Perfect Fried Eggs with Ham (Part 1)

Post date: Sep 08, 2015 3:11:49 PM

--By Bombulina Tastyspoon--

The tradition of eating fried eggs and ham before a journey is one that dates back centuries.

Today we’ll let you in an close guarded Ereborian secret, “how to make the most delicious and perfect fried eggs and ham”.

Thorin Oakenshield to Bilbo Baggins"...But I agree about bed and breakfast. I like eggs with my ham, when starting on a

journey: fried not poached, and mind you don't break 'em."

This week we'll have a look at the fried eggs (leaving the ham for next week's cooking article).

The method for making the perfect fried egg is adapted from the ultra-meticulous Ereborian chef Fernin Pointbeard (2802-3018T.A). The Pointbeard approach involves gently, slowly cooking the egg to retain its delicate purity. A technique that is somewhere between frying and poaching in hot butter. This technique makes one spectacular fried egg and demonstrates that simplicity and purity often yield the best dishes of all.

First let's talk about the perfect fried eggs. An Ereborian technique that very slowly cooks the eggs in butter. This method was developed by Grand Master Chef of the Lords Hall Fernin Pointbeard. In the first chapter of his recipe book "To cook for a Lord", he speaks fondly about his time testing apprentice cooks on how to fry a simple egg, declaring to the juniors that the easiest dishes were often the most difficult to prepare. When, inevitably, the junior cooks insulted the egg with the sizzling hot surface of a frying pan, Pointbeard would cry, "Stop, unhappy dwarf - you are making a dog’s breakfast of it!" And then he would proceed to demonstrate the one and only civilized manner of treating an egg. Very slowly, very gently, and swimming in butter of course.

Now, let us look at Grand Master Chef Fernin Pointbeard's original recipe:

Place a lump of fresh butter in a pan or egg dish and let it melt - that is, just enough for it to spread, and never, of course, to crackle or sit; open a very fresh egg onto a small plate or saucer and slide it carefully into the pan; cook it on heat so low that the white barely turns creamy, and the yolk becomes hot but remains liquid; in a separate saucepan, melt another lump of fresh butter; remove the egg onto a lightly heated serving plate; salt it and pepper it, then very gently pour this fresh, warm butter over it. - Fernin Pointbeard

Now let's make this recipe into a tasty dish...

Yields: makes 1 serving

Prep time: 5 min

Cook time: 5 min

Ingredients:

· 1 fresh large egg*

· 3/4 tablespoon butter

· Salt and freshly-ground black pepper

* Use the freshest and best eggs you can find. When frying more than one (1) egg at a time, add eggs all at once. Crack eggs into small bowls and add them to the skillet.

1) reheat the frying pan: Place a small non-stick frying pan over the lowest possible heat

2) Add the butter and let slowly melt, making sure it doesn't foam and is not sizzling. When all the butter has melted, crack the egg into a small bowl, dish, or saucer (taking care not to break the yolk and to remove any shell fragments

3) Frying the egg/eggs: Gently slide the egg out of the dish into the frying pan and cover with a lid. The lid traps heat and steam so that the egg cooks from above as well as below. Continue cooking approximately 5 minutes until the egg white solidifies from transparency into snow-white cream; the yolk will thicken slightly as it heats. How quickly the egg cooks is dependent on how low you have the heat. Do not flip the eggs but leave the egg sunny-side up and natural.

4) When your egg is done, slide cooked egg onto a serving plate. Sprinkle with fresh cracked pepper, salt, and serve.

((actual recipe based on French Master Chef Point's recipe))