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Perfect Fried Egg - How To Fry Eggs
First let's talk about the perfect
fried eggs. A French technique that very slowly cooks the eggs in
butter.
This method was developed by Master French Chef Fernana Point
(1897-1955) at his three Michelin Star rated restaurant La Pyramide in
the 1950’s. According to the book, The Perfectionist - Life and
Death in Haute Cuisine,
By Rudolph Chelminski, Fernana Point's favorite saying was:
"Du beurre!
Donnez-moi du beurre! Toujours du beurre!" Point insisted:
"Butter!
Give me butter! Always butter!"
In the
first chapter, Luxe, Calme et Volupté,
Chelminski details how Loiseau’s mentor, the
infamous Chef Fernand Point would test visiting
chefs with a challenge to show him how they fried a
simple egg, declaring that the easiest dishes were
often the most difficult to prepare. When,
inevitably, the chef insulted the egg with the
sizzling hot surface of a frying pan, Point would
cry, "Stop, unhappy man - you are making a dog’s bed
of it!" And then he would proceed to demonstrate the
one and only civilized manner of treating an egg.
Very slowly, very gently, and swimming in butter of
course.
Following is Chef
Fernana Point's recipe:
Place a lump of fresh butter in a pan or egg dish
and let it melt - that is, just enough for it to
spread, and never, of course, to crackle or sit;
open a very fresh egg onto a small plate or saucer
and slide it carefully into the pan; cook it on heat
so low that the white barely turns creamy, and the
yolk becomes hot but remains liquid; in a separate
saucepan, melt another lump of fresh butter; remove
the egg onto a lightly heated serving plate; salt it
and pepper it, then very gently pour this fresh,
warm butter over it.
- Fernand Point
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Perfect Fried Eggs:
Now
for the modern version (rather my version) of the above
recipe:
1
fresh large
egg*
3/4 tablespoon of butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
*
Use the freshest and best eggs you can find.
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Very fresh eggs produce the best shape when frying eggs.
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Place a small non-stick frying pan over the lowest
possible heat on your stove (if using gas, you should
barely see the blue flame.)
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Add
the butter and let slowly melt, making sure it doesn't
foam
and is not sizzling.
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When
all the butter has melted, crack the egg into a small
bowl, dish, or saucer (taking
care not to break the yolk and to remove any shell
fragments).
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Gently
slide
the egg off the dish into the frying pan and cover with
a lid.
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Continue cooking approximately 5 minutes
until the egg white solidifies from transparency into
snow-white cream; the yolk will thicken slightly as it
heats.
How quickly the egg cooks is dependent on how low you
have the heat.
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Do not flip the eggs but
leave the egg sunny-side up and natural.
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When your egg is done, slide cooked egg onto a serving plate;
sprinkle with fresh cracked pepper, salt, and serve.
Basic Fried Eggs:
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Heat
a non-stick skillet (or a regular skillet greased with a small amount of butter, margarine,
or cooking oil) at medium heat until just hot enough to
sizzle a drop of water. Or use a regular skillet and add a small amount of butter or oil.
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Break eggs and gently slip into the skillet.
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Immediately
reduce heat to low.
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Cook slowly until whites are completely set
and yolks begin to thicken but are not hard (turning eggs gently to cook both sides
or adding a small amount of water and covering with lid to cook tops of eggs). Season with
salt and pepper as desired.
Steam-Fried Eggs:
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Reduce butter to just enough to
grease pan or use light coating of cooking spray and/or nonstick pan.
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In a frying pan over
medium-high heat, heat butter until just hot enough to sizzle a drop of water.
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Break and
slip eggs into pan.
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Immediately reduce heat to low.
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Cook until edges turn white, about 1
minutes.
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Add 1 teaspoon water (for more eggs, decrease proportion slightly for each
additional egg being cooked). Cover pan tightly with lid to hold in steam.
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Cook until
whites are completely set and yolks begin to thicken but are not hard. Remove from pan and
season as desired.
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Gas flame on lowest heat.
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Butter in the pan waiting to slowly melt.
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Egg on small saucer.
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Egg in frying pan before placing lid on top.
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Pan covered with lid.
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After approximately 5 minutes, fried egg is cooked. Time
to remove from pan.
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Salt, peppered, and ready to eat and enjoy!
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