Don’t you just love eggs?  There are very few foods that are as nutritious, simple to prepare and just simply taste as good as eggs.  They are THE perfect breakfast, lunch, dinner or late night snack…Fried eggs are perfect anytime and frying them perfectly…it’s an art form.  Not only are eggs delicious, they are incredibly nutritious.  A large egg only has about 75 calories, but contains 7 grams of high-quality protein (basically the white is pure protein), with 5 grams of fat, and 1.6 grams of saturated fat, along with iron, vitamins, minerals, and carotenoids (the yolk is where the rest of the good stuff lives!).  An egg contains about 213 mg of cholesterol, but…pay attention now; this is important…but after over 25 years of study, scientists discovered that saturated fat is of more concern than cholesterol.  So have your egg everyday…my parents lived into their 90’s and they ate eggs every morning of their lives….

Eggs are versatile, too.  They can be poached, baked (or shirred), scrambled, soft-boiled, hard-boiled, made into omelets and fried.  Fried eggs are our subject for this post.  I’ve been frying eggs for years; we all have.  Sometimes they turn out better than others.  So I decided there must be something I was missing.  I think having the heat too high was a major part of the problem and covering the pan, with the lower heat, is the solution.  Frying an egg isn’t as easy as it looks.  Frying an egg perfectly, is an art form.

Many famous chefs test their potential sous chef’s skills by asking their potential employee to fry an egg; and fry it properly and perfectly.  This method will produce two flawlessly cooked eggs, with no runny egg whites, and perfectly soft and unctuous yolks just waiting to be salt and peppered and devoured.  The yolks will succumb and burst with goodness when you dip a piece of good, toasted bread into those lovely golden orbs of delicious-ness.  This is the technique you need to know in order to achieve egg-frying perfection.

First heat the skillet over medium heat for about 2 minutes.  Then add about 1 teaspoon of butter (or oil-olive oil is wonderful for an egg sandwich egg!) and let it melt.  It shouldn’t sizzle, or the pan is too hot.  If this happens, turn the burner off (or remove the pan from the heating element of an electric stove) and let the pan set for 2-3 minutes.  Next, turn the burner down to low.  On my gas stove, I’ve found that 2 works perfectly; 1 is a bit too cool.

Now, break 2 fresh large eggs into the skillet and cover the skillet immediately.

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve found that a lid that is flatter and fits down into the skillet a bit, worked best.  I used one that “domed” and the eggs took almost 1 full minute longer to cook.

When you cover the pan (no peeking!), then set the timer for 2 minutes and 40 seconds if the eggs are room temperature and for 3 minutes if you pulled them out of the fridge.  This is the time that works for me and for my stove.  But stoves, like people, have individual peculiarities and differences.  Start with these numbers and see how your stove behaves.  Then, adjust accordingly.  Pop the toast in the toaster, get your plate out and stand at the ready, spatula in hand!  When the timer goes off, turn off the heat, remove the lid (tell me you didn’t peek…) and there before your eyes, 2 perfectly cooked eggs.

 

 

 

Now,slide the eggs onto the plate, season with salt and freshly ground pepper, add the slice of toast and…Voilá, it eats!!

 

 

 

 

Tell me you don’t want to get up from your chair right this moment and make this for yourself…and you don’t want to share it either, do you?  And whatever you do, don’t tell anyone just how incredibly easy perfection is…Yummm…I’m on my way to the kitchen NOW!