15 replies to this topic

[barcelonabites]

I just started going to the Hofmann culinary school in Barcelona and last week we did eggs. One of the ways we prepared the eggs was to basically poach them in hot oil, in other words, we deep-fried them. The chef instructor said that this was the way that grandmothers do it but I don't remember my grandmother (or anyone else for that matter) frying an egg like that! Everyone else in the class seemed to think it was a fairly normal thing to do. I'm American though so maybe this is something unique to Spain? Has anyone ever seen this done in the US? I'm not talking about just frying the egg in a lot of oil- I'm talking about literally dropping the egg into a saucepan FILLED with super hot oil. It tasted great in the end by the way!

[prasantrin]

They use a lot of oil to fry eggs in Thailand, but I don't know that I'd consider it deep fried. My dad used a small pan (maybe 5" diameter?) and had about 1/4" or so of oil in it.

He used to fry bread like that, too, but I think he picked up that habit when he was in boarding school in Wales.

Edited by prasantrin, 25 October 2010 - 12:27 PM.

[Tri2Cook]

They're a Chadzilla thing too...

[Fantastic Mr Fox]

Not a Spanish thing per se, but a European thing. That's a traditional way they do it in
France as well. I learned it (or at least it was demoed) at French Culinary Institute (in NYC) and there is
an episode of Fast Food My Way (Jacques Pepin) where he does it. I believe he calls it Eggs Lyonais.

And yes, they are delicious.

[Blether]

The same method is in Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking, IIRC.

[Peter the eater]

I had an egg like that years ago in Montreal. All I can remember is that it was Old School and somehow precooked before the hot oil, and it tasted very good.

I think of oil poaching as a gentle low-temp way to get moist fish, and deep fryers as 400+F cauldrons.

[therippa]

I saw this on an old episode of Julia Child & Company on the Cooking channel. She fried them in olive oil. It was surprisingly loud and if I did it I would wear a full apron, mask, and welding gloves in the event that one of the eggs exploded and sent hot oil flying everywhere.

[TAPrice]

When I lived in Spain, another egg cooking technique that seemed unique was flicking hot oil over the fried egg. In other words, they would fry the egg sunny side up in a decent amount of oil and use a spatula to toss hot oil onto the top of the egg to cook that side a little. Several home cooks I met did this.

And it was always olive oil. Once I tried to cook my eggs in butter, and my Spanish roommate asked me if I was French.

[Doodad]

When I lived in Spain, another egg cooking technique that seemed unique was flicking hot oil over the fried egg. In other words, they would fry the egg sunny side up in a decent amount of oil and use a spatula to toss hot oil onto the top of the egg to cook that side a little. Several home cooks I met did this.

My New England grandmother always cooked eggs this way.

As for deep fried, only Scotch eggs that I know of are done that way. Whole nother beast though.

[Snadra]

Those eggs sound delicious!

When I was a teenager I was taken to Majorca on a holiday, and I remember going to a cafe and seeing 'egg and chips' on the menu and ordering it, thinking it was some sort of authentic Spanish meal (I also had some fabulous grilled rabbit if that makes up for it at all). Anyway, it WAS delicious, both egg and chips cooked in loads of olive oil, with the oil definately spooned/flicked over the top of the egg. The olive oil part was unusual and tasty, but the basting was familiar: my German father, who was thin as a rake all his life, used to do the same thing when cooking eggs in bacon fat, before then soaking up the bacon fat with bread.... When I told him about the oil fried eggs, he added them into his fried eggs repertoire. And these days I still cook my eggs in oil in preference to butter - they taste cleaner to me somehow - and I love the way the hot oil ruffles their edges.

Kylie Kwong has a recipe for deep fried eggs which are excellent in a similar ruffled-edge way, with the delicious addition of chilli ... so it looks like they're done in a few parts of the world.

And don't forget son-in-law eggs, although they're boiled before deep-frying...Never tried them, but they sound awfully good.

[Blether]

Sipping at my after-lunch coffee, I thought I'd look it up again.

FPC, Penguin Books (USA) 1999, p. 187: Oeufs Frits.

(fried eggs as known in the anglo world are oeufs sur le plat, au plat or au miroir.

By fried eggs the French usually understand eggs fried in deep fat or oil, one at a time; they puff up like fritters, are taken out with a perforated spoon and laid on a cloth to drain...

... Here are the directions given by the famous Cuisinier Durand of Nimes, published in 1830...

[maher]

When I lived in Spain, another egg cooking technique that seemed unique was flicking hot oil over the fried egg. In other words, they would fry the egg sunny side up in a decent amount of oil and use a spatula to toss hot oil onto the top of the egg to cook that side a little. Several home cooks I met did this.

And it was always olive oil. Once I tried to cook my eggs in butter, and my Spanish roommate asked me if I was French.

the traditional technique here in jordan is to do that with ghee or clarified butter... not the lightest preparation, but delicious...

a special seasonal treat is to cook eggs this way with white ghee in springtime (ghee made from Ewes milk)

[nickrey]

David Thompson has a recipe in his Thai Food book for Deep fried eggs which are served with sweetened fish sauce.

They also make deep fried boiled eggs as a dish called son-in-law eggs which is served with a tamarind and chili sauce as a salad.

Edited by nickrey, 26 October 2010 - 04:52 AM.

[Simon_S]

When I lived in Spain, another egg cooking technique that seemed unique was flicking hot oil over the fried egg. In other words, they would fry the egg sunny side up in a decent amount of oil and use a spatula to toss hot oil onto the top of the egg to cook that side a little. Several home cooks I met did this.

Yes, I always fry eggs this way as well, for the simple reason that that's how my mother used to do it. In fact, I was quite shocked when I learned that people sometimes turn them over!

[Teddy Devico]

During the sping at the restaurant I work at eggs are very lightly poached, then battered and deep fried. The fried egg is paired with local asparagus, prosciutto, and a mustard vinagrette.

[Blether]

Ah yes, and even Tsunahachi serves an egg yolk tempura.