How To Fry An Egg Like a Pro
Other Works By The Author
The number of people who don't know how to cook a good egg is staggering. From this article, however, you can learn to fry an egg like a pro.
Depending on flavor and consistency, you can fry an egg two different ways.
If you like a clean-tasting, less crispy egg, just follow these steps: Get your pan out, and turn it tow low/medium heat. Immediately put on your lubricant (PAM works fine, but for a better flavor rub the inside of a small piece of an unsalted butter wrapper in the pan to coat it nicely). BEFORE the pan gets hot, drop your egg in and season. If you like over easy, throw a lid on the pan, and pull the egg out while the yoke still has a nice gleam to it. If you like over-medium, wait until the the top has set (the yoke doesn't move, and the white is completely cooked), flip it, and cook it for a good minute. If done properly, the bottom of the egg (now up) should be white with no brown fry spots.
Cooking the egg this way - putting it in the pan before it's hot, and allowing it to heat up with the egg in it, makes for a nice floppy egg with a clean egg-taste flavor. If you like a more traditionally fried and crispy egg, follow these steps.
Heat your pan to medium/high. Add a small amount (1 tsp) of olive oil, and coat the pan. Let it get hot, but not too hot (sprinkle a drop of water on the oil. If it lightly crackles, it's perfect. If it spurts out like old faithful, its too hot!). Drop your egg in, and season. Once the top is set, flip the egg. Unlike the previous method, the bottom and sides should be nice and crispy with brown fry-spots. If you like your egg yoke runny, do this next step immediately, otherwise, wait a minute or too (it takes longer to cook the yoke this way, as, in a sense, the white has been seared around the yoke). When it's just about to your liking, take a dollop of butter and drop it into the pan. Let it melt, then tilt the pan so a reservoir of butter forms. Using a spoon, baste the hot butter on the egg. After about a minute of this, take the egg out. It should be nice and crispy, yet still retain the egg flavor.
Experiment with different ingredients. One option is throwing finely chopped shallots into the olive oil before the egg. That way, you get a nice roasted shallot flavor with your eggs that goes perfect on top of a piece of toast.
Tip - Sea Salt or Kosher Salt works best with frying eggs. Otherwise, when you flip the egg, you lose a lot of your seasoning.
Good cooking!
Matthew Gordon is the author of 
© Matthew Gordon, 2011
