Julia Roberts and Chef Hats

There is a Julia Roberts movie called "The Runaway Bride," where she keeps leaving her fiancees at the altar over and over.  Then Richard Gere reveals to her that her big problem is she changes her personality to fit her various dudes' likes and dislikes instead of having her own.  Apparently all she needed was a lecture about eggs (instead of about two decades of intensive therapy.  Ahem).  I am not a fan of the movie, or of Ms. Roberts, and if it weren't for the egg-lecture scene, I'd wipe it out of my memory entirely.

The idea of the scene is, this middle-aged woman apparently has no idea how she likes her eggs, and with each guy, he says, 'oh she likes them this way, just like me."   So she goes off to figure out how she likes her eggs and then her life problems are all solved.  Yay!

My point is, everybody (who is not a pathetic 1-dimensional fictional paperdoll) does have his own way he likes to have his eggs.  There are almost infinite ways to prepare eggs and people can get very opinionated about exactly how they are prepared.  Eggs are a traditional culinary symbol because of this.  There is a saying about the folds in a chef hat, that the folds represent the number of different ways that the chef knows how to cook an egg ... and there should be a hundred folds.  I find it interesting that an egg is one of the most basic foods that we use - it comes in its original form; even milk is more processed - and its uses are more varied than any other food. 

I use eggs for all kinds of things, but when it comes to having an egg straight-up for breakfast, I definitely fall in line with the standard idea that I like it a particular way.  Omelettes are great, sometimes I do my version of juevos rancheros, and occassionally I partake in some cheesy scrambled eggs.  But 9 times out of 10 it's this particular way I've been doing eggs for over 20 years.

There's not a name for it, I just call it egg and cheese on toast.  It's pretty simple, and like most egg dishes, it's about how the egg is cooked.  I like mine over-easy, but I get a little picky about exacly what "over-easy" means.  I use a ton of butter and let it just start to brown.  The egg has to be cooked on low-ish heat so that the egg white can get cooked all the way through and get a little brown on the edges without the yolk cooking at all.  I always turn the heat off or almost off before flipping the egg over carefully (because if the yolk breaks it's not perfect, and I'll start over) and letting the residual heat cook the whites around the yolk, again without cooking the yolks at all but just warming them a touch.  I like the whites to be completely cooked without the yolks cooked at all. 

When I flip the egg over, I put a piece of cheap-o American cheese on it so it can start to melt, and then slide that whole thing onto a piece of toasted cheap-o white bread (you know, the cheap Wonderbread stuff).  It's still upside-down so that when I eat it, the yolk can get all in the bread.  It's good with all the extra brown butter from the pan, too.  Yummy!

So that's my own personal take on the everybody-likes-eggs-their-own-way thing.  I'm sure you have your own specific way you prefer your egg, too.  Feel free to tell me all about it!  Maybe you have a delicious idea to share.  Unless you are Julia Roberts, in which case, keep it to yourself.

Happy egg eating!

Crab Benedict

I am not sure if I am just talking to myself here, but what the heck, I'll keep posting.

This morning when I told Dan I was hungry and he asked what I was in the mood for, for some reason I blurted out, 'crab benedict.'  I first had eggs benedict with crab on a trip to Hawaii in 2001.  The seafood is abundant and so fresh in Hawaii, and it was one of the best breakfasts I'd ever had, especially given my love for fresh, sweet king crab legs.

Eggs benedict isn't really difficult; it's mostly time consuming.  The hollandaise sauce seems like it would be the most difficult part, but I think it's more about patience.  The key is to heat the egg yolks very slowly.  Some recipes calls for taking the yolks on and off the heat as you heat and whisk, and that method works for me.  Then of course, the butter starts to get added in, as well as lemon juice, and then some people put in herbs or other seasonings, like cayenne.  I tend to like a good amount of lemon juice, and I often use thyme.  Tarragon is good, too.

Strangely, the hardest part of benedict for me is poaching the eggs.  I am always hit-or-miss with poached eggs.  A bit of vinegar in the water helps to hold the eggs together correctly, but I have never quite found a perfect method for poaching.  Today, I messed up the first batch, but the second batch came out fine. 

If you get the hollandaise and the eggs right, there isn't really anything other than assembly.  Crab benedict requires fresh crab, never canned, and certainly not imitation.  I like a toasted english muffin with the crab right on top.  Then the egg, and then pour on the hollandaise.  Nummy nummy good!  It's a great way to use up a little bit of crab, for instance if you have some left over after a dinner, or if you find one of those little packs of smaller crab leg chunks discounted at the store like they sometimes do. 

Mmmmbreakfast.  Happy eating!