Fun variations on fried egg on toast?

September 25, 2014 10:48 AM

I'm attending a Ghibli-themed potluck this weekend, and I've volunteered to bring fried egg on toast from Laputa. However, I have two reservations. First, 20+ people will be bringing food and a full slice of toast + egg per person is just too much. Second, egg-on-toast is only really good when hot and freshly made. So I'm looking for suggestions re: variations (in either letter or spirit) on egg-on-toast that a) are portionable, and b) will stay delicious past ten minutes!

Ideas so far:
- Korean egg bread?
- some kind of winky thing like toast-shaped cookies with yellow and white frosting on top?

I'd prefer something not too costly or time-consuming, but all thoughts are welcome!

Thanks!

posted by brieche to Food & Drink (23 answers total)

Best answer: You can get tiny tiny dried toast slices at grocery stores: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Saint-Louis-Imported-Mini-Toasts-2.75-oz/10535261

Quail eggs are tiny. If you could fry them and transport them, they would look right on the tiny toasts.

Gummy fried egg candies exist and are durable, but they do not taste like eggs. http://www.amazon.com/E-Frutti-Mini-Gummy-Fried-Candy/dp/B00318AV5M
posted by steinwald at 10:56 AM on September 25, 2014

Best answer: Mini quiche toast cups? "These are made using sandwich bread, filled with a quiche mixture made with eggs, bacon, onion and cheese."
posted by travelwithcats at 10:57 AM on September 25, 2014

In the "spirit" of things, how about egg salad sandwiches? Or a variation thereof?
posted by barchan at 10:58 AM on September 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Hot egg continues to cook, which is why it's only good immediately, so I think any form of hot egg is out.
Toast goes cold and soggy quickly, so toast is also out. By the time you start thinking about cold egg dishes, you're quite a long way from the original and either unrecognisable or inedible.

I think you'd be better off faking the whole thing entirely, and doing something like a little slice of brioche, with a splosh of something like sweetened creme fraiche, and an apricot half in the middle. That gets you the appearance AND something that would probably be enjoyed for itself without having to get the reference.
posted by emilyw at 10:59 AM on September 25, 2014 [9 favorites]

Best answer: You could bake a cake and frost it to look like a giant piece of toast with a fried egg on top.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:01 AM on September 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

What about Scotch eggs? They're good at room temperature, and breading + egg practically equals bread + egg. And you can cut them into quarters.

I believe there are few questions in cooking that can't be answered with Scotch eggs.
posted by punchtothehead at 11:04 AM on September 25, 2014 [5 favorites]

If you have access to an oven for 5 minutes, you could also try a breakfast pizza. You then prep the pizza ahead of time and add the eggs at the last minute, right before you put the pizza in the oven.
posted by barchan at 11:04 AM on September 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

My Eastern European partner makes french toast more or less the normal way, but instead of serving it with syrup and/or sweets, she tops it (while still hot) with a slice of mild white cheese, then salts it. It's freaking amazing and will make you pity suckers who still eat theirs the other way.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:06 AM on September 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

Best answer: You could do a small slice of bread (a baguette would be a good size but don't slice until right before the party) and then a slice of boiled egg on top. A little dab of mayo under the egg would make it yummy and it would be a 1-2 bite appetizer.

Otherwise, I like the cookie idea!
posted by dawkins_7 at 11:14 AM on September 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

Best answer: Could you make some sort of desert. A slice of mango or an upside down half a tinned peach or apricot would look like the egg of a yolk on some white frosting. You could make a simple white cake base so it would look like toast. Cut it into the right size, blob of nice white butter frosting, plop half an apricot on top.
posted by wwax at 11:23 AM on September 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

I'm unclear whether you're determined to do fried egg on toast, or if you're open to other Miyazaki-inspired dishes. If the latter, this post has tons of ideas.
posted by jbickers at 11:26 AM on September 25, 2014

Do you have a chafing dish? A crock pot? Access to a stove?

You can poach eggs most of the way, then slip them into cool water. Bring a giant tub of cold, mostly poached eggs in some cool water to the party. Take some method of making hot water and put it on the buffet line.

Instruct people to take an egg from the cold water, put it in the warm water for 90 seconds. Put it on toast.

Voila! This is how brunch places get a table full of eggs benedict out at the same time.

I wouldn't worry about a whole egg being too much, because not everyone will eat one, or people will share. Unless you're going to find quail eggs...
posted by fontophilic at 11:43 AM on September 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Yeah, I'd do little slice of bread with brie or a mild white cheddar, and part of an apricot on top.
posted by specialagentwebb at 11:45 AM on September 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

Best answer: How about toad-in-a-hole? It's more "fried egg IN toast," but would probably travel in better shape.

On preview, I like specialagentwebb's suggestion above. Very cute. I'd suggest mini cocktail bread slices (you can usually find them in a supermarket deli section) or Melba toast.
posted by tully_monster at 11:48 AM on September 25, 2014

Deviled eggs with a tiny toast square (like the ones mentioned above by steinwald) stuck in the yolk part?
posted by troika at 12:41 PM on September 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Make fried eggs with candy, and put them on graham crackers! A friend of mine made brilliant "fried eggs" for a party once - you melt a bunch of white chocolate, drip it onto waxed paper in messy spoonfuls (to mimic the fried white of the egg) and place a yellow peanut M&M (so, a big one, not a small one) in the middle of the white chocolate blob before it completely hardens. Once they're cooled completely, peel them off the waxed paper, and put them on graham crackers or something that similarly looks like toast.
posted by bowtiesarecool at 12:43 PM on September 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

There is a Portuguese breakfast meal which is basically a Papo Secos bread roll, sliced across with a small omelette inside. They seem to have got less popular recently but they used to be made in large volumes so I think they would stay good for a bit after cooking.
posted by biffa at 12:58 PM on September 25, 2014

I am all about Totoro. Here are some breakfast concepts, but for sheer room temperature keepability than the totoro onigiri maybe the ticket. You could make a rice roll with a yellow center (egg, burdock, takuan radish, etc) and slice that for the egg and then make a brown rice bed of onigiri for the toast. Onigiri keeps at room temperature and you do not bankrupt yourself.
posted by jadepearl at 12:59 PM on September 25, 2014

Combining a few suggestions, I vote Scotch quail's egg. Bit sized and extremely kawaii.
posted by kaspen at 2:00 PM on September 25, 2014

Best answer: Jumping off barchan's suggestion, egg salad could be served on Melba toasts for a type of canapé. Much smaller than a full slice of bread, portable, but still with that crunchy toast goodness.
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 2:24 PM on September 25, 2014

Best answer: I make a lovely deconstructed canape with a mayo/mustard/onion/celery spread, with a slice of hard boiled egg on top and a slice of olive on top of that. I use those "cocktail breads" so I'm not dicking around with cutting bread. I linked to Amazon, but most large grocery stores carry them. Just ask.

Egg Salad pinwheels is another fancy canape. Although call ahead to the bakery and ask them to slice the bread horizontally instead of vertically.

Or Deviled Eggs with a crouton on top!

Have fun!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 3:00 PM on September 25, 2014

There's a version vegans make that I've become addicted to--basically it takes the standard tofu scramble and kicks it up an eggy notch with the addition of generous helpings of the eggy, sulfurous kala namak "black" salt. If you have a spice shop nearby that carries it, this is truly an excellent way to make something that is almost alarmingly egg-like without containing any eggs. And it mixes well with cilantro, peppers, onions, and other scramble add-ins. Since it's just a bunch of scrambly stuff that you toss on toast, it's really easy to prepare and portion (I make it for office breakfast potlucks alllllll the time).

Side note of advice: if you're going to use kala namak, cook with a bit of it but reserve a bit of it as a finishing salt. That keeps the egg-ness more intact than adding it all in before cooking. Here's a sample scramble recipe using kala namak.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 4:16 PM on September 26, 2014

Response by poster: Thank you everyone for your suggestions!! All of them are really charming and sound delicious!! I marked some of the answers as being more appropriate for this particular situation, but I'll definitely be coming back to this post for appetizer/party ideas in the future.
posted by brieche at 11:59 AM on September 28, 2014