How'd they cook that egg?

June 19, 2007 12:06 AM

How'd they cook that egg? I ordered a "fried egg, over hard," and was presented with a normal fried egg but with what looked to be the yolk removed. There wasn't a hole in the egg, but rather just the skin of the yolk laying flacid over where one would normally see yellow. Upon further inspection, the yolk was actually "sandwiched" between the two cooked sides (top side and bottom side) of the egg white surrounding the yolk hole. It wasn't a fluke, as I got two eggs like this with my order. What is this type of egg called and how'd they do that?
posted by pwb503 to food & drink (17 comments total)

That, my friend, is a Fried egg, over hard. You do it by cooking it after the flip for a bit longer than you would over easy, as detailed here.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 12:23 AM on June 19, 2007

Like this right? You begin frying the egg on one side and while the egg white is still a bit liquid, you flip it. The liquid egg white runs over the egg yolk and solidifies as it fries. Thus you get egg white coverage on both sides.
posted by junesix at 12:28 AM on June 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

I've been ordering fried eggs "over easy, over medium, and over hard" for years. This something completely new to me.

Imagine getting an "over hard" egg but the yolk was missing. It wasn't there, the pocket where the yolk sits was empty. When you cut the "skin" of where the yolk should be, it's like a uninflated balloon, hollow inside. When you cut the egg white with your fork you see that layered in between the top and bottom layers of egg white is the yolk.

It is as if, someone cooked one side really quick, flipped it and cooked the other side really quick leaving the middle parts liquid. Then someone spun the egg around causing the centrifugal force to pull the egg yolk in the center out towards the edges...

I wish I took a picture.
posted by pwb503 at 12:36 AM on June 19, 2007

I've gotten this effect when accidently breaking the yolk from flipping an over easy too soon.
posted by jamaro at 12:47 AM on June 19, 2007

I'm thinking runny old eggs. Were they good?
posted by flabdablet at 1:09 AM on June 19, 2007

Sounds like broken yolks
posted by A189Nut at 2:03 AM on June 19, 2007

When you make eggs over hard, you break the yolks before you flip them. Otherwise, they'll still be runny when the whites are starting to overcook.
posted by bricoleur at 2:21 AM on June 19, 2007

This is how I like my eggs. Break egg, pour in skillet, break yolk (fork), flip while white/yolk is still liquid, and finish on the other side. Guess that's over hard.
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 3:17 AM on June 19, 2007

Over hard implies a broken yolk. Because otherwise, there might still be that nasty not totally fried yolk in there. I get mad when they leave the yolk in the hole.
posted by dame at 6:12 AM on June 19, 2007

That sounds like what I call "the broke yolk special" but made with very fresh eggs.

When the egg is fresh, the raw white is thick and cloudy, not transparent and watery. In my experience, the fresher the egg, the more likely it is that the cooked white will obscure the cooked yolk when fried.

I like runny yolks, but I often cook for people who don't. If you drop the raw egg into a hot buttered pan and fry it briefly, the white will set around the curve of the yolk but without yet settting the yolk. Then scoop it up and flip it splat into the pan; the yolk will break, distributing itself unevenly throughout the suddenly setting white now in contact with the pan. Sometimes it leaves a reservoir where the yolk had been, like a little air pocket.

[obligatory: overthinking a plate of eggs.]
posted by Elsa at 6:18 AM on June 19, 2007 [4 favorites]

junesix has the correct answer -- a little loose egg white covered the yolk when the egg was flipped. This happens most of the time when you fry eggs over hard, but you can't really guarantee you're going to get it every single time.
posted by briank at 6:26 AM on June 19, 2007

Elsa's got it -- it sounds exactly like what the OP was describing. I make and order eggs over hard all the time and while the yolk does tend to leak out of the center, it's not sandwiched between the white, not along the edges of the egg. Elsa's explanation is the only one to make sense, given the end result.
posted by parilous at 7:07 AM on June 19, 2007

"When you make eggs over hard, you break the yolks before you flip them. Otherwise, they'll still be runny when the whites are starting to overcook."

No, not if you cook them correctly. Over hard should have the yolk intact, though it'll be that crumbly texture (I prefer over medium). Just asking for it fried should get you a broken egg, cooked through.
posted by klangklangston at 8:11 AM on June 19, 2007

I was a breakfast cook at a pretty busy hotel for about 5 years. During that time I cooked many, many, many eggs in many ways. (my favorite designation was "dippy, not snotty")

I think you could do this on purpose if you cooked the eggs in a medium-hot pan until the bottom set and then took a fork and pierced the yolk not from the top, but by going through the white into the yolk from the side at three or four spots. Then, you'd flip and finish.

Would this work? I don't know because nobody would do that on purpose. Elsa's probably got it right. Whatever happened was a result of some characteristic of the eggs. They both came from the same crate, so they both cooked the same way.
posted by qldaddy at 8:47 AM on June 19, 2007

Thank you Elsa, that must be it. I figured it was a method of cooking the egg but maybe it was just the eggs being fresh (or a combination of the two.)

For what it's worth, I was in the "country" at a old diner in Elkton Oregon (15 minutes west of I5 north of Roseburg.) If you're ever in the area check out the eggs at Arlene's Café. I highly recommend the country fried steak.
posted by pwb503 at 9:06 AM on June 19, 2007

Coming back to say:

I hope I didn't give the impression that creating the air pocket is a sure thing, or even intentional. But the conditions I describe (very fresh egg, hot pan, splat!) occasionally combine to create the egg you describe. As qldaddy says: Whatever happened was a result of some characteristic of the eggs.
posted by Elsa at 9:15 PM on June 19, 2007

If anyone is watching this thread, I've successfully recreated this type of egg myself. Granted my versions don't look anything as nice as the version I got at the restaurant but it can be done with normally purchased free range eggs and a quick splat on a hot pan.
posted by pwb503 at 4:56 PM on November 7, 2007