You, sir, are a heathen. Runny whites? DO NOT WANT.
I can’t flip and I hate runny whites so I always end up with a rock solid yolk. For this reason I mostly make scrambled eggs.
I gave up on trying to flip them long ago. Instead I heat some oil/butter in a small skillet until it’s hot enough to fry the egg. Then I turn the heat to low, crack the eggs, and cover the skillet. The egg bottom fries, the top steams, and the yolk stays runny. If I don’t want the yolk runny, I’ll flip the egg after a couple of minutes and fry the other side.
Not fancy, but easy and consistent.
This is also the secret to amazing omelettes, minus the continuous stirring.
If your whites are runny with sunnyside up eggs, you are doing it wrong. Use high heat with butter, drop the eggs in give them a couple of seconds and then move them to make sure they don’t stick. Add a couple of tbs of water and cover. Turn heat down and cook until whites are solid. Comes out great with a medium runny yolk.
I love when I see a thread title and can immediately tell when it was Jeff who posted it 😂
You’re supposed to spoon the hot butter over the whites to finish the sunny side up egg!
This is an important factor. Eggs can stay safe to eat quite a while, but they change consistency to a more watery white if they are not really fresh. It makes a big difference in cooking whole fried eggs, but not so much in scrambles, omelettes, etc.
This is absolutely essential - and not only for flipping things. I wish it was more well known.
Of course there are other factors as well for flipping. Not hesitating when you do the actual motion, for example.
Like… I have a cast iron pan. It’s really heavy (duh!). One time, I used it as well as another, much lighter frying pan. I first did some flipping in the cast iron pan and then - with the same force - in the lighter one. Half of the onions I had in there landed somewhere around the stove.
I thought to myself “Yeah, I’m pretty dumb sometimes”.
tl;dr: Take your pan’s weight into consideration.
I agree with most of what has been said, particularly the thin spatula and the heated pan and the just-do-don’t-hesitate-to-doubt.
But I still have a much better batting average when I have my griddle at home, as opposed to having to use a pan when traveling.
Have you tried poached eggs? No flipping.
I cook over easy eggs nearly every time I make eggs. I’ve used non-stick, cast iron, hell, even stainless all-clad. You can make do with whatever you have. Heat is not as big a deal here. I cook eggs on medium low heat, 4 of 10 for me. A spatula is the perfect tool. But note the following:
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You don’t want the pan dry. Forget the non-stick commercials where they swirl an over easy egg around in a pan. Don’t do that. Have a fat in the pan that the egg is cooking on: oil, butter, liberal cooking spray, whatever.
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DO NOT FLIP until the white sets medium firmly and the yolk begins to set as well. This it the key. I could cook eggs on a plate if it was hot enough, but if I flip before the right time, torn eggs. You can lightly press on the yolk to know when it is the right time. Too jello like? Not enough. Starting to firm up around the edges? Just right.
You want the final part of the cook after the flip to be no more than 30 seconds. I think I was taught 10 seconds for over light, 20 for over medium, and 30 for over hard. (That’s generally based on a medium heat, 5-6 of 10.) If you cook cooler like I do, add a few seconds to each of those. Or just press lightly on the yolk until you feel the consistency you want.
I also find that a little bit of milk in the eggs will help prevent the eggs from overcooking in a hot pan. I haven’t tried from a cold start, but with added milk you can get get good eggs from a pan that starts hot.
For over-easy eggs, I go with a pre-heated cast iron pan and a thin metal spatula that I can slip under the egg easily when it comes time to flip.
Yeah, I use stainless almost exclusively, and I found that once I got the heat and the fat right, eggs stopped sticking. Even omelets are pretty well-behaved.
Low to medium heat and about a 1/2 T of butter or olive oil in a 10" skillet works for me. Pan has to be hot before the eggs go in. And for whatever reason—gunkier solids is my guess—bacon grease never works as well. Which is probably a good thing overall.
I’ve been trying out making French style omelettes and finally had to bust out the non-stick pan. I hate using it at all, but the aluminum pan is stick city with eggs despite my best efforts. Pretty happy with the result this morning, just need a better cheese to add to it than grated Parmesan.
I recently purchased this pan.
I can’t use Teflon pans because birds. It really works well. Recommended.
Please explain.