Smooth fried eggs
Created | Updated Sep 14, 2009
Fried eggs are an important feature of the full English breakfast, and of the egg banjo, but making a perfect fried egg is quite a rare skill, especially as taste dictates what is considered "perfect".
The smooth fried egg has the white fully cooked and not runny at all, the yolk warm but still mostly runny, and it is not, EVER, flipped over in the pan before serving. This abomination, known as "over easy", is practically a different dish altogether, and will not be described here. Furthermore, the smooth fried egg has by definition no hard, crackly residues of fat forming a crunchy frill around the white. This is a common feature of fried eggs from greasy spoon caffs, and is considered a delicacy by some<footnote>And the devil's bogeys by others</footnote>.
Fried eggs cooked as follows can be served on their own or with toast, but it seems almost a shame to sully them with any other accompaniments.
Method
Gently heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Don't use butter. Don't let the oil get too hot either - it should NOT be smoking.
Crack the egg carefully into a glass. Do NOT break it into the pan. If the yolk breaks, get another egg - there's no point doing this if the yolk is broken. Broken yolks could be saved for making hollandaise sauce, chocolate mousse or zabaglione.
Gently pour just the white of the egg into the warm oil. Keep the yolk in the glass using a spoon, or an eggcup, or separate the egg some other way. As soon as you've poured as much of the white as you can into the pan, immediately season the white all over with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Allow the white to cook almost completely for a minute or two, so there's very little runny stuff left.
Now gently tip the yolk onto the middle of the white, settling it in the centre. Cover the pan with a pan lid, ideally a glass one you can see through, and allow the egg to cook for another minute or two at most.
Serve immediately, and carefully. The yolk will be warm, bright yellow, and runny, and you will have the most perfect fried egg you've ever seen.
The smooth fried egg has the white fully cooked and not runny at all, the yolk warm but still mostly runny, and it is not, EVER, flipped over in the pan before serving. This abomination, known as "over easy", is practically a different dish altogether, and will not be described here. Furthermore, the smooth fried egg has by definition no hard, crackly residues of fat forming a crunchy frill around the white. This is a common feature of fried eggs from greasy spoon caffs, and is considered a delicacy by some<footnote>And the devil's bogeys by others</footnote>.
Fried eggs cooked as follows can be served on their own or with toast, but it seems almost a shame to sully them with any other accompaniments.
Method
Gently heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Don't use butter. Don't let the oil get too hot either - it should NOT be smoking.
Crack the egg carefully into a glass. Do NOT break it into the pan. If the yolk breaks, get another egg - there's no point doing this if the yolk is broken. Broken yolks could be saved for making hollandaise sauce, chocolate mousse or zabaglione.
Gently pour just the white of the egg into the warm oil. Keep the yolk in the glass using a spoon, or an eggcup, or separate the egg some other way. As soon as you've poured as much of the white as you can into the pan, immediately season the white all over with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Allow the white to cook almost completely for a minute or two, so there's very little runny stuff left.
Now gently tip the yolk onto the middle of the white, settling it in the centre. Cover the pan with a pan lid, ideally a glass one you can see through, and allow the egg to cook for another minute or two at most.
Serve immediately, and carefully. The yolk will be warm, bright yellow, and runny, and you will have the most perfect fried egg you've ever seen.
