Teach Me How to Fry a Perfect Over-Medium Egg

[AbsolutStoli]

dude, i knew you would come in with a shut-it-down reply to this sometime! thanks how is chef-ing going in ski country??

haha, sorry for the delay, i've been kind of MIA from the site lately. chef-ing is going well, i've been helping out as the assistant pastry chef for the past few months, which is an unexpected but interesting turn of events.

the progress report is: it's going really well. really, really well. In fact, at this point I am proud to say that I think I've mastered the perfectly cooked over medium egg. They're coming out consistently well. That night I got drunk and cooked a dozen and made like 5 bacon, egg, cheese and sourdough sandwiches really locked it down.

maybe it was the $70 pan, maybe it was the confidence that came with practice. I'm doing a no-spatula flip with a little butter, and following the "count to 10" then plate.

At this point in my egg-frying career I have to put the pan off the burner, lower it to about my hip and kinda use gravity to help with the flip, but... seems no real drawback other than style. Plus, the dag always seems excited that he might get to "help" with cleanup off the floor should i be overzealous with the flip and the eggs fly outta the pan.

yeah, whatever you're comfortable with, really. for me the easiest and most consistent way to not break the yolks on the flip was to barely get the eggs out of the pan on the flip. its easier if you imagine the yolks as the axis of the egg, and flipping is like turning the eggs on the axis. but you technically dont even have to flip at all, as someone mentioned with basted (or sunny side) eggs.

Couple of questions for you experts:
1.) why the second flip? a lot of places I'm reading in my fried egg R&D say two flips: 1 flip, wait 10 seconds, then flip back and plate. Do you really need the 2nd flip? Just for aesthetics? what's the point?

2.) Any tips on cracking eggs? I've been doing the "crack into a bowl, then gently slide them into the pan. I'd like to be more steezy with my cracking...

1. i think its all about aesthetics. the second flip presents the top of the eggs, which typically look nicer than the bottoms.
2. don't crack on the edge of the pan or bowl, you are more likely to get bits of shell in there. crack on a flat surface. the steezy one handed egg break is a lot easier than you imagine. its all just a matter of cracking the egg with the right amount of force. basically, use your middle, forefinger and thumb to pull one part of the shell apart, while the ring and pinky hold/anchor the other half of the shell. hold the egg like that and crack it between the middle and ring fingers, voila.

this guy's blog is pretty good.

[XXX-er]

Everyone likes bacon and if you like eggs try pasta carbonara

[BeanDip4All]

Everyone likes bacon and if you like eggs try pasta carbonara

for sure. in a salute to cal trillin, we made a tradition of Christmas Eve Spaghetti Carbonara Night around these parts..
http://www.rlrubens.com/Thanksgiving.html

[sidewall]

Just tried this, amazing. Always loved eggs but hate the crispy burned stuff.