EGGS!

[Lauri D]

Lately, eggs have become one of my favorite foods to eat almost every day (usually 2, in the morning). I love the fact that they are A) healthy (I guess not for everyone in large doses 'cuz of the cholesterol thing, but that's not a problem for me), B) easy to prepare in many different ways, very versatile, and C) CHEEP! Oh, and they store easily and for a while so I don't end up throwing them away constantly.

I recently tried something my ex's mom used to make, which was mix eggs with salt and pepper and quite a bit of milk (more than the usual splash), in a blender or with hand-held mixer, then stir in chopped onions and grated cheese. Pour into pan/skillet (the kind that has, um, "sides"... I'm such a chef, cantchatell? :blush: ) and cover, on medium-lowish heat. It comes out kinda floofy and scoopable as opposed to scrambly. Also I like to add a little more grated cheese on top right at the end, since in case anyone wasn't aware I have an enduring love affair with cheese. :D

Anyway, share your favorite egg recipes here and help me expand my repertoire! :pancake:

[wei yau]

Well, this recipe involves minced pork (and cilantro, which I always omit).

Steamed Pork in Egg Custard (http://chinesefood.about.com/od/pork/r/steamedcustard.htm)

Another egg recipe I like is what I refer to as homestyle egg drop soup. It's ridiculously simple.

chicken broth
4 eggs
salt
pepper
rice wine

Take one can of chicken broth, stir in 4 beaten eggs, season w/salt and pepper and add a splash of rice wine.

Steam the bowl until egg hardens. It should resemble Jell-O.

[viscousmemories]

In this old thread (http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=62) I posted these egg ideas:

Sausage McBagel™
Fry an egg (break the yolk when you put it in the pan). Toast a bagel. Drop a Morningstar sausage™ pattie in the toaster oven for 5 minutes. Put the bagel, egg, pattie and a slice of American cheese together. YUM!

The Scramble
Crack a couple eggs in a bowl. Add a Splash of milk. Add a dash of garlic powder and parsley (flakes or fresh). Add a teaspoon of Country Dijon. Mix well. Cook and eat. YUM!

or

The Hash
Heat up some olive oil in a skillet. Drop in some frozen shredded potatoes. Maybe throw in one of them Morningstar patties. Mix as it cooks. Throw in the Scramble and mix it all together. YUM!

And then there's the Sunshine Toast in a Nest™ in this post (http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?p=49160#post49160).

[livius drusus]

I love eggs too. Totally adore them. I've already worshipped at the altar of my demonic master the deviled egg (http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?p=19664#post19664), but could I perhaps interest you in a little frittata action?

It's pretty much the opposite of the fluffy blendy egg, and is fantastic as a breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner dish, and hot, room temperature or cold. You can put anything you have lying around in it and it takes about 5 minutes to cook and you only use one pan.

Honestly, for an egg lover it just doesn't get any better than the frittata. Here's what you do:

Whisk up a bunch of eggs (I've never made one with fewer than 4 eggs, I don't think).
Whip out a cast iron skillet or some other skillet which can stand to be put under the broiler for a few minutes and put it on medium heat.
Turn on the broiler.
Add a tablespoon or so of olive oil and sautee whatever good stuff you want in there for a few minutes. At a minimum I suggest garlic and onions, but you can't go wrong here. I've had dreamy frittate with potatoes, asparagus, spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, and pretty much everything else you can imagine.
Add the eggs (and cheese, cheese, cheese!) and let it set until the bottom layer is cooked.
Lift up the edges of the cooked bit a little and tilt the pan so some of the liquid eggs roll down underneath and get cooked.
Once it's cooked most of the way through, pop it into the broiler for 2 minutes or until the surface is browned.
Let it cool down for a few minutes and then turn the pan upside down over a frittata sized plate.
Slice it into wedges like a delicious eggy pie and either eat on the spot, let cool down to room temp or refrigerate for later.

It makes a fantastic sandwich in a nice, soft roll. Cut into small wedgelets for snacking or appetizing. Serve with veggie or salad side for a dinner entree. There is literally no limit to its versatility.

[Ensign Steve]

You can put a whole egg in a coffee cup (scramble it or don't, your choice) and nuke it for a minute. Then you have a perfectly sized cooked egg for putting on your muffin sandwich. :) Even JD can cook an egg! :flambe:

[viscousmemories]

Are you shitting me? I'm trying that. I've always envied the real egg McMuffin because of the shape of the egg, but didn't know how to reproduce it at home.

[pescifish]

Ah! Yet another thing that Ensign Steve and I both learned how to do (like the peanut butter jalapenos -- yum!)

If you spray it with PAM or oil aerosol before putting the egg in, the egg slides out easier. I usually drape a paper towel over the top too, since sometimes eggs mini-explode in the microwave.

[Ensign Steve]

(psst! Fish! Is it a minute, or thirty seconds? I couldn't remember so I put a minute, that way later if it's wrong I can say that I was being vague. Plus less chance of salmonella that way.)

pam = YES!
mini-explode = YES! Less so if you scramble, but don't whip it too much or you get a souflee.

[Crumb]

I love the egg salad sandwhich. Mmm yummy. Hard boil a few eggs. Mash 'em up with as much or little mayo as you'll eat. Spread on some bread with your favorite condiments. (Don't forget the paprika) Eat 'em up, yum!

[pescifish]

(psst! Fish! Is it a minute, or thirty seconds? I couldn't remember so I put a minute, that way later if it's wrong I can say that I was being vague. Plus less chance of salmonella that way.)Heh! In my original post, I very nearly wrote:

One minute will definitely get it cooked but not overly so for a standard large egg and microwave. I usually go for 45-50 seconds to get it the way I like it: the whites completely cooked and a yolk that might have some wet spots. It kinda doesn't work to try it for a bit and then start it back up again, so just go for a minute and then adjust the next time you do it, if you want it less done.

Here's some more eggy ideas:
eggs scrambled in butter
grated parmesan cheese (lots)
Tabasco brand green jalapeno sauce (to taste)
salt and pepper to taste
Eat with corn tortillas that have been heated over open flame.
The parmesan cheese, butter, eggs, slightly charred corn tortillas and mild jalapeno sauce is a unique taste combo I like (so beware!).

...and...

Chorizo con Huevos
8-12 ounces chorizo sausage
one onion, diced
6-10 eggs, as desired
Cook the onions in a small amount of oil until translucent. Crumble (or squish, as the case may be) chorizo into skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring, until chorizo sorta browns (5 minutes?). If it’s homemade chorizo, I cover the pan at this point and let it continue to cook. If store bought I cook it until a boatload of fat has come out and then I drain it.

Break eggs into the skillet and scramble gently into chorizo until eggs set as desired.

Eat with flour tortillas. I don’t add anything else, but beans and rice are the usual additions.


If you are squeamish about store bought chorizo (read the label, you know what I mean!), it’s been a long time, but I used to make my own. I originally got the recipe from an old Mexican food cookbook, but over time I just winged it. The following are the ingredients and amounts from 3 recipes I found online in a quick web search. None of the recipes had all the ingredients I made mine with, so this is a compilation to match what I used to do. I've done the same thing with lean hamburger with good success and I suspect ground turkey would work as well.

Of course, the homemade stuff is almost too lean, so adjust the fat in your subsequent cooking accordingly.

1 pound ground pork loin (get the loin, have it ground to hamburger-like consistency)
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons (white or cider – something not strong) vinegar
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
salt (1/2 – 1 teaspoon) and pepper
Mix all ingredients into pork. Cover and place in refrigerator at least half a day or so that the spices and the vinegar get all in there.

[RevDahlia]

liv beat me to the frittata, which is one of the greatest accomplishments of civilization. You can put anything in a frittata and it will be good, but I like mine best with potatoes, roasted red peppers, zucchini, pepper flakes, garlic and a whole shitload of basil.

I've already discussed Eggs in Hell somewhere on this forum, but I can't be arsed to dig up the URL. Basically what you do is heat some prepared salsa, dump it in an ovensafe dish, break the eggs over it, cover it with Parmesan, bake it at 400 until the eggs are set, and eat it with tortillas or toast and sour cream. It's way better than it sounds.

My absolute favorite vehicle for the humble egg is what my mom used to call Salad With Things In It. You chop up some tomatoes, cukes, avocadoes, olives, scallions, red peppers, and whatever else you have lying around, and mix 'em up with a goodly quantity of crispy bacon crumbles, cubed cheese and sliced hard-boiled eggs. Place atop a bed of enticing baby greens, douse with a nice vinaigrette with some mustard in it, and you're good to go. This salad is especially tasty the morning after, when the greens are all limp. Then you stuff it in a pita and eat it for breakfast and it is so, so good.

Speaking of hard-boiled eggs, they're actually a little tricky to make; they like to turn out either green and rubbery or runny. I have figured out the perfect way to make them, however.

Perfect Hard-Boiled Eggs

Take the desired number of eggs, and pierce them on the large side with a medium-sized needle or thumbtack.

Put them in a saucepan filled with COLD water. The saucepan should ideally be only just large enough to hold the eggs and water.

Bring to a boil over high heat, put cover on saucepan, and turn heat OFF for exactly 17 minutes.

Then plunge eggs into cold water for at least 20 minutes. There you go. They will peel like a dream, be totally free of greenish-grayishness, and the yolks will still enjoy some salubrious moistness.

[Crumb]

and the yolks will still enjoy some salubrious moistness

Wouldn't that be a soft-boiled egg then? :scratch:

[livius drusus]

Not wet, Crumb, moist. The center of the yolk should have just a touch of custardy texture or else it's overdone.

[Ensign Steve]

...They will peel like a dream...

Don't use brand new fresh eggs, either. Let 'em sit in the fridge for a week first. My mom heard-tell in a cooking class that the contents of the egge will shrink over time, making the resultant hard-boiled egg slightly smaller and the shell slightly looser and easier to remove.

[Legs]

We had eggs benedict for dinner last night..... yummy

[RevDahlia]

We had eggs benedict for dinner last night..... yummy
We would have eggs Benedict for dinner every night if producing them didn't get every fucking implement in the house dirty, and if making hollandaise didn't leave me in a state of nerves every single time. For eggs Benedict I need a pan to poach the eggs in, a skillet to heat up the Canadian bacon, a broiler pan in which to toast the muffins (we do not have a toaster), and a double boiler for the hollandaise, not to mention the whisk, lemon juicer, egg-separate-in-or, and all the various tongs and flippers and whatnot that the operation requires. Also the timing is crucial -- too crucial for a sleepy morning or afternoon. I love eggs Benedict but consider them restaurant food exclusively.

I love eggs Blackstone even more. If you are insane, you can give them a shot.

Eggs Blackstone

Cut some lean double-smoked bacon into 1/4" dice and fry slowly in skillet until crispy. Remove bacon to paper towels to drain and pour off most of the grease. Place skillet back over medium-low heat. Add a couple of diced, seeded, peeled fresh tomatoes (don't even think about using canned tomatoes for this) and briefly fry them in leftover bacon grease. Turn off heat, reintroduce bacon bits, and stir a couple more times.

Have ready poached eggs, toasted English muffins, and hollandaise sauce. (Easier said than done, my friends.) Place hollandaise, bacon-and-tomato mixture, and poached eggs atop English muffins. A leafy salad is nice on the side, but if you are totally depraved you should have hash browns. Eat. Drop many hints about how everyone really should appreciate you more.

In Texas I have had eggs Blackstone with a dollop of barbecue sauce mixed into the hollandaise. They were divine but I am not nutty enough to try making them myself.

If you skip the meat and tomatoes and use sauteed spinach instead you have eggs Florentine, which are also highly delicious. And if you're a big cheater you can fry some eggs over light and use them instead of poached.

[AspenMama]

Ah the many varied egg...some random thoughts

Basic Scrambled Eggs (one serving)
I like the non-stick little fry pans. Coat the pan with a little pat of butter and melt it into a teaspoon of olive oil on medium high heat. Take 2 eggs and reserve the yolk of one egg in a bowl. Put the whites and one yolk in the pan with a dash of salt. Quickly mix the eggs and when they are nearly cooked through, add the reserved yolk last second and stir once, then quickly remove the pan from the heat. You'll have creamy scrambled eggs. If you get adept, you can skip reserving a yolk in a dish and simply stir the whites around an intact yolk in the pan only breaking the yolk at the last.

Quiche
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Bridal Shower-- it's all good. There are four elements to the Quiche. 1) The Crust; 2) The Cheese; 3) The Filling; and 4) The Custard.

You can make your own crust, or you can buy some lovely frozen whole wheat crusts from a natural foods store. Preheat your oven to 350. Take out your crust from the freezer just prior to use. Spread out the shredded cheese of your choice on the bottom of your pie crust to form a moisture barrier between the fillings and the custard. Between 1 and 2 cups should do.

Next, put in your favorite filling-- tomatoes sauteed with olive oil and fresh basil is yummy; or sauteed broccoli and garlic; refried beans and green chilies; thinly sliced ham; bite sized cooked bacon; or anything else you enjoy meat or veggie wise. Don't forget that fresh herbs are your friend.

Finally, the custard-- Blend About 3 eggs and 3/4 cups of milk-- or a combination of milk and sour cream or plain nonfat yogurt works well too. Pour this on top of your filling. Place the pie pan on top of a cookie sheet to help with overflow issues and bake for 45+ minutes. When the middle is puffy and bouncy to your touch, the quiche should be ready. This is great warm or even better the next day for a party or pot luck. If you want to be fancy, you can always melt a little fresh cheese on top in the last few minutes, or sprinkle some paprika on top for an interesting look.


The best hangover egg dish: Juevos Rancheros
Simply done: 2 poached or fried eggs, refried beans, tortillas and green chili for smothering. I like to use a flavored wrap on the bottom of the plate, top with refried beans and the poached eggs. The green chili is poured on top and a rolled up tortilla/wrap is on the side. Extra garnishments: slices of avocado or gaucamale and sour cream. Even shredded lettuce if you're in the mood for it.

[LiveToRide]

A yummy new version of egg salad: Scramble 4 eggs w/ salt and pepper and milk. (I use half and half for a slightly fluffier result.) Let them cool off then add a couple tablespoons of mayo, a squirt of regular yellow mustard and a couple teaspoons of horseradish. Mush it all together and slap between 2 slices of bread. 4 eggs makes 2 sandwiches. Vary the mayo, mustard and hoseradish to your liking.

[livius drusus]

That sounds excellent, LivetoRide. You know what I think would be a killer addition to that sandwich? Some lightly steamed and chilled or room temperature green beans, especially those ultra skinny little haricots verts you can only find once in blue moon. :homdrool:

Oh, and I'd change the mayo to aioli. :yup:

[RevDahlia]

That sounds excellent, LivetoRide. You know what I think would be a killer addition to that sandwich? Some lightly steamed and chilled or room temperature green beans, especially those ultra skinny little haricots verts you can only find once in blue moon. :homdrool:

Oh yeah. Or maybe some baby asparagus tips. Asparagus and eggs love each other very much and deserve to be together.

[LiveToRide]

Ooooohh....asparagus. Yum....I'll try both the asparagus and the beans next time I make it.
livius....at the risk of sounding like a total moron....what is aioli? (Not much of a chef, I leave the cooking to Bullet.)

[livius drusus]

livius....at the risk of sounding like a total moron....what is aioli? (Not much of a chef, I leave the cooking to Bullet.)

You don't sound even remotely like a moron. Aioli is a greek spread made from mayonnaise, fresh minced garlic and lemon juice. It's absolutely dreamy delicious, particularly for me 'cause I'm a mayo hater but my garlic love trumps all my hates. :)

[LiveToRide]

livius....at the risk of sounding like a total moron....what is aioli? (Not much of a chef, I leave the cooking to Bullet.)

You don't sound even remotely like a moron. Aioli is a greek spread made from mayonnaise, fresh minced garlic and lemon juice. It's absolutely dreamy delicious, particularly for me 'cause I'm a mayo hater but my garlic love trumps all my hates. :)
Mmmmmmmmmmm....Gaaaaaaaarlic.....Is there such a thing as "too much garlic"??? I think not! Sounds awesome, livius, and I will try it if I can find it. Do you buy it in a store or have you mastered a recipe?

[livius drusus]

I do indeed have a recipe. It's really, really easy to make. Mash a couple of cloves of garlic (either use a garlic press or mash and mince) and add them to a 1/2 cup of mayo. Throw in a pinch of salt, 1-2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice and mix it all up with a fork.

Here's (http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?p=31162#post31162) my favoritest recipe for homemade mayo if you are in the mood (or you can force Bullet to do it in return for some kind of depraved sexual favor).

[Bella]

Speaking of hard-boiled eggs, they're actually a little tricky to make; they like to turn out either green and rubbery or runny. I have figured out the perfect way to make them, however.

Perfect Hard-Boiled Eggs

Take the desired number of eggs, and pierce them on the large side with a medium-sized needle or thumbtack.

Put them in a saucepan filled with COLD water. The saucepan should ideally be only just large enough to hold the eggs and water.

Bring to a boil over high heat, put cover on saucepan, and turn heat OFF for exactly 17 minutes.

Then plunge eggs into cold water for at least 20 minutes. There you go. They will peel like a dream, be totally free of greenish-grayishness, and the yolks will still enjoy some salubrious moistness.
Have you tried baking them, or steaming them? Alton Brown gave me the idea, and both work like a dream. If you're going to steam, use one of thos collapsible baskets inside a big pot. If you're going to bake, put them in a nest of tinfoil with a baking sheet underneath (just in case). They both come out creamy - a little hard to peel but worth the extra effort.

[Crumb]

Well I have about five dozen eggs in my refridgerator now. :dunno: They were super cheap. I guess I will have to try some of these. They will keep for awhile, won't they? I am only feeding one person right now. :sadcheer:

[viscousmemories]

My Mom told me they used to last forever unrefrigerated when she was in the convent. I don't know if that's true or crazy talk, though. I always refrigerate them and get nervous after a couple of weeks.

[LadyShea]

Buy a can of Stoke's Green Chile Sauce with Pork. Not green enchilada sauce or green tomatilla or green sauce or any other kind of green Mexican thing. Stoke's Green Chile Sauce with Pork.

Fry some kind of potatos...hashed or country style, whatever, then stir in some beaten eggs. Scramble and stir until eggs are cooked and then melt some cheese on the top or just mix the cheese throughout like I do. Pour the green chile over the top of the whole thing. You can serve warmed tortillas on the side. Yummy stuff I learned from Frankie.

PS- I have a recipe for pork green chile, but the Stoke's is actually better.


Pesci and JD, if you put water in the coffee cup will it poach the egg? Sounds like the perfect size and shape for Eggs Benedict.

[RevDahlia]

My Mom told me they used to last forever unrefrigerated when she was in the convent. I don't know if that's true or crazy talk, though. I always refrigerate them and get nervous after a couple of weeks.
It's not crazy talk. When I lived in Europe I was a little froke out because nobody refrigerated their eggs, but they kept perfectly well. (They weren't even in the refrigerator case at the supermarkets! :afraid: ) They will keep pretty much indefinitely in the fridge. I just hard-boiled a six-week-old egg and it was fine.

Once an egg goes off, you'll know it. If your eggs have been sitting around for awhile, break them into a cup before adding them to whatever you're making, just to be sure.

Have you tried baking them, or steaming them? Alton Brown gave me the idea, and both work like a dream. If you're going to steam, use one of thos collapsible baskets inside a big pot. If you're going to bake, put them in a nest of tinfoil with a baking sheet underneath (just in case). They both come out creamy - a little hard to peel but worth the extra effort.
I have baked eggs out of the shell before, but never in. I'll give those methods a whirl, though I really, really hate hard-to-peel eggs.

LadyShea, your recipe sounds really good.

[JoeP]

Eggs here are not refrigerated in supermarkets, but everyone I know refrigerates them at home.

I think even an egg a few days old can be off, if the membrane is broken. Age isn't so much of a factor.

[AspenMama]

The eggs are refrigerated in my supermarkets. I always follow the expiration date on the box. I've had food poisoning before and it's not a good thing.

[Ensign Steve]

Pesci and JD, if you put water in the coffee cup will it poach the egg? Sounds like the perfect size and shape for Eggs Benedict.

No idea. Sorry!

[pescifish]

Oops, sorry, just saw that question about the poaching. I have only very limited experience with poached eggs, so I can't trust my knowledge of what a poached egg is. However, the non-scrambled version of the egg in a cup cooked in microwave is pretty much what I remember a poached egg to be. No water used in the cooking at all.

The other thing I would mention about the cup in a microwave whole egg thing is that if I want the yolk to stay in the center of the result, I use 3 little pieces of butter positioned in a triangle around the yolk. If I cut the little pieces of butter from a cold stick from the fridge, they keep the yolk couched with proper distance from the sides of the cup. The yolk and whites solidify before the butter melts, so the yolk doesn't have time to drift.

As to how long eggs last, I think the concern these days is salmonella which is prevalent in the chicken/egg industry. It wasn't that way back when some of our parents were kids, so we may have learned egg-handling habits from them that are no longer safe given today's egg industry.

[RevDahlia]

I could be totally wrong here, but I don't think salmonella has anything to do with spoilage. The microbe lives in the bird's intestinal tract, so I'm guessing that a contaminated egg will be contaminated even if it's dead fresh.

[godfry n. glad]

Eggs Benedict are now "in"!

:woohoo:

[RevDahlia]

Eggs Benedict are now "in"!

:woohoo:
Eggs Benedict are always in. This weekend I had eggs Benedict at a local cafe -- they were made with Virginia ham and cayenne Hollandaise, and served with homefries that had been cooked in bacon grease. I about died. (Of bliss. The congestive heart failure will come later, no doubt.)

[godfry n. glad]

PROPOSAL:

Eggs Benedict XVI ('zat right? 'zat the new conehead's officious number?)


Thinly sliced grilled bratwurst
on a toasted kaiser roll with
two hardboiled eggs*
smothered in hollandaise sauce....

Heil Pace, dammit! :glare:


godfry n. evan moore glad

(*...to be completely accurate, the shells should be left on, making the whole thing even harder to swallow...) :giggle:

[godfry n. glad]

Eggs Benedict are now "in"!

:woohoo:
Eggs Benedict are always in. This weekend I had eggs Benedict at a local cafe -- they were made with Virginia ham and cayenne Hollandaise, and served with homefries that had been cooked in bacon grease. I about died. (Of bliss. The congestive heart failure will come later, no doubt.)

Oh, sweetheart... You are singing my song.

That sweet, sweet siren song of egg yolk and hollandaise sauce with paprika running together into the pockets in the toasted English muffin....mmmmm.....

I dearly, dearly love good Eggs Benedict. Good classic Eggs Benedict, no screwing with that original recipe. But it is so far, far....far...off of my diet that I get to have it once a year. This, in reality, usually occasions about four or five times a year, because I love this dish so. For me, it is stroke food.

:qsigh:
godfry

[Lauri D]

Thanks for all the nifty ideas, peoples. I have tried several frittata type dishes in the past week. YUM indeed. I also tried your thing with potatoes, Brandi, and it was SOOOO GOOD! :yup:

This morning I made this (and ate WAY too much of it, but saved the rest for snackage):

5 eggs
1/2 cup milk
salt and quite a bit of fresh ground pepper
(blended with hand mixer)

sauteed a bunch of diced onions separately
cooked and diced spicy sausage patties separately

Poured the egg mixture into nonstick skillet on medium low and covered. When it was starting to cook on the bottom, sprinkled in the onions and re-covered. When it started to look more cooked through, layered the diced sausage on top and re-covered. When it was aaaalmost cooked through, put on a nice layer of shredded cheddar-jack-and-jalapeno pepper jack. Recovered until thoroughly melted, took it off the heat and let it set for a minute or two, then sliced it into four "pieces" like a pie.

Added salsa and sour cream on the side, proceeded to scarf. :eat:

Eggs Benedict is one of my favorite eat-out dishes, too. There's a little French cafe in Dana Point that vm introduced me to that I still drool over when I think about it; for me it's all about the ham. A truly great ham *makes* the EB for my salt-loving taste buds.