Eggs!

[Shaun das Schaf]

Way back in the day
I'd cook eggs in many styles
While the hash cooked me

I had to quote and laugh because there's no 'good post' button.

Oh and a quick on-thread contribution, I'm a milk in scrambled eggs girl. Mmm...fluffy.

Also, thanks to everyone leaving their preferences here, I now have lots of new things to try with eggs. Except that steam-basted half-egg shell water thing Orlion, I didn't understand that at all

[aliantha]

Mmmm...eggs! I think it's time for breakfast! Maybe I'll have spit-in-yer-eye!

[Menolly]

Except that steam-basted half-egg shell water thing Orlion, I didn't understand that at all

Shaun, when not covered with melted cheese and ranchero sauce, or hollandaise, basted instead of up or poached eggs are my favorite.

Here in the south, traditionally they were made in the skillet with melted bacon fat. You cook them the same as sunny side up, but then you ladle the hot bacon fat over the top so the whites firm up instead of remaining gelatinous and clear.

The way my mom taught me to make them didn't involve adding water in anyway. Once they reached the up stage, we merely put a cover over the eggs so the steam from whatever fat was used self-basted the top of the eggs. It tends to take a little longer though.

When I waitressed at Swenson's years ago, our breakfast line cook would prop the lid with a small ice cube. The melting cube would generate more steam and when the lid lay flat on the grill over the egg, it was pretty much perfect. Took less time than mom's method. Orlion's method sounds pretty much the same, using the half shell in place of the ice cube.

[Orlion]

Except that steam-basted half-egg shell water thing Orlion, I didn't understand that at all

Shaun, when not covered with melted cheese and ranchero sauce, or hollandaise, basted instead of up or poached eggs are my favorite.

Here in the south, traditionally they were made in the skillet with melted bacon fat. You cook them the same as sunny side up, but then you ladle the hot bacon fat over the top so the whites firm up instead of remaining gelatinous and clear.

The way my mom taught me to make them didn't involve adding water in anyway. Once they reached the up stage, we merely put a cover over the eggs so the steam from whatever fat was used self-basted the top of the eggs. It tends to take a little longer though.

When I waitressed at Swenson's years ago, our breakfast line cook would prop the lid with a small ice cube. The melting cube would generate more steam and when the lid lay flat on the grill over the egg, it was pretty much perfect. Took less time than mom's method. Orlion's method sounds pretty much the same, using the half shell in place of the ice cube.

Pretty much. The half shell is pretty much an instant measuring cup.

[wayfriend]

How would you order such a thing in a restaurant? Or can you?

[Orlion]

How would you order such a thing in a restaurant? Or can you?

I've said 'basted' in the past and they make it as Menolly described with the ice cube.

[Shaun das Schaf]

Thank-you Menolly and Orlion for the clarification. I think I get it now, even if I do keep misreading it as 'blasted' egg! (And then for some reason I get visions of Jennifer Beals in Flashdance with her welding fire tool thing and face mask. That's probably something I should tell my shrink and not you guys )

But anyway yes, sounds like basting is a variation on poached? I shall try the method at home and see if this cements my understanding.

P.S. I'm not familiar with this 'up' phrase. Do you mean 'firming up whites'?

Sorry for the stupidity, I think we may have hit a cultural linguistic speedbump. Or just a Shaunbump.

[Menolly]

Do you know what an "over easy" egg is Shaun?
An up, or sunny side up, egg is a fried egg not flipped but not covered or basted either, so the top usually isn't cooked much. Bright yellow runny yolk in a bed of white, perhaps with some gelatinous uncooked white on top. Looks like a sun with it's penumbra, kinda.

Think of the typical depiction of "so hot, you can fry an egg on the sidewalk." The ones I've seen usually show an egg cracked on the cement and cooked on one side. Done in a pan or on a griddle, that's a sunny side up egg.

[Orlion]

But anyway yes, sounds like basting is a variation on poached? I shall try the method at home and see if this cements my understanding.

If you've ever had the chance to use an 'egg poacher machine', then yes. It is very much like that. Of course, a properly poached egg is cooked by the water, not the steam.

[aliantha]

My mom had an egg poaching pan, with little cups that sat in a frame suspended near the top of the pan. You filled the pan with water and set it to boil. The eggs cooked without coming in contact with the water, although the boiling water certainly touched the bottoms of the cups. Anyway, maybe that's more like "basting" than poaching.

[Shaun das Schaf]

Do you know what an "over easy" egg is Shaun?
An up, or sunny side up, egg is a fried egg not flipped but not covered or basted either, so the top usually isn't cooked much. Bright yellow runny yolk in a bed of white, perhaps with some gelatinous uncooked white on top. Looks like a sun with it's penumbra, kinda.

Think of the typical depiction of "so hot, you can fry an egg on the sidewalk." The ones I've seen usually show an egg cracked on the cement and cooked on one side. Done in a pan or on a griddle, that's a sunny side up egg.

Ok cool, thanks for the crystal-clear and poetic description Menolly . I am familiar with the phrase 'sunny side up', but I guess we refer to this less because we don't flip them much, aka sunny side is the default egg setting here. (I shouldn't really speak for my entire country, but I'm sure one of the other Australians, or Sarge, will correct me if I'm wrong!)

Aliantha and Orlion, I would usually poach by steam-method with a simplified version of A's Mum's poaching pan, i.e. a raised 'egg cups ' on legs with water underneath. I never seemed to get it right putting them directly in the water.

[Damelon]

Can't do fish at breakfast, sorry....

Then you wouldn't like a favorite Sunday breakfast of mine, scrambled eggs and fish sticks.

As for scrambled eggs, I'll add a dash of milk. I never add anything else to the eggs until afterwards and when I do it's a dash of salt a couple of grinds of pepper and a dash of hot sauce of one kind or another.

[Menolly]

My mom had an egg poaching pan, with little cups that sat in a frame suspended near the top of the pan. You filled the pan with water and set it to boil. The eggs cooked without coming in contact with the water, although the boiling water certainly touched the bottoms of the cups. Anyway, maybe that's more like "basting" than poaching.

My mom had one of these which I inherited, but I think the texture would still be likened more to a poached egg than a basted egg. Once I learned how to poach an egg in simmering water, the pan has not seen use since.

For me, regardless of if the top is steamed basted or literally basted with the fat it is cooked in, the bottom has to be fried to be a basted egg. What I like about the method mom taught of covering with the lid and letting the generated steam/heat cook the top instead of adding additional water in any form is that the bottom actually fries more, and the edges even get a little golden. But the yolk remains runny and all the white on top is gently cooked.

[Orlion]

My mom had an egg poaching pan, with little cups that sat in a frame suspended near the top of the pan. You filled the pan with water and set it to boil. The eggs cooked without coming in contact with the water, although the boiling water certainly touched the bottoms of the cups. Anyway, maybe that's more like "basting" than poaching.

My mom had one of these which I inherited, but I think the texture would still be likened more to a poached egg than a basted egg. Once I learned how to poach an egg in simmering water, the pan has not seen use since.

For me, regardless of if the top is steamed basted or literally basted with the fat it is cooked in, the bottom has to be fried to be a basted egg. What I like about the method mom taught of covering with the lid and letting the generated steam/heat cook the top instead of adding additional water in any form is that the bottom actually fries more, and the edges even get a little golden. But the yolk remains runny and all the white on top is gently cooked.

I personally never liked 'golden whites'... they reminded me of the burnt scrambled eggs my mom would serve (burnt because "That's how you're suppose to cook 'em"!). Blech, I use to eat scrambled eggs with ketchup for the longest time as a result until my father showed and cooked the perfect scrambled eggs. That said, mother could always make a killer omelette...

Do you use vinegar in the water when you poach eggs, Menolly??

[Menolly]

Do you use vinegar in the water when you poach eggs, Menolly??

No, so my poached eggs do have "trailers" of white, if you know what I mean. I don't mind them all that much, though, and prefer not having any vinegar flavor, if I can help it.

I find the gentle simmering and a slight stir of the water before dropping in the eggs keep them relatively in shape.

[Damelon]

I was reading in a french cookbook that I have that they will poach an egg in wine. I'm going to have to try that sometime.

[DukkhaWaynhim]

Nog!

[Vraith]

I was reading in a french cookbook that I have that they will poach an egg in wine. I'm going to have to try that sometime.

I'm gonna have to suggest this to my dad for extra-irritation value...
my mom is already annoyed by the fact that poached is his preference. [not that he makes her make them...my mom does shit like wear tees that say on the front "a woman's place is in the house" and on the back "and the senate."]
But it does limit options for a good breakfast [at home or out].

[aliantha]

Nog!

Yes!