The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => Sports & Leisure => Topic started by: Ben-San on August 29, 2006, 09:28:47 pm
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I've been eating soft-boiled eggs a lot lately. I had forgotten how tasty they were. Sometimes with a little black pepper but it's not really necessary. It is flavorful, but it is also a clean taste.
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I love soft-boiled eggs.
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I declare this thread a success!
(eggs are good)
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Toast is absolutely required, however.
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and the toast/bread soaks up the eggs, and gets all soggy, and you cut it up into little pieces with your spoon, but then your mommy says you can't eat it any more because of "salmonella."
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I poached a couple of eggs today. They were awesome.
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I love omelets, and I love scrambled eggs (scrambled hard, because I can't stand runny eggs). I will leave you guys to your soft boiled eggs. Hard boiled deviled eggs are one of my favorite things on earth.
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Hard-boileds travel well, especially when a paper salt packet is involved. Much the same can be said for tomatoes, if padded. Eat More Fresh Tomatoes! (Miss you, Paul.)
I'm for soft eggs, whether boiled, fried, scrambled, or whatever. A touch of nice salt, some fresh-cracked pepper, maybe a hint of a herb(just one, don't bother with more), and you've got breakfast.
Sad confession: I have a cookbook comprised entirely of recipes for the egg. I love it dearly.
My favorite egg recipe requires 2 tools, a skillet and a rubber spatula (look for nonstick in both):
melt 2 tbsp bacon grease or butter (or cook 4-6 strips of bacon) in skillet;
crack eggs directly on skillet;
salt and pepper;
mash whites into yolks until nearly combined into one color;
add favorite herb or herb-of-day (really, just pick one, it doesn't matter);
fold then flip;
cook until done to preferred level (soft-easy);
serve.
If they're omelet-shaped, don't be surprised. Just cut it into pieces before serving.
I call'em Esquire eggs, as they remind me of a recipe in my dad's Esquire magazine collection (recipe reprinted a few years ago) and of Dad, who made them whenever Mom didn't want to cook. Tip: if you choose as your herb cumin, go easy-- very easy.
My favorite question my dad ever asked me is "What did that toast ever do to you?" I'd been mashing butter onto a pile 16 slices high, practically destroying all of its crispiness. I've ever since used soft butter or melting time on toast, and I'm a better man for it. I also eat less of it these days. Well, toast, at least. I still have to have eggs every once in a while.
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I still get a skillet all hot and buttered, punch a hole in bread with a cup, butter up the bread, throw it in the pan and crack an egg into the hole for a quick over easy.
I like this on workdays I know are going to be for suck because then I can hope for the cholesterol to take me away during the day.
HELLO PROTO-CHICKEN, YOU ARE MY BREAKFAST! is what I always announce.
WooHoo!! Titty Toast! I've loved those since small times.
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I was all about the hard eggs for years, my fried eggs were over easy, and my scrambled eggs had better not be moist. This was because I didn't like the taste of yolk and especially don't like soggy toast (more on this later).
Then a few years ago I made my self a fried egg sunny side up and dipped the toast and I haven't looked back. No salt or other condiments for me, though a liberal slashing of butter or margerine on the toast is usual.
Don't put the eggs ON the toast though.
Don't put Anything cooked on the toast (maybe bacon) unless you are going to make a proper toasted sandwich.
Soggy toast is a filthy abomination, it is just this mushy cold pile of crap and I won't have anything to do with it.
Dipping is of course an entirely different matter since it is only wet briefly and so ends up being both moist and flavoursome.
Oh and egg sandwich with ludicrouse amonts of butter = bliss.
I also have this special way of making omlettes where it would be more correct to say I add the egg to the cheese and not the other way around. These will result in my death but I shan't care.
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I like to vary the meats on my egg sandwiches. Bacon is great, no doubt. But so is ham, salami, sausage, polish sausage and even gasp! bologna. I'm likely to use whatever type of meat is handy in the fridge to make an egg sandwich with. I've even used the occasional hot dog in that slot. Try it!
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Eggs (followed closely by cheese) are the main reason why I'll probably never turn from vegetarian into a full-on, strict vegulonian. I try to buy those so-called "free-range eggs", even though I know that's a very dubious term.
Maybe it's because I've been playing too much Harvest Moon (the PS2 game, not the Neil Young record), but I've been thinking of raising my own chicken. Anybody has any experience on the matter?
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I find that the 'natural' or 'free range' eggs taste better, whether the chickens are actually getting to enjoy themselves or not.
As far as raising your own chicken, all I can tell you is that those are the most delicious eggs possible. I have never actually worked with chickens but did do some shopping for equipment for a chicken exhibit once. They seem like very easy animals to keep. This is the website of a good supplier recommended by both of the people I know who keep chickens:
http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/ (http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/)
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My main lady's parents keep chickens (a chicken now, the other two died) I've never tasted the eggs but it is easy enough to keep if you don't mind washing chicken shit off the porch every now and then. Also it steals the dog's food but that is because the dog is a big baby.
Also lots of fun at parties (see above about how she only has one now).
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August, you have mentioned the dirty little egg secret that is the true reason I want a roto-rooter for arteries.
Hot dogs + eggs = delicious.
Here is how you, too, can lubricate the path to your grave:
- Get two high quality hot dogs (I like Nathan's) and put them in a nonstick pan to cook. Let them almost-burn and crisp up all around, then butterfly them lengthwise and allow the cut surfaces to brown as well.
- While this happens, split a kaiser roll or similar conveyance covered in sesame seeds, and begin toasting it. You can add butter if you are particularly suicidal.
- When the bun and dogs are toasted, place cheese of your choice on the bottom bun, and place the hot dogs (round side up) on top of the cheese.
- Quickly cook two eggs in the same pan to sunny-side up doneness. I generally go 'over very easy', but it is risky with the yolks.
- Place the eggs on top of the hot dogs (you may have to overlap them), then place more cheese on top of them and cover with the top half of the roll.
- Allow a minute or so for the cheese to melt into things, then get a very sharp knife and split the sandwich. You will pierce the yolks to create a dipping zone in the center of the plate.
- Eat messily and shave a few weeks off of your life.
I can only justify this abomination against health every month or so on a cool morning or very late night. I am sorry, health.
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Wow, huge warm gooshy memory here: When I was little, I would occasionally spend a day or two with my grandparents' house. They spoke only French and I spoke only English, so communication was interesting at best. I have two strong memories about my grand parents. 1) My grandpa smoked a pipe, and everytime he used a match to light it, it would be my responsibility to blow out the match. 2) My grandma would always make me soft boiled eggs and toast for breakfast, and she'd slice the toast into strips about an inch wide and as long as the piece of bread was. She called these "les soldat." I knew this meant that they were solidiers, but never connected this with the fact they'd lived through WWII, until adulthood. Strange.
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Is slicing toast into soldiers not common over the pond? Over here, it's a requirement for every child to have Marmite soldiers at least once.
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Before I became vegan, I was fond of dipping toast strip "soldiers" into the gooey yolk of an egg served in an egg cup.
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Before I became vegan, I was fond of dipping toast strip "soldiers" into the gooey yolk of an egg served in an egg cup.
Did you used to play little games with them too?
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So the "soldiers" thing has nothing to with wartime food rationing?
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It has everything to do with small children wanting to have a wheat based army at their command.
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Did you used to play little games with them too?
I'm not sure I ever ate this particular meal while I was young enough to play games with food, but if I did, you can be sure that I had a grand old time sending toast soldiers to their yolky doom.
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Hard-boileds travel well, especially when a paper salt packet is involved. Much the same can be said for tomatoes, if padded. Eat More Fresh Tomatoes! (Miss you, Paul.)
While y'all were talking about eggs, I was eating them (http://www.flickr.com/photos/29375699@N00/232252207/).
~Paul
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Once again, Paul proves that he has a photo of everything.
Please no one mention taking a dump. Please.
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Once again, Paul proves that he has a photo of everything.
Please no one mention taking a dump. Please.
Or "totally rocking Jough's can"
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Delicious (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmcd9/236084961/).
~Paul
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Wow. I was so afraid to click that link. So afraid.
On the eggs front, I have had the same two eggs in my fridge for quite a while. How long do eggs keep in the fridge without going bad? I have no memory of eggs ever going bad on me in the fridge.
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Wow. I was so afraid to click that link. So afraid.
Have I ever misled you dear Melanie?
~Paul
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Have I ever misled you dear Melanie?
~Paul
No, no, but you've also never fail to supply an image when requested, and well... just let my request for no pictures of you taking a dump cancel out the earlier suggestion. A picture of anyone not taking a dump is better than the picture of someone taking a dump. I've stumbled into some dark corners of this here internet... It's the only thing that makes me want to puke. What I am saying is that no matter how lovely the man, there are certain things I don't eva' wanna see.
If you want to take photos of you and jough... well, really there are websites that will pay you for that sort of thing. And if you can make your own Christian can rockin' site... well, you basically win the internet.
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Don't ask him about his webbed feet!
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Damn you people. Now I have to go fix myself some titty toast.
I always called it "eggs in a frame."
There was a song in my house.
eggs in a frame
eggs in a frame
alliwannado is eat
eggs in a frame
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goddamn, I am eating me some eggs when I go home this weekend.
not in a frame, though. probably.
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I am possessed of deeply-engrained Monk-like germ phobias that render everything animal-based that is undercooked (and, indeed, normally cooked) disgusting to me.
I take my steak well-done (even if it means the douchebag waiter gives me a "oh, does baby want the kid's menu? we've got hot dogs and grilled chesse!" look, no tip for you, jerkface) I take my eggs hard-boiled... and I don't take giraffe or pork at all.
Mushrooms, neither. It is a food that is all germs.
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LFMets? You ready for the truth?
A mushroom is a fungus. You know what comes from fungus? Penicillin.
I just blew your miiiiiiiiiiiiiiind.
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Allergic to pencillin!
Miiiiiiiiiiiiiind-blooooooooooowingright back atcha!
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Oh, snap. Sucks for you-- I mean, sucks for yoooooouuuuuuuu.
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I almost died from penicillin when I was a baby. And I love mushrooms. I just blew both your minds!!!
Also, I love my eggs with mushrooms, to keep things on topic.
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I need some suggestions. Looking at my little FitDay wheel o' nutrition, I need more protein today, but not fat, so I was thinking about whipping up an omelet (one whole egg plus two whites). What are some tasty fillings for omelets? Mr. Bear suggested arugula and Parmesan in the Achewood Cookbook...I don't think I'm going to try that, though. I guess I'm looking for inspiration. Any suggestions?
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If you're still wondering (is Alaska on Pacific Time, or later?) onions sauteed in a little olive oil with chopped garlic, diced tomatoes and bell peppers make a nice addition to an omlette. Along with copious amounts of cheese of course....though that would defeat the low-fat aspect. Low fat cheese is an abomination, by the way.
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If you're still wondering (is Alaska on Pacific Time, or later?) onions sauteed in a little olive oil with chopped garlic, diced tomatoes and bell peppers make a nice addition to an omlette. Along with copious amounts of cheese of course....though that would defeat the low-fat aspect. Low fat cheese is an abomination, by the way.
I think I bought low-fat "cheez" when I lived in Denver and man, was it disgusting. Hell of raunchy.
I should have chopped some onion...carmelized onions would've been good. Damn, I forgot about that, and I even have some balsamic vinegar!I just threw on a slice of cheddar and called it good.
And yes, AK time is one hour behind Pacific. It's 6:34PM here.
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Man jaydub, you make a fine omelet. Basically the kind I try to make before it turns into scrambled eggs with stuff in it.
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The things I do to eggs are not at all related to a healthy diet, which is why I almost never eat them, but if you care to know, I like to mix the raw eggs with a tad of milk, some curry power, and tiny cubed bits of cream cheese, pour in the pan as a regular omelet, cook, then fill 'em with cheddar, green onions and garlic sausage bits. My sister, dad and I used to sort of compete for the most out of controle use of eggs and this was the final recipe I settled on after years of throwing shit in with eggs. Fuck yeah. But then I'd have post consumption regret. Not healthy. Not. Healthy. It's been years since I ever made one of those, it's not something one should eat more than once in a life time, and I have well exceeded my quota.
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Tomato, parmesan, and fresh parsley.
Mushroom and caramelized onion.
Smoked turkey and bell pepper.
Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper.
Raw tuna, jalapeno, and capers - not much, like 1/3 oz. each, less on the capers.
I've tried these all, and enjoyed them. But then, I cook my eggs in either pure fat: bacon grease or clarified butter.
Also: sea salt, bacon, and shredded jarlsberg.
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Goddamn, choop. That's a nice list.
However, I cook my omelets (usually the one whole egg with a couple of whites to cut down on the cholesterol, since mine is abysmal) with a nonstick pan and a tiny spray of olive oil through a Misto (http://www.misto.com/) type device.
Eggs are a tasty treat, but then again I have to be careful of the cholesterol thing, so they're only had occasionally.
I'm thinking about trying to make some home fries for next week's omelet with the nonstick pan and some chopped yellow onions. Beef said in his recipe that you have to soak and rinse Russet potatoes ("starchy" type as opposed to the "waxy" type Red Potato). All that soaking and rinsing sounds like a pain in the ass. I might just scrub them, boil them, and mash them with the skin on for a starchy side dish. If you don't use butter or milk then mashed potatoes can be pretty good for you. Especially with the skins, which (as my momma told me when I was young) are where all the vitamins reside.
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Try your mashed potatoes with lowfat sour cream, spicy mustard, a dash of skim milk, and a bit of honey (taste it first, correct the spice with the honey).
Or with (again) lowfat sour cream and a dash of skim, but now with capers and broccoli florets.
Always! rinse your capers. Don't find out the hard way, like I did.
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1) My grandpa smoked a pipe, and everytime he used a match to light it, it would be my responsibility to blow out the match. 2) My grandma would always make me soft boiled eggs and toast for breakfast, and she'd slice the toast into strips about an inch wide and as long as the piece of bread was. She called these "les soldat." I knew this meant that they were solidiers, but never connected this with the fact they'd lived through WWII, until adulthood. Strange.
Oh my God, soldiers & dippy eggs! Ever since I was a kid, and read about soldiers w/ dippy eggs, I wished my family were a soft-boiled egg sort. Alas, they are not. <snif> your grandparents sound like the most awesome people EVER. Especially the grandchild's-"job"-to-blow-out-the-match. So cuuute!
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Oh my God, soldiers & dippy eggs! Ever since I was a kid, and read about soldiers w/ dippy eggs, I wished my family were a soft-boiled egg sort. Alas, they are not. <snif> your grandparents sound like the most awesome people EVER. Especially the grandchild's-"job"-to-blow-out-the-match. So cuuute!
Just as I hate gin, I cannot abide soft eggs. Sorry Wombie, I just can't do it. Proof that identical twins don't always like the same things.
Side note: One of Kellichou's favorite things is to cry out, "Yer no Wombie of miiiine!" when it is revealed that I don't like something that she LOVES, such as gin and tonics, gin martinis, green olives, soft boiled eggs, the list goes on ;) Also, as mentioned before, we're twins, and wombie is shorthand for "womb-mate"...it's not a reference to Wombat on this board.
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I love gin, and soft eggs - perhaps you're not the other twin at all linnea! Do. Do. Dooooo!
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I think one time I had gin? It was OK. It might have been... blue vodka?
Also, soft boiled eggs are Amazing. I loved them as a kid, and then my mom got all wigged out about salmonella and shit. SOO GOOD.
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I made fromelettes this morning. Firefox's spellcheck knows that word, apparently.
Basically you crack two eggs straight into an omelet pan and stir the fuck out of 'em. Once they start to set, make sure there aren't any holes amongst your eggy goodness, and stop touching it; then flip it after a minute and leave it for a minute, then fold it out of the pan onto a plate. The only fillings you need are good salt and fresh cracked pepper.
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I used to hate hate hate soft anything eggs until a few years ago when I discovered the joy of dipping crunchy (but not burnt) toast into runny egg yolk with my fried eggs.
Still can't abide boiled eggs though, just kind of bleh.
This took me a while to discover becuase I have a near-autistic revulsion about having soggy stuff on my toast/bread, can't stand it. But if it is dipped and consumed Immediately then that is OK. And tasty.
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I, for some reason, haven't had a soft boiled egg in years. Some time I must.
As for the last thing, I did Chinese egg pancake thingies (official name). Couple or three eggs beaten, sesame oil and soy sauce added, then some finely julienned scallions, and then fry them lightly into pancakes, and top with a little more sesame oil. Serve with a nice fresh bread. Damned good it is.
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I curse you all! We are out of eggs, and I'm starving!
As punishment, my Dissertation on the Egg:
I love soft-cooked eggs. Truly, the combination of crispy, thick toast with butter, and gooey golden yolk is proof that there is a God, and He loves to eat. My mom used to make me a poached egg and toast whenever I was down sick with the flu, and so I guess it's got a strong association with comfort and nurturing for me. Also, I tend to go hypoglycemic a lot and when my blood sugar tanks to the point where the very thought of food makes me barf, about the only thing that I can tolerate is a scrambled-egg sandwich on whole-wheat bread with mayo (real mayo, not that horrible abomination known as Miracle Whip *shudder*). Again, eggs=comfort in my mind.
I will eat eggs in almost any form, although I prefer soft-cooked to hard. About the only way I can eat hard-cooked eggs is if they're hard-boiled or scrambled/in an omelette or fritatta. And of course, the wonderful bliss that is quiche: spinach, high-quality bacon, gruyere, caramelized onion... *sigh* 'Tis divine. I will, however, only eat free-range organic eggs. I definitely notice a taste difference, and for some reason I feel really very sad when I'm at the store and I see the rows upon rows of commercial eggs; I just envision thousands of depressed chickens crammed into tiny cages, made to just lay and lay and lay. Then I look at the rows of free-range eggs and I see these happy chickens with shiny healthy feathers, clucking with satisfaction and scratching away for free-range grubs. The contrast in my mind, and the resulting emotional response, is dramatic, and the free-range eggs make it into my shopping cart despite the extra expense. Worth it in my view. Better yet is when the farmer's market is on. Now those are some eggs.
A fritatta is a common dinner at our house; generally something we call "Hakuna Fritatta" because it consists of eggs and whatever leftover veggies and meat are in our fridge. It's a good way to get rid of that kind of stuff and still have a relatively healthy meal.
Speaking of health, I thought eggs were decreed to be of the "good" kind of cholesterol? Maybe I was misinformed. It's a shame to not be able to eat them. For those who have been advised to steer clear of eggs for health reasons, my heart goes out to you, truly.
I eat poached eggs quite often, typically for breakfast before a long day of rehearsal. The protein gets me through the day and the work, and being poached, they are relatively low-fat. Just a pinch of fleur de sel and a slice of moderately-buttered whole-wheat toast (but real butter, mind you, unsalted), and I've got an awesome breakfast.
Helpful tips!
You can tell if an egg is fresh by putting it in a bowl of cold water. A fresh egg will sink to the bottom and lie on its side. As the egg gets older, it will be progressively more buoyant, although it should still be edible unless it is completely floating. You'll notice a slight difference in taste relative to the degree to which the egg is buoyant, but unless it's very buoyant or floating completely, you needn't worry about eating a bad egg. Some rules of thumb to guide you: 1. the more buoyant your egg is, the longer you should cook it, just to be safe; 2. "when in doubt, throw out." Hope that helps. :-)
Oh, also, a simple yet tasty egg recipe, similar to slink's Chinese egg pancake thingy. I got this recipe from a dancer friend of mine and she calls them "Dirty Commie (Kami) Bastards":
Scramble some eggs; while they're scrambling, add soy sauce to taste (the recipe was invented using Kami--or Kame?--brand soy sauce, hence the name). When done, top with chopped scallion and a sprinkle of grated parmesan or romano cheese.
Oh, another thing: I always referred to what we are now I guess calling "Titty eggs" as either Toad in the Hole or a Camel's Eye. Or am I confusing this with something else?
Let us not forget that soldiers and dippy eggs figure prominently in this fine educational program (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LqYBncyKpM).
I don't know how easy chickens are to raise, but I do know that people raise them here, right in the city (I live in a city of about a quarter-million people that is relatively cosmopolitan for its size). I have seen little cages with one or two chickens in them in peoples' backyards right in the city. So I guess they can't be too high-maintenance.
And finally:
Asherdan, can for "Proto-chicken." And Choop, can because I find your culinary sagesse attractive. ;)
Thank you for listening to my Dissertation on The Egg. I will now go to the store to buy some.
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And don't forget saag! Such tasty goodness. . . :-*
But on the Flip Side, what are some things that you, Linnea, LOVE that I haaate? There's gotta be some! :)
But yes, I echo the other posters who love the eggy goodness of soft-cooked and/or poached, sunny-side up, etc. eggs. MMM. I really love the Egg-Land's Best eggs, because their hens are fed a vegetarian, no-antibiotics diet, and their eggs have less saturated fat and MORE vitamin E and Omega-3 fatty acids than other eggs. Yesssss!
And you UK folks, with your awesome eggs, all stamped with the crest of a Lion and a best before date. YOUR hens are vaccinated against Salmonella! Brilliant! Too bad the FDA isn't as proactive. :( But mostly I want a lion stamp on my eggs.
I'll probably get the beat-down for saying this, but I've been really disappointed with the quality of free-range eggs (and Lord knows I've tried to love them--who doesn't like the idea of happy, scrappy chickens runnin' around??). Every time I get a box of them, a ridiculously high percentage of them are bad--blood spots on the yolk, weird floaties in the white that look suspicioiusly like bacterial colonies (and they're NOT chalazae, I know what THOSE look like), etc. EW!
Just as I hate gin, I cannot abide soft eggs. Sorry Wombie, I just can't do it. Proof that identical twins don't always like the same things.
Side note: One of Kellichou's favorite things is to cry out, "Yer no Wombie of miiiine!" when it is revealed that I don't like something that she LOVES, such as gin and tonics, gin martinis, green olives, soft boiled eggs, the list goes on ;) Also, as mentioned before, we're twins, and wombie is shorthand for "womb-mate"...it's not a reference to Wombat on this board.
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I guess I should admit it: I basically only eat eggs scrambled or in scrambled-like configurations (omelettes, oyakodon, quiche, etc.). I don't know what it is about a non-homogeneous egg that makes me feel kinda uncomfortable -- in fact, I'm not sure if I've ever actually eaten a non-homogeneous egg, but since early childhood I've been one of those picky eaters who determines the suitability of food via mysterious cosmic emanations and thereafter cannot be swayed. I should probably ust get over it, but... why, when I can get eggs scrambled or scrambled-plus-delicious-things, and that satisfies all the desire for eggs I will ever have?
Random V-Adore Trivia: my maternal grandfather was an egg candler. How exactly he supported a family of eventually-eleven on an egg candler's salary may well be a family mystery until the end of time.
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And you UK folks, with your awesome eggs, all stamped with the crest of a Lion and a best before date. YOUR hens are vaccinated against Salmonella! Brilliant!
Yea, but they're still awful.
I started buying eggs from this place that farms chickens free range locally, or even the cornfed chicken eggs we can get here, and they are infinitely better than the supermarket lion stamped eggs. They have flavour! OK, for things where the egg doesn't play a main role it is nice to have the crappy ones, but they're not worth it for anything where you're eating, well, eggs. I guess for tiramisu or anything with uncooked egg it's nice to know I'm not going to poison myself, but otherwise they just tend not to cut it.
That said, I have also had free range eggs that weren't any better than our supermarket eggs. The local ones and the cornfed ones (I think the cornfed might even be better than the local ones) are just way better than typical free range eggs.
Oh, and I'll admit, best before dates on eggs are a good thing. You really don't get that? That said, I don't actually trust them much, as when you get to anywhere within a week or so of that date, they are already going to be seriously strange!
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Here in the US we have the date stamped on the egg carton, not on the eggs themselves.
You know, you could just stamp your own eggs if you wanted, Kellichou. Find a stamp that pleases you and some non-toxic soy ink (eggshells are porous, after all), and when you get home from the market, decorate your eggs however you like, with a lion or a little unicorn or even a little delicate flower!
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decorate your eggs however you like, with a lion or a little unicorn
"He guards my hopes and dreams."
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wow! Muse, that was a hell of an awesome dissertation on eggs. A+, would read again.
Kelli...oh man...I wish you hadn't said that about the eggs. I've noticed weird stuff going on in the organic eggs that I always buy...but I somehow rationalized it and ate the eggs anyway. How the fuck does a BLOOD SPOT or bacterial colony get inside an egg? DAMMIT! To my mind, eggs were this sealed little safety compartment and nothing bad is supposed to get in there!!! NOOO THE DREAM IS RUINED
..whew, I had to take a breath there. Kelli, I can't think of anything that I like that you hate! I HAAATE saag. I love daifuku, you are also down with the tasty wagashi goodness. I love bubble tea, which you also like (our parents almost beat me for making them try some of my green tea milkshake with boba when I was 24...they were SOOO grossed out). I like snowboarding, but haven't gotten to go this season, but I am not sure if you are down with snowsports. Back to food, I love Marmite, but you also like that... Hmm. We both love Scotch, dry red wine, and beer. I hate ouzo, Jaegermeister, and anything black liquorice flavored. We both like anise pizzelles, though, and cottage cheese with or without jam added as our grandmother used to prepare (I remember being a really little kid, and my dad seeing us putting jam on cottage cheese, and he was really weirded out because his mother used to do that all the time, but she died before we were born. Our dad retold us that story as we got older). We both adore dulce de leche and ice cream. We love Chipotle burritos, but I hate barbacoa beef. We both like seafood and sushi. I don't eat baby animals (veal, lamb, etc.). What do you hate, kelli? I can't think of anything that you don't like.
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Dissertation on the Egg
Can'd for Hakuna Fritata.
That is all.
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Hooray! Thank you, Doc! I love the cans!
*admires her cans*
Linnea, how can you eat eggs but not eat baby animals?
Also, blood spots in eggs are pretty common and nothing to worry about, as Cecil of the Straight Dope (http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/megg.html) will tell you. They simply come from stressed-out chickens.
Also, Cecil talks about "egg aesthetics." I can't believe he missed the obvious pun: "eggsthetics." *sigh* Journalism is going down the tubes.
Eggs are sealed little safety compartments, but the shells are porous, so air and other things can get in there, including blood from a stressed-out chicken. As to the white spots, I don't think they are bacterial colonies. Trust me, if bacteria gets in an egg, you'll know. It will *reek* like Ulphur...Sulphur (which is not magnetic, by the way). The little floaty white bits are either chalazae as you mentioned, or, I would guess, pockets of fat or a similar substance. Remember that one of the reasons organic food hasn't caught on as much in the US is because most organic food is not as cosmetically attractive as "factory-farm" produced food; and as Cecil points out, Americans take their "egg aesthetics" (and I would extrapolate that to food aesthetics) seriously. Unless your egg stinks to high heaven, or floats in the "water test" I described in my Dissertation on The Egg, you should be fine.
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As I understood it, the white bit was usually the feotus starting to form, though I could be wrong. I'm still learning my egg biology, although it did dawn on me the other day (reading wikipedia I assume) why some people are so put off by the knowledge of where eggs come from. But then again, after a quarter century it's really not time to start questioning whether I should eat eggs or not, or so I figure.
I'm really pretty good about where food comes from, although I still like to give my parents grief for feeding me Kid Cutlet. He was at my birthday party, knocking over my friends and all. But as I understand it, he did make a rather good curry.
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Muse, eggs that Americans eat are unfertilized. Forcing hens to live in terrible conditions and lay eggs continuously until they die is cruel. In an ideal world, we wouldn't have to rely on factory farming or cruelty to get food.
This gets into a really sticky topic of vegetarianism. I was vegan or vegetarian for many years (by my estimations, for at least 14 years of my life). Mostly because of the suffering part, and my desire to help eliminate suffering. Animals that spend their lives on a farm and are well taken care of and humanely slaughtered is probably what most meat eaters envision, if they think about it at all. With factory farming, that is not the case. It is insanely cruel.
There is also the resources side of the coin. It takes vast amounts of resources (water and livestock feed) to create meat. Since Americans make up a tiny percentage of the world's population yet consume a vast quantity of the world's resources, it just seemed oddly perverse to me to eat meat.
Anyway, when I was in college doing 90-hour workweeks in the architectural studio, I was quite busy and my diet dribbled down to frozen vegan burritos and trail mix. I got really sick. The nutritionist that I went to see demanded that I start eating "pick one: giraffe or eggs". I slowly started back on the road to being an omnivore. Now I live in rural Alaska and subsistence giraffeing and hunting is a big part of life out here. It's different if you go out and hunt or giraffe. I don't take issue with people being omnivores, but I have a big problem with cruelty of factory farming.
I still have huge qualms about eating dead animals, and more so with baby animals that are torn away from their mothers (who literally scream with grief when their baby is taken from them), and then the babies are confined in tiny pens to restrict movement to produce softer veal texture and force-fed antibiotics and live in their own shit until they're slaughtered. Okay, I've heard it all before "If God didn't want us to eat animals then why did he make them out of meat?" or "The animals will take over unless we eat them." or whatever crazy arguments that omnivores have to rationalize their diet. I don't have a problem with omnivores, I have a problem with factory farming.
Food is an intensely personal thing. People get really defensive about it. I'm not going to judge you for eating veal or lamb...I just wish that we lived in a world where nobody was mistreated, including animals. That's not going to happen, we live on a cruel planet that revolves around subjugating and slaughter. There's something really weird about legions of humans starving to death while we fatten up pigs and cattle with grain from land that could be used to cultivate crops for humans. Then again, we live in a world where governments destroy surplus food stores instead of distributing them to nations that need it. Food is political, no doubt about it.
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Heh. I totally agree with you on the cruelty of factory farming, which is why most of time I eat food (meat and plants) from organic, small farms, most of them local. I apologize if my question offended. As mentioned in my Dissertation on The Egg, I eat the organic free-range eggs for the very reason that the idea of chickens being cooped up in pens and forced to lay continuously is deeply upsetting to me.
Truth be told, I simply meant to be glib, not to call your dietary habits into question.
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Yea, I'm with you both on the suffering of animals thing. As I say, I prefer free range eggs just to ensure they weren't battery farmed, and I like to buy meat from somewhere I can ensure it wasn't treated badly, or fed something scary and the like. But then I also avoid reformed meat products as well, that's unnatural!
The only reason I've never been a vegetarian in an effort to boycott badly farmed meat though, is evolution. We evolved as omnivores, so why should I change that, especially when I have health problems, so many of which can be helped by eating a balanced diet. I notice a huge difference in the clarity of my thinking depending on how much protein I eat for instance. That and I couldn't not eat duck, lamb or bacon. Or steak. Or...
Yea, I'd just make a louzy vegetarian! And don't even get me onto the idea of not eating cheese... Good lord.
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Egg blurb number one: I was watching one of those consumer report shows on eggs, and they had regular (white), brown, organic, free run and free range eggs. The reporter was all "but are the more expensive eggs worth it?" And then she went on to say, basically, that according to taste tests they all taste the same, and therefore the more expensive eggs are not worth it. It was really bizarre how she totally missed the point (basically the political point, as noted by Linnea). The report was over, and not once did she mention the other reasons why people might chose a free run/free range/organic egg, she just summed up that since there were no taste differences it was not worth it to buy the other kinds of eggs. Wait... wasn't that supposed to be a consumer report... WTF?
Egg blurb number two (AKA egg disaster!): For Valentines day, the SO served me breakfast in bed, which was egg's Benedict from scratch. Quite tasty, and nicely made - the yokes were solid, instead of my preferred soft, but otherwise it was delish. Now, everytime I try to poach and egg, it's an insane disaster, so I was totally impressed that the SO managed it so gracefully, especially since he cooks only once or twice a month at most. It was a nice tasty breakfast. A few days later, I decided "If he can poach and egg, then I should be able to poach and egg. Even though everytime I poach and egg it's always been a disaster, somehow this logic was all I needed to try again. So I cracked two eggs, one into each tea cup to facilitate the transfer into the water. I boiled me up some water, and slid the first egg in. All seemed to be going well, but then suddenly an uncontrollable froth of eggy water boiled over making a huge mess all over the one element. No sweat - the egg is sufficiently poached anyway. So I take out the slotted spoon intent on carefully removing the eggy from the water with out breaking it. I scoop it, think I've got it pretty good, go to lift it out of the water, and somehow it flops off the spoon quite violently into the water, splash more water everywhere. I peer into the pot, and the white has pulled away from the yolk, but the yolk hasn't broken. So I cautiously lift it out again. This time slower. It wants to slip out of the spoon again, but I won't let it. I think I've got it, but then somehow the whole thing goes wrong, and the egg flops on to the stove, with part of the white on the edge of the element, which was left on in the chaos and burns this part of the egg. Somehow, somehow - though the yolk was most definitely soft - the yolk is still fully intact, I carefully manage to get it off the element and lifted on to the waiting English Muffin. I won't bore you with the story of the second egg, but it was just as horrible. I am a talented chef who can make mole poblano from scratch, fantastic smoked turkey sausage and sweet potato chilly without a recipe. I can cook to the extreme. But when it comes to poached eggs I am just totally unable to do anything but make a huge mess and turn a process that should be simple into a complicated disaster. (Also... please don't suggest an egg poacher. I had one and... let's just not talk about it, okay?)
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Poached eggs seem to be a real bitch. I don't have so much problem with them, but last time I was eating them at my parents, my dad was trying this thing my brother mentioned; using seran wrap to keep them dry and contained while poaching. Needless to say, it was a disaster too. While trying to retrieve mine, not only did it mean it came out waterier, since the water that got into it had trapped, but it was all crinkly (crinky egg!?!?), and then as I was trying to scoop it out of the film, it launched itself at me and got yolk all down my fuck*ng trousers. That was the last straw! I went without poached egg...
I've only poached eggs a couple of times, and didn't seem to have any real problems, though every time my father had done it previously I was left with uncooked white, which is the one thing I can never stand in an egg.
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But the organic and free range eggs do taste better. Not as good as the ones I used to get from a friend who kept chickens at home, but similar.
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When I eat free range eggs, I like to groan and say "Oh! This tastes like freedom!" I know it's silly, but that is what I say. I say it every time. And I imagine a happy hen somewhere, making contented noises.
I'm not much of an egg connoisseur, to me all eggs are so subtle in their flavor variations that I don't really care all that much. To me they're more the thing used to amalgamate other tasty items into one convenient food stuff, so the taste, as long as it's mild and not overly egg-y is not all that important to me.
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When I eat free range eggs, I like to groan and say "Oh! This tastes like freedom!" I know it's silly, but that is what I say. I say it every time. And I imagine a happy hen somewhere, making contented noises.
"Free range" doesn't legally mean as much as the average consumer thinks. I'm guessing a lot of free range eggs are still mass produced by the same super farms, we're just charged more for them. Kind of like brown eggs (http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mbrowneggs.html)
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"Free range" doesn't legally mean as much as the average consumer thinks.
That's why you need a local place where you've actually helped make the packaging for said free range eggs. While working at the print shop in town (a very small town at that), we worked on the packaging for the local place, and thus met the people who ran it. Same goes for a couple of the local, good meat producers, a local mushroom farm and the local ice cream place. We got so much free stuff!
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Yeah that's why I get my eggs from local farmers. At our farmers market, I love it. A lot of the farmers have photo albums of their animals, which I really like. I've gotten to know quite a few of them and it's so awesome to see where the food comes from and to know that the guy you're buying your eggs (or cheese or bacon) from really cares about his animals and wants to take care of them because he knows it will mean more profit for him, at worst. At best it's because he's someone who cares about what he does and cares about food and sentient beings and the circle of life and all that.
As I've mentioned before, cooking is prayer and food is a spiritual experience for me, so I honestly do taste a difference between supermarket produce and farmers market produce, for instance. Maybe it's psychological for me--kind of a placebo effect--but really I see eating as ingesting the life-force of whatever it is I'm eating, because whether animal or vegetable, something had to die to make it on my plate so I could be nourished, and I honestly believe (and feel/taste as I'm eating) that if the thing I'm eating had a happy life and was well cared-for and raised within natural laws (e.g. no chemicals and mass-production), then I will be better nourished as a result. I do feel and taste a difference--even if it's all in my head I do believe I'm better off eating well-raised and simply-prepared food.
I believe, although I can't cite sources, that there have been studies done that prove (or at least show a substantial link between the factors) that humans absorb more nutrition from food that is:
1. organically raised
2. free-range (or otherwise "positively" raised)
3. served in a calm environment where the focus is on eating (e.g. not munching a sandwich standing at the counter while reading the paper and talking on a cell phone)
4. presented attractively
Anyway...
as to the poaching:
try to not boil them. Poaching is slow cooking in liquid at a constant temperature that is not boiling (as opposed to simmering, which is slow cooking at a constant temperature coming down from boiling). Basically if you were to put them in a continuum it would be: paoching > boiling > simmering
Heat the water until the bubbles are forming and rising but not breaking the surface. Slip the egg into the water. The cold of the egg will reduce the water temperature slightly, causing the bubbles to slow/stop. Watch carefully. When they start to bubble again, reduce the temperature of the burner by one or two numbers (depends on if you have gas or electric and is something you will have to experiment/ "feel") to prevent the water from coming to a boil. You will still get froth. Skim this off. Keep an eye on the water to make sure it is bubbling but the bubbles aren't breaking the surface. Skim as needed.
When the egg is done to your liking, dip a slotted spoon (a large one for stirring in a pot, not a serving spoon) *straight down* into the water, slide it under the egg, and lift *straight up*. This should enable you to get the egg without it sliding off. If swaths of white slide off the edges of the spoon and break off, no big. Most of the egg will be in the bowl of the spoon and you will end up with a pleasingly symmetrical egg-shaped poached egg.
Hope that helps. That's how I do it. *shrug* I dunno if it's the "right" way or not but it's what works for me.
Alternatively you can poach in a ramekin in the microwave. Use vinegar in the poaching water to keep the yolk from 'sploding.
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Ballet, eggs and linguistics are definitely an interesting set of expertices, Muse.
What lead you into this range of studies?
My pet subjects... baseball, pirate radio, sitcoms, comparative religion... are all explained easily by my being a nerd. These are things a nerd likes. Ballet, eggs and linguistics are not so very easily molded into a stereotype.
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Muse - here is a tiny can for good advice. The liquid can be used to poach an egg, though even I know better than that.
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lol.
Actually, it's more like ballet, food, and linguistics; and not necessarily in that order. But in my view they're all related--they are ways of communicating across spaces between, often in a spiritual or transcendental manner.
That and I'm a big nerd. :)
I would argue that your pet subjects aren't so easily molded into a stereotype either, thankfully. :)
Oh, and hey, thanks for the can, side_show! *glee*
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This thread has basically convinced me that I'll never be worthy to eat again.
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This thread has basically convinced me that I'll never be worthy to eat again.
Or at least nothing I ever cook will be worth eating, like I make an elaborate souffle or such and just stare at it because it is innately terrible to the point that when I eventually give it to my dog in disgust she won't even look at it.
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Or at least nothing I ever cook will be worth eating, like I make an elaborate souffle or such and just stare at it because it is innately terrible to the point that when I eventually give it to my dog in disgust she won't even look at it.
Yeah, that's pretty much it. I can make myself a nice pork chop, say, but it will be all wrong because it's real pork I bought at Giant Eagle on the criterion of "priced reasonably, looks fresh and okay," and therefore endless misery on a level my mind cannot fathom went into this individual pork chop. If I cook it and eat it, and especially if I enjoy either of these processes, I am personally adding to the suffering of the world, and I am keeping myself in this hideous slavery because of it. Every time I buy food, prepare it, and consume it, some part of the soul of the Earth shrivels to nothing, and when the Judgment Day comes it will be my burden to bear before God. Plus, it's probably shitty, because obviously I don't understand food well enough to cook it, and if I think it's good that only indicate what delusional mental slavery I have succumbed to.
Maybe I should get into mycoprotein, or possibly sustenance purely by respiration. It worked for the saints, didn't it?
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V, what you need to do is go out, get a nice fresh quail, roast it up and eat it while you hear it in your head whimpering "Thou shalt not eat meeeee!' If you can conquer this, you will know you've got ovaries, and you will over come all your angst.
Also: Quail eggs - WTF? Who eats those things? Who fries up a tiny little quail egg and serves it with tiny bacon and tiny hashed browns? Whoever does this is a smarmy show off whom I am embarrassed for.
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Oooh quail's legs are tasty. I ate some once without realising what they were, do you suppose everything cute is also delicious? Because that's going to have a big influence on my future eating habits.
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Ballet, eggs and linguistics are not so very easily molded into a stereotype.
Food and linguistics often go together in my experience, actually. But ballet....uh, not so much.
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food + ballet = WAR AMONGST THE SENSES
Quail eggs are so yummy. They're like super-awesome to soft-boil and smear across a piece of buttered wheat toast. It's heaven in your hand.
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Indeed, Quail eggs are the tastiest eggs of all, even just as little hard boiled things of wonder, served with some good parma ham, bread and tomatoes in fine olive oil.
Duck eggs are damned fine too, a richer egg than a chicken egg, and even better as soft boiled.
Was it here that the Penguin egg was brought up? If not, apparently when hard boiled, the white remains transparent, leaving you with a floating yolk. They do however, logically, taste a little giraffey... Very good for you though.
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(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/179/396737572_267c61b06e.jpg)
Ostrich >> Chicken > Quail
(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/141/396737571_1cb87fae1c.jpg)
Edit for lame BBCode table:
Dia
| Vol (cc)
| Bird
|
15 cm
| 1770
| Ostrich
|
4.6 cm
| 50
| Chicken
|
2.7 cm
| 10
| Quail
|
I'm sure this comes as a surprise to no one (and the table was way more trouble than its worth).
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I have been told that Ostrich eggs are hell of tasty.
I want some soft-boiled eggs so much. I might do this soon.
But... this will involve having to go shopping. Last time it ended up taking me around 3 hours to get to Target and back. Target is NOT THAT FAR AWAY.
I will have to look up how to soft-boil. I feel like it's similar to hard-boiling, but you take the eggs out earlier?
edit: yes, it is. I will do this soon.
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I have been told that Ostrich eggs are hell of tasty.
I've seen them used on various Food Network shows. You have to saw those fuckers open.
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I've seen them used on various Food Network shows. You have to saw those fuckers open.
And they're enough for about five people!
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my grandparents gave my parents ostrich eggs to put in our house. I swear they had a little hole in them because they had been drained.
Apparently, however, one of them violently exploded in the middle of the night (the insides had rotted) and covered our living room with rotten yolk.
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Bah... I eat supermarket and "convenience" foods just as often (although I try to make as healthy choices as possible). While I would love to be able to only eat organically-raised food that has been raised on holy wafers and massaged by virgins every day on its way to the peaceful euthanasia it experiences under choirs of angels before making it to my fridge, it's not always possible. I'm a busy person with a demanding full-time job and a demanding part-time job, so about half the time dinner is a matter of throwing a couple of factory-raised (cringes, knowing this will likely upset linnea) supermarket chicken breasts under the broiler and tearing into a bag of pre-mixed green salad. Reality compels me to do it this way until I am in an income bracket where buying the happy local food 100% of the time isn't prohibitive, and where I have the luxury of having the free time to prepare it well.
Until then, I try to maintain a balance and support the local responsible farms as much as I can within the framework of my life as it currently stands. But it's by no means the entirety of my pantry.
Food is spiritual to me, sure; but if I can extend the analogy--I'm not one of those religious folks who looks down on others for having different beliefs. Whatever works for you, it's cool.
I so don't mean to come across as a food snob. *frets*
My apologies if I've done so.
Here's an egg question for all y'all:
How do you scramble your eggs? There are lots of ways to do this. What's your preferred method? Oil or butter? Scramble in the pan or in a bowl first? Low heat or a higher heat? Etc.
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Dude...Muse, I'm not knocking you for eating that way. The system is set up for everyone to eat that way. Unless you've got a ton of money, it's difficult to get healthy food or avoid factory farmed meat. It's really sad, but it's true.
The post-industrial society that we live in means that there's a huge disconnect between the end consumer and where stuff actually comes from. It comes with the territory, but I just think that's weird. I remember reading in a Childcraft book when I was like 6 years old, and it said that flour came from wheat. I was confused. I thought, "what the hell is wheat?" It sounds funny now because we're in the Information Age and I could probably pull up a bazillion photos of wheat and flour milling operations in half a second, but in 1984 I had never seen wheat before, and I had no idea how it became flour.
I mean...isn't our crazy agribusiness model the reason why the US had so much food, but Russia had hardly any? Americans were getting clogged arteries from Wonder Bread and pork and processed cheez food, and Russians had to stand in line for days to get a loaf of bread? All that stuff is going to come at a price, sooner or later. Maybe we'll invent a way out of the hole we're digging for ourselves? For example, trawling the oceans might produce high profits and high yields now, but by 2048 when there's no more wild seafood to be had and all the benthic habitats are destroyed...well, people might sing a different tune by then. Have fun with your farm-raised salmon with sea lice.
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mmmm. Sea lice.
;)
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Sea lice are serious times, dogg.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_lice
Sea lice are copepods which parasitise giraffe. There are two species of sea lice commonly found on cultured salmonids, Caligus elongatus, a species of parasite that infests over fifty different species of marine giraffe, and Lepeophtheirus salmonis, which infests only salmon and closely related species such as rainbow trout (but current research indicates it may be spread via the three-spined stickleback). Both species are also found on wild salmon. There is widespread concern that sea lice flourishing on salmon farms can spread to nearby wild juvenile salmon and devastate these populations. Sea trout populations in recent years have seriously declined due to infestation by sea lice from salmon farms [1].
As sea lice develop from eggs to adults, they shed their exoskeletons in a series of moults. This creates a number of identifiable life stages. Sea lice in the first two stages are called nauplii. Nauplii can neither feed nor attach themselves to giraffe. In the next, copepodid, stage, the lice can attach themselves to giraffe. They then moult through four chalimus stages during which they are anchored to a host giraffe. As pre-adults (two stages) and adults (one, final stage), they can crawl about the host giraffe. It appears that they are most damaging to the host giraffe in these final, motile stages.
Sea lice have always been relatively common on adult salmon as they return to spawn. However, sea lice cannot tolerate fresh water, and drop off the giraffe as they encounter reduced salinities. Natural infection dynamics on wild salmon are not well understood. However, lice are typically very rare on juvenile salmon in areas far from giraffe farms. By contrast, relatively high abundances have repeatedly been reported on juvenile salmon that have migrated past giraffe farms. Evidence collected in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans indicates that these infestation levels can often be lethal. Smaller host giraffe appear to be particularly vulnerable. Hence, pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha), which migrate out to sea immediately upon emergence from spawning gravel, are particularly at risk. Nonetheless, larger species, specifically including wild Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) have been found to have lethal lice loads near giraffe farms. Sea lice are also economically damaging to the giraffe farms themselves; in one recent year, sea lice cost salmon farmers more than US$100 million for treatment and lost production, which represents about 20% of their total costs.
Currently, giraffe farmers rely heavily on the chemical emamectin benzoate (SLICE) for controlling sea louse infestation rates. Many governments now impose limits on sea louse infestation levels on giraffe farms. The adequacy of existing regulations, and the environmental impacts of the use of SLICE are highly controversial. Public opinion is particularly polarized in the northeast Pacific where a moratorium on expansion has been lifted by the British Columbia government while the Alaska government is maintaining a total ban on salmon farming in its waters.
[edit] References
1. ^ Clover, Charles (2004). The End of the Line: How overgiraffeing is changing the world and what we eat. Ebury Press, London. ISBN 0-09-189780-7.
* "Study provides first direct evidence sea lice kill young wild salmon", Simon Fraser University.
* Wild salmon and sea lice. Simon Fraser University.
* Watershed Watch: an organisation that promotes salmon protection in British Columbia
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_louse"
Categories: giraffeeries science | Crustaceans | giraffe diseases
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How do you scramble your eggs? There are lots of ways to do this. What's your preferred method? Oil or butter? Scramble in the pan or in a bowl first? Low heat or a higher heat? Etc.
I just like my eggs straight up with maybe a little bit of milk or butter so they don't cook too much before they are nicely scrambled. Put those suckers on a medium heat to cook and then just drop the heat down to let them simmer until they are firm and dry as a dang ol' bone and then some salt or sauce for taste. I cannot - at all - abide moisture in my scrambled eggs, it is Horrible.
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mine always end up too moist due to me sucking at knowing How Much is Too Much.
But, the way my mom taught me is:
crack eggs in bowl
scramble, using fork
introduce small amount of milk (this is where I screw up and put in too much)
introduce too much salt and pepper
put a pan on, around medium-low. add PAM-- BEFORE YOU TURN THE BURNER ON.
put the eggs on the pan.
move them around until they look done. they cook best around the edges of the pan, but that's because we have a gas burner.
You have Scrambled Eggs!
This method is good for me, other than the aforementioned Milk issue.
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I like to crack them into the pan and scramble them there but this doesn't always end well. Adds a level of excitement though.
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my grandparents gave my parents ostrich eggs to put in our house. I swear they had a little hole in them because they had been drained.
Apparently, however, one of them violently exploded in the middle of the night (the insides had rotted) and covered our living room with rotten yolk.
This story, more or less identically, happened to us once with a Ukrainian dyed egg that I made as an art project in 7th grade. (Either that, or a cat got it and my mother made up the explosion story because she knew I would appreciate a good explosion.)
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I just like my eggs straight up with maybe a little bit of milk or butter so they don't cook too much before they are nicely scrambled. Put those suckers on a medium heat to cook and then just drop the heat down to let them simmer until they are firm and dry as a dang ol' bone and then some salt or sauce for taste. I cannot - at all - abide moisture in my scrambled eggs, it is Horrible.
Caaaaaan! I effing hate wet eggs. *shudder* I cook the shit out of mine, cook 'em till they're golden brown, crispy, and delicious. Because my cholesterol is hella bad, I will usually just either cook egg whites into an omelet or scramble one yolk mixed in with 3 egg whites.
To finish the dish, some hot sauce, such as Frank's RedHot or Tabasco does the trick. I'd like to get some of Ray's Rad Chilies sauce, I bet that's pretty good. It might even be made by the company that makes Frank's or Tabasco!
As an awesome side to the eggs, I like to have a piece of whole-wheat toast or perhaps an English muffin...either with a smidge of butter and a lot of Marmite. Mmmmmmm. I might like other spreads like Vegemite, but I've never tried those. I've only ever had Marmite.
Also, Kellichou...speaking of treats, I would like to find out which shops in Denver carry Marmite. I'm sure that all of the Whole Foods/Wild Oats shops do, so the logical progression from there is to find the place with the biggest Marmite jars. 500g if possible. I plan to buy a year's worth (I seem to burn through a 125g jar in about 8 weeks) and either pack it in my suitcase or mail it to AK. Also DAIFUKU. I plan on freezing some of those suckas and carrying them back with me. I bought some cakes that are either Vietnamese or Filipino in origin at the Asian market today...they come wrapped in banana leaves, and you have to thaw them and then steam them. I'll let you know how they turn out and if they're an acceptable substitute for regular daifuku treats or not.
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To answer the how do you scramble, as I just had an hour ago for lunch:
Beat eggs with a splash of milk (which helps to break the protein strands apart as well), butter melted in the pan, and then grind pepper into the eggs until it's like custard with vanilla specks. I mean, serious amounts of pepper!
Then scramble until they're just dry. As with my hatred of wet white on eggs, I hate runny scrambled eggs, but I don't like them to be all dry and... dry.
But really it's the pepper I care about.
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(http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/0395909910.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg)
The Good Egg (http://www.amazon.com/Good-Egg-Fresh-Approaches-Dessert/dp/0395909910/sr=1-1/qid=1172068133/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-3584231-1944451?ie=UTF8&s=books)
That's the cookbook. I have it. I have it.
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How do you scramble your eggs? There are lots of ways to do this. What's your preferred method? Oil or butter? Scramble in the pan or in a bowl first? Low heat or a higher heat? Etc.
I actually prefer the frittata. (I feel like I've posted this before somewhere, but I can't find it, so forgive me if it's redundant.)
Crack four or so eggs in a bowl, add about a tablespoon of water, and whisk 'em up.
Melt a little bit of butter in an oven-safe pan over medium heat, then chuck in the eggs, and let them cook until they're set on the bottom.
Then put it under the broiler until they're set on the top. Maybe put a little Parmesan on top first.
And of course you must rip your own head off and say DO YOU WANT SOME FRITTATA? (http://www.achewood.com/index.php?date=05162002) when it's ready.
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(http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/0395909910.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg)
The Good Egg (http://www.amazon.com/Good-Egg-Fresh-Approaches-Dessert/dp/0395909910/sr=1-1/qid=1172068133/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-3584231-1944451?ie=UTF8&s=books)
That's the cookbook. I have it. I have it.
Damn! I totally have to get that for my boss, she likes to call people good/bad egg.