Some restaurants, perhaps driven by state regulations, print a generic disclaimer about undercooked food being a health hazard that the restaurant will not be held responsible for. But that’s a very far cry from saying any runny egg should never be allowed out of a kitchen.
Runny eggs aren’t that uncommon an order. As an example, I’d far rather have wet whites than thickened to solidified yolks. At home I most often cook poached with fully liquid yolks and mostly solid whites.
Sunnyside up is my fave in a restaurant. Because it has the least hazard of solidified yolks. Although I’d not send eggs back unless they were utterly destroyed: anything more than raw but less than burnt is close enough in a busy eatery.
Anyone who’s squicked out by eggs under or overdone is certainly welcome to their preferences. But IMO they ought to stick to scrambled unless they’re cooking them themselves.
I’m curious: what’s the term for fried eggs where you do break the yolk? Not scrambled, as there is no mixture. Just you break the yolks. I usually eat said yolk hard, but a bit jammy can be okay, where they’re almost hard.
For everyone else in the house, I always cooked something between over easy and over medium. But mine I figured out early on cooked more easily if I broke the yolk intentionally.
Trying to keep it jammy while also breaking was also something I was able to do, if the yolk broke on its own.
In a diner, I totally agree. If you order fried eggs, you should probably expect runny yolks. So, I usually order them scrambled in a place like that. Fried eggs with jammy yolks are for when I’m making them myself at home (even then, I often miss the timing and end up having hard fried eggs), or in the really rare instance I’m in a nice restaurant for breakfast.
sunny side up is mostly defined as a runny yolk with egg whites set served hot, otherwise it sounds like a watery glob better suited to a bowl. However carry on with your eggspectations and don’t forget the pale toast and pink sausages. Lol. Ikik
I grew up frying eggs in bacon fat. We let the whites cook and then used a spoon to splash hot grease over the yolk. Flipping the egg risked breaking the yolk.
It was enough to set any white on top of the egg. The yolks weren’t bright yellow on top. We called it clouding the yolk.
The yolk was always runny.
I’m not sure what they would call that in a restaurant. But, I ate them that way for my entire childhood.
I would NEVER eat eggs like that image @chela posted. That’s much too raw for me. I can’t tolerate any uncooked egg white.
My favorite trick I learned from my grandmother was to cover the pan for a few minutes at the end to fully cook the albumen. I’ve never heard of that being an option in any restaurant. (She called it “covered over”)
Over-hard, yolk & whites set. Here, hard refers to the force used when they’re turned over and the broken yolk is a given, see also over-easy. Of course, over-easy is harder to perform. Over-medium does, I think, refer to the texture or doneness in a way that easy and hard do not.
I’m just the opposite. I like solid whites and will accept whatever kind of yolk the cook comes up with to achieve that. If I don’t order scrambled it’s “over medium” and I take whatever lands in front of me. If the yolk is pretty soft I’ll lift the eggs (usually two) over to the hash browns and poke the center so I don’t get hard-to-eat yolk on the plate itself.
It’s the same with when I order a steak. It’s always medium rare (warm, red center) but I find anything between raw and crunchy (exclusive) acceptable.
