lets the eggs spread too far which makes them harder to flip.
Reduce the heat to low, unless you’re using a griddle, in that case just leave it alone, but know you’ll have to flip sooner.
Now here’s where the methods diverge.
For basted eggs, sprinkle a few drops of water over the eggs and cover. Cook just until the whites are set. The steam will create a thin film of cooked white over the yolk.
For sunny side up eggs cook slowly until the whites are set, then use a spatula to remove from the pan. This is boring, but effective.
To fry eggs over light, medium, or hard they must be turned. Slide the tip of your spatula all the way around the edge of the white, to ensure the egg is not sticking the pan. Then, slide the spatula halfway under the eggs, in one motion lift up and turn over toward the side of the egg that does not have the spatula under it. That side (marked in my ever so spiffy illustration with a blue arrow) should never lose contact with the pan. Flip gently or suffer the consequence of broken yolks. Remember you will probably break a few before you get the hang of the turn.
For over light / easy eggs leave them alone until the edge of the white is set, there will still be a pool of unset white surrounding the yolk. Let the egg cook for only a few seconds to set the rest of the white and transfer it to a plate to serve.
Over medium eggs should cook until the white is mostly set, then turned and allowed to cook for 15 – 20 seconds. The yolk should be thick and partially, but not fully cooked. If you break it with a fork, it should still flow, but not be super runny.
For over hard eggs, break the yolk with a fork, then flip and allow to cook until the yolk is completely set.
Enjoy!
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
My fiance pours about a half cup of olive oil (or bacon grease if he can get away with it) in a small pan and spoons the hot grease over his yokes while his eggs are cooking. The very idea of so much grease turns my stomach. Have you ever heard of such a thing? It can't be very healthy.
I think I'll make him the basted eggs and see if he notices a difference.
That’s referred to as country-style and basted is quite similar, but less greasy.
when we make eggs for a family of 4 and no one ever seems to want the same type of eggs we have a simple rule to follow: fried eggs first in the pan, then omelets, then scrambled –that way each type of egg will come off the pan with out sticking, cause momma won't buy a non-stick pan
thank you now we know what to order at a restaurant, i can never remember the names for the types of fried eggs!
Oooooooo, the sight of sunny side up eggs turns my stomach!
Jen, I wouldn't worry so much about the bacon grease as I would the undercooked yolks. Ugh!
Sorry, but even my scrambled egg has to be dry and brown.
Very instructive, though.
Don't forget poached in your ongoing egg project!
@Jen – Bacon grease spooned over the eggs – that's how I was taught to make my fried eggs!
I am kind of a weirdo and like the crispy brown edges on my eggs. I am an eggs over hard fan between and english muffin.
Egg question: I love getting farm fresh eggs, but they are not always the same size. How do you size eggs so your recipe turns out right. ex:how many small eggs equals a large egg?
Great pictures, and very thorough description. Why didn't you do this 20 years ago?
It took me a long while to be able to do "dippy" eggs (cooked with runny yolks to dip your toast in) — I always broke the yolks and they ended up scramble-fried. The basted eggs is the first way I learned to do it, but we called them blindfolded. I can do over easy now — MOST of the time. Occasionally, I still end up scramble-frying them.
Don't forget poached in your ongoing egg project!
Definitely won’t! My kids love poached on English Muffins.
Okay, I'll try these. I NEED to learn this because I'm ridiculously inept at making anything but scrambled eggs. In fact, I have given up entirely even feigning to attempt any other style. Like I don't even say to my husband, "Do you want me to make yours over easy?" Because we both know I'm too lame to accomplish this fake offer. Now I just say, "Do you want some scrambled eggs?" And he either does or says he'll make it himself. Alas. I'm slightly skeptical that even your very thorough and lovely tutorial will be enough for my ineptitude. We'll see!
Why don't you make a few bacon egg and cheese sandwiches that require over hard eggs. Those will help you get the hang of the technique. Then step down to over medium. And remember eggs are fairly cheap, so if you screw up you're really not out that much.
That's not a bad idea. I'll try it. I'm not holding out a lot of hope though. Maybe treating the pan like you said will help too. I always feel like either I'm too uncoordinated or have the wrong tools. I just can't seem to make the flips without completely ruining the intended dish. It's still edible at that point, but not what it's supposed to be.
Heather, you are a woman after my own heart! I can definately tell you worked for Waffle House, because the way eggs were cooked was always a disaster if someone ordered them one way and got them a way they didn't expect. Do you know how many cooks I had to teach how to cook eggs?!
Reading some of your back stories, so you may have already been told about this…
Over Well = same as Over Hard but with yolks intact (restaurants differentiate here… just an fyi)
Sunny Side Up eggs cook a little better if you use your spatula to gently scrape the whites to the edge after the bottom has set somewhat… (restaurants often call this Up Well)
(used to be a breakfast cook and have cooked far too many eggs in my life.. lol)
Loving the blog!
In my family we don't call them over easy, over hard. We call them "eggs with juice" or "eggs with no juice". Hey – when you're 4 years old I guess that just makes a bit more sense.
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