I’ve been making a lot of eggs lately (see turkey bacon thread) and I like them over easy. The problem is, I suck at flipping them. I have a good Oxo non-stick skillet with smooth rounded sides but when I try to flip the eggs, it’s more like they just partially turnover at the edge of the pan. I’m using a plastic spatula. I realize that metal would be thinner and therefore would probably work better but I really like my pan and don’t want to damage its surface.
So if you know how to make the perfect over easy egg, please share your knowledge with me. If you have utensil tips, they would be appreciated as well.
I use lots of butter (well, olive oil-based margarine) and a silicone spatula, and use a non-stick pan. When they’re ready to turn, I jiggle the spatula under one at a time so that they don’t ‘fold over’. Then I carefully turn it them over so as not to splatter the fat.
I suspect you have a spatula that is too thick. Get one like this & make sure you get the entire egg on the spatula before you flip it. Also make sure the egg white is set before trying to flip it.
Thanks. It’s on its way. I’ve been using what I think is a pancake flipper. It’s pretty big and round. It’s strong enough to hold a lot more than an egg.
I don’t use a spatula, just a flick of the wrist. You could try practicing with a washcloth or something like that, but, for me, it was just doing it a few times with real eggs until I got the motion down. There’s plenty of Youtube tutorials that give you various ways of thinking about how to do the motion, but it ends up being muscle memory in the end.
Otherwise, yeah, just use a big enough spatula.
Or, if you want to cheat, do steam basted eggs. Cook it up until it’s about half set or so, add water to the pan and cover with a lid to finish the top.
Nonstick ~8 inch frying pan. Heat then add butter. Swirl melted butter to coat pan.
2 eggs cracked into the pan. With this size pan the eggs join to fill the bottom of the pan and become like one large egg with 2 yolks.
When eggs are ready, I do a wrist-flip. This video has a good illustration. It takes just a wee bit of practice, but has been working for me since the 70’s.
You could always skip the flip, instead basting the white and going with sunny-side-up. Alternatively, learn to flip eggs without using a spatula, just tossing them over in the pan.
Sounds like the eggs are sticking to the pan. Light oil will work better than butter, but butter is still fine. Let it melt in the pan at a lower temperature, add the eggs and slowly bring the pan up in temperature, you can let it get high enough to brown the eggs if you like. If there is excess grease whirl the pan around and let it lap over the top of the whites. The egg should not be stuck at all to the pan and you can easily flip it with a spatula or just with a quick snap of the pan, but the whites should be done before flipping, you just want to solidify the top surface of the yolk.
An alternate method which might produce eggs to your taste is cooking in a lidded frying pan (this is probably somewhat like the ‘basting’ method above, but I think less labour-intensive). The top cooks noticeably using this method, though somewhat less thoroughly than the bottom. Best with a glass lid so you can see what your eggies are doing
First of all, I’m operating under my definition of, “over easy”. To me, it means that the yoke is warm and totally liquid, but the white is cooked soft and NOT snotty/runny in texture.
How about “over easy” without the “over”? A la “Johnny L.A.”, I use a generous amount of butter. As I’m cooking the eggs, I take a spoon and spoon hot butter over the top of the white so that it cooks it right on top. When I see the texture is just like I want, I’m done and remove the eggs and put them on a dish.
The advantage of not turning the eggs over is that you can’t break eggs that you never turn in the first place. It works great for me.
Practice, practice, practice. Eggs are cheap. I guarantee you’ll be adept with less than 2 dozen. Give the inedible ones to the dog. He’ll love you for it. Oh, and don’t cook them on too high of a heat.
This is what I was going to suggest- seconded. It only takes a very small amount of water, like a few drops, and the top of the egg sets up nicely. I haven’t flipped an egg and risked breaking the precious yolk in like 20 years.
Also a fan of the wrist flip. I use the corner of a spatula to bleed uncooked white to the underside prior to flipping, because I really don’t like under-cooked whites. After doing that a few times, I do the flick of the wrist and over they go. And they never break. The video above is good instruction.
