First! An announcement: The first FSL Mastermind Meeting for food writers on Substack is happening in January. The meeting is open to any and all Substack food writers. If you are listed in the FSL library and didn’t receive an email invite for the meeting, please contact Lynn at foodstacklibrary@gmail.com.
On to this week’s question.I love eggs. I love them boiled, fried, baked, or scrambled. But recently I asked this question at a dinner party and was just delighted to hear everyone’s responses. People, as it turns out, are quite particular about their eggs. So, obviously, I want to hear from you…. How do you like your eggs?
By the way, non-egg eating friends are not exempt from this question because there was a vegan at the aforementioned dinner party and she had plenty of opinions on vegan substitutes.
Pssst!If you are a food writer with a substack newsletter, did you know that there are guest post and other contribution opportunities available to you here in the FoodStack library? The purpose of the FoodStack library is to help connect food writers on substack with a larger audience. One of the best ways to do that is as a contributor. If that sounds like something you' might be interested in, contact Lynn at foodstacklibrary@gmail.com
Me too Douglas! One of the things I make the most often are crispy corn tortilla quesadillas topped with a fried egg. I don't think either my husband or I will ever get tired of those.
You can call me oeuf girl - I love eggs cooked all the ways! Hard boiled, soft boiled, scrambled, fried, and poached. My mom makes the best poached eggs (a technique that I still struggle with) and slides them on sourdough toast with a few shakes of Tabasco hot sauce. Perfection!
Holly I am with you here. Like them all. In Germany we have two classic dishes reminding me on your choices: Bauern-Frühstück (Gerkins, Onions, Chunks of Bacon, round cut sautéed cooked potatoes (not exactly hash browns yet similar) all browned on the stovetop with hen topped with scrambled eggs and baked in the oven and Strammer Max with is usually a classic German dark bread or rye-wheat bread wandeln either sourdough topped with a thick slice of Holsteiner Schinken (a cold-smoked, quite soft raw ham, similar to Parma country ham) and topped with two fried eggs to one’s taste (I prefer them Sunny side up)
Rebecca, these dishes are so classic that you might still spot them on the menus of rustic restaurants offering traditional German cuisine, often labeled as Gutbürgerliche Küche. While such dishes are becoming rarer in Germany, you can still find them in classic country inns (Landgasthöfe), particularly in northwestern Germany, where they continue to honor these culinary traditions.
I’m actually mentally allergic to eggs. Can’t stand their smell or the taste. I’ll cook them for others but will only eat them if the flavour of egg is well masked. My favourite way of eating them (if I HAVE to) is with chips! We call it Wafer per Eedu or eggs on chips
I love eggs but share your frustration about how to know from the packaging how the hens are raised. I feel the same way about meat - it's impossible to really know from the packaging how the animals were treated. In our travels, when I find a local farm with a good reputation in the community, I pack my freezer with whatever they are selling. The rest of the time, if I can't find responsibly raised animal products, we just don't eat them.
I prefer my eggs scrambled, but an omelet is fine as long as it's not too runny. I am revolted by runny yolks so fried eggs are out, unless they are fried hard, which I like. I don't eat poached eggs, eggs en cocotte, shakshuka, etc. for the same reason.
The first thing that comes to mind is; I like my eggs organic. The day when caged hens no longer exist can't come soon enough. I can't eat runny eggs, they physically make me sick, even reading descriptions of soft boiled or poached eggs makes me queezy. I love making crispy egg fried rice for breakfast or a tortilla. And baked into creamed spinach or shakshuka. I'm sad that I'll never know the delights of an egg benedict but somehow I manage.
I agree with you 100% about caged hens. The first year that we moved into an RV and started traveling we parked near an industrial chicken complex and I will never get the smell of that place out of my brain. It was horrifying. One of the challenges of never staying in the same place is finding where to purchase ethically raised eggs and meat. If I can't find it (which is often), we just don't eat it, and that is also fine with us. I also share your love of shakshuka but have never baked eggs into creamed spinach. That sounds delicious!
My ultimate would be a boiled egg with a soft yolk and buttered toast. Also a 3 egg omelette with fresh herbs such as parsley, chives, lovage and grated Parmesan.
My favorite is en cocotte—baked with a little bit of cream, salt and pepper in a ramekin. It takes more time than frying also requires great timing to make sure it has a soft yolk. However it is just amazing to eat with buttered toast
Oh, my love of eggs is like its shape--oval-shaped and unending. Like so may of the contributors, nothing tastes so good as organic, free-range eggs, but I live in a state that frowns upon that and a community who believe that chickens do not belong in an urban environment. I have to drive to procure good-tasting eggs.
Reading everyone's comments made me wonder if the egg one eats is influenced by the season? It's the holidays, and during this time, I enjoy a sous vide omelet loaded with fresh herbs and some sharp cheddar. In late summer, when all the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant are deliciously ripe, a cast iron skillet filled with shakshuka is a must for Sunday brunch. Of course, spring means a poached egg nestled among delicately steamed asparagus, a drizzle of olive oil, and a few grinds of black pepper.
Interesting. I'd never thought about it before but we absolutely eat eggs differently in the summer than we do in the colder months. I make frittatas all the time in the summer when we have all kinds of fresh summer produce rolling around in the vegetable drawer. It's such an easy late night meal when we've been out enjoying the long days. I hardly ever think to make them in the winter.
Tough question as I can no longer eat soft cooked eggs after a food poisoning incident on a boat (bad times all around). As such, I’d have to say my favorite way to eat them is probably scrambled with noritamago furikake (egg rice seasoning) in place of salt.
Not the best time, no- luckily it wasn’t severe but. A severe case of nausea and other such symptoms on the day of the five hour boat ride plus the three hour bus ride was not ideal. I no longer eat eggs while on vacation as a result so hey, there’s some kind of lesson to be learned here I guess!
One of the best things about the weekly CSA bag we get with products from local farms is the dozen eggs included--what a huge treat to have local farm eggs. Count me among the big fans of eggs, I love them cooked most ways. My go-to favorites are poached and over medium, on the menu for breakfast many mornings around here.
I love eggs in almost any form. Depending on my appetite scrambled, waxen boiled, even fried sunny side up, in brioche, hollandaise, my aioli or Ceasar’s dressing, and most favorite off all as Egg Benedict on English Muffin, with Bacon and freshly made Hollandaise or even Bearnaise, if I feel adventurous. Yummy. 😋
I’m not the biggest egg eater but I do love Turkish Çilbir - poached eggs and yoghurt with paprika butter. Failing that, a sunny side up egg on a bed of Greek yoghurt and lots of za’atar oil drizzled on top and some flatbread on the side is pretty great too. Oh and Shakshuka of course!
Saaaaame! I actuallt started turning Turkish lentil soup into a hybrid of Shakshuka and Çilbir by poaching eggs in it at the end and adding some garlicky yoghurt and paprika butter to serve. Really delicious
This is also one of my favorite meals but I almost always make it for us for dinner. I especially love the combination of eggs an potatoes. And runny oaks to dredge your toast through is a must. So good!
My favorite eggs (prepared in any and every iteration, as well used in baking) are found at a local farm stand. Large and in charge, with eye popping orangey yolks, and sometimes the rare shade of pale blue. Heaven!
It's amazing how much the color of the yolk tells you about the quality of the eggs, isn't it? A friend of mine has a chicken coup in her backyard with very pampered chickens and I've never seen yolks so richly colored as the ones she gifts me.
Heavily disguised, ie, in cakes or souffles. My mother made us a hard boiled egg for breakfast for every one of my school days. As soon as I left home I vowed I'd never knowingly eat one again.
Oooh that's tough. I love eggs and their many incredible uses. (I still wonder who an earth decided to stir some into cooked flour in a particular way to make choux. I'm very pleased they did though!)
Firstly, I am with Cheryl, Queen of Markets, that they must be organic and from happy hens.
I do love scrambled eggs, with lots of butter. However, there will always be a place in my heart for a dippy egg, with marmite and buttered toast soldiers. A few salty toasted seeds also adds to the experience.
When I was young and my Gran and accidentally over boiled the eggs, she would slip a bit of butter in and mix it with the solid yolk to make it runny again before handing them to us, so we wouldn't realise she had over boiled them!
My husband and I try to go out for breakfast once a week. Our favorite restaurant has eggs benedict on the menu. Guess what I always order. My husband doesn't like hollandaise sauce so this is a treat for me.
It's going to be soft-poached for me, unless I'm on family duty for the kids; then it's scrambled for the kids--but the proper way over a bain marie. For most non-brunch recipes, I’m all about the perfect egg - 145F for 50min - I'll carefully put that beauty on top of some boeuf bourguignon leftovers to do an "oeuf meurette" or on top of a bowl of soba noodles for a lazy evening. Lazy breaky though, Nonno's sunny side up couple eggs with pepper and red wine vinegar.
I have done the gently cooked egg over noodles many times but never thought to top boeuf bourguignon with it! For years I made boeuf bourguignon for our Christmas dinner and always made enough for us to reheat the next day. I always thought it was even better the next day. Next time I make it, I'm topping the leftovers with an egg.
I like literally any kind of egg: poached, scrambled, runny, not runny, soft boiled, hard boiled, those yummy spicy Korean eggs. I wish I could make that Japanese runny omelet. I love eggs. 🥚
Back when I was a child, probably the first thing I learned to cook. Soft boiled eggs so that I could have soldiers (Toast cut into strips). We probably have egg night once a week, usually scrambled with bagels and spinach. The boy will have them with baked beans. I do like an omelette and really love a quiche!
We also eat eggs at least once a week, most of the time for dinner. They are just such a convenient way to cook something quickly with protein. Also, we love them.
I love eggs. There is a special place in my heart for over easy fried eggs and grits. Disgusting but I love it. But my wife loves a French style omelette, so that is now our breakfast most mornings. Along with soft boiled eggs and soldiers.
I love any type of Mexican eggs particularly huevos rancheros, sunny-side up eggs on corn tortillas covered in a spicy tomato sauce.
Me too Douglas! One of the things I make the most often are crispy corn tortilla quesadillas topped with a fried egg. I don't think either my husband or I will ever get tired of those.
You can call me oeuf girl - I love eggs cooked all the ways! Hard boiled, soft boiled, scrambled, fried, and poached. My mom makes the best poached eggs (a technique that I still struggle with) and slides them on sourdough toast with a few shakes of Tabasco hot sauce. Perfection!
This is why we're friends.
Yes!
Holly I am with you here. Like them all. In Germany we have two classic dishes reminding me on your choices: Bauern-Frühstück (Gerkins, Onions, Chunks of Bacon, round cut sautéed cooked potatoes (not exactly hash browns yet similar) all browned on the stovetop with hen topped with scrambled eggs and baked in the oven and Strammer Max with is usually a classic German dark bread or rye-wheat bread wandeln either sourdough topped with a thick slice of Holsteiner Schinken (a cold-smoked, quite soft raw ham, similar to Parma country ham) and topped with two fried eggs to one’s taste (I prefer them Sunny side up)
Both of those dishes sound delicious!
Rebecca, these dishes are so classic that you might still spot them on the menus of rustic restaurants offering traditional German cuisine, often labeled as Gutbürgerliche Küche. While such dishes are becoming rarer in Germany, you can still find them in classic country inns (Landgasthöfe), particularly in northwestern Germany, where they continue to honor these culinary traditions.
I’m actually mentally allergic to eggs. Can’t stand their smell or the taste. I’ll cook them for others but will only eat them if the flavour of egg is well masked. My favourite way of eating them (if I HAVE to) is with chips! We call it Wafer per Eedu or eggs on chips
https://perzen.substack.com/p/conquering-my-egg-allergy-with-wafer
I'm with you! Except I couldn't even stand them on chips. Besides, how kindly they are raised is never clear from either packaging or legislation. https://juliawatson.substack.com/p/eggsactly-how-are-these-hens-happy?utm_source=publication-search
I love eggs but share your frustration about how to know from the packaging how the hens are raised. I feel the same way about meat - it's impossible to really know from the packaging how the animals were treated. In our travels, when I find a local farm with a good reputation in the community, I pack my freezer with whatever they are selling. The rest of the time, if I can't find responsibly raised animal products, we just don't eat them.
I prefer my eggs scrambled, but an omelet is fine as long as it's not too runny. I am revolted by runny yolks so fried eggs are out, unless they are fried hard, which I like. I don't eat poached eggs, eggs en cocotte, shakshuka, etc. for the same reason.
I like my eggs either poached or easy over…. Definitely eggs Benedict !
Eggs Benedict is one of the best things ever invented.
The first thing that comes to mind is; I like my eggs organic. The day when caged hens no longer exist can't come soon enough. I can't eat runny eggs, they physically make me sick, even reading descriptions of soft boiled or poached eggs makes me queezy. I love making crispy egg fried rice for breakfast or a tortilla. And baked into creamed spinach or shakshuka. I'm sad that I'll never know the delights of an egg benedict but somehow I manage.
I agree with you 100% about caged hens. The first year that we moved into an RV and started traveling we parked near an industrial chicken complex and I will never get the smell of that place out of my brain. It was horrifying. One of the challenges of never staying in the same place is finding where to purchase ethically raised eggs and meat. If I can't find it (which is often), we just don't eat it, and that is also fine with us. I also share your love of shakshuka but have never baked eggs into creamed spinach. That sounds delicious!
My ultimate would be a boiled egg with a soft yolk and buttered toast. Also a 3 egg omelette with fresh herbs such as parsley, chives, lovage and grated Parmesan.
Yes please to both of those dishes! I also like to add boursin to my omelette, but I also love to add a handful of fresh herbs. So good!
My favorite is en cocotte—baked with a little bit of cream, salt and pepper in a ramekin. It takes more time than frying also requires great timing to make sure it has a soft yolk. However it is just amazing to eat with buttered toast
I discovered this method for cooking eggs just a couple of years ago and fell in love instantly. So delicious!
Oh, my love of eggs is like its shape--oval-shaped and unending. Like so may of the contributors, nothing tastes so good as organic, free-range eggs, but I live in a state that frowns upon that and a community who believe that chickens do not belong in an urban environment. I have to drive to procure good-tasting eggs.
Reading everyone's comments made me wonder if the egg one eats is influenced by the season? It's the holidays, and during this time, I enjoy a sous vide omelet loaded with fresh herbs and some sharp cheddar. In late summer, when all the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant are deliciously ripe, a cast iron skillet filled with shakshuka is a must for Sunday brunch. Of course, spring means a poached egg nestled among delicately steamed asparagus, a drizzle of olive oil, and a few grinds of black pepper.
Interesting. I'd never thought about it before but we absolutely eat eggs differently in the summer than we do in the colder months. I make frittatas all the time in the summer when we have all kinds of fresh summer produce rolling around in the vegetable drawer. It's such an easy late night meal when we've been out enjoying the long days. I hardly ever think to make them in the winter.
Tough question as I can no longer eat soft cooked eggs after a food poisoning incident on a boat (bad times all around). As such, I’d have to say my favorite way to eat them is probably scrambled with noritamago furikake (egg rice seasoning) in place of salt.
Food poisoning…while on a boat?! That must have been a memorable trip 😦
That does sound absolutely terrible, Katy!
Not the best time, no- luckily it wasn’t severe but. A severe case of nausea and other such symptoms on the day of the five hour boat ride plus the three hour bus ride was not ideal. I no longer eat eggs while on vacation as a result so hey, there’s some kind of lesson to be learned here I guess!
One of the best things about the weekly CSA bag we get with products from local farms is the dozen eggs included--what a huge treat to have local farm eggs. Count me among the big fans of eggs, I love them cooked most ways. My go-to favorites are poached and over medium, on the menu for breakfast many mornings around here.
That's amazing! What a treat!
I love eggs in almost any form. Depending on my appetite scrambled, waxen boiled, even fried sunny side up, in brioche, hollandaise, my aioli or Ceasar’s dressing, and most favorite off all as Egg Benedict on English Muffin, with Bacon and freshly made Hollandaise or even Bearnaise, if I feel adventurous. Yummy. 😋
Me too friend.
I’m not the biggest egg eater but I do love Turkish Çilbir - poached eggs and yoghurt with paprika butter. Failing that, a sunny side up egg on a bed of Greek yoghurt and lots of za’atar oil drizzled on top and some flatbread on the side is pretty great too. Oh and Shakshuka of course!
I have never had Turkish Çilbir, but it sounds delicious! I think I would like anything with paprika butter.
Saaaaame! I actuallt started turning Turkish lentil soup into a hybrid of Shakshuka and Çilbir by poaching eggs in it at the end and adding some garlicky yoghurt and paprika butter to serve. Really delicious
My greatest craving is sunny side up eggs,toast and hash browns (maybe bacon too ). My daughter who is forty still calls them dippy eggs. Lol
This is also one of my favorite meals but I almost always make it for us for dinner. I especially love the combination of eggs an potatoes. And runny oaks to dredge your toast through is a must. So good!
Over medium if dining out - if home, a slice of golden toast with an egg on top that has a runny yolk and firm whites.
The runny yolk but firm white is important to me. It's funny how much I love a runny yolk but a runny white grosses me out.
I totally agree!
My favorite eggs (prepared in any and every iteration, as well used in baking) are found at a local farm stand. Large and in charge, with eye popping orangey yolks, and sometimes the rare shade of pale blue. Heaven!
It's amazing how much the color of the yolk tells you about the quality of the eggs, isn't it? A friend of mine has a chicken coup in her backyard with very pampered chickens and I've never seen yolks so richly colored as the ones she gifts me.
Heavily disguised, ie, in cakes or souffles. My mother made us a hard boiled egg for breakfast for every one of my school days. As soon as I left home I vowed I'd never knowingly eat one again.
Haha! This could be another good discussion question... what did you eat as a child that you swore you'd never eat again? 😂
Oooh that's tough. I love eggs and their many incredible uses. (I still wonder who an earth decided to stir some into cooked flour in a particular way to make choux. I'm very pleased they did though!)
Firstly, I am with Cheryl, Queen of Markets, that they must be organic and from happy hens.
I do love scrambled eggs, with lots of butter. However, there will always be a place in my heart for a dippy egg, with marmite and buttered toast soldiers. A few salty toasted seeds also adds to the experience.
When I was young and my Gran and accidentally over boiled the eggs, she would slip a bit of butter in and mix it with the solid yolk to make it runny again before handing them to us, so we wouldn't realise she had over boiled them!
Your Gran is genius! I would have never thought to do that!
I love eggs fixed all sorts of ways. My favorite is eggs Benedict.
I will never, ever turn down a plate of eggs Benedict. So good!
My husband and I try to go out for breakfast once a week. Our favorite restaurant has eggs benedict on the menu. Guess what I always order. My husband doesn't like hollandaise sauce so this is a treat for me.
It's going to be soft-poached for me, unless I'm on family duty for the kids; then it's scrambled for the kids--but the proper way over a bain marie. For most non-brunch recipes, I’m all about the perfect egg - 145F for 50min - I'll carefully put that beauty on top of some boeuf bourguignon leftovers to do an "oeuf meurette" or on top of a bowl of soba noodles for a lazy evening. Lazy breaky though, Nonno's sunny side up couple eggs with pepper and red wine vinegar.
I have done the gently cooked egg over noodles many times but never thought to top boeuf bourguignon with it! For years I made boeuf bourguignon for our Christmas dinner and always made enough for us to reheat the next day. I always thought it was even better the next day. Next time I make it, I'm topping the leftovers with an egg.
Better than pasta for when all the beef is gone! Please remind me and let me know when you do it; such magic!
I like literally any kind of egg: poached, scrambled, runny, not runny, soft boiled, hard boiled, those yummy spicy Korean eggs. I wish I could make that Japanese runny omelet. I love eggs. 🥚
You are my kind of people Sophie.
Back when I was a child, probably the first thing I learned to cook. Soft boiled eggs so that I could have soldiers (Toast cut into strips). We probably have egg night once a week, usually scrambled with bagels and spinach. The boy will have them with baked beans. I do like an omelette and really love a quiche!
We also eat eggs at least once a week, most of the time for dinner. They are just such a convenient way to cook something quickly with protein. Also, we love them.
I'm missing egg night tonight (a little jealous if truth be told!)
I would be too! Hope you're missing it for a good reason! :-)
Poached!
I have never really mastered the poached egg. Sometimes they turn out and sometimes they don't. But I love them!
Same!
I love eggs. There is a special place in my heart for over easy fried eggs and grits. Disgusting but I love it. But my wife loves a French style omelette, so that is now our breakfast most mornings. Along with soft boiled eggs and soldiers.
I would happily take a plate of over easy eggs and grits! Although I'd never turn away a French omelette either.