Sorry to hijack this movie quote thread but I wanted to point out that fried sliced kielbasi has replaced bacon in my heart (literally!) for many years now.
Scrambled eggs with saute’d onions, garlic and cheddar cheese.
kielbasi
sliced tomatoes with a dash of balsamic vinegar
hash bowns or cottage fries or latkes (gotta have potatoes!)
Starbucks french roast
that’s my typical Saturday morning breakfast. Unless, I’ve got company, then I go all out.
No, the French call it “pain perdu”, or ‘lost bread’. They make it from baguettes that have gone somewhat stale. Americans make it from crappy, tasteless white bread and most have no idea what French toast is really supposed to taste like, or what the texture is supposed to be like.
I never say, “do you want eggs?” It’s lacking.
If I’m making something, I’ll ask my wife, “you want some bacon & eggs” or “do you want an egg sandwich” (fried egg, on toast with a slice of meat – ham, bacon or sausage), or “do you want an omelette?”
The only time I’ll ever say “do you want eggs?” is if the rest of the breakfast menu is obvious. . .I might be making home fries and bacon and I’ll ask, “do you want eggs, too?”
You don’t hear it in restaurants either. You wouldn’t tell your waitress, “I want eggs”. Usually every place has a name or number for the different breakfast options, so the “number 6” or the “Early Riser” or whatever would be “two eggs (any style), toast, and your choice of sausage, ham or bacon.”
I have known people that will just say, “Do you want to go get an egg?” meaning “Do you want to go get breakfast somewhere?” but that just might be a down-home colloquialism. I don’t know if I’ve heard it outside of Maine.
Two countries separated by a common language.
Yes, there is a meal called “eggs.” It’s something that’s used with your family, usually, because if you were to order eggs in a restaurant you’d have to specify how you want them done. But when it’s your mom, she knows how you take them because she’s been making them for you for years already, so all she has to know is that you’d rather have eggs this morning than waffles or pancakes or matzo-brei or whatever.
–Cliffy
Hah - methinks Cliffy has got his/her mother very well trained. 
For educations’ sake, does anyone feel like explaing this “over-easy” business to me?
Just in case I win the lottery and run off to visit the States.
Yeah. If I told my Mom, “I want eggs”, she’d go, “what the hell are you talking about. . .you want just eggs? eggs and bacon? eggs and home fries? eggs and toast? egg sandwich? egg omelette?”
Eggs “over-easy” is when you crack an egg in a pan, fry it for a minute, then flip it without breaking the yolk and fry it a little longer.
When you cut into it, the yolk should still be runny.
“Over hard” is when you break the yolk, and fry it through. “Over medium” is when you keep the yolk intact but fry it for a little while longer to cook the yolk partially.
Some call “over hard” when you DON’T break the yolk but fry it long enough to cook it through.
“Sunny Side Up” is cracking the egg into the pan and never flipping it nor breaking the yolk.
I would expand this beyond family. If I ask this it means “do you want eggs in the manner in which I am preparing them for myself” and family members and guests alike can tell if I am scrambling, frying, poaching or boiling the eggs by what I am doing.
As an interesting sidetrack a few days ago I discovered a cooking trick I had never heard of that involves cooking eggs. I had hardboiled a few eggs out of the carton to make gado gado and had found them hard to peel so I was worried that the eggs were older than I realised. I was cooking a big batch of fried eggs for 3 of us and thought I should crack them into a bowl rather than staright in the pan to check out each egg. When I poured the bowl of eggs into the frypan they acted like one giant egg with 7 yolks and I was able to move the yolks around the pan so that they were nicely separated. They cooked uniformly (sunny-side up) and could be sliced off as desired for serving.
Probably every short order cook knows this trick but none of them have cooking shows or write cookbooks. Correct me if I’m wrong because there could be dozens of similar tips I suppose.
Now explain ‘diner talk’ to him: “two cluckers on a raft…wreck 'em!”
Thanks, re the “over-easy” etc.
Long time since i fried anything, but I always found it easier just to drop the eggs into the pan and allow the Gods of Eggdom to decide how it turned out.
Um, well, no, truth is, I ended up preferring them with the yolk broken, just cos that so often seemd to happen.
Celyn = not good cook.
I totally agree. Americans tend to serve French toast with syrup, powdered sugar, and fruit (sometimes sweetened, candied, or syrupified).
Proper French toast is made with salt, black pepper, cilantro, onions, and green chilis, and is served with chili tomato sauce (Maggi Hot & Sweet is my preference). And the batter is made only of eggs (and the herbs and spices), no milk or water or any other kind of fluid. As a shortcut, I sometimes just add some tomato-based salsa picante (Old El Paso, Chi-Chis, whatever) to the egg batter.
Fresh cilantro leaves, I should say. Not the seeds (coriander).
That sounds very french. Just like the french would do it. . .with chi-chi’s salsa.
I have often heard (and used) the question “Do you want eggs?” It’s not an indication of the complete meal (although it is probably the main part, if you have them). The question means literally what it asks. Regardless of whatever else you want with your breakfast – coffee, tea, toast, danishes, croissants, doughnuts, orange juice, milk and cereal, oatmeal, whatever – I want to know whether I should cook some eggs.
The next question is usually, “How do you want them?” Which is where this comes in.
When someone asks whether you want eggs, they’ll usually ask you how you want them. Your most common options are –
Scrambled (most people don’t make proper scrambled eggs – they just push the eggs around a bit in the pan, basically making a messed up folded omelette)
Fried sunny-side up
Fried over easy
Hard boiled
Soft boiled
Folded omelette (most people don’t make traditional French omelettes or Italian frittatas)
Omelettes are commonly served with ham and (processed) cheddar or Western style (with bell pepper and onion). Because of the method for making scrambled eggs, a “plain” omelette is often confused with scrambled eggs.
Poached eggs are usually only available in fancy restaurants – most often they are served as part of eggs benedict (with Canadian bacon (ham) and an English muffin and drenched in Hollandaise sauce) or eggs florentine (with spinach instead of ham). There are also options using smoked salmon, French brioche, and other variations.
Ok, my two cents. I took the “Do you want toast or eggs?” question to mean “Do you want only toast, or do you have time for/would you like something more substantial?”
I know I have asked people “Do you want eggs?” meaning “What would you like?” and it was understood that way.
Or my father’s kitchen; that’s how he and my sister usually take them. Mom and I never liked eggs when I lived at home, although I have since learned to appreciate scrambled eggs on Saturday mornings if I’m out of bed early.
–Cliffy
“Gimme some burnt toast and a rotten egg.”
I make poached eggs at home all the time. They’re not hard.
And yes, all Americans only eat crappy white bread for french toast. No one ever ever uses anything else.