how do you eat your eggs?

Kristen W. September 13, 2015

My brother used to make eggs that way when he was a teenager. His name is Matt, so he called it a "Matt McMuffin".

Nancy September 13, 2015

Reading through the post, the one about British toast soldiers and runny eggs reminded me of another childhood favorite - egg in a basket (remove center portion of a slice of bread, insert in frying pan, add egg to middle, cook the whole thing) - where the sum was greater than the parts.

Susan W. September 13, 2015

We called that Egg In A Hole...apparently we weren't very imaginative. :)

amysarah September 13, 2015

We called it Daddy Eggs (still do,) because it was the only thing my father ever cooked us...apparently, we were very literal.

Bevi September 13, 2015

In Israel it was introduced to me as an "Egyptian Eye"

mrslarkin September 12, 2015

Fried, topped with rooster chili garlic sauce. The best!!

Or....fried egg with a side of veg (string beans/asparagus) microwave steamed in Marcella's sauce. So good.

Scrambled, topped with chili garlic sauce and ketchup.

byb September 11, 2015

I make a busy-night pasta dish that involves an egg and is similar to the one-pot pasta dish floating around the internet. I boil a cup or 2 of water with some tomato and olive oil in it (approx. 5 cherry tomatoes or 1 larger one chopped up). Salt well, then add pasta and cook, stirring often, until the pasta is done and the water is mostly absorbed. More water can be added if it becomes too dry and the pasta is not yet cooked to al dente.

From there, remove from heat, drop in an egg that's been whisked well with a few tablespoons of parmesan, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Stir, stir, stir as the hot pasta/starchy mixture cooks the egg and makes a custardy, creamy sauce. Top with fresh chopped basil if you have it, and of course more parmesan. Such a cozy food!

Susan W. September 11, 2015

I'm so glad to see this. I've been wanting to incorporate an egg in the One Pot Pasta dish, but I've been mulling over how to do it so as not to end up with scrambled eggs. I'll be trying this very soon.

byb September 11, 2015

@Susan W, it's super easy and wonderful! I think it's the combination of the small about of starchy water and the egg that makes it so creamy. Hope you enjoy!

Susan W. September 11, 2015

I think you're right about the starch. There's a scrambled egg dish floating around on this site with starch added and it makes for extremely creamy eggs.

Jan W. September 12, 2015

It seems that a lot of people do this as well - I typically don't add tomatoes to mine in what I wrote above, but the stirring when adding the hot pasta, pasta water, egg and cheese is very important. If you don't stir it fast enough you might scramble the egg if the water is really hot. It's just like making carbonara but without the pork (although there's nothing wrong with some nice guanciale in my book).

Jan W. September 10, 2015

I don't know about strange, but I do like to crack one or two eggs in a bowl with pasta like fusilli or casarecce or even tagliatelle/papardelle. I add the egg(s) immediately after the pasta is taken from the water. Then I mix with chopped parsley, chiffonaded basil, black pepper, and whatever hard grating cheese i have at the moment (usually Grana Padano or Pecorino Romano) and add splash of the pasta water to form a nice rich sauce. Great meal in a pinch.

I also like eggs poached, especially in olive oil if I have time. Will eat with many things, but I like good canned sardines and cheese the most.

creamtea September 10, 2015

We've started doing something similar lately, putting the eggs in a pan with butter and cream as if to scramble them and adding the cooked pasta and topping with grated cheese. (still working on the best method...). Yum.

amysarah September 10, 2015

Bevi, you're asking if cv, not me, is serous, right? (Cause I'm serious. ;)

Bevi September 10, 2015

Absolutely! I think this community is adventurous and not one dimensional.

Bevi September 10, 2015

I am not a fan of putting eggs on anything, but one of my favorite dishes is a spaghetti pancake. Delicious. Contrary to cv's claim, I think all the examples given illustrate the widespread use of eggs over, under, around and throughout various world cuisines.

lapadia September 9, 2015

Pizza, sunny side up:
https://food52.com/recipes/8181-pizza-pie-sunny-side-up
https://food52.com/recipes/11913-eggs-on-greens-pizza

boulangere September 9, 2015

Oh yeah

Kristen W. September 9, 2015

Thanks, Susan - I hope the weather is more hospitable for your visit! :)

Cav September 9, 2015

My immediate response to seeing the question was "Masticate", which I put to one side as snarky but unnecessary and so I had nothing really to contribute.

However, seeing PieceOfLayerCake's post put something in mind. A while back I made my American wife soft boiled eggs with toast strips (soldiers) to dip in the runny yolk. I thought it might be a nostalgic thing for her, that she'd associate with childhood, much as I do. She'd never seen it in her life. A quick pole of people on facebook showed no Americans knew it. The Brits, Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians were all bemused that the USA people didn't. My French, Italian, Austrian and Romanian friends were indifferent. What also came over was that most of my American friends were kind of squigged out by the idea of a runny yolk.

So, is it an entirely unknown thing in the States? Or was my unscientific sample very unrepresentative?

Susan W. September 9, 2015

I'd say it must be regional or non scientific. Any time my brother and I were ill, my mom would make us soft boiled or poached eggs on toast. Most of my friends are very familiar with this luscious breakfast. I grew up with avocado trees in my backyard, so it often came with slices of perfectly ripe avocados. When we were ill, she'd place the softly cooked eggs on the buttered toast and cut it up into little squares. When we were well, the eggs came in small bowls and we'd butter and cut our toast into stick soldiers. Yum!! Nobody that I know is squeamish about soft yolks. I'd consider unfriending them. We're all very American.

PieceOfLayerCake September 9, 2015

I'd never heard of "soldiers" until watching a British show called "Supersizers go".....and that was the first time I'd ever seen the "strips". I must say the concept seems pretty efficient. My memory comes from good ole white toast and sunny side eggs from the Jewish deli on Sunday mornings in Ft. Lauderdale (where I lived as a child). My father was Italian and taught me to clean my plate....with bread. Toast, that crappy, breakfast joint butter and yolk was a particular favorite of mine. It was messy, but it effective!

amysarah September 9, 2015

In my American experience, a boiled egg (cooked white, runny yolk) served in an egg cup, with buttered toast to dip in the yolk, is extremely commonplace. We didn't call the toast 'soldiers' and (at least in my home) it was cut in small triangles, not strips - but beyond that, there's absolutely nothing unusual about it.

Cav September 9, 2015

Thanks for your replies. I hoped that my sample was unrepresentative.

boulangere September 9, 2015

Oh, yes. My husband used to make soldiers for the son and the daughter when they were little. They would eat anything that could be dipped in something else. They make them to this day themselves. His mother, who grew up in Philadelphia, taught their cook, and Italian woman named Silvana, to make them for him and his sisters when they were children growing up in Connecticut. Great memory; thank you for prompting it.

C S. September 10, 2015

This used to be my son's favorite way to eat eggs. Toast strips dipped right into the shell of a soft-boiled egg with a runny yolk. My mom made them for us long ago but we did not call them "soldiers" just toast and eggs.

Kristen W. September 9, 2015

...although I just used the yolk for mayonnaise, so I guess it's not exactly the same. Anyhow, I'll let the idea sit for now. Thx for the input.

Kristen W. September 9, 2015

Yes, Susan, come to think of it, in spite of my mayonnaise-phobia I have eaten homemade mayonnaise without a thought about the raw egg so...I guess it depends on how lucky I feel that day :).

And your fish taco scenario sounds wonderful...unfortunately being outside at any time today would totally melt me as it's 97 degrees and HUMID, but for almost any other time of year, YES! And yes to the red salsa recipe - that would be great!

Susan W. September 9, 2015

My mom has been complaining heavily about the weather. I'm hoping it cools a bit (a lot) before I get there on 9/22. I'll message you or post the Rubios recipe and let you know.

PieceOfLayerCake September 9, 2015

I love it simple, soft boiled or poached over lightly toasted sourdough with flaked salt and cracked pepper. That could be my absolute favorite thing in the world to eat.....maybe....

HalfPint September 9, 2015

I love eggs in all forms, some more than others. From my Asian background, my favorite meal is eggs-over-easy on top of hot cooked rice with a generous splash of soy sauce (ok, an obscene amount of soy sauce but that runny yolk mixed with the soy is sooo good). It's quick (if the rice is already cooked), easy, cheap, and total comfort food.

amysarah September 9, 2015

This is exactly what I ate this a.m. - and many others! I often intentionally make too much rice at dinner - leftovers for breakfast with a fried egg on top. Soy sauce & a drop of sesame oil mixed in, and whatever else lurks in the fridge (today it was a little leftover chopped scallion and the last bit of an avocado.) Delicious!

aargersi September 9, 2015

I'll plop a poached egg on top of just about anything ... with grits, butter and Louisiana hot sauce is a fave, on top of pasta at dinner, like that.

I was actually pondering something the other day - a possible application similar to a savory yolky stir-in for instant sauce, but in a sweet format. That's as far as I got (easily distracted)

amysarah September 9, 2015

For a sweet egg yolk sauce - Sabayon? So delicious with fresh berries (or now, figs would be fantastic.)

boulangere September 9, 2015

I'm with you, Abbie. A different ethnicity, but essentially tomato-tomahto: poached eggs over polenta with a few spoonfuls of Marcella Hazan's marinara sauce.

Kristen W. September 9, 2015

Yeah, I buy Organic Valley free range eggs from the supermarket. They're the best store-bought eggs I can find but I have know idea what the risk is with those eggs. Lord knows I grew up licking cake and cookie batter with raw eggs in it off of spoons and bowls as a kid with no adverse effects, but knowing of the possibility of illness makes me a little more cautious. I'm not sure how well-founded my caution is or not.

In any case, I'm craving Rubios now! :)

Susan W. September 9, 2015

I didn't know Organic Valley even had eggs. I buy their butter to make ghee and their half and half for my iced coffee. If you've ever made blender hollandaise, I'd think the hot coffee cooks the egg more thoroughly than the hollandaise.

Let me know if you want the recipe for Rubios hot salsa. The red one. It's the easiest recipe in the world. I'm always craving Rubios. I love picking up a couple of Especials and walking down to the Crystal pier at sunset and devouring them. :)

Kristen W. September 9, 2015

Oh, I see you kind of answered my question while I was typing away! :). If it cooks the eggs, it should be ok.

Susan W. September 9, 2015

I love Rubios. I grew up in SD and visit my mom and brother who still live there often. Rubios is always on the top of my "have to have" list.

Kristen, if you are at all squeamish about raw eggs, maybe you should skip this one. I don't know how thoroughly hot coffee cooks the eggs. I've not used my thermometer to check the temp. I'm okay with raw eggs. I buy my eggs very fresh from a farmer who let's his very healthy chickens roam and I decided long ago to just not worry about it. I think Mark mentions using eggs from pastured hens as well. I wonder if you could poach it like you do for the salad dressing I posted above. Seems like a bit of trouble to go to for coffee though.

Kristen W. September 9, 2015

Wow that's really intriguing - thx for posting! I'm a little trepidatious, safety-wise, about ingesting that much raw egg white, though...I am curious if dumping the hot coffee in, as mentioned by the author, really mitigates against the possibility of food poisoning. I have no idea to what extent it actually does that.

(Btw, I live in San Diego so I know exactly the Rubios salsa you are talking about. :))

Kristen W. September 9, 2015

Susan W., I am intrigued by the egg-in-coffee thing you mentioned - two of my great loves that I never thought of blending! Do you just blitz a raw egg with hot coffee? Or would that cook the egg? Can you elucidate?

Susan W. September 9, 2015

Let me go grab the exact recipe. It's a Paleo thing by Mark Sisson.

Susan W. September 9, 2015

Here you go. I do his second version with two whole eggs. I tried it with one..it just isn't the same.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-egg-coffee/#axzz3lDMPVdIW

Susan W. September 9, 2015

It does cook the egg, but in a frothy, creamy way. I also love the Bullet Proof coffee that he talks about. Hot coffee blended with coconut oil and ghee. Mark doesn't care for it, but I love it.

Susan W. September 9, 2015

Here's a fun one.
https://food52.com/recipes/35930-momofuku-s-soy-sauce-eggs

Kristen W. September 9, 2015

Not revolutionary, but I start my breakfast every morning with one egg scrambled on top of buttered toast, topped with a good smattering of Frank's Red Hot Sauce and a great big handful of chopped parsley. To me it's perfect, and it's really ridiculous how much I love it.

Susan W. September 8, 2015

I have 3 scrambled eggs every morning. I throw a handful of spinach or mushrooms in the pan first. I top it with a copycat of Rubios red salsa. You'd only know what that is if you've been to So Cal for their famous Baja fish tacos.

Tonight, I made Bibimbap (Korean beef, veg and rice dish) and topped it off with a beautiful sunnyside up egg that was gathered this morning.

I always make my own mayo. Last, but not least, in the winter, I blend up hot coffee with a whole egg. So good and creamy.

Just remembered...a new way to make a creamy dressing. You poach an egg for 7 minutes and 15 seconds, whirr it up in a blender with your favorite acid and drizzle in olive or avocado oil. I've been adding a chunk of fresh basil at the end. Really good dressing. It's creamy, but in a very light way. You don't need the usual amount of oil because of the egg. I can't remember where I got the recipe. It may be on this site.

Susan W. September 8, 2015

Here's the dressing recipe.
https://food52.com/recipes/37034-eric-korsh-s-farm-lettuces-salad-with-dill-vinaigrette

paseo September 12, 2015

What a great sounding dressing Susan...can't wait to try it. Agree about the Rubio's salsa - the ethnic food (esp. Mexican and Vietnamese) is one of the I miss about where I lived most of my life until I moved to New England. This area (Midcoast Maine) is definitely ethnically challenged, but the terrific seafood and local food culture just about makes up for it.

Susan W. September 12, 2015

Paseo, it's really a nice dressing. I use basil instead of the dill that I think the recipe calls for because I have a lot in my freezer. It's a creamy, but at the same time light dressing. I'll send you and Kim the Rubios recipe. Queen of the procrastinators here. It has all of 4 ingredients. It's the charring of the chili flakes that makes it.

boulangere September 8, 2015

What a great question. My initial response was, "With a fork," but I caught your drift. Caroline, I will put a poached egg on anything and call it breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Here are some of my favorites:

https://thesolitarycook.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/wisemonas-potato-cakes/
https://thesolitarycook.wordpress.com/2014/06/30/weekday-breakfast-poached-eggs-over-baby-greens/
https://thesolitarycook.wordpress.com/2013/04/22/meatless-monday-quinoa-cakes/

And then there's this:
https://food52.com/recipes/11848-use-the-good-china-eggs-homage-to-richard-olney

702551 September 8, 2015

Well, since no one here has chimed in, I'll answer. I typically eat an egg at breakfast and I don't really have time on a workday to mess around, so I eat it with pretty normal condiments and prepared a simple manner (typically easy over).

Occasionally, I will sprinkle a dash of soy sauce on an egg, which will undoubtedly make some Americans scratch their heads, but it's really quite common for a large percentage of this planet's inhabitants (Asian cooking/eating habits are largely ignored at this Western-centric web site and many others).

More frequently, I will sprinkle salt, pepper and possibly some sort of Mexican hot sauce like Cholula. When it's in season (like right now), I will top with fresh homemade salsa instead.

An egg as a common addition to fried rice is likely an oddity to Americans, despite the fact that this is very popular in Asia and West Africa (thus several billion people).

I know the Japanese will whisk a raw egg with some soy sauce and pour the mixture over steamed rice. You'd never see this in a restaurant, this is a quick home dish. Very humble but very tasty, but relies on excellent ingredients. The Japanese seem to enjoy raw eggs, they have other dishes that use it. Another is sukiyaki, which is sort of like shabu-shabu, but the cooked ingredients are use raw whisked eggs as the dipping sauce.

That's probably qualifies as a "strange" use of egg for the typical American.

Likely there are other "odd" egg uses from other food cultures. Americans are relatively unimaginative about the employment of eggs in cooking.

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scruz September 9, 2015

cv, why don't you express your viewpoint without judgement and educate all of us as to how asian cooking might use certain ingredients? perhaps in a less snarky way? i enjoy a lot of asian cooking and usually opt for some sort of asian food if i eat out (such as thai food tonight). most of us probably don't know that much about asian food but i for one am trying to educate myself. i don't think i would judge another cuisine and call it "unimaginative" but then maybe that's just me being "open" to other's views and comments. i think you might look up the phrase micro aggression as it might apply to your comments. cheers and have a nice evening.

ChefJune September 9, 2015

Really? I'm probably old enough to be your mother, and for as long as I can remember egg has been included in fried rice in most take-out Chinese restaurants. It's not odd at all.

amysarah September 9, 2015

Like ChefJune, in my experience an egg in fried rice is the opposite of odd - it's pretty much pro forma. This cartoonish 'typical American,' who finds anything besides ham 'n eggs 'strange' is a bit condescending.

Bevi September 10, 2015

Seriously?

creamtea September 10, 2015

Actually there are quite a number of Asian recipes on the site, contest winners, community picks, and Piglet competition included...I'm not sure where you get your information about American eating habits from. I also don't know what you mean by a typical American. The many cuisines of Asia are hugely popular here. I've certainly eaten fried rice, never without fried egg...

how do you eat your eggs?

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