Perfect Fried Eggs

“wonder what day god created the egg' 'how should we know? we should not question. our stay on earth is not for long. let us rejoice and believe and give thanks'. 'eat a egg” Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises

I cook eggs almost every day of the week.

I poach, scramble, 'hole in one,' over-easy/medium/hard, boil, and fry.

I believe a hot breakfast is one of the best things I do for my kids and it helps me feel better about the Kraft mac n cheese I occasionally serve.  That said, when I saw the Cook's Illustrated* article on making "perfect" fried eggs, I rushed past all of the other tips to devour their advice.

As it turns out, my fried egg had LOTS of room for improvement!  Here's the simple, yet critical steps for making the perfect fried egg.

Start by having your mise en place neat and tidy :

Eggs, 2 fats - Oil & Butter Salt & Pepper

Cut your butter into one teaspoon for every egg and return to fridge to keep it chilled.Next, on low heat, preheat a non-stick pan for 5 minutes with 1/2 teaspoon of oil per egg.  Make sure you use a pan with a lid!While your pan is pre-heating, crack eggs into a small bowl and season with salt and pepper. Don't do more than two eggs in each bowl.  The key to the eggs being perfect is putting them in the pan at the exact same time, so don't skip this detail!After the pan has pre-heated, increase the heat to medium-high until the oil shimmers.  Add butter to the skillet and quickly swirl to coat the pan.Pour in eggs.  If you're using a larger pan and cooking 4 eggs, have both bowls ready to go and pour one bowl on the left side, and one on the right.Oops! Broken yoke!

Ah well, this method is so fast, it doesn't even matter!  Cover and cook for 1 minute with the heat on then turn off the burner. Cook for another 15-45 seconds for a runny yoke, 45-60 seconds for a soft but set yoke (my favorite), or 2 minutes for medium set yokes.

Uncover and voila!!  Easy enough, just a different sequencing to the process!Slide eggs onto a plate.  If you're like me and try to turn everything into a meal with Mexican flavors, slide onto a plate with a corn tortilla, salsa, and grilled onions!Enjoy!

[ *Note - if you don't know Cooks Illustrated and you like to cook, you HAVE to subscribe to their magazine.  It's beyond fabulous! Also makes a great gift]