by Joan Inong

Created on: December 18, 2009

Making perfectly fried eggs can be considered an art. After all, it takes some thought and dexterity to create a perfect-looking egg with a round yolk and circle-shaped whites. If you want to impress your friends and family with a breakfast that includes perfect fried eggs, follow these instructions:

1. Place on your counter the amount of eggs that you will need. Doing so will make the eggs come to room temperature so that they are easier to cook with. In the meanwhile, prepare your frying pan by putting it over a medium-high heat and adding 2 T. of canola oil.

2. Allow the oil to become very hot. You will need a large stainless steel spoon with a long handle. With this method, there is no need to flip the eggs over. You simply use the spoon to pick up some of the hot canola oil in the pan and spoon the oil over the yolks.

3. Once the oil is hot (you will be able to tell its approximate hotness by checking for “heat waves” rising from the oil; the oil will also start to become striated and thin), crack one egg into the frying pan. Cook one egg at a time unless you have enough room (about 3” space between each egg).

4. Spoon the hot oil over the yolk and continue to do so until the yolk starts turning a whitish color. This is the coating (part of the whites) that is on the yolk. Gently press on to the yolk to check for doneness. If the yolk is still springy, it needs more time. At this point, if your pan has become too hot, lower the heat to medium.

5. The egg will be done with the underside has become golden brown or as brown as you like and the yolk is done to your preference. Generally, it takes as little as 4 minutes to cook an egg and up to 7 minutes to make it very well done.

Tips

If you think that you are not able to cook the egg using a large spoon and large amounts of hot cooking oil, you can alternatively flip the egg. However, you run the risk of popping the yolk, which will result in a “messy-looking” egg. To help reduce the risk of popping the yolk, cover your frying pan for a few minutes. Doing so will encourage the steam to cook the yolk enough so that you can flip the egg without breaking the yolk.

Add your seasonings after the egg has finished frying. Because of the amount of oil that you are pouring over the egg, seasoning the egg beforehand with salt and pepper will not actually flavor the egg evenly (because the salt and pepper will end up in the bottom of the pan).

As you can see, frying eggs is as easy as 1-2-3, and is a great part of a healthy meal to start your day.

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