eggs over I can understand. over easy, though, is hard.

March 22, 2004 10:57 AM

I can understand "sunny-side up", but where does the phrase "over easy" come from in relation to frying eggs? Why easy?
posted by Mwongozi to food & drink (10 answers total)

over easy means having the yolk "lightly cooked", as opposed to over hard, which would be the yolk cooked solid.
posted by ashbury at 11:04 AM on March 22, 2004

And in order to faciliate lightly cooking the yolk, you would have to flip the eggs over, and to prevent the yolk from breaking (and rendering the eggs "cooked hard") you have to flip them over easy.
posted by jennyb at 11:17 AM on March 22, 2004

"Over" means the egg is flipped.

"Easy" means the yolk is still moist.

See also: "over medium," "over hard," both of which will get you an egg cooked with the same technique, but with varying degrees of doneness.

These days, if you like your egg "over easy," you're better off ordering "over medium." Somewhere along the line, the word "easy" came to mean "totally uncooked" to most griddle chefs.
posted by majick at 1:03 PM on March 22, 2004

ditto what jennyb and majick said. I will add one more thing: From what I understand, Sunny-Side Up means you never flip the egg over. You just cook it in so much oil (or butter) that you can baste the top part in the hot oil/butter with the turner.
posted by internal at 1:09 PM on March 22, 2004

Right. "Sunny side up" shouldn't be flipped at all. Otherwise it's not "sunny side", it's "over." By default, a sunny egg is cooked easy, but if you like wateriness, some crisp or leatheriness, you can ask for it using the same terms -- easy, medium or hard.

Listen to the voice of experience: never take a job where you might learn this information.
posted by majick at 1:15 PM on March 22, 2004

Gah. Baste in 'hot oil'? Even in my greasy spoon days we just put a lid on them to steam the tops.
posted by jacquilynne at 3:13 PM on March 22, 2004

These days, if you like your egg "over easy," you're better off ordering "over medium." Somewhere along the line, the word "easy" came to mean "totally uncooked" to most griddle chefs.

This surprises me and is something I have never encountered. Would it be (or have been) more correct, Majick, to order the egg "over", with no suffix if one likes eggs as you describe? Given today's culture of everything-can-kill-you-with-food-borne-illness I am always pleasantly surprised that people will still cook an egg properly. Softly, gently, not-rubbery for full flavorfulness.

For what it's worth, I often break my yolks but still cook the egg easy. Doable and, when swimming in olive oil, very tasty. /sidebar
posted by Dick Paris at 4:07 PM on March 22, 2004

As for correctness, I cannot say; I have only heard the terms "over easy," "over medium," and "over hard." It may well be correct in some sense to say "over [unspecified]", but it sounds darn weird with out at least some qualifier.

"I often break my yolks"

If it's during the turning, try practicing a flapjack-style flip, using the pan. It's harder, but not impossible, to do in cast iron because of the higher sides, and of course utterly out of the question on a griddle, but just about any pan can support flipping. The trick is to keep the egg from adhering: add your lubricant after the pan is hot, then drop the egg into it.
posted by majick at 4:49 PM on March 22, 2004

And if at all possible, cook 'em in bacon grease.
*drools*
posted by languagehat at 5:21 PM on March 22, 2004

Given today's culture of everything-can-kill-you-with-food-borne-illness I am always pleasantly surprised that people will still cook an egg properly. Softly, gently, not-rubbery for full flavorfulness.

Actually it was (or maybe still is) illegal in New Jersey,
but I couldn't find a good link for it.
posted by milovoo at 7:23 PM on March 22, 2004