An Egg Cooked in a Hole in a Slice of Bread

[RWells]

Boy, is this ever a blast from my childhood.  My culinary challenged father would make us this breakfast about once a month (other than a random attempt at grilling it was his only effort toward cooking) and he called it a "One Eyed Egyptian Sandwich".  The fact that no one else has come up with this name vindicates my suspicion that he made up the name out of whole cloth. 

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Well, unless we're related I don't think he made it up. My mom (born and raised in rural Montana) also called this a One Eyed Egyptian Sandwich. When I started reading this thread and didn't see anyone else mentioning that name, I assumed she'd made it up, but then turned to Google and found a recipe under that name here.

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Thank you KD. My dad grew up in rural Western Colorado. I had a suspicion that there was a history to this name. Still make them to this day. I can cook virtually any cuisine but these are what my grown kids want on Sunday morning.

[clumsycook]

In my Italian family, we always called it by a slight "egg in the nest" variation: "birdie in a nest."

[Doodad]

[quote name=TheFoodTutor' date='Aug 6 2009, 10:13 PM

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Edited August 27, 2009 by Doodad (log)

[blonde tomato]

My mom called this a Mary Jane egg. She grew up in Brooklyn and we lived in New Jersey. My family refers to this dish as an egg picture frame. (My kids thought an egg (in a ) picture frame was more descriptive.)

[Jaymes]

Boy, is this ever a blast from my childhood.  My culinary challenged father would make us this breakfast about once a month (other than a random attempt at grilling it was his only effort toward cooking) and he called it a "One Eyed Egyptian Sandwich".  The fact that no one else has come up with this name vindicates my suspicion that he made up the name out of whole cloth. 

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Well, unless we're related I don't think he made it up. My mom (born and raised in rural Montana) also called this a One Eyed Egyptian Sandwich. When I started reading this thread and didn't see anyone else mentioning that name, I assumed she'd made it up, but then turned to Google and found a recipe under that name here.

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Thank you KD. My dad grew up in rural Western Colorado. I had a suspicion that there was a history to this name. Still make them to this day. I can cook virtually any cuisine but these are what my grown kids want on Sunday morning.

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Got a kick out of the twist mentioned on that blog you referenced wherein after one cuts the hole in the bread, one should hold it up in front of your face and wink through the hole four times. I can see how that would turn it into the "One-eyed Egyptian Sandwich."

I really like the winking thing.

Too bad my children are all grown and gone. They would have loved that.

But hey, I've always got my grandchildren.

Although I'm not Egyptian...

How does the "One-eyed Texan Sandwich" sound?

Edited August 27, 2009 by Jaymes (log)

[dickbash]

This came up the other day when I cooked breakfast for my wife.

I made the dish where you cut the center out of a slice of bread and fry the bread with an egg in the hole that was cut out at the same time.  My wife had never seen or heard of this.  She grew up in SC and OH.

My Mom, who grew up in the South, never really made this, but I saw it in the mess halls as an army brat kid called Sunrise Breakfast since it was always sunny side up eggs.

Do you know this dish?  What did you call it and where did you grow up?

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I grew up in the Indianapolis area. But this dish is called "hobo eggs" and stems from the 1930s in the South.

Regards,

Richard Bash

[Chef from Clarens]

I grew up in South Africa where my Mom used to make several variations on a theme for us 4 kids for breakfast. We called them OX-EYE EGGS.

Ver1.0 Cut hole with scone cutter (crinckle cut circular thing), fry in a pan in oil until bread is crispy, flip and drop an egg into the hole, always served runny & soft YUM YUM

Ver 2.0 Cut hole as above but soak bread in beaten egg mixture a la French Toast, cook on one side then flip & drop an egg into the hole...French Ox Eyes

Ver 3.0 Using a THICK slice of bread cut a flat pocket and push a slice of cheese into this pocket so you now have a layer of bread, then cheese, then bread. Now cut the hole, fry in lots of butter till lightly browned, flip, drop the egg in and cook till egg starts to set then pop under the salamander or grill and finish there.

Ver 4.0 Same as above but put a slice of ham in the pocket with a good lashing of Coleman's English Mustard. Optional finish: good dollop of Bernaise or Hollandaise Sauce on top for good measure. This one we called the The Piggy Bulls Eye.

JBTW another great breakfast dish from kids days was in a greased muffin pan, line the holes with bacon and drop an egg into each one and pop into a 200 deg C oven till the eggs have set to your likening....nearly as good as skotch eggs??!!

[Fat Guy]

We could really use a recap of every name that has been mentioned thus far.

[Jaymes]

I grew up in South Africa where my Mom used to make several variations on a theme for us 4 kids for breakfast. We called them OX-EYE EGGS.

Ver1.0 Cut hole with scone cutter (crinckle cut circular thing), fry in a pan in oil until bread is crispy, flip and drop an egg into the hole, always served runny & soft YUM YUM

Ver 2.0 Cut hole as above but soak bread in beaten egg mixture a la French Toast, cook on one side then flip & drop an egg into the hole...French Ox Eyes

Ver 3.0 Using a THICK slice of bread cut a flat pocket and push a slice of cheese into this pocket so you now have a layer of bread, then cheese, then bread. Now cut the hole, fry in lots of butter till lightly browned, flip, drop the egg in and cook till egg starts to set then pop under the salamander or grill and finish there.

Ver 4.0 Same as above but put a slice of ham in the pocket with a good lashing of Coleman's English Mustard. Optional finish: good dollop of Bernaise or Hollandaise Sauce on top for good measure. This one we called the The Piggy Bulls Eye.

JBTW another great breakfast dish from kids days was in a greased muffin pan, line the holes with bacon and drop an egg into each one and pop into a 200 deg C oven till the eggs have set to your likening....nearly as good as skotch eggs??!!

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Wow. A lot of really great variations. Were these typical, or was your mom just extraordinarily clever?

[emilyr]

Ever the trendsetters we are here at eG, Martha Stewart has a recipe in this month's 'Living' for Egg-in-the-Hole Toasts with Ricotta. They're not online yet, but they look pretty yummy. I may make them this week.

[Chef from Clarens]

Wow.  A lot of really great variations.  Were these typical, or was your mom just extraordinarily clever?

A very talented cook, never sent us to school with a boring lunch box nor cooked a dull meal for her family ever. You go Mum!!

[handmc]

We called them "gas house " eggs. I have no clue way. Awesome way to have eggs - it might explain the Zocor I'm on now!

[andiesenji]

As I mentioned in earlier posts on this thread, I too have always known them as "gas house eggs" and posted links to other sites that also called them by this name (including Saveur). Also see post # 81 in this topic, page 3.

A couple of sites notes that the name may originally have been "Gasthaus" - however, I also posted a story about the origin being in the "Gashouse district" in New York, razed to build Stuyvesant Town in the late '40s.

I don't think there was any one origin because how much intellect does it take to come up with this combination of bread and egg, which works quite well on a flat grill, in a skillet or ????.

The plain fact is that it is a tasty combo and fairly easy to prepare.

[chezcherie]

ok--recap time. i hope i didn't miss any.

toad in the hole

pig in a blanket

egg(s) in a nest

egg(s)or (y) in the hole

egg in a basket

bunny in a hole

rocky mountain toast

a piece of bread with an egg in the middle

hobo eggs

nest eggs

bird in a nest

bulls eye (or bulls eye eggs)

egg in toast

texas toast

spit in the eye

huevo en pan

huevos al nido

gas house eggs (or gasthaus)

egg in a hat

one eyed sailor

eggs in a (picture) frame (or frame eggs)

eggy cheese

egg with a hole in the middle

window eggs

pond eggs

devil's sandwich

snake eyes

camp eggs

firehouse egg

one eyed jacks

cowboy toast (or cowboy egg)

popeye

submarine egg

frog in a log

guy kibbee egg

hen in a nest (hen's nest)(birdie in a nest)

moon egg

one eyed monster breakfast

egg with hat and coat

okie french toast

belly button egg

one eyed egyptian sandwich

hollywood eggs

spit in the ocean

goldmine sandwich

vulcanized eggs

salmonella surprise

sesame egg

angels on horseback

american fried eggs

mary jane eggs

ox eye eggs

toad in the hole had the most references, with one eyed jacks, eggs in the hole and egg in a basket tying for second. i'm hungry now...

[pax]

You are a good person, chezcherie.

I don't know if I can count the number of times I've made this for my kid's breakfast (with a seasonally appropriate cookie cutter, a maple leaf, pumpkin, etc.) since this thread has been posted.

Now, her favourite bread is a rye-dark pumpernickle swirl that I try to get a yin-yang pattern in, and as you know, the yin yang pattern often has little circles within it, which I cut with a small bisquit cutter.

So to your list, in the southern tier of NY, you can add, yin yang eggs.

[Doodad]

You can add mine that started the question: Sunrise Breakfast. I have never heard that again and who knows if the mess sergeant was just making it up because he did not like toad in the hole or whatever the soldier called it that showed it to him.

[Beebs]

I like "salmonella surprise" and "spit in the eye".