Arghh. No matter how many times I try, even watched some tutorial vids, I still can’t do a proper fried egg that’s cooked on both sides. It always ends up folded in half, or yolk streaming all over the pan which becomes a total loss. After dozens of eggs I need help, cause I suck at this!
Things I can think of that may be the cause - I use butter instead of liquid oil. My pan is not flat like a griddle. It has normal sides for a pan like one of those you get in a kit. I use the larger skillet pan from this set.
Anyone here mastered this, and if so Obi-Wan Keneggy, teach me!
For me, it works fine in a normal skillet. I use butter as well. It started working regularly for me when I made sure the pan was really heated up well before I added butter and the egg, and I use a thin, flexible metal spatula that’s wide enough to “capture” the whole egg for flipping. With these steps, I can get 'em fried well on both sides about 75% of the time.
edit Also - don’t rush it. Make sure one side is nicely done before you even think about getting that spatula under there. Give it a moment to get fried up and skin over a bit.
On a side note, after decades, I finally discovered the secret to amazing scrambled eggs. Counter-intuitively, the secret is to cook on high heat. Put the mixed eggs in a cold pan. Cook and butter toast in advance. Heat on high while stirring continuously and aggressively; don’t leave it sit for even a second. It takes about 20 seconds once the pan heats up. When done (soft and moist) place directly on toast from pan, not allowing them to cook at all further.
Interesting. I didn’t like to have it that warm because I hate it when the egg whites get brown which is what always seemed to happen when I didn’t go lower and slower. But also my flipping technique just seems bad.
I use a small non-stick pan with a sloped edge. Apply a little butter and then swirl the egg around in the pan to make sure it’s moving freely, then flick the wrist a bit. It has taken some time to master, but I can get it most of the time now.
Before I would just use a plastic spatula to flip them.
I don’t necessarily mean super hot, but the pan has to be heated. So it’s not enough to just have the burner up, it needs to have been on long enough for the pan to be evenly hot, and actually warmed. A lot of times, folks don’t actually give pans long enough to heat up all the way through. Turn on the burner, then find something to do for a few minutes.
Fresher eggs will have thicker / stronger membranes, and be more resistant to breaking. Restaurants eggs are usually pretty fresh because of high turnover
A smaller pan may help. More control, less torque, less height when flipping.
When flipping, there’s just a bit of a wrist flip to torque the egg, but the egg doesn’t actually get much air. The less air, the less force when it lands, the less breakage.
A lot of it is just the feel of it. Way back in my server days, I remember a couple of brunches where the chef was having a bad day and couldn’t land over-easy eggs. I dunno if he was hung over or what, but he just couldn’t get the rhythm, and after bailing a couple of times, he just called one of the other chefs to do it, who had it down that day and banged them out first try.
If you’re using butter as your oil, this browning might be more burned butter than the eggs.
This is one of those things, like other dexterity tricks, where I think the biggest problem lies in overthinking it or trying to go too slow. You have to basically just commit to it, and not be afraid.
It’s sort of like pouring something from one glass into another. If you hesitate or are nervous about it, you end up dumping the stuff down the side of the original glass, because you don’t commit. Instead, you dump it quickly, so it all tosses into the other glass, instead of dribbling down the side of the original glass.
Likewise with flipping things. Do it, don’t hesitate, otherwise it slides off of the spatula and folds on itself, instead of actually flipping over.
Wow, you hit this right on. I am slow and get extremely nervous when I go to flip. So should it be all one motion to scoop and flip? Or can I slip the spatula under, take a breath, then flip?
Yep, you can slide the spatula under. But when it is time to flip, just do it. Quickly, but delicately. You don’t slam the yolk down, but you can’t do it slowly. Just a quick flip, making sure the entire thing clears so it doesn’t fold on itself. It’s one motion, without hesitation. If you fear you will break the yolk, you’ll be jerky or hesitate.
Huh, I only flip with a plastic spatula and cook the eggs nice and steady with groundnut oil. Once they’re firm/white on the underside I scoop them up, give the dangling edge of the egg white a little flick back so that it’s curved away from you on contact with the pan and just carefully lay it down on the reverse. That little flick prevents the egg folding over and sticking to itself. I’ve never tried an egg toss!
Yea I’ve done that a ton. But I really have the desire for fried eggs many times and there’s just something different about them. Maybe because I need to use a lid for sunny side up and they get a bit poached it changes the texture/taste a bit that’s incomparable to fried eggs.
