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In this YouTube video, starting at the 15:17 timestamp, Sohla demonstrates what she calls eggs over easy, but without actually flipping the eggs. Instead she somehow gets the eggs to develop a thin film of cooked white covering the yolks.

I have tried her technique a couple of times, but completely failed: the thin film of white never appears, and I'm left with sunny-side up eggs.

Any clue what I might be doing wrong?

terdon
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user98761
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3 Answers3

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I've seen this called a "basted egg"; the term originally referred to spooning hot fat from the pan over the egg while frying, but now also refers to simply frying an egg in a covered pan, allowing steam and hot air to build up and cook the top. I'll refer specifically to the second meaning, as it seems to match the video. Incidentally, I have never heard anyone call this an "over easy" egg.

Of course, if you wait loooooooong enough, the top of the egg will cook, and then dry out, and eventually catch fire. But if you find the yolk is cooking hard on the bottom before it's cooked to your liking on top, things to do:

  • Use a smaller pan so that a thicker steam builds up
  • Preheat the lid. The easiest way to do this is just to have the lid on while you preheat the pan.
  • Add a spoon of water to the pan just before you cover it. You can do this right after adding the egg, or at any time if you think the top's cooking too slowly. The steam here is a little bit localized, so if you notice one side of the egg (like, left or right, not top or bottom) cooking more slowly, this is an effective way of correcting that.

You can combine these tips, BTW. I add a spoon of water to the pan when I start preheating it; by the time the pan is up to temperature the lid has been steam-heated and the water has boiled away.

Sneftel
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As I mentioned in a comment to (the accepted) answer, I tried this again with a stainless steel lid, and a bit of preheating. It worked!

But the preheating seemed to be minimal. And the eggs finished cooking so quickly I found it hard to believe those factors could make such a difference.

Then I finally realized what must be the real difference: the original (plastic) lid has a hole in it, designed to let steam escape: exactly what we don't want to happen here! (I had noticed that, in the case of the plastic lid, when the eggs are done there's no water left in the pan, unlike what happens in the video.)

user98761
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If Sneftel's excellent suggestions for increasing the heat/steam trapped in the pan, still doesn't cook your egg's top in time, you could try sliding the pan part-way off the burner.

Keeping the egg on the cool side and the water on the hot side, will give the steam more time to cook the white before the yolk is overdone. This may not be an option on every range top, but a wide pan should help.

retriever123
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