I don’t like scrambled eggs.
I know many people who think this is weird; it’s probably the most commonly ordered type of eggs. I’ll eat omelets if I have to (with stuff in them), but I’m not a huge fan of the eggs just cooked like that. Too often they’re cooked improperly; dry, flat, dull, uninteresting, just… meh. Scrambled eggs remind me of breakfast buffets; it’s what I make when I make my infamous Christmas breakfasts, but only because I’m not making eggs-to-order for 8+ people (I tried that the first year and regretted it immensely).
(I will say that I actually make pretty good scrambled eggs; fluffy, flavorful, perfectly moist; but I still don’t want to eat them when someone else is making me eggs!)
When I was about 8 or 9, I took an interest in making breakfast for myself on Saturday mornings to eat while watching cartoons. My brother was content eating cereal, but I wanted something more. I don’t remember why. Maybe I just wanted bacon (which I was terrified to cook straight through to my early 20s; the popping oil always scared me, though my arms are now covered in so many tiny oil spatter induced scars that you’d never guess I was ever scared to cook bacon), I’m not sure, but my father was cooking breakfast for me every once in a while – eggs, potatoes, bacon, corned beef hash, toast, something along those lines.
While I’ve addressed many times on this blog just how much my father adored me, I may have glossed over a simple fact – or perhaps just assumed it was evident – I idolized my father. I was Daddy’s Little Girl; I wanted to sit next to him at every meal, I wanted to eat everything he ate exactly the way he ate it, I wanted to do everything he wanted me to do, basically. (I will note that though this is all true, if you click through to the linked post, even as a child I could not, would not lie and say I liked something if I didn’t, even if it was something my father liked. I was and still am extremely vocal about my taste preferences, so don’t ask me what I think about something you made unless you want my honest opinion.) So when Daddy served me food, I would sit and ask him questions and eat what was in front of me, but I always wanted to know what and why.
To be completely honest, the memory is fuzzier than not, but filling in the blanks isn’t that difficult. One morning, my father served me two sunny side up eggs, some bacon, and whatever else. He was eating his own plate of the same, and turned to me to ask if I knew how to eat sunny side up eggs. I looked at him, interested, because… how do you eat anything? You put it in your mouth, chew, swallow… right?
Wrong.
Dad showed me how, because bacon is fairly salty, you can temper the saltiness by popping the yolk gently, dipping the bacon in the runny yolk, and eating it. You can also cut out just the (unpopped) yolk, place it gently on top of a piece of buttered toast, and eat it like so. If you dip your bacon into the yolk, when you’re done eating everything but your toast, mop up the remaining yolk on the plate with your toast because that, my dear, is liquid gold. If you’re eating corned beef hash (one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast), place the egg gently over the hash and pop the yolk over everything, mixing it into the hash. UMMM… YUM!?
“There’s one more way to eat a sunny side up egg,” he finished his lesson. “But it’s a secret, and you have to promise me that you will never, EVER, EVER eat it like this anywhere but at home.”
Ooh… a secret way to eat eggs? I leaned closer.
My father, a man in his mid-forties, made me solemnly promise that I would never show anyone what he was about to show me.
I swore.
To this day, I have never eaten another sunny side up egg the way he showed me anywhere but in the privacy of my own home.
What? Did you think I was about to break that promise? 😉
***side note***
I may have told one or two very special people over the years what my father showed me, but you can’t prove that.
Also, someone once asked me how I like my eggs. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it was a test to see if I was worthy of the next level of getting to know me. Thanks to my dad showing me the joys and pleasures of a perfectly cooked sunny side up egg, I passed that test with flying colors. (I also really like poached eggs, because I am terrible at poaching my own eggs. I can make a beautiful sunny side up blindfolded, though.)
How do you like your eggs?
Dean says
Fertilized.
Just kidding. I’m sterile.
Feisty Foodie says
Ha, a friend of mine was like, “I like my eggs unfertilized in the morning.” I won’t name names 😉
Sarah says
poached, all day every day!
Feisty Foodie says
Yum!
CheeeeEEEEse says
The complete opposite of you…I like them fully cooked. Preferably in the omelet style or scrambled with cheese, for the exact reasons you state, because my dad made them that way (Before he lost his mind and stopped eating animal products).
Feisty Foodie says
Men do strange things for the women they love 😉
Aimee says
I like eggs any way: poached, scrambled, fried, omelets, hard boiled, soft boiled. But god forbid, don’t EVER cook them in the microwave. Yuck.
Feisty Foodie says
I definitely have preferences… though I eat them almost every way. Just not cooked to dry bits. Eck.
Connie says
I mostly have my eggs scrambled, over easy or in an omelet, but any style has its place. Such as eggs benedict, must be poached. Potato salad, must be hard boiled. I love eggs, they are so versatile!
Feisty Foodie says
That is true. I don’t particularly care for fully cooked yolks, but deviled eggs wouldn’t exist without them, so they have their place too. 😉
Stephanie says
I don’t think we’ve ever had sunny side ups together before. They’re my favorite!
And I know you’re talking about sunny side ups for breakfast, but I also enjoy my sunny side ups on top of white rice, a little bit of soy sauce, and lap cheong. ^_^
Feisty Foodie says
I totally do too… even though I refused to try that for some strange reason until I was in my 20s, haha (that’s a post on here somewhere already!).
hungry says
Runny yolks all the way either sunny side up or poached or whatever. Though, I really love eggs and will eat them prepared any way.
Feisty Foodie says
You’re like me and potatoes! 😉
emily says
I didn’t eat anything but scrambled eggs until I was 23! Imagine finding out the wonder of a runny yolk that late in life. I became obsessed with eggs for those first few months. We still eat them fairly often–a favorite is to take a thick piece of toast, spread some mashed avocado on it and top with a fried egg.
I like them best medium over or poached.
If I am making them, I will make scrambled eggs once in awhile because I make them very fluffy and moist, using Gordon Ramsey’s technique that takes forever over very very low heat.
Another favorite egg preparation is the deviled egg 😉
Feisty Foodie says
Sounds like you’re making up for lost time! And yes, the deviled egg… I was just thinking how that should be another story here. 🙂
SugarButter says
Most ways except scrambled, but particularly poached, sunny, or over easy. Hard-cooked eggs must have perfectly creamy yolks.
I really really love eggs.
Feisty Foodie says
I’m beginning to realize that a passionate love of eggs isn’t that uncommon apparently! But potatoes… now potatoes, that’s a rare one 😛
Nicole says
I am loving this new writing style. The stories are very poignant and quite lovely. I am one of the odd balls on this feed- I don’t eat eggs. I will eat them in baked items but have never eaten just cooked eggs.
Feisty Foodie says
Thank you, Nicole – the positive feedback and how much everyone’s embraced these posts (and how good I feel sharing them) really tell me I’m taking the blog in the right direction. Also, I highly recommend trying your first regular eggs sometime soon 🙂
Corinne says
I like m’eggs any old way except over boiled!
Feisty Foodie says
Yes!!!
T.C. says
I like it fried or sunny side-up. Runny yolk all over my juicy burger. DROOLS.
Feisty Foodie says
Y’know, I’m not sure I’ve ever had it on a burger, though I think I’d like that. I think I’m really picky about how I eat eggs in sandwiches – I don’t tend to like wasting all that yolk or getting it all over my hands… I know, I’m weird 🙂
T.C. says
Sweet Afton’s breakfast burger. Delicious!!
Feisty Foodie says
Hm, maybe I’ll try it
Michael says
Sunny side up. But not until recently. I dont know why, but for the longest time, runny egg yolk just completely grossed me out. Then I accidentally had them like that at a friend`s place a few times (a consequence of not specifying how I like my eggs) and then after a while I just started to crave the liquid gold.
Im craving it right now – LOL
LOVE your blog by the way, I was glad to stumble upon it – since I loved loved loved your bento blog. I just dig looking at food, lol.
Stay awesome 🙂
Feisty Foodie says
Thank you for reading! And I’m glad you came to your senses and realize how awesome sunny side up eggs are… 😉