An Egg Cooked in a Hole in a Slice of Bread

[Marlene]

The sunny-side-up people are saying they put the bread in the pan without the egg, griddle one side, flip the bread, add the egg, cover and let the egg set to sunny-side-up. Both sides of the bread get cooked. One side of the egg gets cooked. I haven't tried it.

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Never having done this, I am curious. Eggs are delicate things. How then does one flip the bread and the egg together without breaking the egg?

[MelissaH]

Never having done this, I am curious.  Eggs are delicate things.  How then does one flip the bread and the egg together without breaking the egg?

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I've actually had more luck flipping an egg in the protection of bread than alone.

MelissaH

[snowangel]

The sunny-side-up people are saying they put the bread in the pan without the egg, griddle one side, flip the bread, add the egg, cover and let the egg set to sunny-side-up. Both sides of the bread get cooked. One side of the egg gets cooked. I haven't tried it.

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Never having done this, I am curious. Eggs are delicate things. How then does one flip the bread and the egg together without breaking the egg?

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Believe it or not, they do stay together. I usually put the butter in the pan instead of on the bread (especially if the butter is cold and not spreadable).

[annarborfoodie]

in a very non-sensical way, we called this dish "egg with a hole in the middle". I'm not sure if my sister and I made that up or my mom did. We grew up in the Detroit area and my mom is from Kentucky.

[andiesenji]

It seems that other people have had a similar discussion ongoing at several sites:

In the movies!

Kitchen Parade

The Blog that Ate Manhattan

And these were just three out of ten when I did a Google search for "gas house eggs."

And here is one from Saveur.

And one that mentions a movie in the '40s in which gas house eggs were prepared and also other alternate names for the dish.

Gas House Eggs

A Betty Grable film that was recently shown on TCM. 

Odd convergences, don't you think?

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Another facet to the discussion is the "multi-cultural" versions that may be found around the world.

Saturday morning I had breakfast at a local café with my book group. The discussion included regional egg dishes and I mentioned this discussion (hopefully a few more members for eG) and everyone had a story about their version of this egg dish.

One person pulled up the following web site on his laptop, noting that he had found it a month or so ago. Kitchen Parade and mentioned that his mother always prepared this version when he or his siblings were ill or otherwise not feeling up to par.

The group to which I belong happens to consist entirely of seniors and several remarked that they seldom prepared eggs this way since their children left home.

The various names they recalled (in addition to the previously listed names) were "window eggs," "framed eggs" and "pond eggs." The latter because one member said that as a child the product looked like a pond in the middle of a field. (She grew up in Oklahoma.)

The most senior member of our group (age 90) opined that the dish probably originated soon after the invention of the bread slicer back in the 1920s. He recalls having eggs this way in the late 20s in Baltimore.

Another member mentioned that she hadn't thought about them for years until she saw Moonstruck and began preparing them for her grandchildren when they visited and this began the tradition all over again for her family.

Edited July 20, 2009 by andiesenji (log)

[dividend]

One of my college roommates taught me to make this as the perfect late night drunken snack, and he called them "hobo eggs." Only I heard "HOMO eggs." So that's what I call them in my own head, with an internal (drunken) giggle. But we always called them "hobo eggs" outloud. It sort of fits with the theme here - isn't "toad in the hole" a slang phrase for the bundle that a hobo would tie around his stick?

[andiesenji]

One of my college roommates taught me to make this as the perfect late night drunken snack, and he called them "hobo eggs."  Only I heard "HOMO eggs."  So that's what I call them in my own head, with an internal (drunken) giggle.  But we always called them "hobo eggs" outloud.  It sort of fits with the theme here - isn't "toad in the hole" a slang phrase for the bundle that a hobo would tie around his stick?

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The traditional name for the sack carried by hobos or tramps is bindle.

I have never heard toad in a hole used in any context except as the name for sausage in Yorkshire pudding covered in onion gravy.

[CKatCook]

when my grandfather would make it he called it a "devil's sandwich"

I don't know why, we are from the pacific northwest.

[CdnLifeguard]

I grew up calling it 'Toad in A Hole'...but my fiancee grew up calling it "Gas-house pancakes"

She's from Edmonton I'm from Vacnouver....

[haresfur]

Another facet to the discussion is the "multi-cultural" versions that may be found around the world.

Saturday morning I had breakfast at a local café with my book group.  The discussion included regional egg dishes and I mentioned this discussion (hopefully a few more members for eG) and everyone had a story about their version of this egg dish. 

One person pulled up the following web site on his laptop, noting that he had found it a month or so ago. Kitchen Parade and mentioned that his mother always prepared this version when he or his siblings were ill or otherwise not feeling up to par. 

The "Mexican" version is similar to a dish we call "quick huevos" but we take a flour tortilla, make a ring of grated cheese around the edge, crack an egg in the middle, sprinkle with hot sauce, and cook under the broiler. Yum. Pseudo Mexican eggs could probably be a whole other thread.

[andiesenji]

I forgot to mention that another of my book club members mentioned that his grandmother would fry large potato pancakes, cut a hole in the middle and fill it with egg that had been beaten with sour cream - sort of a potato pancake omelet.

Our one ex-pat British member said his mum would make fried bread, break an egg on top of the bread then turn the whole thing over.

The difference there was no hole in the bread. He didn't recall any name other than "fry-up."

[nakji]

This is what I grew up calling "eggs in a basket". My husband calls it "toad in hole". We were both raised in Nova Scotia, but I was raised by a British father, which may account for the difference. I know toad in hole as sausages in a Yorkshire pudding.

[Anna N]

I forgot to mention that another of my book club members mentioned that his grandmother would fry large potato pancakes, cut a hole in the middle and fill it with egg that had been beaten with sour cream - sort of a potato pancake omelet. 

Our one ex-pat British member said his mum would make fried bread, break an egg on top of the bread then turn the whole thing over. 

The difference there was no hole in the bread.  He didn't recall any name other than "fry-up."

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Fried bread is one of my worst indulgences! Fried bread with a hole in the centre and an egg in there will be close to nirvana - gotta try it. I know your friend didn't do the hole in the bread but I intend to give it a go. I always make fried bread for me and toast for hubby on those rare occasions when we have bacon and eggs! Fry-ups in my house when I was growing up was bacon, eggs, fried tomatoes, fried mushrooms, fried bread - oh my there are tears in my eyes.

[andiesenji]

I forgot to mention that another of my book club members mentioned that his grandmother would fry large potato pancakes, cut a hole in the middle and fill it with egg that had been beaten with sour cream - sort of a potato pancake omelet. 

Our one ex-pat British member said his mum would make fried bread, break an egg on top of the bread then turn the whole thing over. 

The difference there was no hole in the bread.  He didn't recall any name other than "fry-up."

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Fried bread is one of my worst indulgences! Fried bread with a hole in the centre and an egg in there will be close to nirvana - gotta try it. I know your friend didn't do the hole in the bread but I intend to give it a go. I always make fried bread for me and toast for hubby on those rare occasions when we have bacon and eggs! Fry-ups in my house when I was growing up was bacon, eggs, fried tomatoes, fried mushrooms, fried bread - oh my there are tears in my eyes.

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Indeed yes! He did mention the addition of fried tomatoes and that led to his "discovery" of fried green tomatoes when he lived in Atlanta for two years. We used to have a small restaurant in town that served both fried green tomatoes and "grilled" tomatoes (on the flat-top grill) with breakfast - especially popular with biscuits and sausage gravy - but unfortunately they closed when they lost their lease. One of the owners was from Bristol, England and the other from Natchez, MS so both fried green tomatoes and bangers and mash were on the menu. The place was very popular with the many British ex-pats who live in the Antelope Valley as they also sold many UK food items, canned stuff, boxed and bagged snacks, soft drinks like bitter lemon, etc.

And as an added note regarding the original subject of this thread: I haven't visited the place myself but I have been told that the coffee shop at the casino in Bishop, CA serves "Snake eyes" eggs in toast. They use "sheepherder" bread - double-size slices, with two holes and two eggs.

I often drive through Bishop but my favorite breakfast place is Jack's Waffle House.

[emilyr]

I've always thought of these, with a small alteration, as camp eggs. We made them on trips in girl scouts on a small camp stove made of a coffee can, tuna can, candle wax, and tuna cans. wee took a slice of bacon, cut in half and placed the halves on top of the stove, placed the bread (with hole) on top of that, eggs in the middle and topped with more bacon. I seem to remember that we had some trouble with the bacon sticking, so we par cooked it on the camp fire grill and then went on.

[VenerableBede]

I grew up in San Diego and had never heard of this dish until about 10 years ago.

I'm curious if it's a regional thing, as well.

i too had never heard or seen of such a thing until i saw it made twice in "V for Vendetta" and then again on Top Chef a few seasons ago. I grew up in San Jose, so, maybe it is a regional thing that just never quite made it out to the urban areas of California.

[andiesenji]

I grew up in San Diego and had never heard of this dish until about 10 years ago.

I'm curious if it's a regional thing, as well.

i too had never heard or seen of such a thing until i saw it made twice in "V for Vendetta" and then again on Top Chef a few seasons ago. I grew up in San Jose, so, maybe it is a regional thing that just never quite made it out to the urban areas of California.

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The item was on the menu at all the Tip's restaurants in the L.A. area (from Santa Monica to Newhall) until the late '70s.

When I was stationed at the Presidio in San Francisco in the late '50s, it was served at the Roundhouse Restaurant at the GG bridge toll plaza. My friends and I used to walk across the bridge and back every Sunday morning and end up with breakfast at the restaurant.

I think it may have gone out of "style" sometime in the '70s when people began worrying about cholesterol.

[Kent D]

I call it "toad in the hole" (my kids ask for it for breakfast before school), I heard someone on the radio refer to it as "Eggs with hat and coat" and just saw a reference on-line to Okie French Toast.

I always cut the hole out with the cap from the non-stick spray can, put the butter on the griddle (when I don't use bacon grease), and cook it on both sides, but leave the yolk runny enough to dip the circle.

I generally don't go to the trouble for me, I just fry an egg and put it between two pieces of toast.

[nibor]

Call it what you want. Since this thread appeared I have been having whatever-this-thing-is for breakfast every morning. With runny yolks, which I normally hate.

[Anna N]

I did try it with fried bread but it didn't do it for me at all. The bread has to be cooked at high heat or it becomes incredibly greasy and eggs don't much like that kind of heat. But it was fun to experiment.

[DanM]

Eggy in the hole around here. At special request, I start the sandwich by making grilled cheese, cut out the center, and then add the egg. Nothing better than a fancy egg and cheese sandwich in the morning!

Dan

PS, Fat Guy... nice plate!

[Jaymes]

I start the sandwich by making grilled cheese, cut out the center, and then add the egg.

Impressive variation.

Can't wait to try it.

[Misa]

We always called this "egg in a hole". I had a fabulous time as a child cutting out the circles of bread with a drinking glass and then eating them while my mother cooked.

[andiesenji]

I'm still sticking to "Gas-house eggs" but apparently this is one dish that has had an infinite variety of names.

One of my book club members sent me this link and noted that he and his wife just came back from a trip to Missouri where they were served "Knothole eggs" at a roadside diner just outside Columbia. Their server volunteered that one of the owners added the dish to the menu at the request of a couple of truck drivers who stop on their regular route.

I didn't read all of the posts on this page but skimmed through some of them and I think the funniest so far is "belly-button egg."

But then, there is also "Popeye."

Another friend told me that she is sure that there is a formal recipe for the dish in Marion Cunningham's Breakfast Book.

I think that is only book of hers that I don't have so I can't check it now.

I have to keep telling myself: I don't need another cookbook....I don't need another cookbook!

[Lapin d'Argent]

Here's something obvious that I had to learn the hard way: the hole has to be big enough for the egg.

So if you're using a shaped cookie cutter (like a dinosaur cookie cutter), it needs to cut a BIG dino-sized hole in the bread.

Or you need a smaller egg.

Duh.