Monica Bhide I recently received a review copy of "Forgotten Skills of Cooking: The Time-Honored Ways are the Best – Over 700 Recipes Show You Why by Darina Allen". It is an excellent collection of recipes with some very interesting cooking methods. What really caught my eye was a recipe of cooking eggs in the deep fryer. I love eggs and I have admitted publicly to having a sweet spot for deep-frying so I had to try this recipe. Here is what I found:
First, the recipe from the book:
Crispy Deep-Fried Eggs (from Forgotten Skills of Cooking By Daria Allen; Kyle Books)
Some people love eggs cooked over low heat with a tender white, but this method is for those who adore their eggs crispy. This technique takes a bit of practice by the crispy edges are simply irresistible.
Generous amounts of extra virgin olive oil
Really fresh organic eggs
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Croutons
Tomato And Chile Jam ( I did not have this so did not use it)
Arugula leaves
Heat 1 inch of oil in a deep sided frying pan. It should be really hot: test by dropping in a tiny bread cube – it should brown in seconds.
Break the egg into the hot oil. Tilt the pan immediately so that the egg slides down unto a pool of oil. USe a tablespoon to life the white over the yolk so that the yolk is completely enclosed between two layers of white. This will prevent the yolk from overcooking and allows the white to get deliciously crisp and slightly golden. Cook for a minute or two more.
Lift the egg out of the oil with a slotted spoon and drain well on paper towels. Season with a few flakes of sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Serve on warm crisp croutons with tomato and chile jam and some arugula leaves.
My two cents: I wish I had not tried this recipe. I so wish I had not because the result was simply delicious. I LOVE fried eggs and this takes eggs to the next level. WHy do I wish I had not tried it? Well, it is not the most healthy thing to become addicted to! I did not even get to the jam or the croutons or the arugula. My son and I just stood there and are all the deep-fried eggs while simply nodding in amazement at each other. They taste like really crispy well-done eggs with a very crisp golden white and the yolk is still runny. (When I posted this on Twitter, Michael Ruhlman made a great point that is worth repeating here – same affect, crispy fried eggs – can be achieved by shallow frying in a very hot pan. I had to hold the eggs to the side in the deep-frying technique so that it did not get too oily. So you can shallow or deep-fry to get this effect.)
A perfect egg for a special occasion.
This looks amazing! I’ve never heard of something like this and I honestly don’t know why I didn’t think of it. I’m an egg lover myself and I’ve fried everything – peanut butter and jelly sandwiches included 🙂
LOL. My eggs turn out like this all the time. I use a shallow pan, high heat. I actually did not know that this was an unsual way to fry an egg since many people I know do it this way….to use a local phrase “every fault is a fashion:-)”
If you really want to achieve that “speechless, eyes rolled back in your head, someone call 911” effect…use sesame oil. Good grief! If I could have an arrangement where someone brought farm fresh eggs, pork belly and sesame oil to my door on a regular basis…I might give that whole “shut-in” situation a go!