My entire family enjoys eating eggs. We get some from our two little hens, but we still have to purchase some from the grocery store as well. I always make sure that anything we eat is safe. The last thing anyone needs is a trip to the emergency room for food poisoning. If you or your family enjoys the taste of eggs, then the following 6 ways to make eggs safe to eat might come in handy.
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Saturdays are omelet days at my grandmother’s I always use to stir up the eggs and add the ingredients to the eggs before dumping the entire contents in the skillet to cook. My grandmother cuts up all the ingredients and cooks them separately in a skillet. She then has this lovely little omelet pan that she pours her scrambled eggs into. Once she flips the omelet over once, she then adds the cooked ingredients and some cheese on top of the eggs. She puts the ingredients only on one side of the egg so she can fold the other half over. When it’s finished cooking it looks more like a thick taco filled with veggies. So good!
Photo Credit: Pockafwye
My dad loves fried eggs the best, so I learned to cook them the way he likes them. He swears you can’t have a good fried egg without cooking bacon in the pan first. After the bacon has finished cooking and the grease is still hot, crack an egg in the skillet. In order to keep the yolk from looking all squished, toss the hot grease up on top of the egg. The hot grease will cook the egg thoroughly, but leave the top looking fairly rounded. When I quit eating pork and beef, I found that a little bit of margarine in the pan and some water can produce an egg of similar appearance. I heat the margarine, add the egg and let the bottom portion cook a bit. Once the clear portion of the egg is more whitish, I dump about an eighth of a cup of water in the skillet and put a lid on top.
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I’m sure other people might know this breakfast food by other names, but I grew up knowing it as Toad in the Hole. Take a piece of bread, preferably whole wheat since it’s sturdier, and then tear out the center of it. Be sure to leave some around the edges. I usually tear a large circle out, but I’ve also used a flower shaped cookie cutter before. Turn the skillet on medium-high heat and then place the piece of bread in the pan. Once the pan is fully heated, crack an egg and empty the contents into the hole in the bread slice. I usually cover the pan with a lid so it cooks longer. Check it every minute or so and flip the slice of bread over once the egg is no longer runny. I leave the lid off when I flip the bread, that way it won’t be soggy when the egg is finished cooking.
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This was my son’s favorite way to have eggs cooked when he was little. He learned to make scrambled eggs when was very young. We tend to doctor them up a bit, as my mom would say. I like to mix in some black pepper, onion flakes, and a tablespoon of ranch dressing. I make sure to cook these until there aren’t any more wet spots seen in the pan. You know, when the eggs are sort of shiny and wet looking. Some people like to leave them a bit wet so they don’t end up being too dry. I find that adding the little bit of ranch dressing allows me to fully cook scrambled eggs without them ending up dry and crusty.
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This is the way Mom used to cook my eggs before school. My grandfather used to make them for her in the traditional way, but we had an egg poaching pan that made it much easier. The traditional poaching method for eggs involves a pan of boiling water with a dash of white vinegar in it. You bring the water to a boil and swirl the water with a spoon to form a sort of mini-tornado. As the water is swirling, you then crack the egg into the middle of the vortex. If you can keep it swirling, the egg will be prettier when it’s finished. Letting the water settle down to quickly will usually result n an egg that looks more like something from a horror novel. There will be long white tendrils and you may not have the desire to eat it after seeing it! It should cook at least for 3 minutes, but I prefer 5 to make the center less runny.
Photo Credit: [puamelia]
This isn’t a method of cooking that is only popular in my household at Easter time. Having two teenage boys and a husband who loves eggs, I find that I have to boil a dozen at a time. If I don’t cook this many at once, then someone ends up going without. I have an electric stove, so I bring the pot of water and eggs to a boil, let them churn for about 10 minutes and then turn the burner off. It will continue to cook for a few more minutes, due to the electric burner taking that long to begin to cool down.
These 6 ways to make eggs safe to eat might prove useful, if you’ve run out of ideas on your own. Sometimes I’m reminded of a particular technique of cooking eggs and realize that I haven’t used said technique for quite some time. Do you have a special way of making eggs that you prefer over anything mentioned above? Feel free to share your method!
Top Photo Credit: NicnBill