Mike Devlin Gets Egg-Static About Eggs: The Unsung Hero of Breakfast

The innocent humble egg is practically a dish all by itself, and a cheap way to get protein (so long as you’re not vegan). On top of this, there are so many different ways to cook eggs.

Unfortunately, there are also so many different ways to mess them up. You may or may not be surprised at how many people struggle with the basics; this is why we are here to help you and present you with some tips that chefs worldwide use.

Don’t worry, it’s all effortless and you’ll be frying, poaching, scrambling, and boiling like a pro. But before we get there we need to cover a few things.

First of all, safety. Yes, the humble egg can potentially be dangerous. You would have heard of many scary stories of salmonella, so let’s sort that out first, huh?

TO FRIDGE OR NOT TO FRIDGE

In countries where eggs must be washed by law, they must be refrigerated. Washing removes the natural coating that protects them. Weird, I know, but now you know.

In other countries, there is absolutely no need to refrigerate them (unless regular outdoor temperatures are reaching the very high 20s/80s), and if anything, this is bad for cooking.

Eggshells are robust but susceptible to strong smells, so don’t store eggs with anything that gives off an odour, particularly in an enclosed space.

Secondly, if your eggs are cold (and you can put them in the fridge if you really must), when placing them into a hot pan, you shock them.

This is a bad thing. The egg won’t like you anymore, and the result will not be as good.

If refrigerated then take them out 30 minutes before you use them. Side note, chefs do this with steaks when possible (salt them, and place them on a rack so air can circulate for 30 minutes).

Additionally, eggs can be frozen. However (of course), there are rules. They must be out of their shells, and thoroughly mixed, or separated (and mixed, but add a touch of salt to yolks to prevent the gelatinous effect).

Never freeze an unmixed/uncracked egg, again your egg will not like you, and you won’t like your egg.

However, some of you may wish to use eggshells, which are high in calcium. They have many uses (dog food, bird seed, compost, coffee - yes really - even chalk).

If you are going to add them to your dog food, you must boil them for 10 minutes and then leave them to air dry - you can bake them as well - this removes any traces of salmonella. Then crumble them up, and you’re good to go.

To read more on how to use eggshells, click here.

And whilst we all should never buy caged eggs (happy chicken, happy eggs), there isn't a great deal of difference in taste, particularly when you know what you are doing.

Sure, some eggs do taste a little better than others, but as we eat with our eyes there really isn't a discernable difference (there have been blind taste tests that prove this).

However, the age of an egg (which can be days/weeks old by the time it arrives on your grocery shelf) does matter, which we will find out about shortly.

So here we go, and remember what follows is the professional method.

FRIED EGG

You will need:

Oil

Salt

Pepper

Egg (obviously)

Grab a frying pan, and start pouring oil into it. About 5mm deep (or an ⅛ of an American Freedom Unit); it may seem a lot but this is what chefs do.

The temperature is going to be a tricky one here because chefs know exactly what number to turn the dial to, or the height of the flame for their stove, and there the pan will remain all day.

You might be familiar with yours, but if not you will have to experiment, but you are looking at around 120c/250f.

Too hot, and the egg will spit and splutter, too cool and the egg will sit there for a while wondering what’s going on. You are looking for a gentle but instantly noticeable whiteness that appears in the albumin.

Now grab a tiny pinch of salt, and pepper, and sprinkle it over the egg. This seasons the egg inside, instead of doing it afterwards and only seasoning the top.

Gently scrape the oil over the top of the egg with your spatula (away from you is safer), which speeds up the cooking process.

Remove. And that’s it.

SCRAMBLED EGG

You will need:

Salt

Pepper

Full-fat milk or cream

Butter

Egg (yay!)

There are different ways to do this, but I will stick with just this one. It’s simple.

Get a bowl and break your egg into it. You may even want two or three - this is fine - add a tiny pinch of salt and pepper (white is better as you won’t see black specks as you would if you used umm ... well, black), a splash of milk or cream, and whisk it up using a fork.

The more liquid you add the longer it will take to cook, and the wetter it will be. This is your choice (you could use water but this adds absolutely nothing other than to increase the volume), but don’t go too crazy.

Your frying pan should be on fairly high heat, but not too hot. Throw a knob of butter in, and wait until it is melted, or for a slightly different taste let the butter start to foam up. Pour your mixture straight in, and immediately start stirring with a flexible spatula.

Depending on how hot your pan is, it is possible to make scrambled eggs in 30 seconds, but we are going for a minute, two tops.

Bring it all together, continuously stirring, and immediately tip it onto a plate. The residual heat will keep cooking it, so you may wish to remove it just before it is at the consistency you want.

Wet, moist (stop it at the back!), dry, the choice is yours. There is no right answer (actually there is, moist).

POACHED EGG (duh-duh-duhhhh!)

You will need:

Water

Salt

White wine vinegar

Egg (umm ... yes)

Grab a pan of water and it needs to be deeper than an egg stood on its end. Throw a load of salt into it; you want salty water - this will season the egg as it cooks.

Add a good splash of the vinegar at a ratio of about 2-5%. You can use cider vinegar, but this discolours the water, and probably your egg, too.

You use vinegar because the acidity of it attaches itself to the proteins in the white part causing it to solidify much more quickly, but does nothing to the yolk, which is now wrapped inside the white (clever, huh?).

Bring it to a gentle simmer, if it starts to boil reduce the heat until the boiling madness stops. Get a spoon and start stirring to create a vortex.

As soon as you have one, carefully break the egg into it, and the vortex will stop the egg from falling straight to the bottom and will shape it.

If you prefer, break it into a cup and pour it in from there.

The process should take no longer than 3 minutes unless you want a hard yolk, in which case, go and watch that movie you’ve been promising yourself to see because ultimately it doesn’t matter if you cook it for 10 minutes or two hours (it does because you have just ruined it).

Using a (preferably) slotted spoon, bring it out of the water, and place it on a kitchen towel to absorb any trapped excess water.

If cooking many, you can do the above, then put it instantly in iced water, which will stop the cooking process. Then when the time comes put them all back in the simmering water for a minute. Job done, and well done (you, not the eggs).

HARD BOILED EGG

You will need:

Water

More water

Rock hard water (ice)

Egg (!)

Older eggs are perfect for boiling, whereas all the above are better with the freshest possible.

Of the four of these I have explained this one is by far and away the easiest. But why so much water, you ask?

Grab a pan, and fill it with water so that the egg will be submerged. Bring to a nice boil.

Some chefs I know add things like salt, vinegar, and/or bicarb, but this is to aid the peeling process. I don’t bother.

The water must be boiling. Remember that “shock” thing? In this instance that is exactly what you want! It helps to prevent the white from sticking to the eggshell.

Drop your egg(s) gently into the water, and set your timer. 10 minutes for hard-boiled (5-6 if we want hot dipping eggs).

When the time is up, take them out and immediately put them in an ice bath for a minimum of 5 minutes. This will stop the egg from becoming rubbery and that green you so often find between the white and yellow won’t appear.

So there we go, a beginner’s egg guide, and we managed to make it all the way to the end without making an egg pun.

Cracking!