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By Root 673 0

add fat to a non-stick pan? For one thing, I like to be able to slide my egg around to shape it while it cooks and to be able to flip it, and that requires lubrication. (Non-stick doesn’t necessarily mean slick; see The Right Pan.) A little fat also helps to conduct heat evenly into the surface of the egg. Fat also improves flavor. Say you want your eggs soft and creamy but you also want a taste of golden brown—that nutty sweetness that only shows itself when serious BTUs are involved. No problem. You can develop that flavor before the eggs even show up. Simply melt a pat of butter over medium heat. As soon as the foaming subsides, turn the heat up and hold it there just until you catch a whiff of something like roasted nuts. Kill the heat and let the pan cool down. Then cook the eggs over low heat. The browned butter will coat your eggs with Maillard goodness.

THE RIGHT PAN

Because they’re high in protein, eggs can stick mightily to cookware. So when eggs are on the menu, grab a good nonstick pan. Eggs also hate high heat, so you’ll need a pan that’s a good conductor and is free of hot spots. As usual, a good place to find such cookware is at a restaurant supply store. Choose a thick pan that is heavier than it looks, and has a textured (not super-smooth) surface; it will last longer and release food easily. If you’re cooking for two, an 8-inch pan is fine, but a 10-inch is even better. And remember, most commercial pans are oven-safe; just don’t put them under the broiler.

3. Unless you’re using a very small pan—say four inches across—resist the urge to crack your eggs directly into the pan. Instead, break them into a small tea cup or ramekin. Why? So you can do this:

With the exception of sunny side up and scrambled, egg preparations get at least one flip, but knowing when to flip the flip is a little tricky. I like my eggs over easy, which means that the whites are nicely set but the yolk is lavalike: flowing, but not runny. I don’t flip until the thick albumin immediately surrounding the yolk is almost opaque. Then I flip (see Age Matters) and count to 15 slowly. Then I flip again (so that the yolk is visible once again) and slide it onto a plate. At no point do I ever touch the eggs with a spatula—that just invites trouble . . . and yolk breakage. If I’m making a full-blown fried egg, I flip at the same time, but I let it cook a full minute more before plating. In other words, I always execute the first flip at the same state of doneness. What differs is how long I cook it on the second side.

AGE MATTERS

Eggs have a multilayered construction. Besides the outer shell, there is a thin white or albumen, a thick albumin, the yolk, and the chalazae. This last item is basically a bungee cord of egg white that keeps the yolk (and the microscopic embryo that’s attached to it) in place. These layers are separated by membranes, which deteriorate as the egg ages. That means that an older egg (say, one month old) is going to be a beast to cook over easy, because the odds are good that the yolk is going to crash when you turn it. On the flip side, this same egg would be a heck of a lot easier to peel if cooked hard, because the membrane between the outer white and the shell will be less resistant.

There are, of course, exceptions to the low-temperature rule. Frittatas, soufflés, and meringes all require higher heat because they need to:

• expand. This requires one of two things: either water must turn to steam before the egg sets, or air bubbles physically trapped in the matrix must expand, again before the egg sets. Both scenarios require high heat.

• brown via the Maillard reaction. It’s important to note that in this case other ingredients are always present. Eggs should never be left to face high heat alone.

Buying and Storing Eggs

Eggs are bathed, sanitized, dried, and then candled at processing plants. Specially trained workers can spot irregularities and mark a bad egg; the computer remembers that egg and removes it down the line. Eggs that pass muster are weighed by a jet of air