The center of the egg, the yolk. One perfectly hard boiled and the other in its natural state. Photos by Donna Turner Ruhlman.
Egg: A Culinary Exploration of the World's Most Versatile Ingredient. It honestly did come to me in something like a flash, or a series of small idea explosions, one leading to another to another until the entire landscape went up in flames. The whole of the egg, a miracle of nutrition, economy, utility, and deliciousness, came to me as a single image. All one thing.
In this euphoria of eureka, I called out to Donna to help me capture it. Within the hour we had a complete flowchart of the egg on five feet of parchment paper, a document that served as the proposal for this book (and that its publisher, Little, Brown, has not only recreated and tucked into the back of the book, but made interactive in the astonishing electronic version). I will be on Morning Edition later this week, and on it the host, Steve Inskeep, asked me to read a paragraph from the Introduction. Having not read it in a year, I was struck by how concisely it summed up the new book, officially published today.
"In the kitchen, the egg is ultimately neither ingredient nor finished dish but rather a singularity with a thousand ends. Scrambled eggs and angel food cake and ice cream and aioli and popovers and gougères and macarons and a gin fizz aren’t separate entities, they’re all part of the egg continuum, they are all one thing. The egg is a lens through which to view the entire craft of cooking. By working our way through the egg, we become powerful cooks."
We become powerful cooks when we know the egg. And that’s what this big-ass egg cookbook is all about. Each recipe is an example of a single end the egg brings us to, dozens and dozens of different ends.
Please help me welcome the publication of Egg! And of course I’m giving away a signed copy; just mention in the comments section your favorite way of using an egg (even if it’s throwing it at writers).
Other links you may like:
- My past post on the West Coast Egg Book Tour.
- Events at Elliott Bay Book Company, Powell’s City of Books, and Copperfield’s/Whole Foods Napa.
- Recent guest posts from Nom Nom Paleo and Slim Palate.
© 2014 Michael Ruhlman. Photo © 2014 Donna Turner Ruhlman. All rights reserved.
I have two sunny side up every morning 🙂
I like to take left over thai curries after all the good bits have been eaten out and poach an egg in the sauce for dinner or lunch. Delicious.
I like to take leftover pancit noodles from dinner the night before, get them really hot, then top with a runny fried egg, or a poached egg.
Lightly poached atop fresh, homemade corned beef hash is my favorite, any time of day!
Most favourite way to eat an egg = soft fried with a runny yoke served on top of creamy, spicy Chesapeak cheesy grits with lardons of my own home cured and home smoked guanciale. Stop me now! 😀
Poached with steamed asparagus to accompany the eggs.
I like to make a frittata with eggs and leftover pasta. paired with a salad makes a wonderful lunch or dinner.
When I need comfort food, nothing works better than a fried egg sandwich on white bread with mayo. It's truly one of my favorites.
I love soufflés. There's just something awesome about taking an egg apart and putting it together changed.
Tossed in pasta before serving, or on top of a bowl of ramen.
A french scramble is unbeatable but i probably quick-scramble (overcook) eggs to throw on a sandwich more often.
Cocktails! Pisco sours, white/pink ladies, flips of all kinds.
My favorite way to eat eggs is as Hollandaise; that stuff is a revelation, if you've never had it made fresh, preferably at home.
For breakfast, German pancake: easy to blend, stick in oven, and it's done by the time the bacon is done frying.
For lunch: deviled eggs.
For dinner: Bowtie Pasta with Fried Eggs and Cheese, from Jaques Pepin's "Fast Food My Way."
I love omelets. I experiment using all kinds of filling and could eat them every day of the week. 🙂
I like to steam them in the pressure cooker, they practically peel themselves.
Breakfast freed or scrambled in coconut oil with various herbs and at yogurt instead of milk, and lately quiches with cabbage, quinoa, noodles, whatever tossed in with or without crust. And..a devilled egg recipe handed down in the family. always doubled..most time intensive egg recipe I have.
1. Soft scrambled with fresh sauteed morels & leeks. 2. Poached with smoked salmon and English muffin with lots of cracked black pepper. 3. Egg salad with fresh chives.
Soft poached, on a bed of arugula, with a little bit of guanciale, parmesean, minced garlic, thin chewy pizza crust, topped with a light drizzle of evo.
I've been eating them soft-boiled in salads recently. Delicious.
Fresh pasta
Just had two farm-fresh eggs scrambled in coconut oil this morning. That'll keep me going all day. 🙂
My Sicilian Grandmother used to poach eggs in her marinara sauce right before plating. Soooo delicious!! I also make this breakfast casserole that's basically a savory bread pudding with cubes of day old crusty bread, bacon, good cheddar cheese, "melted" onions, canned and hand crushed whole San Marzano tomatoes. It's bound together not by eggs, but by chicken stock and the shredded cheddar. But at the end, after it cooks for awhile, you take the pan out, make 6-8 indentations with the bottom of a ladle, crack an egg in each one, and then finish baking to desired egg consistency.
Then commence food-gasm.
Deviled eggs are a family favorite!
I believe a perfectly poached egg can top any dish but I especially love a poached egg atop fresh pesto over ravioli.
As a wash for the perfect finish to homemade soft pretzels.
Congrats on the new book Michael! I adore eggs either in a divine carbonara or topping the perfect croque madame. The egg really is one of those ingredients that is so versatile!
CURED AND GRATED! #EGG
Being perfectly honest, nicely done, slow and low scrambled eggs with a little bit of fresh herbs scattered into them is where I'm happiest.
Aoli is the application I am most perplexed by. Pasta is my favorite use of an egg.
Perfectly poached, over polenta with a slice of bacon and maple syrup.
Omelettes and frittatas - and my wife likes them in egg salad
I love to make soft scrambled eggs and put them on a toasted English muffin with a slice of sharp cheddar cheese and grey poupon mustard.
Every morning I have an egg (from my chickens) over easy on a piece of homemade bread. I wouldn't want anything else...
The cover recipe from Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. It speaks to the beauty and wonder of eggs that although lamb is featured in the recipe, the name of the dish is "braised eggs." Can't wait to get the book!
Oh egg, how I love thee...but simply not enough space to count the ways. One of my favorite use's for egg is simply incorporating one yolk into a homemade vinaigrette - and suddenly you have a nicely emulsifed sauce that clings to such delicate lettuces, greens and all things good. Hail to the wonderful egg!
We LOVE eggs in our house -- four of us go through 5 dozen a week!
Homemade mayonnaise is my favorite thing to do with an egg (yolk), because it's absolutely magical with macadamia nut oil. And stupid easy with an immersion blender!
Ice cream!
The thing I love best to make from eggs is aioli.
2 eggs from my backyard chickens, over easy, with bacon cured with your recipe from Charcuterie, and some good sourdough toast.
Oh, and my kids' favorite is "eggs and tortillas": Melt some coconut oil in a cast-iron skillet, cover the surface with fresh corn tortillas and then crack a bunch of eggs on top, breaking up the yolks a bit. Cook on medium heat without stirring or turning till the eggs are starting to cook and the tortillas are just starting to smoke. Flip the whole thing over (tortillas should be gorgeously brown and crisp), cook a couple more minutes, eat!
You can add avocado, salsa, pickled jalapenos, or cheese, but it's pretty awesome with just salt and pepper too.
I love a poached egg over just about anything. Or an omelette filled up with whatever veggies I am needing to get rid of.
poached and on top of almost anything
Deviled!
using beautiful pasture raised eggs - a nice hearty piece of french toast , pure maple syrup and a softly fried egg with runny yolk right on top!
Zabaglione!
With goat cheese (; I enjoyed listening to your conversation about the book on our local Cleveland radio station 90.3.
Most Common - Eggs every morning for breakfast - this morning it was a Morel Omelette - Eggs are a vehicle for almost anything!
But most favorite - Gosh, either deviled eggs or incorporated into Ramen - YUM!
Fried egg in olive oil over leftover paella...
I make a "clean out the fridge" frittata almost every weekend. Uses up all the leftover bits of veg and cheese I have lying around. Never fails to be scrumptious.
Fried, in a wok, with chiles
I read somewhere about adding a splash of fish sauce to scrambled eggs... I have done this in a wok with chiles - fantastic!
Deviled.
Oh, so many ways to love eggs; it's so hard to choose just one. Alas, breakfast wins out with them gently scrambled.
But, should we salt them ahead of cooking them? Turn hard-boiled ones into charcuterie? Or perhaps, cook them in schmaltz?
I rarely meet an egg I dislike, but there's a special sort of smugness I feel when I eat them, soft-boiled, out of an egg cup with a couple of toast soldiers.
Maybe I'm a purist, but two eggs fried in butter with the yolks slightly runny says "breakfast" to me. Pretty much never get tired of it.
Over Easy egg(s) on leftovers. Almost any leftover works. One of my favorites, day-old chili.
Medium poached eggs over greens for breakfast.
I love kimchi deviled eggs with topped with tiny pieces of smoky bacon! Really excited about this book.
"Kimchi deviled eggs" - I must try!
I normally make county omelettes for my wife and I - plain or filled with spinach, and feta or sauteed mushroom, but my absolute favorite is a simple soft-cooked egg. Either soft boiled or very lightly poached - so lightly that there is barely any 'tooth' to the white and the warm yolk oozes as soon as you put it in your mouth. No salt, no pepper... just pure eggy marvelousness!
(I think I just made up a word or two.)
oh... and pickled quail eggs and baby beets. I could eat a whole pint in one sitting.
Sunny side up. I should buy a chicken.
Weekend brunch would never be complete without scrambled eggs for both me, my husband and the puppies.
Steam basted with runny yolks!
cooked over easy in butter, sopped up with white bread toast...
or poached on eggs Benedict...
or a ham and cheese omelet...
Hell, I'll take eggs any way they are served! :o)
I have to agree with Linda R...can't resist a good frittata. Whatever you have works...cheese, kale, leeks, broccoli, spinach...it all works. A favorite dinner at our house.
Two perfectly runny poached or over-easy eggs on top of roasted or steamed asparagus spears, each with a drizzle of evoo and a healthy grating of parmigano-reggiano, freshly grated pepper and a pinch of fleur de sel. If God made anything better, He left it in heaven. Congratulations on the new book!
The effort to applause ratio of custard is so skewed as to be unfair. Flan will get you dates; crème brûlée will get you love. (Grapenut pudding will only get you funny looks but sometimes that's okay.)
Scrambled! That's they way my two-year-old asks for them!
Delicious way to 'beef' up a vegetarian curry. Ha. Ha.
I am partial to turning eggs into custards and and puddings, but if that doesn't count, then gently scrambled, with a sliver of lox, on a slice of toast.
The very best use of an egg is broken over swiss chard that has been steamed then light cooked in virgin olive oil and good basalmic vinegar. Yummmmm! Of course the very best eggs are from our range-raised, organic hens!
Deviled
Soft boiled. Everyone hard boils them, but soft boiled results in a delicate white, perfectly runny yolk, and when sprinkled with a little rock salt on a croissant? There's nothing better. Well, maybe poached.
I completely agree with you MR, eggs are most often overcooked by people. It makes me sad anytime someone orders an over-hard egg. Don't they know what they are missing?
Finally, not on it's own, but a good egg truly shines in Carbonara. Beautiful, silky, eggy.
A fried egg sandwich with avocado and sprouts! Just like mamma used to make (if you had hippie parents like me).
I have to pick ONE? Argh...
I have to say, the most seemingly magical is homemade hollandaise sauce. Presto chango, heaven!
A nice fried egg on a hamburger with bacon. Yum!
Two scrambled eggs topped with a thread of sri racha and cheese and placed between two slices of buttered whole wheat toast is my last meal.
Coddled eggs on toast. There just isn't a better way to eat an egg.
I love them as my mom made them when I was a child: soft boiled, placed in a pretty egg cup, top cut off, and served with perfectly toasted and buttered toast strips for dipping.
Always made them like that for my children and now for my grandchildren. Egg tradition...
pork schnitzel with fried and anchovy butter sauce.
Scrambled with sirachi & a slice of American cheese
I love good French toast!
Break a yolk or two (raw) into a bowl of hot rice (your favorite variety). garnish with grated cheese and freshly cracked black pepper. Stir it up together and yum!
A simple, well-made cheese omelete. Or, as Anthony Bourdain refers: A sexy omelete.
So many eggs, so little time. I like fried eggs with runny yolks, or hard boiled and mashed up with mayo on toast.
I love a good frittata!
Deviled Eggs!!!
I love sunny side up on toast.
148 degree bath, using an egg laid by a co-worker's hens.
I love poached eggs the most, with hollandaise please 🙂
Given the point of the book, it's obvious that there is an endless list of things to do with this most amazing ingredient. Instead of saying how I like to use it, as there are so many, I'll mention one of the most sublime meals I can remember: simply, an omelette in some nameless corner spot in Paris. The combination of the perfectly cooked egg and French butter still resonates with me to this day!
Okay. My favorite egg composition. Bread toasted over a flame then brushed with olive oil. On top of the bread I add sautéed mussels in saffron and white wine (pulled out of the shell of course) then the whole shoot and match is topped with a perfectly poached egg. When the egg yolk is opened it becomes a delicious second sauce for the mussels and the bread. It is really very lovely
hard boiled. halved. liberal black pepper and smoked salt.
I hard boil them, peel them and cut in half. I eat my half over the sink and give the other half to doggy doddles who is usually waiting patiently by my feet.
A stolen recipe - Eggs Provencal
Saute finely chopped garlic in oil or butter (I prefer butter.)
Remove from pan. Quickly cook a tomato slice. Remove from pan.
Cook two eggs in same pan to your liking (for me it's over easy.)
Top eggs with tomato, garlic and herbes de Provence.
Homemade ice cream. Every flavor from lavendar to avocado.
A stolen recipe
Eggs Provencal
Two eggs over easy topped with a slightly cooked slice of fresh tomato, a little sautéed garlic finished off with Herbes de Provence.
My favorite way to have eggs is perfectly poached with eggs benedict.
Scrambled for breakfast but equal to that really is hard boiled with salt.
Eggs, a different way every morning with bacon or sausage and toast.
I just love a poached egg on rye toast with a slice of fresh tomato, and freshly cracked pepper!!
Second is mustardy deviled eggs!!!
Poached, with a runny yolk, over toast or hash browns!
Cracked raw on a bowl of hot, freshly boiled rice, mixed up with a little soy sauce.
I don't think I can choose just one way. The egg makes creme brulee possible--done correctly, it's the most silken, rich, perfectly textured dessert I can imagine. And then there's poached--I think there are few greater ways to show your love for someone than making them a poached egg. And scrambled--creamy, custardy and NEVER dry. That's a crime against eggs. Can't wait to read the book!
a custardy onsen egg on top of pasta/ramen/toast/my face
The 63 degree Celsius egg cooked in a water bath, yielding the perfect consistency of egg. Quite the modern approach and makes great presentation!
sous vide to 64.9 c remove yolk, carefully role in sugar, brulee
I love eggs, and am fortunate to have have fresh local eggs delivered every weekend. My favorite, lately, has been a breakfast sandwich with egg and cheese, on a croissant.
Hands down, it's macarons!
Baked, in a bacon basket with an herbed crostini bottom with sauteed shallots and mushrooms on top.
Working on perfecting the poach without cheating and using the silpon egg cups; soft boiled with crunchy salt, or deviled eggs just because are my easy favorites. Taught myself to make meringue when I was in junior high so I could make lemon meringue pie, I need to go back down that road again -
Fried on a grilled cheese sandwich.
I can't wait to see the book!
I love a good croque madame...
Scotch eggs with hollandaise.
I love a good friend egg sandwich! Sourdough bread, lightly toasted, light coated of mayo and then the friend egg.. or two. And to change it up a bit... and nice slice of cheddar cheese to round it out. Not an every day thing, not even a weekly or monthly thing... just a blast for the culinary past of my childhood.
pasta carbonara ... or "magic pasta" as I like to think of it.
I still think about a steak and eggs dish I had for brunch several years ago. It was a hanger steak with poached eggs and a chimichurri sauce.
growing up, it was nothing but scrambled or fried hard. Now, give me a soft boiled or poached egg as a partner to a salad or grain dish and I'm a happy camper.
deviled egg topped with crumbled bacon. simple and so good.
The deviled egg is the perfect foodstuff.
Farm fresh, Over easy cooked in butter, salt and pepper. Good toast to soak up the yolk! Simple and delicious......
Omlet's and Hard Boiled. Its boring but my kids eat them EVERY day.
I have chickens, so we eat a lot of eggs. I guess my favorite is egg salad.
It might be boring, but two of them over every single day.
frittata ! heated-up leftovers/various fridge and pantry scrapings + fresh eggs...instant wonderful meal
A classic eggs benedict. Man I love that dish.
Making a citrus curd (my favorite being lime), taking eggs to a velvet consistency yet adding tartness & sweetness.
Poached in tomato sauce with a chunk of warm baguette.
oh, and add a couple of patties of venison breakfast sausage!
Carbonara!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Soft boiled smooshed on buttered white toast with a light sprinkling of salt.
I use eggs to instantly upgrade any meal when I want to impress dinner guests. Making pizza? Throw an egg on it!
Double Boiler Scrambled with goat cheese and chives. Learned from Fuhrman's 20, eggs will never be the same for us
Soft-boiled with a dab of butter on top, salt and pepper. Heaven.
Eggs Benedict. The one you posted about two years ago is my go to recipe.
Soft boiled. Flake salt. Repeat.
Made from scratch hollandaise, whisked by hand, with a pinch of thyme. Simply awesome!
My favorite way is poached eggs over white rice. The most common way I'm eating them these days is one-step ramen. I bring a pan of water up to a rolling boil, flavor it with ponzu and fish sauce (NOT the MSG packet) and then put the brick of noodles and crack two eggs in it. By the time the egg whites have set the noodles are done so I can just dump the whole thing into a large bowl. Delicious *and* easy.
as a teaching tool-scrambled eggs the first thing I learned to cook as a child and the first thing I taught my children how to cook.
I use a raw egg yolk (organic, cage free) as the emulsifier to make aioli in a granite mortar. Using a good quality very fresh egg makes a big difference to the texture and taste. Start by pounding a couple of garlic cloves and kosher salt into a paste, then mix in the yolk. After a few swirls with the pestle, drizzle in a 2:1 blend of good quality olive oil and vegetable oil (I use grapeseed oil) just until a somewhat thick emulsion forms. Add a squirt of lemon juice and a bit of cayenne or finely ground white pepper et voila! This makes about a cup. Aioli isn't supposed to be too thick. It's somewhere between a dip and a sauce. If you don't have a mortar and pestle, you can use a sturdy bowl and a whisk. There's something extra rewarding about not using any machinery in this process.
Breakfast? Eggs Benedict. Otherwise, 10 egg yolks, heavy cream, sugar and vanilla bean = creme brule.
I have many favorite ways to eat eggs. First, a runny egg on top of pork scrapple, along with a little hot sauce, is an amazing breakfast. Also, of late, I really enjoy pizza with shaved asparagus, smoked pork belly bits, mozzarella cheese, and a couple of eggs broken on top just before I slam it into the oven.
And nobody makes a better good old-fashioned deviled egg than my 98yo Grandma. 🙂
Last week I made 'egg in a hole' using rustic cheddar bread and grilling (like a grilled cheese sandwich) on both sides with the yolk still runny. I don't think I have eaten eggs in that style in over 50 years(!) and WOW were they good!
I love adding eggs to leftovers to turn them into breakfast. EVERYTHING works.
The best way for me would have to be scrambled. Simple but adaptable. Add in your favorite whatever and it is heaven: tomatoes, onions, ham, bacon, cheese (so much cheese). Best appreciated in the mornings, afternoons, nights and all those moments in between 😉
I am a huge breakfast fan and over easy is my favorite breakfast egg preparation. Can't beat the runny yolk.
Baking - particularly cheesecakes and custards!
virtually any way, but one of my favorites is perfectly cooked scrambled eggs - not the hard, browned ones they serve in most diners, but light, fluffy, just barely cooked ones.
Savory: over medium, on top of mashed potatoes with smoked salt.
Sweet: crème brûlée. And don't get fancy on me: keep your lavender in your underwear drawer—don't put it in my food!
I have two favorites:
Eggs Benedict (both the poached egg and the hollandaise sauce);
Cheese souffle'.
Fried sunny side up on english muffin so the runny yolk seeps into the crevices of the bread!
Soft boiled in the shell. Maldon salt and freshly cracked pepper. Buttered toast. A crisp copy of the Sunday Tribune.
Look forward to reading the new book!
Fried. Over easy. In Schmaltz. Finish with S & P.
Nuthin' neeter.
Egg in a million ways. Perfection encapsulated.
I like them fried over easy, served atop leftover rice, barley, quinoa, etc.
That perfect moment when a yolk--adorned with just a little heat and salt, still liquid--transforms from goo to sauce.
Souffléd, poached, bedevilled, fried, shirred, in a sauce, in a cake...I've rarely met an egg I didn't like!
I can't decide between creme brulee, and flips/fizzes. Hmmm. Congrats on the new book!
I eat them, then use the cartons to wrap around hot water pipes with duct tape for extra insulation.
The egg is the most amazing elements of cookery. I love to eat soft boiled eggs with umeboshi plum paste and tamari, this would also be my last meal.
poached in a salade lyonnaise
Nutty idea. I think I would like to find some way to drill about a 1/4 hole in the bottom of an egg that would allow you add some ingredients like bacon bits. Blend it all up. Then devise a holder that would just keep the hole above water in a sauce pan. Hard cook the egg. Wonder how it would taste?
Eggs Benedict - yum yum!
Egg casserole with ham or bacon or oysters... that's how we do Christmas morning!
Slow, slow, slow, creamy scrambled eggs from Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking."
Hollandaise is my current addiction. Can't get enough!! Love me some eggs....
Scrambled eggs with goat cheese and chives!
Uova fritte--a fried egg. I can't eat one without thinking of my late mother-in-law, who would make one for me as a midnight snack when we were watching TV together, summer nights in Sicily.
So many ways I love eggs...as hollandaise, on a Benny, or as lemon curd are probably my faves.
Soft boiled egg served in egg cup with pink Himalayan salt, freshly ground pepper mound on the side for my Aussie husband to dip his wet spoon in and hot crunchy buttered fresh rye or sourdough toast. Yummy.
Over easy, on a breakfast sandwich so all that yolk runs down on everything.
Deviled.....filling of hard boiled yolk, siracha, dijon, worcestershire, mayo, salt & black pepper
Give me a poached egg anytime (especially easy to do with Ruhlman's badass spoon)!
Bibimbap!
Eggnog, custard, creme brûlée, quiche, over easy on top of hash browns, egg sandwich with mayo, lettuce and raw onions, eggs florentine. The egg is perfect. Too bad my son is allergic 🙁
In any kind of baked goods!
Soft boiled w/cut up toast, sausage and steak.
Poached over hominy grits, lots of unsalted grass fed butter...
Perfectly poached on top of wilted spinach and shallot.
The tomato fry eggs at the roadside food stalls in India. They are cooked in a lot of butter with lots of spices and are soooo good!
I love eggs cooked in all kinds of ways, but my sentimental favorite is a classic souffle. When my mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, I would go to her house and make one for her, because she didn't feel up to cooking and they still tasted good to her, even throughout her chemo treatments. Cooking was one way I could care for her during a time when I felt powerless to do much to help.
She did recover, and we went to a French restaurant specializing in souffles and sat at the bar to watch the cooks work. I picked up several good tips from them, including this one that allayed my fears associated with the dish's alleged delicacy: "Be aggressive with ze eggs! Beat zem!"
Egg Drop Soup.
Punch out the center of a good piece of sourdough bread, put the piece-o-bread in a pan to toast it, flip to the opposite side (once slightly toasted), put a spot of butter in the opening (directly on the pan), crack egg into opening, place lid on pan. Cook gently. Flip the bread once the egg had congealed. Cook a bit more, sans lid. Voila! a lovely egg in the center of your crispy, toasted bread.
Love eggs.
Teach me more!
Yolk cured in miso then hung and dried to make "egg yolk cheese"
perfectly soft boiled. so simple and delicious!
Fried, sunny side up, on top of Mexican red rice and a drizzle of mole
Sunny-side up over bisquits and sausage gravy!
I'm learning the wonders of Korean food and my current favorite way to use an egg is to finish off bibimbap.
Fried with runny yolk over toast! Heard you on Alton's podcast...can't wait for the book!
over easy
on a pizza!
Who doesn't love a deviled egg? To take it over the top, simply dollop with caviar!
Huevos Rancheros con crema, frijoles, y jugo de naranja.
My favorite eggs are the ones we Greek Orthodox will crack on Easter, dyed blood-red. We play a game where two people crack their boiled red eggs together, and the victor is the person whose egg remains intact. The Greeks often eat an egg at the start of Lent to signify the beginning of fasting, and then eat the boiled red egg to break the fast. Thought you might find it interesting.
We raise hens and used to raise dairy goats. As such, spring means abundance which equals custard, sweet or savory. If you cook on a wood stove you can mix a sweet egg custard together when you make dinner. Put it in the oven when dinner is done, go to bed and let the fire go out. You end up with the most delectable spring breakfast.
Eggs in a basket! or Soft boiled on a frisee salad! or Over easy on a burger!
My initial thought was poached or over easy, with a runny yolk, on top of toast. Add avocado, cheese, ham, bacon, sprouts, etc., as you see fit.
But on second thought, I also really like brown eggs/tea eggs - soft or hardboiled eggs marinated in soy sauce and wine and a bunch of other yummy stuff. I can't decide!
Very softly and slowly scrambled for a refined taste.
For the full-on hardcore, it's got to be carbonara with fresh pasta.
My favorite way to use an egg is to give it to someone else to cook for me. However, I do like that idea of throwing it at a writer . . .
Is there any way to pick a favorite. Souffle or maybe it's eggs benedict.
Yolk for hollandaise or Key Lime Pies - Whites for MERINGUE! (or macaroons)
Pavlova and lemon curd!
In a frittata with roasted veggies, with lots of Parm, scallions, and black pepper.
A perfectly poached egg for breakfast with fresh basil chiffonade over a piece of whole wheat toast... Or even better over a square of freshly baked puff pastry dough.
Mayonnaise 🙂 or eggnog. I'm not sure why I'm thinking about eggnog when the crocuses are finally blooming. But yeah, eggnog.
It's hard to choose a favorite, but I think it's hard to beat a perfectly soft boiled egg with some butter and toast.
fried egg. over hash.
Years ago I lived in Newcastle, Australia. I worked as a Breakfast cook. Not every morning, but more often than not we'd make a few breakfast Sandwiches for the crew. It wasn't anyone's Job in particulars job, it was just something that happened. When it was my turn around 9 am when I would make these Sandwiches I'd strat with a Loaf of length wise cut Turkish Bread, buttered and toasted in a Panani Press, Crisy Bacon, Fried Eggs, (yolks intact), Austrailan BBQ sauce(a little more like steak sauce than the sweeter versions we have in North America) Sometimes Cheese some times not, Cut on the Bias and handed out. The satisfaction that came when handing them out to the Team was only equalled by watching them consume the tasty "Sani's", watch the mixture of Yolk and BBq sauce run down their pinky fingers. Best Egg Memory.
DW
A comfort food for me is a fried egg sandwich with a thin slice of ham fried in the same pan.
Runny egg on almost anything.
Huevos rancheros, hands down. Followed by Eggs Benedict and shirred eggs with garlic-sauteed spinach and sherried mushrooms. 🙂
Cuddled in the hole of a bagel; baked or fried
I'm a big baker so I'm gonna have to say my favorite way to use an egg is in a batch of cookie dough.
Scrambled with veggies and cheese for a quick nutritious meal.
Just one?
Fried, on an english muffin (hollandaise++)
No, make that scrambled with cheese, stuffed into a toasted pita.
What am I saying, it's the threads in hot and sour soup, or perhaps avgolemono.
That's B.S. -- it's pad si ew.
...or its Jewish cousin, Matzoh Brei.
Late night. Soft boiled. Maldon sea salt. Sometimes get fancy with a little shichimi togarashi. Eat one. Eat two. Regret not boiling a third.
Lovely, creamy plain scrambled eggs.
While may favourite way to eat an egg straight is poached hard, my favourite way to use an egg is in custard. There's nothing like a smooth, yummy custard!
2 seven minute eggs on a buttered english muffin with a pinch of fresh thyme leaves and a grating of sarvecchio parmesan cheese and bit of fresh ground pepper!
I love a nice Denver omelet with the salty ham and sautéed onion and bell peppers. Delicious!
quiche!
soft poached, on buttered toast with a thin veneer of foie gras, over arugula.
2 eggs, scrambled, every am for breakfast
POACHED SOFT! On top of absolutely anything and everything. A poached egg is a work of art.
I lived a well made Poached Eggs over toast
I love a Poached egg over toast
Love eggs over easy then placed on top of sauté vegies with toast slathered with French butter! Now I'm really hungry!
I use egg white and water to glue paper labels to glass bottles when I'm bottling homebrew. (As much as I love eggs, I love beer even more.)
Custard, savory or sweet, it's the way to go. My little would also vote for toad in a hole. My husband poached runny over soft potato.
To make an "Egg in a basket" is my favorite way to use an egg.
A poached egg on a fresh baguette with salt and scallions. Yum!
Oeuf mollet - on a crusty baguette with just a bit of salt and pepper.
3 minute egg atop japanese noodles
or
Whisked into hot Carbonara
or
Cheesy scrambled...classic
Fried over easy in bacon grease. Extra points if it's fried in an old cast-iron skillet.
Sunday morning breakfast sandwich: over easy egg on crusty bread with sundried tomato, fresh spinach, a little black pepper feta and a touch of provencal mustard.
Poached, on a nest of grilled or roasted asparagus, drizzled with a very good EVOO and sprinkled with flaked sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Custard! Any kind of custard, quiche, flan, advocaat, etc.
Fried and put on top of.... pretty much anything.
Poached eggs over ramen noodles...heavenly!
Poached egg in ramen, homemade broth of course.
Scrambled eggs.
Poached, or perhaps to make a perfect mayo.
Fried in butter, served with toast.
Very simple...fried medium over, served with buttered eye toast to mop up the yolk deliciousness. What a wonderful start to a day!
Scrambled, with chives and diced ham, a little cream and some shredded cheese. Couldn't be better.
A sandwich of fried peppers and eggs softly scrambled in olive oil on Italian bread,
Lemon Meringue Pie. Perfection. Whites in the meringue and yolks in the lemon curd. Does not get any better than that.
Ice Cream! Eggs Benedict! Cheesecake! Over Easy! Pasta! How does one choose?
We have backyard ducks, and I love baked duck eggs... melted butter in a ramekin, eggs baked for 12 - 14 minutes, a little sprinkling of cheese, a little more baking. So very simple and delicious.
I can survive on just eggs, cooked in any way but not overcooked to leather.
One of my favourites is to gently poach egg in any left over curry gravy, garnish with cilantro and green chilies. and a squeeze of lime. Eat with flat bread, steamed rive or dunked bread.
Eggnog, hollandaise, soft poached on steak, or brioche. On secondhand, brioche probably applies more as a favorite way to eat lashings of butter.
Scrambled with pimento cheese! 🙂
Over easy on a fried chicken biscuit with sausage gravy
Perhaps my favorite egg recipe is "Tomato Poached Eggs" from Zuju Shareef's "The Best of Indian Cookery." It includes lots of garlic, fresh curry leaves, hot peppers and tomatoes. It's saucy, uniquely spicy, and unlike any other dish I've had.
Creme Brulee!
Soft scrambled with sharp cheddar cheese to be specific, or any kind of custard for a general category
A pad of butter, a couple eggs, salt and pepper. Nothing better.
I love an egg that has been poached in home-made tomato sauce over pasta with fresh basil and fresh mozzarella.
Gougeres.
...and now I'm hungry.
I enjoy my eggs sunny-side up over a has or on a pizza.
An interesting recipe inherited from my late mother-in-law called Bang Eggs. Essentially, a savory bread pudding with Velveeta & Wonder Bread that was created to feed a hungry family on a meager budget. The addition of dry mustard powder & garlic to the custard makes it delicious, and it becomes a gourmet feast with the substitution of almost any cheese and good bread.
Poached until the white is just set, over anything (steamed brocolli, if I'm feeling virtuous, with shaved parmesan), but especially over buttered toast, with a nice grind of black pepper. Mmmmm...
Best eggs ever? Dippy eggs for my 3 1/2 year old great nephew Max!.! His excitement when he stabs the egg and the runny yolk comes out is totally catching. Dippy Eggs Rule!
Custard deserts in any shape or form. My current favourite that I recently learned how to make; portugese pasteis de nata.
We make milkshakes every morning, with fresh cold milk from our family milk cow and a couple of egg yolks, plus some honey, vanilla, and whatever the kids feel like the flavor of the morning is - Dutch cocoa, frozen berries, or just grated nutmeg for the classic and delicious eggnog (sans rum, of course). Milkshakes without the yolk are just , well, milk.
One egg makes the best pie crust I know.
Poached over crisp potatoes and roasted veggies!
Poached - runny over hash.
poached on a salad with lardons.
oops, i meant to say those photos are STUnning.
Fried eggs, toast, rashers, bangers and a grilled tomato! The perfect Irish breakfast.
I love teaching my 3yr old how to cook a perfect poached egg, or as she calls them, "bubble eggs". She loves cooking!!
Hard Boiled.
Scrambled with fresh chives and horseradish cheese
Scrambled in bacon fat, with bacon, and grits.
Cooked flat, with the yolks broken, in a small skittet in butter, then made into a fried-egg sandwich with mayo.
Over easy on WW with butter & jam.
I love eggs any way, but poached is probably my favorite. Congrats on the new book. I look forward to reading it!
A Tom and Jerry or two or three is my favorite way to drink an egg.
I've been looking forward to this book! I love an over-easy egg over anything, but mostly salads, pastas, or veggie-grain bowls. Runny yolks are pure heaven.
Into a bowl of hot grits stir one egg, shredded cheese, use liberal salt and black pepper. Back in the microwave for 90 sec. To cook the egg. It is the original bowl of breakfast!
Ice cream!! after all, it is almost summer!
While I love eggs in most any style, eggs Benedict with a perfectly poached egg is complete and utter heaven for me.
I love them in any shape or form, but the favorite is to cook it just just over soft boiled, spread on a piece of toast, topped with salt and pepper. Mmmm.
I hardly ever ate eggs growing up. The occasional scramble or over easy with breakfast. Then I started raising chickens 15 years ago, and have become more and more interested in food ever since. Eggs are the gateway food to foodieness. Ha. I've become convinced that almost nothing isn't better without an egg on top. But my favorite has to be pasta carbonara. Never have such simple ingredients been combined to such delectable results. Plus, it includes pork, which is always a plus.
Poached, especially now that I can predict how they will come out.
Very excited for the book. My favorite way to use eggs is in mayo, it is so versatile and homemade mayo is like nothing else.
One egg as the body for my mom's Polish potato dumplings. I added my contemporary twist by substituting half the potatoes with butternut squash. The result is pillows of rich, sweet, golden yum mines crisped it a pan with butter.
I cannot pick just one so for me it is a toss up between deviled eggs and a wonderful frittata with veggies including cactus.
Poached, on the luscious asparagus now in the markets.
Souffles, usually cheese. Perfect light dinner or lunch.
Poached, over perfectly cooked greens (spinach, chard, mustard)
As for me, any egg is perfect.... as long as it isn't over cooked!!
Hollandaise....or Poached....or in Crème Brulee...too difficult to choose just one!
I adore scrambled eggs... Always scrambled in butter with a little salt
Visually the most perfectly designed, and the most luscious and versatile ingredient ,savory or sweet.
My favorite way to use eggs is in fresh mayonnaise. There is nothing better, and it tastes good on/in anything. But it takes a very good egg!
just fried with crispy edges and runny yolk
I love eggs and I love cooking with them. They offer a HUGE world of versatility in that on little shell! From Parsi Akuri to Kerela Egg Roast, Japanese Chavamushi to Mexican Houves Rancheros there are so many textures and flavours possible with just one egg!
In college, during the ramen years, I had a hundred ways to eat cheap ramen. My favorites were with eggs… boredom led me to learn how to cook a passable poached egg. I still enjoy poached eggs with yolk running all over any type of pasta, but not usually over packaged ramen any more.
I will always keep fried eggs and potatoes close to my heart.
It was the breakfast my grandmother made for me countless times when I stayed on my grandparents farm as a boy. The eggs were collected by my grandfather daily and the potatoes were grown right outside the door in their garden.
Her cast iron skillet was smooth as silk and her "sharp knife" was always handy. I still make "eggs and taters" and think of her every time.
I use egg shell as ashtray.. 🙂
Although I don't see them very often I adore deviled eggs. A perfect bite of creamy, spicy yolk and a perfectly cooked hard boiled egg white. It's my personal egg nirvana.
No doubt about it: just poached, on well-buttered toast, yolk runny. Bite of heaven.
As your book illustrates, there are many,many ways to enjoy eggs. For me, though, simpler is best. A simple over easy egg with a slice or two of bacon and some toast. Classic and delicious.
Tied for favorite: 1) Over easy fried egg wrapped into a breakfast burrito. 2) Chocolate Mousse.
I love sunny side up eggs. Very runny.
poached over root veggies -especially with beets.
I have an egg every morning, whipped with heavy cream and cooked in butter and sometimes with a little cheddar cheese tossed in. I've taught my 8 year old granddaughter how to make them that way, and she makes them for others. Her aunt said as she was eating some, "These are the best eggs I've ever had!" According to my daughter, when she is in someone's kitchen and is going to make them she'll open their fridge and ask, "so do you have any heavy cream?"
Egg in a nest using our homemade cheddar bread! With bacon and coffee with a shot of Baileys and my sweetie and the Sunday paper on a cold winter weekend morning.
I have been doing fritattas for my paleo breakfasts. All different variations of meat and veggies. The possibilities are endless. Add a little cottage cheese to the blender and they become so fluffy and light! I never get tired of them.
In chocolate mousse. The yolks mixed with the melted chocolate to take it from thick and heavy to smooth and glossy, and then the beaten egg whites making the whole thing light as air. You don't even think of it as being an egg dish, but they are the transformative, irreplaceable element.
A poached egg on ripped up buttered toast with lots of pepper.
Broken yolk fried egg, on simple white bread (non toasted) with Hellman's mayo.
Over easy on toast with sauteed spinach and mushrooms.
Soft poached on top of lightly grilled salmon, on top of a green salad.
As the, at turns, yolky and crispy, warm dressing atop a bowl of grains, simply prepared seasonal veggies, and cool avocado slices, with salt, pepper and a squiggle of sriracha to finish.
Over easy egg on an English muffin. Yum!
It's so hard to pick, but I think I have to say poached with bacon and toast and a generous shake of tabasco. Breakfast doesn't get any better than that.
Ditto - the best breakfast!
over easy with some home cured and smoked canadian bacon
Ah, the frittata...a great standby for when you can't think of what to cook or when you have so many great fresh vegetables to use somehow or when you want a simple breakfast/lunch/dinner with a friend who stopped over or..
Dippy eggs are just awesome!
Big fan of the breakfast sandwich. Pancetta, a good cheese, scrambled egg, arugala and a dab of tabasco. Perfect start to the morning.
Judy Rodger's eggs fried in breadcrumbs, altho' I often skip the vinegar deglazing.
Deep fried over spinach and duck bacon salad. Salivating thinking about it now. Guess that's Sunday brunch sorted!
I prefer my egg hardboiled, on a thick slice of multigrain bread, with a good pile of Norwegian caviar on top. Norwegian caviar is snoked cod roe that has been creamed. Yummylicious.
I've "rediscovered" soft-boiled eggs. So pure and soothing.
Although I use eggs in cooking and occasionally make German Egg Cakes from someone else's recipe sometimes I just want a fried egg - crispy at the edges.
Begin as if frying the egg(s) in a small pan, once the bottom is set, add a tablespoon of water and cover. The steam finishes the white with grace and leaves the yolk perfectly runny- in far less time and fuss than the poached or over easy versions while capturing the best of both versions. Congrats on the new boos in hand-candy and e versions.
Pardon my typo- the new BOOK! It will be met with cheers!
over medium, whites crispy, yolk runny, all sliced up and gathered into the middle of my plate with a few dashes of hot sauce on top and a slice or two of bacon to make sure no yolk gets left behind!
I am simplistic, an over easy egg on a crust of baguette.
As much as I am looking forward to playing with the electronic version, hard copies of your work are always welcome in my kitchen!
I am having a major, serious poached egg phase at the moment. They just make everything better. I know designers were having a "put a bird on it" phase a few years ago; I am having a "put an egg on it" phase now.
When they have hollandaise on them, I guess that counts as two favorite preparations, though....
Scrambled with cream cheese. (Or cookies!)
Dominic Cerino's Blue Egg Carbonara: Araucana eggs+extra runny yolks, his house-made guanciale and house made pasta. It's been almost a year since we lost him, and your post somehow made me think of him and this dish.
I've just recently come back to scrambled eggs. After I stopped eating the wet strangled scrambled eggs of my youth, it took 15 years to return. Now, scrambled eggs are creamy curds that can probably compete with just about any fancy food I know. Welcome back!
I found a source for local, pastured eggs just outside of Dallas proper. I love them soft-boiled with sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper. I can't wait to read your book! What a great subject...
I love eggs but my favourite way of eating one is cracking a raw egg over dolsot bibimbap and mixing it in letting the clay pot and hot rice, meat, and veggies cook the egg. Delicious.
Fried egg sandwich. With pesto, pancetta and basil tucked into a pan dura roll (from the excellent Village Baker in Bend, Oregon).
Poached, with trout.
Over easy with heavily buttered dark rye toast.
For me, eggs by itself are best hard boiled, sliced in half, and sprinkled with a little salt and pepper.
I like my eggs fried over easy on a bed of creamy polenta. I've been known to invite garlicky spinach to the party as well.
I love a good carbonara. And for the whole animal in us, egg shells make excellent compost for your tomato beds.
Last night was asparagus & diced ham covered with easy fried eggs and grated pecorino. A tasty way to clean out the fridge.
soft boiled for 6 mins, peeled and dropped in a bowl of ramen!
Soft boiled with toast soldiers - maldon salt, coarse pepper.
My favorite use for eggs is whipped and used in waffle batter. Yummmy...
I have been using my sous vide machine to slow cook farm fresh eggs. Can't wait to check out the new book!
Poached, on buttered sourdough toast, with S&P.
Dirty...fried in a bit of bacon fat with bacon crumbles.
Big cheers for your book! I love eggs, but the most mouthwatering of all is what brings back the childhood memories of my mom. Heat a tsp of ghee on tawa( griddle ), break the egg over it.just as the white is almost cooked ,sprinkle a little salt,stir the yolk into the white and immediately take it off on a hot chapati smeared with ghee. Eat right away. Don't miss.
And by the way,the yolks look amazing. Great pic.
I would love to have your book and try out all the recipes. Hope I win the giveaway!
Oh boy! I love the thoroughness of all of Mr. Ruhlman's books and his very easy-to-understand writing style!
Using egg yolk as a thickening agent in baking. There are so many things you can create when you transform egg yolks to custards, pastry creams, curds, etc. Then taking those bases to everything from pies to croquembouche!
Thrown at critics (or over easy on corned beef hash)
Mousse!
My faves: Well, there's egg custard...so smooth and silky. Next is poached eggs on toast (and now with my bad ass egg spoon I can make poached eggs with ease and success). Scrambled with bits of bacon stirred in is a comfort, as well. I mustn't leave out angel food cake. Or meringues, light and crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside. So many ways I love eggs. I'm going to enjoy your Egg! book
Eggs over easy on a plate of homemade chilaquiles! *sigh* only 5 more months until I can enjoy this again...the sacrifices we make for pregnancy. 🙂
Poached, over almost anything - such as creamy polenta and veggies or in shakshuka; semi-hard-boiled, enjoyed simply with homemade mayonnaise (your recipe!), salt and pepper; fried, over avocado toast or Asian fried rice; in pots de creme and eclairs... I can go on. Love the egg! Excited about this new book.
Poached over asparagus with Hollandaise for sure!
I do love a deviled egg..... Particularly around Easter is seems.
Pre ordered mine the day you wrote a column about it months ago. Got it yesterday. Gorgeous. Not included was the signed poster LB promised. Oh well. My kitchen walls are pretty full already. BTW, baked eggs with feta and pancetta are my favorite.
Soft-boiled with a pat of herb butter, and little salt and pepper. Congratulations on your new book!
My usual breakfast from our backyard ladies is two eggs fried over well in butter, with a dash of salt & pepper. Though if an over easy egg happens to be draped over a bowl of steamed kale and crispy pigs ear, I won't mind a little yolk-dressing!
A separate piece...of Ultimate Lemon Meringue Pie!
The yolks shine in a yellow marriage with lemon in the curd, and the whites stand tall in fluffy sweet, bronzed meringue.
My favorite dessert after any fish meal.
When I make red braised pork belly, I'm left with a big pot of rock candy syrupy goodness. I marinate soft boiled eggs in the leftover liquids. It's my version of ajitsuke tamago.
A steaming soft boiled egg sprinkled with salt served with golden buttered toast soldiers for dipping. We called them dip eggs in my youth!
Eggs Benedict, or a financier, tough question.
Eggs over easy between pancakes or french toast.
Poached in Shakshouka (yolks runny).
Soft poached in a steaming bowl of pork bone ramen.
My favorite way to eat an egg is poached and served on top of toast with lentils, sautéed spinach and caramelized onion. Runny yolks make the best sauce!
Two poached eggs served on two slices of whole wheat toast is my favorite meal of all time.
Whats better than a Sunny side up egg????
A Croque Madame. A beautiful grilled ham and cheese sandwich with a fried or poached egg on top with a streaming runny yolk.
I love eggs, but best is a fried egg sandwich with plenty of sautéed onions on rye bread.
Mixing a raw egg into a hot pot dipping sauce with sacha, cilantro, green onions.
Currently I love eggs sunny side up with something like hash to absorb the runny yolk.
Poached is good, but lately I've been baking eggs:
6oz ramekin, warmed pat of better, fresh egg, tablespoon of some kind of sauce, a ragu or whatever, some parmigiano reggiano, sprig of herbs or whatever and maybe a chunk of fresh cheese. 325f for 12 minutes in my oven is perfect. Might finish under the broiler.
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Poached in miso soup with buttered toast.
Scrambled with veggies, sausage, and hot sauce.
In pate a choux. (Which, naturally, I learned from some writer who did a book called Ratio ...)
A poached egg with a piece of rye toast, the perfect breakfast. Egg salad sandwich on white toast with lettuce, tomato, and cucumber.