Before we begin
Let’s take a minute to look at where we are going. Picture it with me: a plate, two fine slices of bacon on one side, toast on the other, still warm, the butter melted into it. In between is a pair of fried eggs, steaming, the whites of the eggs firm. Your mouth watering in anticipation, you tear off a chunk from the top slice of toast and poke the corner into the yolk of one of the eggs. The lightly-cooked top of the yolk yields easily and out flows the deep yellow treasure within. Ohhhh, heaven.
Creating that perfect culinary moment is a dance with heat and time, a graceful ballet that is every bit as pleasurable as the final product. There are decisions along the way, opportunities to add the subtle nuances that make those eggs uniquely yours. This guide, then, is a framework in which your improvisation can succeed.
Theory
The theory is discussed more in-depth in the original article, but before we go rushing off to the kitchen, let us pause for the tiniest of moments to look at just what an over-easy egg is. It is an egg that has been fried so that the white is cooked but the yolk is still runny. It is the challenge of cooking one part of the egg without cooking the other that makes the over-easy egg the greatest egg-cooking accomplishment. It will take all our skill and timing to defy the laws of thermodynamics so.
Sunny-side up eggs also have the runny yolk, but the top layer of the white is not firm, either. Our goal is to flip the egg just long enough to firm up that top layer of white and then get it off the heat before the yolk cooks. It’s not really that difficult, it’s just that no one does it right, especially in restaurants. (Please feel free to refer the cook at your favorite diner to this page. While the equipment and procedures are different, this is really all about the flip. He’ll thank you later as the humble restaurant becomes internationally famous for the excellence of their over-easy eggs.)
Preparation
Sun Tsu, in The Art of War, says (something like) “A good general wins the battle before it begins.” This applies to cooking as well. Your success depends on what you do before you light the stove.
This morning we will be cooking three items, the three instruments in our little culinary composition. Once the music starts there will be no time scrounge up important tools or ingredients without casting a sour note; anything you can do now, before heat is applied to food and the march of thermodynamics cannot be turned back, will make things easier later. You will need: eggs, bacon, bread, butter, a toaster, a frying pan, a spatula (preferably metal – the thinner the better), paper towels, a plate, a fork, and a table knife. Get them out ahead of time and place them all within easy reach. Make sure you have room to work next to the stove as well.
Lay out your work space. Put the pan on the stove, the spatula and the fork nearby, and put a paper towel on the plate. Put the bread by the toaster. Check the butter to make sure it’s not too firm to spread on the toast easily. Touch each thing once with your hand so your body will remember its place. You will find yourself automatically putting things back in their places later, so you don’t have to expend unnecessary mental energy with the details. You’re an artist, baby! No time to be groping for brushes when the passion strikes!
Note: Years later I’ve learned from watching Worst Cooks in America that the above ritual is called mise en place – everything in its place. Taking sixty thin seconds now to lay everything out makes things so much easier later that you will suddenly feel like a good cook. Because you will be.
Take a deep breath. Relax. This is going to be great!
Ready? The conductor is stepping to the podium. A hush descends over the concert hall. It’s time to fire up the stove.
Bacon
There are many reasons not to eat bacon: Political, religious, economic, environmental, and health issues abound. On the other hand, there’s only one reason to eat it: It’s yummy. Bacon has the side effect of providing grease to lubricate the pan while you cook your eggs as well. When cooking for myself (as is usually the case), two slices of bacon is plenty. Cooking bacon is simple, really; plop a couple strips into the pan and as it heats you will hear the sizzling begin. Keep a close ear on that sound; that’s your thermometer. If things start to sizzle and pop with too much abandon, turn the heat down a bit.
I’m a “busy” cook, so I harass the bacon with my fork as it cooks, pushing it around to make sure it doesn’t get stuck, flipping it more than is strictly necessary, and generally robbing the bacon of any chance to relax as the meat cooks and some of the fat is turned to liquid. How long you cook the bacon is entirely up to you. While I want my bacon to be cooked through I don’t like it to snap when I bend it. If you’re cooking for strangers, always make it crispy. When your bacon is done turn the heat way down on the stove and hoist those puppies out. Put them on the paper towel to absorb some of the grease still bubbling in the strips.
There’s your pan, waiting for the main event…
Toast
But hold on, there, Sparky! That intriguing, inviting frying pan calling your name is trying to lead you astray! What started as a gentle waltz is speeding up now — it is a fugue, and the goal is to have all the lines of the music end at the same time. Once you’ve been around the block a couple of times you’ll know: the toast takes longer to cook than the eggs. There’s nothing worse than scooping the eggs out of the pan and onto the plate, steaming, gleaming, calling to you, and having to wait for the toast. Oh, I’ve been there many times, my friends, and it hurts. Send two slices down into the fiery maw of the toaster and turn your attention back to the frying pan.
The Eggs
You’re moving gracefully now from plate to toaster to pan, and utensils are jumping into your hand before you even think of them. The eggs are there, waiting, but first let’s take a look at that pan. You’ve got some big decisions to make. The bacon has left behind two things; grease and crispy critters. The first decision is an easy one based entirely on taste: Do you scrape out the crispy critters? Personally, I leave them in. They can become a sticking point during the flip, but I like what they add to the egg. The second question is tougher: Do you have too much grease in the pan? If you only cooked a couple of slices of bacon you’re probably OK. If you cooked more it’s time to take some of the grease out of the pan. I generally just soak some of it up with a paper towel. Pouring it down the sink is a bad idea, unless you’re looking for an excuse to have that cute plumber come over.
Remember, that’s hot hot grease there! Be careful!
Naturally, if you are not a bacon-eater, you will have to add butter or oil to the pan and you’re completely out of luck on the crispy critters. Also, without lovely bacon goodness, you’ll probably want to add a sprinkle of salt and maybe a touch of black pepper.
The pan is ready. It’s time to turn the heat back up for a few moments and put in the eggs. Eggs – check. Spatula – check. All right. Crack open that first egg and drop her in!
Not so fast there, buckaroo! I saw you reaching for that next egg! This is the first half of the secret to perfect over-easy eggs. Don’t put in the second egg yet! The reason will be obvious when we get to the flip. Instead, it’s time to use your spatula to adjust the sprawl of the first egg. As you look at the egg sitting in the pan, you will see three distinct parts. There is the yolk, the inner white part, and the outer white part. While the first two parts are relatively self-contained, the outer white will run all over the place. The farther it runs, the thinner it gets and the faster it cooks. If you like little crispy-crinkly bits around the edges, then some sprawl is desirable. If your stove is not level (mine isn’t) some of the outer white will make a break for it. Just push it back where it belongs and everything will be all right.
That other egg is calling to you. Your hand is starting to twitch. You can no longer resist the need to start the next egg cooking. Crack it open and drop it in, adjusting sprawl as above.
Pop! goes the toaster. Never taking your eyes off the eggs, pull the toast out and butter it. Dump the bacon off the towel onto the plate, and put the toast next to it.
The Flip
The moment has come to flip the eggs. How do you know when that moment has arrived? It is when the inner white portion is almost completely cooked. Only practice, practice, and more practice will allow you to recognize this moment every time, but here’s the second part of the arcane secret for cooking eggs over easy: Don’t flip the eggs too soon! While the egg is sunny-side up, the yolk is floating on top and the white acts as an insulating layer, protecting the yolk from the heat of the pan. Alas, some of the white is also insulated, and to get that part firmed up we must risk everything and flip the egg over for a few agonizing seconds.
Before we go doing something crazy that could injure our precious yolk, make sure the egg is free and loose. Everything cool? Well then, flip the first egg, and only the first egg. This is why you waited before putting the second egg in. The egg will be flipped for such a short time that you don’t want to get caught fooling around with egg number two while egg number one overcooks. After just a few seconds scoop the first egg out and flip it yolk-side-up onto your plate. Now repeat the process with egg number two.
Turn off the stove, step back, and take a look at the beauty you have wrought.
Some final comments
While I have tried to be specific, there are many aspects of timing and temperature that I just cannot be exact about. Everything from how you like your toast to the weight of your frying pan will affect your outcome. Only experimentation will lead to your oval nirvana. If they don’t come out just right the first time, relax. I bet it’s still way better than what you would get at Denny’s. The process is, as I mentioned above, a complex and delicate composition, and like all great works of art, each performance carries with it some risk.
Finally, I did not include the preparation of any beverages in this framework. I know there are those who are as passionate about their coffee as I am about my eggs, and I invite your input.
I hope this little how-to helps you. If we all band together, perhaps one day we can rid the world once and for all of the scourge of too-soon-flipped eggs. And remember as Valentines day hurtles toward us that the best way to start the day is to bring your sweetie breakfast in bed. A beautifully orchestrated, lovingly presented plate full of grub says “I love you” like nothing else. (Don’t forget to clean the kitchen.)
As ever Jer, I enjoyed your blog. You really are amazing.
Bravo, author, author! Jer you are certainly a saint of cuisine, the king of the cackleberry if you will.
Your aside on the necessity and wonders of the product of that magical animal, the lowly porcine makes this essay truly memorable.
Perhaps you should lend your considerable talents to the development of a book on cooking? Award and recognition abound – see http://www.jamesbeard.org/
Could a squirrel cook an egg? I think not. Thusly shall man hold dominion over this world for as long as the winds blow and the poultry lay.
I recall from 4-H cooking lessons that fresh eggs have a lot of the thick “inner” white and less of the runny “outer white. The older the egg, the more runny stuff. So use fresh eggs to keep the runny edges reined in.
That is all.
Alas, the chickens in Rio Arriba County don’t lay eggs during the winter, so at this time of year, we have to do with eggs laid who-knows-how-long-ago, shipped from who-knows-where (OK, actually, we know they’re from Texas; it says so on the carton).
But come spring, oooohhh, yeah, really fresh eggs at Five O’Clock Somewhere!
As for the bacon, there’s a good smokehouse up near Alamosa. Rather a drive, but worth it.
No two ways, fresh eggs are better. The eggs here are really quite good, even the ones from the supermarket. And the shells are really tough! You have to smack those babies to open them up.
Yes. According to the farmers in Rio Arriba County, those thick egg shells mean the chickens are getting plenty of calcium in their diets and are generally living a much more healthful lifestyle than those poor cluckers who provide the usual supermarket eggs.
I was truly impressed with your over-easy explanation AND video!!! Awesome! Thank you so much!!!!!
Finally someone realizes the true filmatic brilliance of the egg video!
Thanks, Jonathan! In fact, as I write this I’m basking in the full-belly glow of over-easy eggs. I just can’t get enough!
Had a guest explaining to our cook that “over easy” meant tilting the pan and scooping hot oil over the sunny side up at the breakfast buffet of the hotel where I am the manager.
Outraged, I searched google to find some document to englighten this poor soul and landed on your article.
Unfortuantely, the guest checked out, but will keep the link in handy the next time this sacrilegious idea rears its ugly head in my restaurant.
What about toast?
While over easy is not *my* favorite style of eggs, I appreciate Jer’s enthusiasm for them. As seen in the movie “The Runaway Bride”, knowing how you like your eggs is almost as important as knowing where your towel is at.
The desirability of bacon is self evident and, therefore, hardly worth mentioning.
But what about toast? Keith pointed out the texture and temperature based differences between American and British toasts that result from different serving methods. However, the quintessential element of toast is color.
Some people are satisfied with a yellowish gold tint that indicates they are really just eating warm slices of bread and sadly deluding themselves with the mistaken belief that they are actually enjoying toast.
On the other hand, there’s the if-its-brown-its-cooking; if-its-black-its-done crowd. The fact humans are carbon based life forms does not require us to actually eat coal.
True toast is a unique golden brown color that I simply call “toast color”. You know it when you see it.
Bob, you may have just redeemed the male gender in the eyes of a large number of females. Fashion designers have long used the term “toast” to refer to a particular shade of brown that can’t be described with any other term. You have demostrated that you, too, understand it.
Of course, since it has to do with food, and not the world of fashion, maybe this was just a fluke. Still, you get at least a couple of points for recognizing that subtle differences in color do exist.
Its an interesting question: “Do females see more colors than males?”
The conventional wisdom goes along the lines of: “Yes. Most females can typically recognize and name hundreds of colors while most males, even on their good days, have trouble breaking fifty.”
I am mostly, but not quite completely, of the belief that this is true. For example, my 6 year daughter assures me that there is a world of difference (even if I can’t see it) between pink and peach, and she does sound convinving.
Part of my lingering doubts are based on a concern that there is some sort of Emperor’s New Clothes thing going on. I can’t help wondering: Can women really see different colors called teal, seafoam, and aquamarine or do they just see three blueish green objects (same as me) and put on a big front?
Its also possible that females and males have different sensitivities to color based on the situation. Females have dibs on fashion and paint (How many freakin’ shades of off white are there really?) while males have heightened color recognition capabilities for detecting differences like:
Blond, Brunette, and Red Head;
Amber, Nut Brown, and Blond (there’s that word again); and
Tomato Sauce Red vs. Pepperoni Red.
As the academics always say, more research is required.
PS:
a.) My daughter actually sounds convincing rather than convinving,
b.) I should have written “In part, my lingering doubts are …”, and
c.) Based on the above, you’re gonna have to go with “fluke” on the fashion question, which means
d.) The redemption didn’t last very long.
Bob, I think that you are a bit confused. I think that the real “runaway bride” was toast. As a matter of fact, I think that her eyes in that now famous bug-eyed photo were the exact size and shape of glorious eggs over easy!
Bob, Carol Anne, Ted, Alice, and of course Brian,
My wife and I own a plastic water/juice pitcher that is colored somewhere on the spectrum between blue and green. I often refered to it as the “blue” pitcher, while T always wanted to know where the “green” pitcher was. We had tiffs, spats, tete-a-tetes over the color of this pitcher. After one memorable debate, it twarn’t but two days later the paper had an article reporting on a science study of gender color identification. Darned if they didn’t address precisely the same blue-green issue. Men tend to see the blue in a mixed color while women tend to see the green.
Other science has shown that past age 40, men start to lose hearing in the frequency ranges coinciding with the higher tones of females. Which is probably why, when T asks, “..ave you seen the green pitcher.” I used to answer, “You mean the blue pitcher?”, but now I just say, “WHAT?”
If you want to know why we couldn’t agree on an in between color like aqua, well, is it aqua? jade? lagoon? teal?
Here’s a project: translate the JCWhitney catalog into J.Crew-ese.
“These offroad halogens for Jeeps and Toyotas come cased in four wonderful colors: Antique mirror, Water Buffalo, Good Humor Cream, and Skinned Knuckle.”
Jesse,
I recommend that you buy a red pitcher and then accidently break the other one.
Two thoughts:
One: Pat and I have always disagreed about what color El Caballero is. He says it’s blue. I say it’s green. General Motors calls it “Bright Aqua Metallic.” A traffic parking enforcement officer (male) wrote a ticket calling it blue. But a color-blind car-wash attendant called it red — and color-blind people don’t see blue as red; they see green as red. So that definitively defines the car as green.
Two: on the hearing issue. For years, I had been accusing Pat of pretending not to hear me in order not to have to deal with whatever I was saying. I got so fed up with it that I finally talked him into getting a comprehensive hearing test when he went in for his physical. Turns out, he was right. The tests showed that his hearing was mostly good, with siginficant losses only in an extremely narrow band (corresponding to the typical female voice), and more severe in his right ear, the one that’s toward me when we’re driving in the car. Because his hearing loss is only in such a limited range, a hearing aid isn’t practical.
So yes, it’s true that he can’t hear me — he’s not doing it on purpose or even subconsciously.
And, no, I didn’t take his word for it; I saw the medical report. So, guys, if your wife or girlfriend is accusing you of not listening, be prepared to show them documentation to prove it’s not your fault.
Hi CA,
Don’t you think it’s a stretch to call color blind witnesses to bolster your case?!?
Yo Bob,
It’s better if we keep the blue/green pitcher around, because our marriage is so amazingly perfect and sweet, that we need this one abrasion to keep us grounded. Otherwise we would never ever have any spats, and we would make others sick with envy.
p.s. Bob I sent you a private email, a few days ago, to the link on your comments – the honeywell one. Did you get it?
Ah, not trying to be convinving or any thing Carol Anne, but re:”Because his hearing loss is only in such a limited range, a hearing aid isn’t practical”:
Aren’t there alternative explanations besides “practicallity”, e.g. Pat prefers the status quo? Some may view “limited range” as “pinpoint accuracy.”
If this is indeed a proven recurring pattern throughout 40 year old maledom (approximately 5-20 years of marriage), then it’s time to give Mr. Darwin his props.
P.S. Jesse,
Yes. Did you get my reply?
Actually, Keith, according to Pat’s doctor, this particular hearing problem is particularly common among baby-boomers, especially males. The usual culprit is rock music, listened to at much too high of volume for far too much time, back during the teen years. It causes damage that might not be so apparent immediately, but that really hits hard in middle age.
Interesting thought I just had … If this hearing loss is so common, I wonder how often it goes unrecognized and contributes to divorces caused by the wife’s accusation “You just don’t listen to me”?
And actually, even given modern digital technology, that hearing loss is in such a narrow band that even the very most sophisticated hearing aids can’t selectively amplify that without also amplifying a whole lot that doesn’t need it. But then, as far as Pat’s concerned, maybe that specific hearling loss IS “pinpoint accuracy”!
Bob, I got your secret reply. Our plan for world domination is right on track.
T minus 20.
Roger that Jesse.
Pinky and the Brain have nothing on us.
I’m sorry, Carol Anne, did you say something?
im a sophomore in college and after having amassed information for my entire life i realized i had no idea how to make eggs over easy. now i do thanks to your page. the video was really helpful. now all i have to do is get a blockbuster membership and ill be a card carrying member of the clan of adulthood. thanks again
Don’t do it, Jeff! Adulthood is a trap!
Hi.. and thanks for the informative guide to egg cooking..found your site light hearted and fun also.. heading to New York City from Edinburgh Scotland and needed to know the terms to get my eggs the way I like ’em. I can now go on my travels with one less thing to worry about. Regards
Andy
Andy was probably visitor 32003. At least he was more conversant than most over easy visitors. I say we make him MOH for all the egg frier Big Number visitors, past and future. Perhaps he can get the poll changed….
A fine suggestion. Andy, if you ever come back to this site, you may find a shrine erected to your long-standing MOH-ness.
Also Andy, you may want to check the episode called “New York Sucks”.
I’ll have actual Internet access in the domicile shortly. Exciting stuff.
Thank you so much for your advice on how to make the perfect over easy egg, I attempted your recipe and the results were….absolutely delicious!!
Wow… Thank you sooo much… now I FINALLY no how to make eggs over easy!!!! i was doing it soo wrong.. putting both my eggs in at the same time!!
Thanks for the humorous, yet informative cinematic augmentation. Us visual learners like that.
Hi there, Count me in as among the masses finding your blog through a Google search. I started at your original egg article and clicked through as encouraged.
I love to cook and think I do a pretty decent job of it, but over-easy eggs are my undoing. (Well, over-easy eggs and baking in general, but I’ll stay on topic.) Try and try as I might, I’ve yet to perfect this breakfast recipe, despite varying suggested experiments, like covering the pan so the egg yolk glazes over from steam, and flipping the eggs in the pan, no spatula.
I think you’ve confirmed the runaway egg-white part of my over-easy egg cooking theories, but I’m not convinced the spatula is the way to go — or rather, I clearly need more practice using it. And/or add more butter to the pan so I can scoop the egg safely without destroying the yolk with the spatula, which is what happens often using the tool.
Perhaps the over-easy egg really is like getting to Carnegie Hall…
“Eggs-tra” kudos to your posting a blog using a Mac. :) I used to blog with Blogger until it made some changes, and with a single click of my Mac mouse, I ruined my archives, unintentionally changing the templates on all of them, destroying the time sensitivity and sentimentality of every month’s design. I’m still not quite over it. It’s been neaerly four years since my last blog entry. But can you tell by this ramble that I clearly miss it?
Susan! A rambler after my own heart. The thing about the spatula is not to believe the cooking shows. Use a really thin (metal, by necessity) spatula and take a little shimmy time to get it under the fragile parts of the egg. That’s one of the advantages of spacing out the egg drops. You have a better spatula window.
Never give up on the over-easy. There is no one right answer, but perfection in the eye of the chef is elusive. Ypu have to break some eggs to get th perfect breakfast.
Toast is also much trickier than advertised, but I’ll leave that to other chefs.
thanks so much for posting this! :-)
I’ve prefered my eggs scrambled for most of my life but was recently converted to over easy. Now I know how to make them myself!
Thanks for this article! I wasn’t wondering how to make it, I have been wondering what american mean by cooking eggs ‘over easy’. Your blog is great! I enjoyed this article so much.
Not only was this funny (and yes, so where the comments added later) but incredibly helpful. And how did you know my name was Sparky?
I didn’t know your name was Sparky. I just hoped it was.
Unbelievable! I just found your artical on over easy eggs (which around here you can’t even get right in restaurants). Thanks to you, using the one-plate at-a-time method, I fed 10 partied-out New Year’s Eve revelers at my house to rave reviews. Only one problem…our house has become the place to go after the taverns close! Thank you for making me the most popular girl on the south side.
Susie H.
I just stumbled upon your “how to” on eggs over easy. BRILLIANT!! I’m pretty good in the kitchen, but the eggs-OE thing has plagued me for years. I think you’re best piece of advice is staggering the eggs going into the pan. So simple, yet I never thought of it. DUH!!! If you can only flip 1 egg at a time, why have all the eggs ready to flip at the same moment. THANKS TONS.
And my haiku contribution (I know the syllables per line aren’t perfect, but it’s close)
Seinfeld, Reiser, et al….
So damn clever,
Pseudo intellectuals
Dear Sir,
I’m forever indebted to you. The secrets you’ve bestowed upon us have eluded me for countless years. Even in spite of your written explanation, I remained baffled…it was your video demonstration that has truly set me on the path toward preparing quality eggs as part of a well balanced breakfast. Bravo sir. Bravo.
Eggcelent Job!!!!
Great article! I love me some over easy eggs. I’m a breakfast coffee drinker, and if you use a French press like I do it’s very easy to set some water boiling at the beginning of everything, get your beans ground and measured into your press pot, and then all that’s left pouring hot water over it all when you’re 2-3 minutes from finished.
when cooking eggs over easy is the white cooked through or is it still loose and runny inside
In my book, there is not the runny snot-like layer of uncooked egg white between the cooked bottom and the thin cooked top. This is the sin that almost every short-order cook commits. They flip too soon, and they can’t leave the turned egg long enough to firm up the rest of the white without overcooking the yolk. The perfect over-easy egg has white that is firm all the way through, yet has a yolk that explodes like a yummy volcano when prodded with the corner of your toast.
Hey, dig the name of this truck!
Tried, failed, will buy a better spatula & report back on Attempt 2.
Keep at it! I have failed in my attempts to make perfect eggs many times; it is not a time to stop but a time to press ever forward, learning with each setback.
And, yeah, a good spatula comes in handy.
I knew how to do everything except the one thing you said nothing about: The technique of flipping without the egg falling off the spatula and writhing around, half up and half down, with the treasured yolk running over to mess up egg no.2.
I discovered the other day that I’m rusty with the flip as well. I’d kept extra bacon grease in the pan and the eggs were sliding all over the place. One yolk did not survive the flip.