I usually use fresh eggs from a friend’s chickens. I always crack into something else before using one, just in case there’s an embryo. The habit had just led me to do it any time I use eggs even if store bought.
I use a saucer (well, usually I use a little appetizer plate, but whatever) to better control the position and shape of the egg while pouring it into the pan. I also find it faster when I’m doing several eggs, which I almost always am (so the first egg isn’t half done when I’m finally getting the fourth egg in the pan). Crack 'em into the plate, then pour: 1, 2, 3, 4.
I always break the shell on a flat surface, not the edge of the pan. Then stick my thumbs in a bit, and gently pull and slide it into the pan. That I just cooked bacon in. If I break one, it’s in the flipping. I have a great non-stick pan for this, and when it goes sticky, I get another.
Whenever I break out my special egg (actually omelet) pan, I start singing “I am the egg pan, they are the egg pan, I am the walrus…”
Yeah, I guess. Comes off my cast iron pretty easily though. The teflon one my wife uses, because she can’t figure out the cast iron or the stainless skillets for some reason, does have a spot or two on the side of stone-hard egg-dribble.
This is a must! I have a small 6 inch cast iron pan perfect for making up to 3 fried eggs. Nothing else gets cooked in. No one else touches it. You want a fried egg in my house? I will make it for you. No one touches my egg pan.
Goo-goo-g’joob…
Not even a little bit. Shell color is due solely to the chicken’s diet. Has no effect on the egg itself. Although I still find myself getting eggcited (yeah that’s right, I went there) when I find a carton of brown eggs because there’s still a part of me that assumes brown eggs are somehow better; like preferring the green m&ms over the other colors, even though they all objectively taste the same.
FTR, I crack my eggs right into the pan and never had a broken yolk. They only break when I try flipping them over easy, which I don’t even try anymore because I’ve never been able to do it right.
I am attracted to this method, as I want that kind of “over easy” doneness, and don’t want to risk breaking the yolk with flipping it. But every frickin’ time I try it, I end up with hard yolks! Obviously I should be able to train myself to do it not quite as long, but it seems to make them hard really fast.
I refer you to my own method, after much experimentation I now use tongs to grab the properly set white (ideally crispy!) and gently pick it up and lay it down yolk-side.
After awhile you (should) develop the right touch cracking the shell on the side of the pan so that the yolks are not ruptured. That seems to be the critical step, not pouring the contents into the pan. Short order cooks are probably masters of this.
Avoiding giving little flecks of shell in the pan is also tricky for me.
ETA: To think, this was my 5,000th post.
I vaguely remember seeing some sort of life hack. If you don’t want to flip the egg, you can take a saucer dish and set it upside down over the egg while it cooks. This apparently has the same effect if you were to actually flip it.
Never actually tried it myself though.
Cracking on a flat surface, as opposed to the lip of a pan or edge of a cup, helps immensely with this, in my experience. I just crack eggs on the countertop or side of the sink and haven’t had any issues with the occasional shell getting into the pan.
Chefs will aways tell you to crack eggs on a flat surface, like a countertop, and not on the edge of something. It takes a little practice, but I’m now won over to that method. The best way that works for me is to hold the egg no more than an inch above the countertop and smack it pretty quickly onto the surface.
I buy brown eggs, and I swear to Og that you can judge the thickness of the shells by the color of the egg-- darker brown = thicker shell; light brown = thinner.
I’m also confused as to the need for a cup or saucer. I usually crack my eggs on the pan, but not the edge rather the flat inside of the side (if that makes sense). I can’t remember the last time I yolk broke or had shell fragments in my eggs.
Also seconding Eggland eggs.
Question to those cooking one at a time…
Is the difference in cooking times (breaking them into the pan one at a time) really better than having to eat one cold? I’m confused by this logic.
Uh, how else do you fit them into the Holy Frying Eggs Pan? It’s only got room for one egg.
I’ll use a dish when I’m tired or sleepy, having noticed that most of my broken yolks aren’t from dropping the egg but from sticking my thumb into it. In general, it’s crack it on the counter, open, drop from a short distance.
I almost never have problems with the yolk breaking. My problem is getting splattered by the grease when I add the egg.