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What is your favorite and least favorite egg-only preparation method?


robie

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By "egg-only method" I mean the standard preparations of eggs (scrambled hard, soft, medium, poached, over-easy, sunny side up, shirred, etc.).  I do not mean egg-containing dishes like frittata, tortilla, quiche, souffle etc.

 

My favorite is over-easy soft.  My least favorite is scrambled hard/dry.

Edited by robie (log)
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All of the above. 

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

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I guess least favorite would be hard-boiled. Favorite, over easy. Then ranking downward, poached, scrambled (yes, hard and dry, please!), soft-boiled. Baked ranks up high, as well.

 

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Soft boiled egg would be least favorite.  Scrambled...BY ME ONLY...would be favorite. 

(I didn't even eat eggs, per se, for decades.  Had a run in with a British woman and a soft-boiled eggs at the end of WW II.  :(  I was all of 3 or 4.)

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Darienne

 

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41 minutes ago, Darienne said:

Soft boiled egg would be least favorite.  Scrambled...BY ME ONLY...would be favorite. 

(I didn't even eat eggs, per se, for decades.  Had a run in with a British woman and a soft-boiled eggs at the end of WW II.  :(  I was all of 3 or 4.)

Please don't leave this dangling like this. Did a British woman serve you snotty soft boiled eggs and when you rightfully refused them lecture you on food rationing, starving children in Europe, and what happens to 3 or 4 year olds who defy their elders?

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"A fool", he said, "would have swallowed it". Samuel Johnson

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Arey, you are correct, sir. 

And how does the story end?  Well, the lady forces the child into eating said egg, which the innocent child promptly throws up again and never eats another naked egg until somewhere in her forties.   Or maybe even 50s.  I can't recall. 

 

Oh, I lived in Ottawa, Canada, at the time.  One of my few memories from that time was the ration coupons my Mother used.

Edited by Darienne (log)
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Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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I LOVE my scrambled eggs which I have posted about in the past. I always have heavy cream on hand, which is necessary for the method of cooking.  NOT to be mixed into the eggs but as a cooking medium.  Of course, one can beat the eggs and heavy cream together to make a "puffy" omelet - desirable if one wants to make a jelly omelet...

 

I like eggs in just about any form but if there was a need to choose a favorite, just as-is, I would have to say coddled.

I have a number of coddlers, some near antiques, others newer. Porcelain, glass, even a copper one with a glass liner.

The truth is, a coddled egg is a "poached" egg without the mess.

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I like eggs almost any way except snotty soft boiled eggs.  When CI had the article on the perfect soft boiled egg, I was delighted to find that I was actually cooking something the right way and had been doing it for years.  Scrambled eggs with sausage, fried eggs atop scrapple, hard boiled eggs deviled or with an anchovy on top. I usually peel my soft boiled eggs and have them on home made whole wheat toast, or with white bread or rye toast on the side.

When i was little and under the weather my mother used to give me what she called "eggamilk".  Warm Milk with a raw egg beaten into it, and sugar added. Sometimes there may have been vanilla, but I'm not sure.  When out and living on my own I used to enjoy a Tom and Jerry cocktail on cold winter  nights.  I even had crystal Tom and Jerry mugs.  It's been years since I had "eggamilk" or a Tom and Jerry, but if I was given the option of one or the other I think the Tom and Jerry would be the choice.

 

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"A fool", he said, "would have swallowed it". Samuel Johnson

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Sunny side up, cooked my way though..  separate the eggs, cook the whites 1/2 to 2/3rds of way thru then place yolk on top , turn off heat and cover.  Can't stand undercooked whites or overcooked yolks.  poached a close second. 

 

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Dried out scrambled is least favourite.  Although small curd ,almost custardy french style scrambled is awesome. 

 

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8 minutes ago, Ashen said:

Sunny side up, cooked my way though..  separate the eggs, cook the whites 1/2 to 2/3rds of way thru then place yolk on top , turn off heat and cover.  Can't stand undercooked whites or overcooked yolks.  poached a close second. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's a really clever idea.  I'll think about it.  What's the red sauce?  I can't stand ketchup...which I know that is NOT...on eggs. 

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Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

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Favorite: scrambled very slowly --> small curds, soft but not runny

 

Least favorite: raw, especially if it's been thrown at me

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27 minutes ago, Darienne said:

That's a really clever idea.  I'll think about it.  What's the red sauce?  I can't stand ketchup...which I know that is NOT...on eggs. 

  That was just Huy Fong Sriracha . 

 

I picked up that trick while watching a show about food styling.   Apparently pretty much  all Sunny side up eggs  in pictures  for menus or commercials are cooked this way.   A bell went off in my head that it is the perfect way to deal with the runny white vs overcooked yolk  contradiction. 

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14 minutes ago, Ashen said:

  That was just Huy Fong Sriracha . 

 

I picked up that trick while watching a show about food styling.   Apparently pretty much  all Sunny side up eggs  in pictures  for menus or commercials are cooked this way.   A bell went off in my head that it is the perfect way to deal with the runny white vs overcooked yolk  contradiction. 

 

That is ingenious. I'm stealing. :D

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1 hour ago, Ashen said:

Sunny side up, cooked my way though..  separate the eggs, cook the whites 1/2 to 2/3rds of way thru then place yolk on top , turn off heat and cover.  Can't stand undercooked whites or overcooked yolks.  poached a close second. 

 

Not to hijack the OP's query, but I'm curious to get a shout-back from my fellow Canadians...I've lived on the Prairies and both coasts, and the default egg everywhere in the country seems to be over-easy. The only times I've had diners order sunny eggs, they've either been American or from Ontario. I note that Ashen fits the latter category...anyone else care to weigh in? 

 

Personally, though I made them to the (eventual) satisfaction of my late California-bred wife, I never took to sunny side up and know few others who care for them. "Don't want my breakfast looking back at me" is a comment I often hear. 

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@chromedome  Here's one Canadian, from Ontario,  chiming in.  I like over easy vs sunny side up as I don't like,  no wait, I detest slimy whites.  It has nothing to do with eggs looking back at me.  Even ordering over easy in a diner type resto, and specifying no slimy whites, I still get them served that way.  I have been known to send them back. 

 

As an aside, my sister won't eat eggs that have double yolks (she says she doesn't want to eat the babies!!!) nor will she eat brown eggs but can't explain why..  

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27 minutes ago, chromedome said:

Not to hijack the OP's query, but I'm curious to get a shout-back from my fellow Canadians...I've lived on the Prairies and both coasts, and the default egg everywhere in the country seems to be over-easy. The only times I've had diners order sunny eggs, they've either been American or from Ontario. I note that Ashen fits the latter category...anyone else care to weigh in? 

 

Another Canadian (who does eat eggs now), living in Ontario.  Plus DH.  We used to order Over Easy, both in Ontario and across the USA on our way to Moab, Utah.  However, over the years Over Easy got less and less well cooked and now we order Over Medium.  Sad story.  :(

 

We sent too many back Elsie before giving up.

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Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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29 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

As an aside, my sister won't eat eggs that have double yolks (she says she doesn't want to eat the babies!!!) nor will she eat brown eggs but can't explain why..  

@ElsieD, would it help if you let her know that the yolks DON'T develop into the "babies"?

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@chromedome  Ordering in a restaurant it would be Over Easy ( or as my Newfie In- Laws call it .. "Easy Over " )   if they didn't have poached.    BTW that is the sign of a great breakfast place; if they ask you how you would like your poached.  regular/runny, med or hard. 

Edited by Ashen (log)
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I can't believe I'm the first to say sous vide/low-temp eggs. I love the meltingly soft yolk textures you get around 64C. Not runny, not set... gooey like honey.

 

I also like the super-slow, lots of butter scramble. Heston does his in a double boiler, but I do them in a pan on the Vollrath Mirage Pro induction hob set to 65C. They take a good amount of time, but the creamy/custardy texture is worth it.

 

It's also hard to argue with a proper poached egg. 

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38 minutes ago, MelissaH said:

@ElsieD, would it help if you let her know that the yolks DON'T develop into the "babies"?

I think it's one of those things that can't be reasoned over...like people insisting they can't eat anything rare because of the "blood."

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"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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My favourite is very soft scrambled eggs with very small curds.

Second favourite are sunny side up with the whites set and the yolks runny (my technique is once the whites are starting to set add a tablespoon of water, cover, and let the steam finish the whites).

My least favourite (barely edible) are eggs scrambled by breaking the eggs in the pan and mixing them as they cook. Results in streaks of egg white intermingled with streaks of yolk. Meh.

 

@chromedome I grew up in Quebec and sunny side up were pretty common.

 

 

Edited by Wayne (log)
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I know it's stew. What KIND of stew?

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